Some of them have won Academy Awards, Grammys and Emmys. Some
served in combat; others simply served. They are celebrity types
who heeded the call
– and didn’t need a red carpet. Can you believe Elvis Presley
was drafted into the Army, survived basic training in Texas, then
served with the 3rd Armored Division in West Germany in 1958 during
the Cold War?
Some of them have won Academy Awards, Grammys and Emmys. Some served in combat; others simply served. They are celebrity types who heeded the call – and didn’t need a red carpet. Can you believe Elvis Presley was drafted into the Army, survived basic training in Texas, then served with the 3rd Armored Division in West Germany in 1958 during the Cold War? The following celebrity-military trivia quiz explores other entertainment personalities who served a greater cause in a variety of ways – often in the absence of applause, the absence of adulation and in the absence of the red carpet.
1. Which star of the World War II movie classic, “The Great Escape,” served in the military security detail as a Marine who guarded President Harry S Truman’s yacht named “Sequoia”?
A. James Garner
B. Charles Bronson
C. Steve McQueen
D. James Coburn
2. What pioneering black actor joined the U.S. Army during World War II, then faked insanity to get out of it when he became disillusioned after working as a psychotherapy aide at a military hospital?
A. Harry Belafonte
B. Sidney Poitier
C. Paul Robeson
D. Bill Cosby
3. Name the Academy Award-winning actor who, when serving in the Army Air Corps, flew more than 20 missions over Germany as a bomber pilot.
A. Bob Hope
B. Charles Durning
C. Lee Marvin
D. James Stewart
4. Name the “tough-guy” actor who served as an aircraft gunner during more than 25 bombing missions against the Japanese in World War II.
A. Charles Bronson
B. John Wayne
C. Clint Walker
D. Donald Sutherland
5. What leading man of a legendary western television series landed in Casablanca as an Army soldier during World War II?
A. Gene Barry
B. Hugh O’Brian
C. John Wayne
D. James Arness
6. Which movie director earned honors while serving in the Vietnam War before winning three Academy Awards?
A. Francis Ford Coppola
B. Oliver Stone
C. Steven Spielberg
D. Mike Nichols
7. What seductive actress helped invent the communications technology used in radio-guided torpedoes that aided the U.S. combat effort during World War II?
A. Lana Turner
B. Hedy Lamarr
C. Veronica Lake
D. Rita Hayworth
8. What former Navy veteran-turned-actor used the GI bill to attend acting school after his honorable discharge? (Hint: His real name is Bernard Schwartz.)
A. Larry King
B. Clark Gable
C. Tony Curtis
D. Montgomery Clift
9. Name the iconic entertainer who helped liberate a Nazi concentration camp near Landsberg, Germany, during World War II, and later received encouragement regarding his singing ability from an Army officer who heard him sing in the shower.
A. Tony Bennett
B. Perry Como
C. Bing Crosby
D. Mel Torme
10. German-born actress Marlene Dietrich was said to have had an affair with which well-known general?
A. Gen. George S. Patton
B. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower
C. Gen. Douglas MacArthur
D. Gen. Erwin Rommel
11. What 5-foot-4 star served as a decorated paratrooper in the Pacific theater during the twilight of World War II?
A. Martin Scorsese
B. Mickey Rooney
C. Edward G. Robinson
D. Rod Serling
12. What well-known actor played the role of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower in the made-for-television movie, “Ike: Countdown to D-Day,” which aired during the 60th anniversary of the pivotal Normandy invasion?
A. Telly Savalas
B. Ben Kingsley
C. Tom Selleck
D. Ed Harris
13. What famous composer wrote patriotic songs while serving in the U.S. Army during World War I?
A. George M. Cohan
B. Andrew Lloyd Webber
C. Irving Berlin
D. Richard Rodgers
14. Legendary showman Bob Hope entertained U.S. troops abroad in every war from World War II to the Korean War to the first Persian Gulf War. What is Hope’s real first name?
A. Clark
B. Robert
C. Bernard
D. Leslie
15. What Rhodes scholar-turned-singer-musician was an Army Ranger captain who volunteered to serve as a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War but was denied, and instead was offered a professorship at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point?
A. James Taylor
B. Jim Croce
C. Dan Fogelberg
D. Kris Kristofferson
Answers
1. C – The sometimes rebellious Steve McQueen, who served in the Marine Corps from 1947 to 1950, trained as an amphibious tractor driver in the frigid climate of Canada before being reassigned to Washington, D.C., in 1948. There, he was said to take pride in serving with the Honor Guard, whose duty was to provide security for President Truman’s yacht.
2. B – According to his 1980 autobiography, “This Life,” the Bahamian-raised Poitier, at 16, swore he was 18 to join the U.S. Army to escape the cold winters and his job as a New York City dishwasher. But his quest for a warmer climate as an Army serviceman didn’t happen as he was relegated to a Long Island, N.Y.-based military mental hospital, where he felt soldiers were mistreated by the medical staff. Poitier later became the first black actor to win an Academy Award for a leading role (“Lilies of the Field” in 1963).
3. D – Col. Colonel James Stewart earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Croix de Guerre, the Air Medal and seven battle stars during World War II. All of this before he became George Bailey in the Christmas movie classic “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
4. A – Karolis Bucinskis, the Lithuanian name that later evolved into “Charles Bronson” on the silver screen, received a Purple Heart while serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II from 1943 to 1945. He served with a B-29 squadron based in Guam. Remember him in the “Death Wish” vigilante series and the war classics “The Dirty Dozen,” “The Great Escape” and the “Battle of the Bulge.”
5. D – James Arness, aka Marshal Matt Dillon of “Gunsmoke” fame, left Casablanca to join the 3rd Infantry for the invasion of Anzio in Italy. There, the 6-foot-6 Arness suffered leg and foot wounds from machine-gun fire, which affected his walking ability throughout his acting career.
6. B – Oliver Stone (“Platoon”‘) received a Purple Heart after being wounded twice, and a Bronze Star for valor while serving in the Vietnam War from 1967-68.
7. B – Hedy Lamarr, an Austrian-born mathematics whiz whose real name was Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, learned military technology when accompanying her husband, an arms manufacturer, to business meetings. Lamarr, who starred in such films as “Boom Town” and “Tortilla Flat,” migrated to Hollywood in 1938. She received an award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation for her high-tech efforts, which were a precursor to today’s WiFi network.
8. C – Tony Curtis served on a submarine from 1942 to 1945, and witnessed, through a pair of binoculars from the signal bridge aboard the USS Proteus, Japan’s surrender in Tokyo Bay in ’45. In 1958, Curtis was nominated for an Academy Award for “The Defiant Ones,” a seminal socio-cultural movie in which Curtis demanded black co-star Sidney Poitier garner equal billing as himself on the marquee.
9. A – The Grammy- and Emmy-award winning Antonio Dominick Benedetto, who also is an accomplished painter, has been recognized for his duets with such eclectic stars as Stevie Wonder, k.d. lang, Placido Domingo and Celine Dion.
10. A – Gen. George S. Patton, old “Blood and Guts” himself, reportedly even gave Marlene Dietrich a pair of pearl-handled pistols as a gift. According to her biography, “Blue Angel: The Life of Marlene Dietrich,” “. . . members of Patton’s staff – like his aide, Frank McCarthy, who produced the film ‘Patton’ – later confirmed that there was an intense affair between Dietrich and the general . . .”
11. D – Rod Serling, who also was a boxer, received a Purple Heart and Bronze Star during combat while serving from 1943 to 1945. He also received the World War II Victory Medal and American Campaign Service Medal, among others. And, remember, you are entering “The Twilight Zone.”
12. C – Tom Selleck was stellar in his role as Gen. Eisenhower in 2004. Selleck, the 64-year-old Emmy-award winning actor, recently has been a spokesman for a traveling museum honoring Vietnam War veterans. Selleck was quoted as saying, “That war taught the American people a lesson that we can and we must honor our warriors, no matter what our feelings about the war.”
13. C – The incomparable Irving Berlin (Israel Isidor Baline), who was born in what is now Belarus, initially wrote “God Bless America” during World War I while stationed at Camp Upton in Yaphank, N.Y. Most of us remember him for the yuletide classic, “White Christmas.”
14. D – Bob Hope’s real name is Leslie Townes Hope. He died in 2003. President Franklin Roosevelt would not allow either Hope or Bing Crosby to actively serve in the military because he wanted them to entertain U.S. troops. Thanks for the memories.
15. D – Kris Kristofferson, who completed Ranger School, Airborne School and Flight School, wanted so badly to serve as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam he resigned from his position as an English literature professor at West Point. Kristofferson, whose father was an Air Force general, was named Veteran of the Year in 2002 by the American Veteran Awards.
