Historical figures who were roommates
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Historical Figures Who Were Roommates — Daily trivia Sunday, July 26, 2026: questions and answers
All 10 questions with answers and explanations. Play this daily
Q 01Which future two-time Oscar winner shared an apartment with Marilyn Monroe in the 1940s?
- AShelley Winters
- BEve Arden
- CGloria Grahame
- DThelma Ritter
Show answer
Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters. Her memoirs say the two roommates each listed men they'd like to sleep with, and Monroe's list included Albert Einstein.
Q 02Which future Microsoft CEO lived down the hall from Bill Gates at Harvard?
- ASteve Ballmer
- BSatya Nadella
- CPaul Allen
- DSteve Case
Show answer
Steve Ballmer
Steve Ballmer. He finished in the top 100 of the Putnam math competition, then quit Stanford's business school in 1980 to join Microsoft.
Q 03Which punk rocker got his stage name after John Lydon's pet hamster bit him?
- ARat Scabies
- BSid Vicious
- CCaptain Sensible
- DJoe Strummer
Show answer
Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious. The hamster was named Sid after Syd Barrett, so when it bit John Ritchie, Lydon rechristened his squat-mate Sid Vicious.
Q 04Which future US Vice President shared a Harvard dorm room with actor Tommy Lee Jones?
- AAl Gore
- BDick Cheney
- CJoe Biden
- DGeorge H.W. Bush
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Al Gore
Al Gore. The two roomed together in Dunster House, and at the 2000 Democratic convention Jones helped nominate his old roommate for president.
Q 05Which actor met Danny DeVito at a Connecticut theatre centre in the 1960s and later shared his New York apartment?
- ARobert De Niro
- BAl Pacino
- CMichael Douglas
- DJack Nicholson
Show answer
Michael Douglas
Michael Douglas. His stepfather Bill Darrid was an original board member of the O'Neill center, and the old roommates later co-starred in Romancing the Stone.
Q 06What was available only on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at Paris's Beat Hotel?
- AHot water
- BElectricity
- CMail delivery
- DRoom keys
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Hot water
Hot water. The cheap Latin Quarter hotel had one bathtub, on the ground floor, and guests had to book it ahead and pay extra for the hot water.
Q 07Which third actor shared New York apartments with Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman in the 1960s?
- AJack Nicholson
- BRobert Duvall
- CJon Voight
- DJames Caan
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Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall. The three shared New York apartments in two-person combinations, and a former teacher who spotted Hackman working as a Howard Johnson's doorman said he'd never amount to anything.
Q 08Which Beat writer and his first wife, Edie Parker, shared a New York apartment with Joan Vollmer and William Burroughs?
- AJack Kerouac
- BAllen Ginsberg
- CNeal Cassady
- DGregory Corso
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Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac. Vollmer's Upper West Side apartment became an early gathering place for the Beats, and she later became Burroughs's common-law wife.
Q 09Which New York School poet and art critic roomed with Edward Gorey at Harvard in the late 1940s?
- AJohn Ashbery
- BKenneth Koch
- CJames Schuyler
- DFrank O'Hara
Show answer
Frank O'Hara
Frank O'Hara. After Harvard the pair helped found Cambridge's Poets' Theatre, and O'Hara became a leading light of the New York School of poets.
Q 10Who was Byron's personal physician at Villa Diodati and author of the first modern vampire tale?
- AJohn Polidori
- BJoseph Bell
- CErasmus Darwin
- DThomas Beddoes
Show answer
John Polidori
John Polidori. His story The Vampyre came out of the same ghost-story contest at Villa Diodati that gave Mary Shelley the idea for Frankenstein.
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