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Famous People from Connecticut

Can you name these famous Connecticuters based on a short clue?
† Moved to Connecticut as an adult
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: January 8, 2020
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First submittedSeptember 6, 2012
Times taken6,032
Average score52.9%
Rating4.00
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Hint
Hometown
Answer
President who passed himself off as a Texan
New Haven
George W. Bush
Notorious Revolutionary War turncoat
Norwich
Benedict Arnold
Consumer advocate and 2000 election spoiler
Winsted
Ralph Nader
2000 Vice Presidential nominee
Stamford
Joe Lieberman
He said there's a sucker born every minute
Bethel
P.T. Barnum
Leading lady for 60 years, and winner of four Oscars for Best Actress
Hartford
Katharine Hepburn
"Family Guy" creator
Kent
Seth MacFarlane
Actress who appeared in three romantic comedies with Tom Hanks
Fairfield
Meg Ryan
Singer-songwriter who has somehow dated Jessica Simpson, Katy Perry,
Jennifer Aniston, and Taylor Swift
Fairfield
John Mayer
Abolitionist and author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
Litchfield
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Wrote "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" †
Hartford
Mark Twain
He's not a Star Trek character, just the author of "Baby and Child Care"
New Haven
Benjamin Spock
Star of "Sideways" and "John Adams"
New Haven
Paul Giamatti
Famous financier who stopped the Panic of 1907
Hartford
J.P. Morgan
ESPN announcer who says "He... could... go... all... the... way!"
Greenwich
Chris Berman
Star of "Fatal Attraction" and "101 Dalmatians"
Greenwich
Glenn Close
He patented the revolver
Hartford
Samuel Colt
+2
Level 27
Nov 24, 2012
I didn't know that about Bush... interesting.
+4
Level 85
Dec 25, 2013
Bush is just as much a Texan as Twain is a Connecticuter.
+2
Level 75
Dec 29, 2014
As a Missourian I must agree.
+3
Level 90
Jun 19, 2015
Actually Bush moved to Texas a young child and was raised there through his formative years. Twain moved to Connecticut in his late 30's. The "passed himself off as a Texan" phrasing by the QM is simply wearing his politics on his sleeve.
+2
Level 82
Jul 10, 2015
burt... give us a break. Nothing political about that statement. Bush's Texan roots were mostly a contentious issue when he was running for office in Texas. And he *did* have to endeavor to prove his Texan bona fides. Nationally, nobody gave a flip, and it was never an issue.
+2
Level 88
Jul 30, 2015
One could argue that while Samuel Clemens was from Missouri, Mark Twain was largely from Connecticut, having moved there not long after he assumed the pen name..
+2
Level 75
Aug 18, 2015
He became Mark Twain in 1863 while working for a newspaper in Virginia City, NV. He moved to CA for a few years, did a world tour, and he didn't move to CT until 1870, after marrying a woman from NY. They moved to Europe for several years during their marriage, and he died in CT in 1910. He is buried in NY. He may have lived more years in CT, but he seemed to have been "from" a lot of places and the name Mark Twain was from the western US.
+1
Level 84
Jan 22, 2024
Are you considering Missouri and the Mississippi River to be the western US? Clemens' pen name originated from his time as a river boat pilot on the Mississippi (although he may have adopted the name at a different period of his life).

For those unfamiliar, the boat's leadsman stationed at the bow would cry out the depth, using the vernacular of the river. "Mark twain" (two fathoms), or 12 feet, was a safe depth for most riverboats.

+2
Level 57
Aug 18, 2015
Why would someone who lives in Texas try to "pass himself off as a Texan ". They would be, by definition, a Texan. That's like a legal American immigrant having to pass themselves off as being an American. The terms "Texan" and "American" simply refer to where you live or have citizenship citizenship, nothing else.
+2
Level ∞
Jan 8, 2020
Guys its a joke. I know that George Bush is a Texan as well as being from Connecticut.
+2
Level 88
Jul 30, 2015
If you are going to include Benedict Arnold, you should include Nathan Hale (Coventry). And if including pop musicians (ugh!), Karen and Richard Carpenter (New Haven/East Haven) merit inclusion.
+3
Level 84
Aug 16, 2017
Other than Chris Berman's shtick wearing a little thin over the years, the one thing that....I guess "irked" is the right word...me was that the phase he is noted for above was a mimicry of Howard Cosell's halting, over-enunciated deliver, but was inaccurate.

Cosell didn't pause after EVERY word. The word "the" was never given its own note, so to speak. Berman's impersonation should have been, "He could.....go.....all.....the way!" (treating "the way" as almost one single word)

That would've more accurately reflected Cosell's call.

+2
Level 88
Aug 2, 2018
Worse is that more people know who he is than J.P. Morgan.
+2
Level 84
Sep 5, 2018
Barnum never said that. It's debatable who actually did, but it was likely David Hannum, regarding people going to see PT Barnum's copy of his Cardiff Giant hoax.

"As the newspapers reported Barnum's version of the story, David Hannum was quoted as saying, "There's a sucker born every minute" in reference to spectators paying to see Barnum's giant. Since then, the quotation has often been misattributed to Barnum himself." ~ Wikipedia

+3
Level 66
Apr 2, 2020
what about charli d'amelio
+2
Level 55
Mar 6, 2021
No. Just no.
+1
Level 38
Nov 16, 2021
Other famous people, but from Eastern CT.

Caroll Spinney (Big Bird/Oscar the Grouch) and Brian Dennehy, both long time residents of Woodstock. (Dennehy born in Bridgeport)

+1
Level 65
Dec 27, 2023
Benedict Arnold was born British in 1741, so one might argue his betrayal was joining the "rebel scum" (quote from Star Wars) of the independence movement before realising his error. Of course, as a Brit, I am a little biased. :)