Question 1

True or false: Redstone started his career as a Hollywood film director before becoming a media mogul.

Accepted Answer

False. He never directed films; he built his empire from his family's drive-in theater chain, National Amusements.

Question 2

True or false: Sumner Redstone served as a cryptographer in the U.S. Army during World War II.

Accepted Answer

True. Redstone served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, breaking Japanese codes during WWII, which later influenced his strategic business mind.

Question 3

True or false: Sumner Redstone survived a hotel fire by hanging from a window ledge until rescued.

Accepted Answer

True. In 1979, a fire at Boston's Copley Plaza Hotel trapped Redstone; he clung to a third-floor ledge, suffering severe burns on 45% of his body, and was rescued by firefighters.

Question 4

True or false: Sumner Redstone was a lifelong teetotaler who never drank alcohol.

Accepted Answer

False. He was known to enjoy martinis and fine wine, frequently drank at parties, and was not a teetotaler.

Question 5

True or false: Sumner Redstone was a Nobel Prize-winning economist.

Accepted Answer

False. He was a media magnate, chairman of ViacomCBS, not an economist. He never won a Nobel Prize.

Question 6

True or false: Sumner Redstone legally changed his last name from Rothstein to Redstone in 1940.

Accepted Answer

True. He adopted Redstone in 1940, inspired by his mother's maiden name, to sound less Jewish and avoid discrimination in business.

Question 7

True or false: Sumner Redstone founded Viacom.

Accepted Answer

False. Sumner Redstone acquired a controlling stake in Viacom in 1987. The company was originally created as a spin-off from CBS in 1971.

Question 8

True or false: Sumner Redstone graduated from Harvard Law School in 1947.

Accepted Answer

True. Sumner Redstone earned his LL.B. from Harvard Law School in 1947, after attending Boston Latin School and Harvard College.

Sumner Redstone Trivia Questions