Trivia for Seniors
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209 free Trivia for Seniors trivia questions with answers — pop culture quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
80 free trivia for seniors questions with answers. These questions are written for activity directors, caregivers and families running trivia for seniors, including trivia for dementia patients and residents in memory care. Every question is about something a person who grew up in the 1930s, 40s, 50s or 60s is likely to remember warmly: Lucy and Desi, Elvis on Ed Sullivan, the Ponderosa, Howdy Doody, drive-ins and hula hoops, Bing Crosby singing White Christmas, and the night the Eagle landed on the Moon. The questions are multiple choice with four familiar options, so nobody has to pull an answer out of thin air, and each one comes with a short explanation that makes a natural prompt for conversation ("Did you ever see a drive-in?"). Difficulty is gentle throughout, with the easiest questions early. Read them aloud, play in a group, or let residents tap answers on a tablet. Every answer has been checked against a reference page and each question shows its source, so you can trust what you are reading out.
30 of 209 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which comedienne starred with her real-life husband Desi Arnaz in I Love Lucy?
Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball starred as Lucy Ricardo opposite her husband Desi Arnaz; I Love Lucy ran on CBS from 1951 to 1957 and topped the ratings in four of its six seasons.
Q 02In I Love Lucy, what was the surname of landlords Fred and Ethel?
Mertz
Fred and Ethel Mertz were played by William Frawley and Vivian Vance, who famously did not get along off screen.
Q 03What kind of dog was Lassie?
A Rough Collie
Lassie was a Rough Collie; the original film Lassie was played by a male collie named Pal, and the TV series ran 19 seasons from 1954 to 1973.
Q 04Elvis Presley was born in 1935 in which Mississippi town?
Tupelo
Elvis was born in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935; his twin brother Jesse Garon was stillborn 35 minutes earlier.
Q 05What is the name of Elvis Presley's mansion in Memphis?
Graceland
Elvis bought Graceland in March 1957 for about $100,000 and died there in August 1977, aged 42; it opened to the public in 1982.
Q 06On Elvis Presley's third and final Ed Sullivan Show appearance in January 1957, how was he filmed?
Only from the waist up
On January 6, 1957, CBS cameras showed Elvis only from the waist up; his first Sullivan appearance the previous September had drawn about 60 million viewers.
Q 07Frank Sinatra was born to Italian immigrant parents in which city across the Hudson from Manhattan?
Hoboken
Frank Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, on December 12, 1915, and first sang with the Harry James band in 1939.
Q 08Which singer's recording of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" became the biggest hit of his career?
Bing Crosby
He first sang it on a Christmas Day radio broadcast in 1941, and it appeared in the film Holiday Inn the following year.
Q 09The Beatles' first live Ed Sullivan Show appearance in 1964 drew an estimated how many viewers?
73 million
An estimated 73 million people watched the Beatles on February 9, 1964, about 45 percent of US households, a television record at the time.
Q 10The Beatles came from which English city?
Liverpool
The Beatles formed in Liverpool in 1960; Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr were all born in the city and played the Cavern Club there.
Q 11Which singer made "The Twist" a nationwide dance craze in 1960?
Chubby Checker
Chubby Checker's 1960 cover of Hank Ballard's The Twist hit number one, helped by repeated appearances on Dick Clark's American Bandstand.
Q 12Doris Day sang "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" in which Alfred Hitchcock film?
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Doris Day sang Que Sera, Sera in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) opposite James Stewart; the song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Q 13Nat King Cole's 1951 hit "Unforgettable" returned to the charts in 1991 as a studio-made duet with which family member?
His daughter Natalie
Q 21The Sound of Music (1965) is set in and around which Austrian city?
Salzburg
The Sound of Music was filmed in and around Salzburg, the von Trapp family's home city; Julie Andrews starred as Maria and the film became the top-grossing movie of its day.
Q 22The Andy Griffith Show was set in the fictional town of Mayberry in which state?
North Carolina
Mayberry, North Carolina was modeled on Andy Griffith's hometown of Mount Airy; widowed sheriff Andy Taylor raised son Opie, played by Ron Howard.
Q 23Who played Andy Taylor's nervous deputy, Barney Fife?
Don Knotts
Don Knotts won five Emmys as Barney Fife; the show's whistled theme, The Fishin' Hole, was whistled by its composer Earle Hagen himself.
His daughter Natalie Cole sang over her late father's 1951 vocal; the 1991 duet won the Grammy for Record of the Year and its album topped the Billboard 200.
Q 14Who was Fred Astaire's most famous dancing partner, with whom he made ten films?
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers partnered Astaire in ten films, including Top Hat (1935), Swing Time (1936) and Shall We Dance (1937).
Q 15Marilyn Monroe was born under what name?
Norma Jeane Mortenson
Her 1926 birth certificate reads Norma Jeane Mortenson; she married Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller and died in 1962 at only 36.
Q 16John Wayne won his Best Actor Oscar as one-eyed marshal Rooster Cogburn in which 1969 film?
True Grit
True Grit (1969) won John Wayne his only Oscar, for Best Actor; born Marion Morrison in Iowa, he died in 1979.
Q 17Who played Scarlett O'Hara in the 1939 Civil War epic set on a Georgia plantation?
Vivien Leigh
Some 1,400 unknown women were interviewed for the part before the British actress won it.
Q 18In Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart's Rick Blaine runs what sort of business?
A nightclub and gambling den
Rick's Café Américain is a nightclub and gambling den, its back-room roulette table drawing refugees, Vichy officials and Germans alike in December 1941.
Q 19Which song from The Wizard of Oz won the Academy Award for Best Original Song?
Over the Rainbow
Over the Rainbow, by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, won the Best Original Song Oscar for 1939; Judy Garland was 16 when she sang it.
Q 20Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz lives on a farm in which state?
Kansas
Dorothy Gale lives on a Kansas farm with Uncle Henry and Aunt Em, and the black-and-white Kansas scenes were shot in sepia tone.
Q 24On Bonanza, what was the name of the Cartwright family ranch near Lake Tahoe?
Ponderosa
The Ponderosa, named for its pines, was Ben Cartwright's ranch; Lorne Greene played Ben, whose sons Adam, Hoss and Little Joe each had a different mother.
Q 25Which Bonanza son, the "warm and lovable giant", was played by Dan Blocker?
Hoss
Dan Blocker played Hoss Cartwright from 1959 until his death in 1972; Michael Landon was the hot-headed Little Joe and Pernell Roberts the eldest, Adam.
Q 26Gunsmoke followed Marshal Matt Dillon keeping the peace in which frontier town?
Dodge City, Kansas
Gunsmoke was set in Dodge City, Kansas in the 1870s; James Arness played Dillon on television from 1955 to 1975, while William Conrad had voiced him on radio.
Q 27Ralph Kramden of The Honeymooners drove what for a living?
A New York City bus
Ralph Kramden drove a New York City bus for the Gotham Bus Company; his pal Ed Norton, played by Art Carney, worked in the sewers.
Q 28Which child actor played Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver in Leave It to Beaver?
Jerry Mathers
Jerry Mathers played the Beaver from 1957 to 1963; the nickname came from toddler Wally mispronouncing Theodore as Tweeder.
Q 29Milton Berle, host of NBC's Texaco Star Theatre, earned what nickname as TV's first superstar?
Mr. Television
Milton Berle was dubbed Mr. Television as Texaco Star Theatre drove TV set sales from 1948; he also became Uncle Miltie after telling young viewers to go to bed.
Q 30The children's TV show Howdy Doody opened with host Buffalo Bob asking the Peanut Gallery what question?
"Say kids, what time is it?"
Buffalo Bob Smith opened each show with "Say kids, what time is it?" and the roughly 40 children in the Peanut Gallery shouted back "It's Howdy Doody Time!"