Famous Foursomes

Famous foursomes appear everywhere in culture, history, sports, music, movies, religion, and science. From the Fab Four Beatles to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, groups of four have long captured our imagination.

This giant list of famous foursomes includes iconic quartets, legendary teams, famous fictional groups, scientific fours, and pop culture classics.

Most Famous Foursomes of All-Time

When you think of notable groups of four, the following come to mind quickly.

• The Beatles: John, Paul, George, and Ringo. The Beatles are arguably the most famous foursome in music history. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr revolutionized popular music during the 1960s.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael.
• The Fantastic Four: Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and The Thing.
• The Four Horsemen: Death, Famine, War, and Conquest.
• Mount Rushmore: Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.
• The Golden Girls: Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur), Rose Nylund (Betty White), Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan), and Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty).
• ABBA: Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Fältskog, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad.
• Ghostbusters: Original movie cast — Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Dr. Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), Dr. Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis), and Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson).

Well-known Groups of Four

1.) Four Seasons – Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall.

2.) Wheels on a vehicle.

3.) Gospel writers – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

4.) Metallica

5.) Classic Elements – Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire.

6.) Suits in a deck of cards – Hearts, Diamonds, Spades, and Clubs.

7.) Four-Leaf Clover.

8.) Four Years of High School and College – Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior.

9.) Great Italian Renaissance artists – Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello.

10.) Four Dimensions – Length, width, height, and time.

11.) Four basic math operations – Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

12.) Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse – Symbolic figures representing Conquest, War, Famine, and Death.

13.) Four Quadrants of the Heart – Right atrium, left atrium, right ventricle, and left ventricle.

14.) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello.

15.) Base 4 numbers – 0, 1, 2, and 3.

See our Notable Groups of Five List.

Famous Foursomes

16.) Faces on Mount Rushmore – George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.

17.) Final Four – College Basketball.

18.) The Powerpuff Girls: Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup, and Professor Utonium.

19.) The four most depicted in art archangels – Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel.

20.) Four Physical States – Solid, Liquid, Gas, and Plasma.

21.) Four types of teeth – molars, premolars, canines, and incisors.

22.) Four sides of a rectangle

23.) Horse gaits – Walk, trot, canter, and gallop.

24.) Phases of the moon – New moon, first quarter, full moon, and third quarter.

25.) Four main blood types – A, B, AB, and O.

26.) Four digits in a year – For example, 2023.

27.) Four bases in baseball – First, second, third, and home.

28.) Four levels of education – Primary, secondary, undergraduate, and graduate.

29.) Wizard of Oz characters – Dorothy Gale, The Tin Man, The Cowardly Lion, and Scarecrow.

30.) Four humors of the body – black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood.

31.) Four Noble Truths of Buddhism.

32.) Four pillars of faith (Catholicism) – Faith, liturgy/sacraments, life in Christ, and prayer.

33.) Four types of love – Friendship, romantic, love for family, and agape (unconditional love).

See our Notable Trios and Groups of Three.

Famous Music Foursomes

Rock and Roll and Popular Groups of Four

• Led Zeppelin
• The Monkees
• ABBA
• Queen: Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon formed one of rock’s most legendary quartets.
• Kiss
• Metalica
• Pink Floyd
• The Who
• Black Sabbath
• The Doors
• Van Halen
• Rage Against the Machine
• Coldplay
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Megadeath
• U2
• Disturbed
• Sex Pistols
• R.E.M.

Music Groups With “Four” in Their Name

And here is a list of popular rock/pop bands with four in their name.

• The Four Freshmen.
• The Four Lads.
• The Brothers Four.
• The Four Tops.
• 4 Ever Young.
• The Four Preps.
• The Four Aces.
• Gang of Four.
• The Four Coins.
• The Four Tenors.
• Four Non-Blondes.
• The Bobby Fuller Four.
• All-4-One.
• Four Jacks and a Jill.

Classical String Quartets

Many consider the Classical String Quartet to be the ultimate musical foursome. Here is a list of some of the most famous.

• Melos String Quartet
• Bamburg Quartet
• Pavel Haas Quartet
• Quartetto Amati
• International String Quartet

Influential Jazz Quartets

Just like Classical String Quartets, Famous Jazz Quartets have provided us with endless hours of fantastic music.

• Roland Kirk Quartet
• Buddy Rich Quartet
• Oscar Peterson Quartet
• Benny Goodman Quartet
• Art Blakely Quartet
• Dave Brubeck Quartet
• The Jerry Mulligan Quartet
• Modern Jazz Quartet
• Thelonius Monk Quartet

Famous TV Foursomes

Television has featured many different foursomes, and many worked their way into our hearts. Here is a list of some famous television foursomes.

• Teletubbies – Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa Laa, and Po
• Seinfeld – Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer
• The A-Team
• Sex and the City
• Golden Girls
• South Park
• Desperate Housewives
• Entourage
• Designing Women
• Living Single
• Beverly Hillbillies

Take the TV Show Openings Quiz.

Notable Movie Foursomes

Like television programs, movies often use four characters to front a storyline. Here is a list of movies that starred a gang of four.

Movies with Four Main Stars

• Tombstone
• Bob, Carol, Ted, and Alice
• Anchorman
• Ghostbusters
• Help!
• Wild Hogs
• The Untouchables
• Jumanji
• Mean Girls
• The Hangover
• The Fantastic Four
• Little Women
• Three Men and a Little Lady

Movies with Four in the Title

• Four Brothers
• Four Daughters
• I am Number Four
• Four Christmases
• Four Faces West
• Four Feathers
• Flock of Four
• Four Men and a Prayer
• Four Rooms
• Four Weddings and a Funeral
• Happiness is a Four-Letter Word
• The Gang of Four
• World War Four
• The Sign of Four
• Four of a Kind
• The Four Musketeers.

Four or Three Musketeers?

Both the Three Musketeers and Four Musketeers movies are based on a French Novel written by Alexandre Dumas. The novel, one of a series written in 1844, follows the adventures of Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. These three are Musketeers of the Guard, a revered position within the King’s Guards.

Enter D’Artagnan, an impressionable young lad who wants nothing but to be a Musketeer. He is captivated by the three imposing friends and vows to become one of them.

Through daring and heroic deeds and some audacious adventures, d’Artagnan wins over the Three Musketeers. Arthos, Porthos, and Aramis invite D’Artagnan to join them on their journeys. He does become the Fourth Musketeer.

Fun Fact About the Musketeers

Over 40 films have been made about the Musketeers.

Famous Sports Foursomes

Here are a few of the famous foursomes in sports.

• Final Four – College Basketball’s Championship Tournament.
• Frozen Four – College Hockey’s Championship Tournament.
• Four Major Professional Golf Tournaments – Master, PGA, U.S. Open, British Open.
• Four Major Professional Tennis Tournaments – French Open, Australian Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open.
• Purple People Eaters – Professional football’s Minnesota Vikings feared defensive line.
• Fearsome Foursome – Professional Football’s L.A. Rams feared defensive line.
• The Four Major Professional U.S. Sports Leagues – NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB.
• The Four Losses of the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowls
• Mount Rushmore Debates, e.g., Four Greatest Basketball Players of All-Time (Jordan, Russell, Chamberlain, and James)
• The Four Horsemen of Wrestling – Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, and Tully Blanchard.
• WCW Fearsome Foursome – Professional Wrestlers Ric Flair, Goldberg, Diamond Dallas Page, and Chris Benoit.
• Core Four Yankees — The “Core Four” refers to four longtime members of the New York Yankees dynasty that won multiple championships in the late 1990s and early 2000s:

1. Derek Jeter
2. Mariano Rivera
3. Andy Pettitte
4. Jorge Posada

These four players all came through the Yankees’ farm system and were central to:

• a sustained playoff run from the mid-1990s through the 2000s,
• 5 World Series championships, and
• 7 American League pennants.

The Impregnable Quadrilateral

This term was coined by sportswriter George Trevor in 1930. It refers to the impossibility of winning the four tournaments, the U.S. Amateur, U.S. Open, British Amateur, and British Open.

Bobby Jones proved him wrong and did indeed win all four of these tournaments in the same year. Today, the modern grand slam consists of the Masters, the PGA, the U.S. Open, and the British Open. It is still considered impregnable.

Famous Fictional Foursomes

• Fantastic Four
• Scooby-Doo gang: Fred, Daphne, Velma, and Shaggy (Plus Scooby)
• Ghostbusters
• Golden Girls
• Sex and the City
• Winnie the Pooh core group
• The A-Team

Famous Villain Foursomes

• Pac-Man ghosts: Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde.
• Universal Classic Monsters: Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, The Wolf Man, and The Mummy.
• The Lost Boys Vampire Gang: David, Dwayne, Paul, and Marko.

Science and Nature Foursomes

• Four Directions – North, South, East, West
• Four Sides of a Square
• Four Basic Mathematical Operations – Addition, Subtraction, Division, and Multiplication.
• Four Chambers of the Heart
• Four Leaf Clover
• Quaternary Numeral System – In this system, the numbers 0, 1, 2, and 3 can represent any number.
• Four Wisdom Teeth

Miscellaneous Groups of Four

Many foursomes appear in popular culture and our everyday lives.

• Four Testaments
• Four Cardinal Virtues – Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance. They form the basis for ethics.
• Four Pac-Man Ghosts – Inky, Blinky, Pinky, and Clyde.
• Four Suits in a Card Deck – Hearts, Diamonds, Spades, and Clubs.
• The Quad Cities – Davenport, Bettendorf, Moline, and Rock Island.
• Four Basic Swimming Strokes – Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, and Butterfly.
• Four Square – A playground game played on a square court divided into four equal parts. The total court size is 10 to 30 feet. A player stands in each part, and a ball is used for play. Play consists of hitting the ball into another box in one bounce. If it bounces twice, you receive an out. A predetermined number of outs means you are out of the game. The last player standing wins.

FAQs About Famous Foursomes

Here are some frequently asked questions about famous foursomes.

What is the most famous foursome?

Many people consider The Beatles the most famous foursome of all time. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr became worldwide cultural icons during the height of Beatlemania.

Why are groups of four important?

Groups of four often symbolize balance, stability, and completeness in culture, science, religion, and storytelling. Famous examples include the four seasons, the four compass directions, and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

What are famous groups of four in pop culture?

Pop culture is filled with famous quartets such as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ghostbusters, and the Fantastic Four. Television also gave us memorable foursomes such as The Golden Girls and the main characters from Sex and the City.

What sports teams are famous foursomes?

Sports history has produced legendary foursomes such as the New York Yankees’ “Core Four” and Notre Dame football’s “Four Horsemen.” Fans also recognize famous defensive units such as the Minnesota Vikings’ Purple People Eaters and the Los Angeles Rams’ Fearsome Foursome.

What are some famous fictional quartets?

Fictional quartets include the heroes from The Wizard of Oz, the superheroes of Fantastic Four, and the mystery-solving gang from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!. These groups remain popular because their distinct personalities complement one another, creating memorable stories.

Final Thoughts on Foursomes

Famous Foursomes are all around us. We probably don’t realize that the music we listen to, the scientific breakthroughs, and even the world around us are filled with foursomes.

The next time you hear a Beatles song, don’t think of them as the Fab Four. Think of them as one of many famous foursomes that enrich our lives.

By Tim Moodie and Mike O’Halloran

Tim is embarrassed to say that he has played in many golf foursomes. In each one, he has managed to be on the losing end of whatever prize was up for grabs.

Mike is the founder of ListCaboodle.com and an author of trivia, sports and joke books.

You are on our Famous Foursomes page.

Originally Published: September, 2023

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