40 Fun Facts About Famous Patricks

Vermont senator Patrick Leahy, a devoted comic-book fan, made cameo appearances in several films about which superhero?

Batman has given Leahy screen time since an uncredited cameo in Batman Forever, and in The Dark Knight he is the party guest who confronts the Joker.

The Order of St Patrick, founded in 1783, gave Ireland's patron saint which color, still on the presidential standard?

Blue, not green, was the order's choice, and the name St. Patrick's blue stuck; a field of the color still sits behind the harp on Ireland's coat of arms.

A 1944 film of Patrick Hamilton's play about a husband driving his wife insane lent its title to which now-common term?

Gaslighting was Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year for 2022, more than eighty years after Hamilton's thriller Gas Light opened in London.

Super Bowl-winning quarterback Patrick Mahomes is the son of Pat Mahomes, a longtime professional in which sport?

Baseball nearly claimed the son too: the Detroit Tigers drafted Patrick in 2014, but he never signed and stuck with football.

Patrick Swayze played a working-class dance instructor at a 1960s Catskills resort in which low-budget 1987 hit?

Dirty Dancing cost about $5 million, less than half the average film budget of the day, and Swayze co-wrote and sang She's Like the Wind for its soundtrack.

English actor Patrick Stewart commanded the starship Enterprise as which captain in Star Trek: The Next Generation?

Jean-Luc Picard made Stewart a star, though he so doubted the show would last that he had still not unpacked his bags when filming began.

In SpongeBob SquarePants, pink starfish Patrick Star lives under which object on the floor of Bikini Bottom?

A rock is home for Patrick, whose creator, marine biologist Stephen Hillenburg, chose a starfish because the animals look dumb and slow but are active and aggressive.

Which actor played murderous Wall Street banker Patrick Bateman in the 2000 film American Psycho?

Christian Bale was director Mary Harron's pick, but the studio wanted Leonardo DiCaprio and fired her, then rehired her and let her cast her man.

Robert Patrick's liquid-metal T-1000 goes back in time to kill which future resistance leader in Terminator 2?

John Connor's hunter was Patrick's breakout role, and he was cast as a slender figure on purpose, to contrast with the muscular T-800.

Sheriff Pat Garrett, born Patrick Floyd Garrett, shot which young outlaw dead at Fort Sumner in July 1881?

Billy the Kid made Garrett's name: the sheriff co-wrote a book about him that, errors and all, was treated as the standard account for decades.

Patrick Dempsey's neurosurgeon Derek Shepherd earned the nickname McDreamy on which long-running hospital drama?

Grey's Anatomy made Dempsey a household name, yet he said he would walk away from acting if he could race cars full-time, and he has driven at Le Mans.

Neil Patrick Harris played a teenage medical prodigy before starring as womanizer Barney Stinson in which sitcom?

How I Met Your Mother ran from 2005 to 2014 and brought Harris four Emmy nominations, and he went on to host the Tonys, the Emmys and the Oscars.

Patrick Henry, remembered for a 1775 speech demanding liberty or death, was the first governor of which state?

Virginia made Henry its first governor in 1776, yet he later opposed ratifying the US Constitution, fearing a powerful central government.

Patrick Duffy's character Bobby Ewing returned from the dead in a shower, making a whole season a dream, on which soap?

Dallas had killed Bobby off when Duffy left in 1985; a year later he stepped into view and the whole previous season became Pam's dream.

Pat Sajak, born Patrick Sajdak, worked as a TV weatherman before hosting which game show from 1981 to 2024?

Wheel of Fortune earned Sajak a Guinness World Record in 2019 as the longest-serving host of a single game show, passing Bob Barker.

Patrick J. Adams played Mike Ross, a college dropout practicing law without a license, in which legal drama?

Suits ran on the USA Network from 2011 to 2019, and Adams landed the part only after being fired from the pilot of another series.

Which daughter of Irish-born clergyman Patrick Brontë wrote Jane Eyre under the pen name Currer Bell?

Charlotte and her five siblings all died before their father, who was born Patrick Brunty in County Down and lived to 84.

Gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards developed which treatment, leading to Louise Brown's birth in 1978?

In vitro fertilization made Louise Brown the first test-tube baby, but only Edwards received the 2010 Nobel Prize: Steptoe had died in 1988, and the prize is not given posthumously.

Which Australian serve-and-volleyer won back-to-back US Open singles titles in 1997 and 1998?

Patrick Rafter reached world number one in 1999, but Wimbledon escaped him: he lost the final there in both 2000 and 2001.

Georgetown center Patrick Ewing was the first pick of the first NBA draft lottery in 1985, landing with which team?

The New York Knicks won the draw when the commissioner pulled their envelope from a hopper, a result that still fuels claims the lottery was fixed.

Goaltender Patrick Roy won two Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens and two more with which team?

The Colorado Avalanche retired his number 33, as Montreal did, and he is the only player to be named playoff MVP three times.

French midfielder Patrick Vieira captained which London club through an unbeaten league season in 2003–04?

Arsenal became the first English team in more than a century to finish a league season unbeaten, with the Senegal-born Vieira as captain.

Aged 18, Dutch striker Patrick Kluivert scored the winner in the 1995 Champions League final for which club?

Ajax beat AC Milan in Vienna when Kluivert came off the bench to score in the 85th minute, the youngest player to score in the final.

Patrick O'Brian's novels about Captain Jack Aubrey and surgeon Stephen Maturin are set during which conflict?

The Napoleonic Wars fill 20 finished novels, three of which fed the film Master and Commander, with Russell Crowe as Aubrey.

German author Patrick Süskind wrote which 1985 novel about Grenouille, an orphan turned murderer in old France?

Perfume follows a man born with an extraordinary sense of smell, and it has sold more than 20 million copies in 49 languages.

Patrick McGoohan created and starred as Number Six, a former secret agent in a strange coastal village, in which series?

The Prisoner was filmed in the Welsh resort village of Portmeirion, which McGoohan had spotted while shooting an episode of Danger Man.

Patrick Troughton replaced William Hartnell in 1966 to become the second actor to play which television hero?

The Doctor had only ever been Hartnell, and the show's survival hung on viewers accepting a successor who neither looked nor sounded like him.

Patrick Warburton, Elaine's boyfriend David Puddy on Seinfeld, voices which police officer neighbor on Family Guy?

Joe Swanson is one of many Warburton voices: he is also Kronk in The Emperor's New Groove and has played Buzz Lightyear on television.

Patrick Wilson plays real-life paranormal investigator Ed Warren opposite Vera Farmiga in which horror film series?

The Conjuring made Wilson a horror regular, a long way from 2004, when he played the romantic Raoul in the film of The Phantom of the Opera.

Poet Patrick Pearse read the Proclamation of the Irish Republic outside Dublin's General Post Office in which revolt?

The Easter Rising began on Easter Monday 1916 with Pearse as its chosen president, and he was among the first leaders shot by firing squad days later.

British writer Patrick Leigh Fermor led the 1944 kidnap of German general Heinrich Kreipe on which Greek island?

Crete was where Leigh Fermor helped organize resistance to the occupation; at 18 he had set off to walk across Europe from Holland to Constantinople.

Monocle-wearing astronomer Patrick Moore presented which BBC show from 1957 until his death in 2012?

The Sky at Night made Moore the world's longest-serving TV presenter, and as a pianist he once accompanied Albert Einstein, who played the violin.

Danica Patrick's 2008 victory in Japan made her the first woman to win a race in which motorsport series?

IndyCar also saw her finish third at the Indianapolis 500, and in NASCAR she became the first woman to take pole position for the Daytona 500.

Singer Patrick Stump first auditioned as a drummer for which Illinois band, joining bassist Pete Wentz?

Fall Out Boy took Stump on as lead singer instead, and the band has gone on to top the US album chart several times.

Drummer Patrick Carney and guitarist Dan Auerbach, childhood neighbors in Akron, Ohio, formed which duo in 2001?

The Black Keys began by recording in basements after both men dropped out of college, and broke through in 2010 with the album Brothers.

Simon Baker played Patrick Jane, a former fake psychic helping California investigators, in which CBS crime series?

The Mentalist gives Jane a private motive: he works with the police so that he can hunt the serial killer who murdered his wife and daughter.

Which actor played rebel Patrick Verona, recruited to date Kat Stratford, in 10 Things I Hate About You?

Heath Ledger got his breakthrough from the film, a high-school retelling of Shakespeare's comedy The Taming of the Shrew.

The Saint Patrick's Battalion, largely Irish deserters from American ranks, fought for which country in the 1840s?

Mexico still reveres the San Patricios as heroes who came to its aid, while the United States executed 50 of them after capturing the unit.

Illustrator Patrick Nagel painted the woman on the cover of Rio, a 1982 album by which British band?

Duran Duran hired Nagel after their co-manager spotted his work in a magazine, and the sleeve is now rated among the greatest ever made.

Child actor Butch Patrick played young werewolf Eddie in which spooky 1960s sitcom?

The Munsters drew higher ratings than The Addams Family, its similarly macabre rival, which aired on another network at the same time.