50 Fun Facts About Famous Mothers

Who voices Marge Simpson?

She was already in the Tracey Ullman Show cast, so no new voice actor was needed when the shorts began in 1987.

Marge Simpson's blue beehive was partly inspired by which film character?

The other inspiration was the hairstyle Matt Groening's own mother, Margaret, wore in the 1960s.

How old was Lorelai Gilmore when she gave birth to Rory?

She then moved out of her parents' Hartford mansion and raised Rory in a converted potting shed behind the Independence Inn.

Which actress played Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter films?

Molly gets one of the series' great moments: killing Bellatrix Lestrange in a duel during the Battle of Hogwarts.

Which Death Eater does Molly Weasley kill in a duel in the final Harry Potter book?

Her curse hits Bellatrix right over the heart, moments after Bellatrix nearly kills Ginny.

How many daughters does Mrs. Bennet need to marry off in Pride and Prejudice?

Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty and Lydia — and the estate is entailed away from all of them.

What do the four March sisters call their mother in Little Women?

She sends them out on Christmas morning to give their breakfast to the impoverished Hummel family.

Which Toni Morrison novel centres on Sethe, a formerly enslaved mother, and won the Pulitzer Prize?

It was loosely based on the real Margaret Garner, who fled Kentucky slavery for Cincinnati in 1856.

In which Old English poem does a monster's mother rise from a lake to avenge her son?

Grendel's mother is one of the poem's three antagonists, along with Grendel and the dragon.

Which Nobel-winning scientist and her daughter are the only mother-daughter pair to both win?

Irène Joliot-Curie shared the 1935 Chemistry prize with her husband for discovering artificial radioactivity.

How many children did Queen Victoria have with Prince Albert?

Their marriages across the continent earned her the nickname 'grandmother of Europe'.

Which first lady was the mother of a president as well as the wife of one?

Wife of John Adams and mother of John Quincy Adams, she was both the first second lady and the second first lady.

How many children did Rose Kennedy, mother of President John F. Kennedy, have?

Pope Pius XII made her a papal countess in 1951, only the sixth American woman so honoured.

In which city was Mother Teresa born?

Then part of the Ottoman Empire, now the capital of North Macedonia; she founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta in 1950.

In which year was Mother Teresa canonised as a saint?

She had won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

In which years were Princess Diana's two sons born?

William and Harry were then second and third in line to the throne.

What are the names of Michelle Obama's two daughters?

Both were conceived through IVF after a miscarriage, as she revealed in her memoir Becoming.

What is the name of Beyoncé's first child, born in January 2012?

Twins Rumi and Sir followed in 2017.

Which Grand Slam title did Serena Williams win while already pregnant?

Her daughter Olympia was born that September.

Before Jacinda Ardern, who was the only elected head of government to give birth in office?

Ardern's daughter Neve was born in June 2018.

How many children does Kris Jenner have?

Kourtney, Kim, Khloé and Rob from her first marriage; Kendall and Kylie from her second.

How many children do Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar have?

All their names begin with J; the show ran on TLC from 2008 to 2015.

What did Kate Gosselin give birth to in 2004, four years after twins?

Jon & Kate Plus 8 followed the family of eight kids.

How many babies did 'Octomom' Nadya Suleman deliver in January 2009?

They were the first surviving octuplets; she already had six children, all conceived via IVF.

Which actress played Carol Brady on The Brady Bunch?

Shelley Long took over the role for the 1990s films.

June Cleaver was the mother on which classic sitcom?

Barbara Billingsley later reprised her as the jive-talking passenger in Airplane!

In which fictional Illinois town does Roseanne Conner raise Becky, Darlene and D.J.?

It is said to be about two hours from Chicago.

What was Peggy Bundy's maiden name on Married... with Children?

Katey Sagal played her; the whole Wanker clan turned up from Wanker County.

Who played Kitty Forman, Eric's doting mother, on That '70s Show?

She turns cold and assertive only when pushed too far.

Which actress played Livia Soprano, the mother who helped arrange a hit on her own son Tony?

Junior Soprano orders the attempt after Livia lets slip that Tony is undermining him.

What does Norman do with his mother Norma's body in Psycho?

Vera Farmiga later played a living Norma in the prequel series Bates Motel.

Which actress played Sarah Connor, mother of the future resistance leader, in the Terminator films?

She goes from waitress to hardened warrior over the course of the series.

Which film about mother Aurora Greenway and daughter Emma won Best Picture in 1984?

Shirley MacLaine won Best Actress and Jack Nicholson Best Supporting Actor.

Whose adopted daughter wrote the 1978 exposé Mommie Dearest?

Faye Dunaway played her in the 1981 film adaptation.

In Freaky Friday (2003), how do mother and daughter switch bodies?

Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan played the pair.

In Disney's Bambi, what happens to Bambi's mother?

Paul McCartney has credited the scene with sparking his interest in animal rights.

In Greek myth, which Titan mother saved baby Zeus by giving Cronus a rock to swallow?

Cronus had swallowed all her earlier children — Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon.

Which Greek goddess's grief over her abducted daughter Persephone explains the seasons?

The Homeric Hymn to Demeter tells the story of the abduction and search.

What is the formal title of the 1871 painting known as Whistler's Mother?

France bought it in 1891 and it hangs in the Musée d'Orsay.

Which American Impressionist became famous for paintings of mothers and children?

Born near Pittsburgh, she spent most of her life in France and exhibited alongside Degas.

Which English soothsayer was a Yorkshire prophetess said to have been born in a cave in Knaresborough?

Ursula Southeil's cave is still a tourist attraction.

Which humorist's syndicated column about suburban motherhood ran from 1965 to 1996?

Fifteen books of her humour were published, most of them bestsellers.

In which US state was the first official Mother's Day service held in 1908?

Anna Jarvis held the memorial for her mother at a Methodist church in Grafton, now the International Mother's Day Shrine.

Which flower did Anna Jarvis hand out at the first Mother's Day, her mother's favourite?

She delivered 500 of them in 1908; florists later pushed the custom of pink for a living mother and white for one who had died.

Which US president issued the 1914 proclamation making the second Sunday in May Mother's Day?

Congress passed the law on May 8, 1914, and the proclamation followed the next day, framing the holiday partly around mothers whose sons had died in war.

Who voices Lois Griffin, matriarch of Family Guy?

She based the voice on a cousin from Long Island; Seth MacFarlane asked her to make it faster and higher.

Olympias, the formidable mother of Alexander the Great, was a princess of which region?

After Alexander's death she fought for her grandson Alexander IV, but was defeated by Cassander and executed.

Agrippina the Younger, mother of Nero, was the fourth wife and niece of which Roman emperor?

He died in AD 54 under suspicious circumstances, possibly poisoned by her, and Nero later had her killed in AD 59.

In The Grapes of Wrath, what is Ma Joad's suggested maiden name?

Steinbeck never gives her a first name; she is simply the practical, warm-spirited matriarch holding the family together.

On which Greek island was Mamma Mia!, the story of Sophie and her mother Donna, mostly filmed?

The fictional island in the film is Kalokairi, Greek for 'summer'; shooting ran from August to September 2007.