Celebrities with other remarkable achievements

[Sam Stone]

In the thread about actors aging gracefully, I suggested Paul Newman as an actor who aged extremely well. But that reminded me about another thing regarding Newman - he was a great race car driver. Not just 'great for a Hollywood guy', but great, period.

His racing achievements:

- Winner of four SCCA national championships.
- Came in second at Le Mans in 1979, when he was 54 years old.
- Oldest driver in history to be part of a winning team, when his team won Daytona in 1995, when he was 70!
- Inducted into the SCCA hall of fame.

This for a guy entering the sport when he was 44 years old, after training to race for a movie. I think that's an absolutely astounding achievement.

So I'm thinking mostly of actors who achieved great things after being actors first. So Schwarzenegger wouldn't count as a a body builder. I'd also leave out achievements that are made easier because of fame, such as Arnie becoming governor or Reagan becoming President. I'm thinking more along the lines of achievements in sports, or art, or science.

Some other candidates:

Brian May (guitarist for Queen) becoming a respected astrophysicist.
Geena Davis almost qualifying for the Olympic archery team.
John Travolta being type-rated to fly a 747 and becoming a (temporary) 747 pilot for Qantas airlines.
Hedy Lamarr - inventing the first spread-spectrum transmission technology
Jimmy Stewart receiving numerous aviation medals in WWII, and eventually becoming a Brigadier General in the Air Force

Any others?

[LurkerInNJ]

Glenda Jackson was a member of Parliament.

[Little Nemo]

Voice actor Paul Winchell helped develop the artificial heart.

[Little Nemo]

Jimmy Stewart receiving numerous aviation medals in WWII, and eventually becoming a Brigadier General in the Air ForceEd McMahon was also a veteran of World War II and Korea. He flew eighty-five combat missions and also reached the rank of Brigadier General.

[gallows fodder]

Peter Weller (of Robocop and Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai fame) is also a PhD student in Roman and Renaissance Art -- he's been featured in a few History Channel documentaries on the Roman Empire as an expert commentator.

Greg Graffin, lead singer of the '80s punk band Bad Religion, has a Master's in Geology and a PhD in zoology, and teaches evolutionary biology at Cornell.

Rob Riggle (comedian, former Daily Show correspondent) is a Lt. Colonel in the US Marines and served in Kosovo and Afghanistan.

[DigitalC]

Dolph Lundgren is a chemical engineer, a black belt in karate and was Team Leader of the 1996 U.S. pentathlon team for the Atlanta Olympics.

[Steophan]

Bruce Dickinson, best known as lead singer of Iron Maiden, is also a published novelist, an Olympic standard fencer, an airline pilot, and a broadcaster, and probably several other things I've forgotten.

[zombywoof]

Tom Scholz of the band Boston has bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from MIT, and founded his own electronic guitar effects company.

[MadTheSwine]

Brian May (guitarist for Queen) becoming a respected astrophysicist.
Any others?

Brian May is also the chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University and has an asteroid named after him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/52665_Brianmay

[salinqmind]

Doesn't David Duchovny have degrees from Princeton and Yale?

[Lamia]

I could have sworn I read that Peter Quaife (bassist for the Kinks) went on to become an astronomy professor, but his Wikipedia entry doesn't say anything about it. Maybe he was just an amateur astronomy enthusiast. I'm pretty sure I once saw a photo of him posing with a telescope.

[RealityChuck]

Fred Gwynne was president of the Harvard Lampoon and an accomplished illustrator.

[Tim R. Mortiss]

Wayne Rogers of M*A*S*H fame is now a respected investment adviser who frequently appears on TV talk shows. But that could just mean he's a mediocre investment adviser with a famous name and face.

[minlokwat]

Steely Dan / Doobie Brothers guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter is a self-taught expert on missile defense systems. He has served as a consultant for defense contractors and has worked with congressional committees on the subject.

[DxZero]

Wayne Rogers of M*A*S*H fame is now a respected investment adviser who frequently appears on TV talk shows. But that could just mean he's a mediocre investment adviser with a famous name and face.

Lenny Dykstra has no idea what you're talking about. ;)

[wedgehed]

Phil Hartman was a graphic artist who designed over 40 album covers.

[President Johnny Gentle]

Alan Page was a Hall of Fame defensive lineman for the Vikings and has been an associate justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court for almost 20 years.

[kunilou]

Mayim Bialik has a PhD. in neourobiology, as does the character she plays, Amy Farrah Fowler.

[Mewl Dear]

Dexter Holland from Offspring has some sort of doctorate

[Taomist]

Midnight Oil's frontman Peter Garrett has been actively involved in high-level Australian politics for some time now, furthering the activism he was promoting with the band.

Also, Viggo Mortensen is apparantly a fairly accomplished poet, composer and artist.

[John Mace]

It's not widely known, but Arnold Schwartzenegger was governor of CA.

Oh, and Kris Kristofferson was a Rhodes Scholar.

[Biggirl]

Kinda of a reversi- The host of Science Channel's Wonders of the Solar System and Wonders of the Universe, physicist Brian Cox (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Cox_%28physicist%29) used to be in the band D: REAM. A pop/synth band. They did Things Can Only Get Better.

[Evil Captor]

Jack Larson, who played Jimmy Olsen in the old Adventures of Superman serial, started out as a classical composer in college. (http://www.sonofsuperman.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21:jack-larson-jimmy-olsen-in-the-tv-series-adventures-of-superman&catid=1:bio&Itemid=2)

[salinqmind]

Danica McKellar is a mathematician.

[RickJay]

Danica McKellar is a mathematician.
I don't believe Ms. McKellar has actually done work in mathematics beyond her undergraduate degree, and since then she's mostly acted, so it's not really accurate to call her a "mathematician."

She is largely famous in that regard not for her work in mathematics, but for writing books aimed at young girls to encourage them to not be intimidated by mathematics, which is a noble pursuit indeed.

[Evil Captor]

Peter Weller is an adjunct professor at Syracuse University and a graduate student in art history at UCLA. I'm not sure if adjunct professor has any real significance academically or not ... could be an "Elvis" style black belt in karate equivalent if you know what I mean ... but he does seem to have a real interest in and knowledge of the topic. Does a lot of History Channel stuff. From his wiki:

Weller is a contributor to the History Channel in several productions, credited as "Peter Weller, Syracuse University," where he is an adjunct faculty member. He is a graduate student in art history at UCLA, focusing on the Italian Renaissance. Weller also hosts the series Engineering an Empire for the network.

[MPB in Salt Lake]

Andy Dick has passed out drunk and wett the bedd in various hotel rooms located in all 50 states, as well as both Guam and the US Virgin Islands.

[wedgehed]

Andy Dick has passed out drunk and wett the bedd in various hotel rooms located in all 50 states, as well as both Guam and the US Virgin Islands.

He also holds the record for the number of motel ice machines he's taken a dump in.

[dropzone]

Doesn't really count, since he left the band before their big hit because he was too young to play in bars, but the first drummer for The Ventures, George Babbitt, softened the blow by becoming USAF (4-star) General George T. Babbitt, Jr. Same rank as Washington and Grant, but in a better service. ;)

And outranking Maj Gen Stewart (got his second star on retirement) and Brig Gen McMahon.

[Wendell Wagner]

Evil Captor, an adjunct professor is someone who occasionally teaches courses at a university but isn't paid a yearly salary. He is paid for each course. He generally has another job (usually one related to the field that he is teaching):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professor

A typical example might be an engineer with a Ph.D. who runs his own consulting firm and who teaches one course a year at a university.

[Little Nemo]

Andy Dick has passed out drunk and wett the bedd in various hotel rooms located in all 50 states, as well as both Guam and the US Virgin Islands.He also holds the record for the number of motel ice machines he's taken a dump in.But get this. Did you know that back before he became famous for being a complete asshole, Andy Dick used to appear in a popular television series?

[Namkcalb]

Christopher Lee was in the special forces/esponiage unit SOE during the second world war. His experiences formed the basis of the James Bond character his cousin, Fleming wrote about.

[Harvey The Heavy]

Christopher Lee was in the special forces/esponiage unit SOE during the second world war. His experiences formed the basis of the James Bond character his cousin, Fleming wrote about.

Also, wasn't Julia Child some kind of master spy in WWII?

[Wendell Wagner]

Come on, people, let's not exaggerate. There is no reason to think that Christopher Lee was the model for James Bond, the character created by his step-cousin Ian Fleming:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bond

Fleming never indicated that any particular person was the model. There are a number of other people that could equally well be some part of the inspiration for Bond, and there's no reason to think that Fleming even wanted Bond to be like any one particular person. Furthermore, Fleming was himself part of British intelligence services during World War II:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Fleming

Similarly, although Julia Child was part of American intelligence services during World War II, she wasn't a "master spy":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Child

[RTFirefly]

In the thread about actors aging gracefully, I suggested Paul Newman as an actor who aged extremely well. But that reminded me about another thing regarding Newman - he was a great race car driver. Not just 'great for a Hollywood guy', but great, period. He also created the quite successful Newman's Own food company.

[ErinPuff]

Hedy Lamarr - inventing the first spread-spectrum transmission technology

She worked on this with the composer George Antheil.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

From the OP:

So I'm thinking mostly of actors who achieved great things after being actors first.

Posts that ignored this instruction:

#4, 10, 12, 23, 32, and 33.


mmm

[astorian]

Scott "Santini" Powell of Sha Na Na graduated from medical school and is now an orthopedic surgeon.

Michael Crichton and Monty Python's Graham Chapman also graduated from medical school, though they never actually worked as doctors.

[Spoke]

Harrison Ford is a volunteer helicopter rescue pilot. Example (http://www.helis.com/news/2000/harrford.htm).

[pravnik]

James Franco. From wikipedia:

Dissatisfied with his career's direction,[1] Franco reenrolled at UCLA in the fall of 2006 as an English major with a creative writing concentration. He received permission to take as many as 62 course credits per quarter compared to the normal limit of 19,[95] while still continuing to act. He received his undergraduate degree in June 2008 with a GPA over 3.5.[95][1][96] For his degree, Franco prepared his departmental honors thesis as a novel under the supervision of Mona Simpson.[1][97] While at the university, the actor studied French, the Holocaust, philosophy of science, and American literature among other things. To continue acting, he would study on film sets.[11]

He was selected as the commencement speaker at his alma mater, UCLA, and was to speak at the ceremony on June 12, 2009. On June 3, however, a press release announced Franco's cancellation due to a scheduling conflict, making it the second cancellation in a row, after commencement speaker Bill Clinton had canceled the appearance.[98] On January 26, 2011, Franco and the Harvard Lampoon released a satirical video on prominent comedy website Funny or Die mocking his last-minute cancellation.[99]

He moved to New York to simultaneously attend graduate school at Columbia University's MFA writing program, New York University's Tisch School of the Arts for filmmaking (NYU),[91][100][101][102] and Brooklyn College for fiction writing,[95] while occasionally commuting to North Carolina's Warren Wilson College for poetry.[1] He received his MFA from Columbia in 2010.[103] Franco is a PhD student in English at Yale University[104] and will also attend the Rhode Island School of Design.[1] The actor opted against watching the 2011 Academy Award nominees be announced (where he was a top contender) in favor of attending class. "I’m not gonna miss class to go and presume that I’m going to be nominated, but if you want to bring out a camera crew to Yale and wait and see if I get nominated, I’d be happy to step out of class and say I’m very grateful", he commented.[105]

He has been accepted to the University of Houston for the doctoral (PhD) program in literature and creative writing and plans to enroll in fall 2012. Franco—who was one of 20 people to be selected out of 400 applicants—originally planned to enroll for fall 2011, but has asked to defer for a year.[106] Having previously shown a desire to teach, in March 2011, it was announced that Franco will teach a fall semester course on modifying poetry into short films to ten to twelve third-year graduate film students at NYU. The course will focus mainly on production, meaning that the students will be in charge of creating their own film based on poetry. At the time of the announcement the actor had yet to put together a syllabus, but has until the summertime to do so.[107]

[panache45]

The actress Melina Mercouri became a very successful member of the Greek parliament, including being the first female Minister for Culture.

(Hopefully she didn't play a role in the long-term economic stability of the country.)

[Biggirl]

Shirley Temple Black (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Temple_Black) was the US Representative to the 24th General Assembly of the United Nations, United States Ambassador to Ghana and the first female Chief of Protocol of the United States. And as of 1990, still pretty adorable looking.

[Evil Captor]

From the OP:
I'd also leave out achievements that are made easier because of fame, such as Arnie becoming governor or Reagan becoming President. I'm thinking more along the lines of achievements in sports, or art, or science.

Arguably, this includes Shirley Temple Black, Arnie, Shirley Temple Black, and maybe my nominee Jack Larson. Well, composing classical music is hard to do, period, so maybe fame doesn't help there. But he did it BEFORE he was an actor, so I guess that does not count as evidence that Larson aged gracefully.

[Biggirl]

From the OP:


Arguably, this includes Shirley Temple Black, Arnie, Shirley Temple Black, and maybe my nominee Jack Larson. Well, composing classical music is hard to do, period, so maybe fame doesn't help there. But he did it BEFORE he was an actor, so I guess that does not count as evidence that Larson aged gracefully.



You said Shirley Temple Black twice. You like Shirley Temple Black.

[dropzone]

I've seen many of her films and Shirley Temple is white. Bill Robinson is black.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjCFYpWDmfM

Happy to clear that up.

[Baron Greenback]

Christopher Lee was in the special forces/esponiage unit SOE during the second world war.

David Niven was in some sort of Commando comms unit during the war, as well as making a couple of propaganda films. He had been a regular in the Army before going to Hollywood, where he had some success. When the war broke out he re-enlisted and moved back to Britain.

[Evil Captor]

I've seen many of her films and Shirley Temple is white. Bill Robinson is black.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjCFYpWDmfM

Happy to clear that up.

I think Biggirl was just saying I would PREFER that Shirley Temple was black, and yes, I WOULD prefer that, but that has nothing to do with Bill Robinson!

[ElvisL1ves]

She worked on this with the composer George Antheil.But the idea really probably came from her ex-husband, an arms manufacturer.

Witali and Wladimir Klitschko, brothers who have both held world heavyweight boxing titles, are also both PhD's in physical education.

Eddie Albert invented the drinking-duck toy.

[ZipperJJ]

A lot of guys left baseball for a stint in a war then came back to play more baseball. Most notable was Bob Feller who kicked ass playing baseball, went to WWII and kicked some ass there, then came back to kick more ass at baseball and then visit the Indians Fantasy Camp every summer and say angry things about "baseball today" on the radio until he died last year.

Here's a list of all the MLB military veterans (http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Category:Veterans) if you are so inclined.

[Alessan]

Most notable was Bob Feller who kicked ass playing baseball, went to WWII and kicked some ass there, then came back to kick more ass at baseball and then visit the Indians Fantasy Camp every summer and say angry things about "baseball today" on the radio until he died last year.
.

Not as notable as Moe Berg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moe_Berg)- catcher, lawyer, and spy.

[Argent Towers]

In addition to the bodybuilding, acting and politics, Arnold Schwarzenegger is a pretty competent violinist and can be seen playing bluegrass fiddle in Stay Hungry. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoYkug89aK4)

Back in the early 1980s Ricky Gervais was the frontman of a new-wave band called Seona Dancing, who had a surprisingly listenable hit, Bitter Heart. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXhSqmfRTfY)

[Ms Boods]

I could have sworn I read that Peter Quaife (bassist for the Kinks) went on to become an astronomy professor, but his Wikipedia entry doesn't say anything about it. Maybe he was just an amateur astronomy enthusiast. I'm pretty sure I once saw a photo of him posing with a telescope.

He wasn't a professor, but he did have some success publishing -- he drew a number of cartoons that ended up in a book called The Lighter Side of Dialysis (he was an accomplished artist), and he published fiction (posthumously) -- Veritas Part 1 came out earlier this year, and its sequel will be published this autumn.

[Bakhesh]

Kinda of a reversi- The host of Science Channel's Wonders of the Solar System and Wonders of the Universe, physicist Brian Cox (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Cox_%28physicist%29) used to be in the band D: REAM. A pop/synth band. They did Things Can Only Get Better.

Ironically, according to the law of entropy, things won't

[Max Torque]

Must it be actors? Author Roald Dahl helped develop a medical shunt designed to (I believe, I'm not a doctor) relieve pressure in the brains of patients with hydrocephalus. The valve in the shunt is called the Wade-Dahl-Till valve. Dahl was an established author by the time the valve was developed, but he hadn't written many of his major works yet. It looks like James and the Giant Peach had just come out the year before, though.

[astorian]

In 1954, the most famous athlete in the world was Roger Bannister, the first man to run a 4 minute mile.

Most of the outside world never heard of him again, but Bannister completed his medical studies and was one of England's most respected neurologists for decades afterward.

If there's any justice, he'll be the man to light the torch at the London Olympics next year. I mean, who has ever better represented the old-fashioned virtues of British amateur athletics?

[Simplicio]

Creed from the Office used to be Creed, the lead guitarist for 60's rock group "The Grass Roots". IIRC, the show has hinted a few times that Creed on the show is either supposed to be Creed from the rock band, or stole his identity.

ETA: and on rereading the OP, Creed doesn't count since he wasn't an actor first. Ah well.

[Sam Stone]

There are a lot of good examples here, but also a few that missed the requirement in the OP: I was specifically thinking of actors who accomplished something in another field after they became successful actors. I'd apply that to musicians and other celebrities, too.

I think there's something particularly interesting about people who are already rich and famous for some achievement in the arts who then turn around and demonstrate that they have other extraordinary abilities, or who give up the wealth and fame to achieve something in another area. But it could also be a transition from one art to another - an actor who becomes a great painter, for example.

So Jimmy Stewart counts, because he was a big Hollywood star before he went on to be a distinguished aviator. But Ed McMahon probably doesn't, because he was already successful in the military before he went into show business.

On of the reasons for the distinction is to eliminate those people who make it big in show business primarily because they became famous for their other achievements - making the show biz part somewhat irrelevant. Audie Murphy was the most decorated soldier of WWII, and he also had a career in Hollywood. But his career in Hollywood was a direct result of his achievements in WWII, so it's not quite the same thing as someone who does it the other way around. The same applies to former bodybuilders, wrestlers, Olympians, models, and other people who achieve fame and use that to launch them into acting.

[Crawlspace]

There have been a few celebrities who have gone on to become musicians, but it's difficult to tell how much of their musical success is due to their celebrity status. Two come to mind as having become legitimately well respected in their field.

Steve Martin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Martin#Music) has won two Grammys for bluegrass and has collaborated with the likes of Earl Skruggs. He's also a pretty well respected artist and writer.

Former NY Yankee center fielder Bernie Williams (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Williams#Music_career) is currently touring as a Classical-Jazz guitarist, has 2 albums that cracked the top 5 on the US Jazz charts, was nominated for a Latin Grammy, and has collaborated with Bela Fleck and Bruce Springsteen among others.

Both of them seem pretty dedicated to their music and not at all trying to make a cheap buck off their other successes.

But speaking of absurd celebrity musicians, isn't Shaquille O'Neal a sworn reserve Police Officer in LA and Miami.

[Morbo]

Tommy Rettig, the kid in the TV show Lassie, went on in later years to become a rather well-respected database programmer for Ashton-Tate.

[Maserschmidt]

Come on, people, let's not exaggerate. There is no reason to think that Christopher Lee was the model for James Bond, the character created by his step-cousin Ian Fleming:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bond

Fleming never indicated that any particular person was the model. There are a number of other people that could equally well be some part of the inspiration for Bond, and there's no reason to think that Fleming even wanted Bond to be like any one particular person. Furthermore, Fleming was himself part of British intelligence services during World War II:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Fleming

Similarly, although Julia Child was part of American intelligence services during World War II, she wasn't a "master spy":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Child

Oh sure, if you want to ground us in reality a bit... I might as well point out that as much as Brian May gets publicity for the astrophysics, it's not clear that he's a "respected astrophysicist" given it took him 40 years to finish his PhD and isn't doing any practical work as far as I can tell. I mean mad propz to the degree and such, but come on...

[Pazu]

I don't believe Ms. McKellar has actually done work in mathematics beyond her undergraduate degree, and since then she's mostly acted, so it's not really accurate to call her a "mathematician."

She is largely famous in that regard not for her work in mathematics, but for writing books aimed at young girls to encourage them to not be intimidated by mathematics, which is a noble pursuit indeed.

Well, she does have a theorem named after her (in part) (http://terrytao.wordpress.com/2007/08/20/math-doesnt-suck-and-the-chayes-mckellar-winn-theorem/), based on work she did as an undergraduate, so I give her a lot of credit for that.

[The_Peyote_Coyote]

Ted Williams was a Hall of Fame baseball player who compiled excellent combat records in both WW2 and the Korean War

[Jeff Lichtman]

Ted Williams was a Hall of Fame baseball player who compiled excellent combat records in both WW2 and the Korean War

He also became one of the world's leading experts on fly fishing.

[Evil Captor]

Hey, Omar Sharif fills the bill. Left acting pretty much to become a top bridge expert. I don't know to what extent his fame helped, I'm sure it opened doors, but as I understand it, bridge can be a very complex game at the top levels of play.

(No mention will be made of Mickey Roarke's boxing career.)

[Eve]

Silent movie actress and Ziegfeld Girl Justine Johnstone later became a pathologist and part of the team that developed the modern intravenous drip technique.

(I have always been suspicious of the Hedy Lamarr story, by the way, as she never before or after showed any signs of scientific interest--my theory is that the real inventor thought it would be super-cool to have a movie star's name on his patent).

[Namkcalb]

I forgot one. The highly trained and experinced teacher to special needs kids, Ron Jeremy used to have a mammoth film career.

[Biggirl]

Holy crap! It's Eve!

[Sam Stone]

(I have always been suspicious of the Hedy Lamarr story, by the way, as she never before or after showed any signs of scientific interest--my theory is that the real inventor thought it would be super-cool to have a movie star's name on his patent).

I always had the same suspicions, but reading about the invention it sounds more the guy who invented the actual device (for a completely different use) may have gotten the idea for submitting the idea as a cryptography device by Lamarr, and in return she got co-inventing credit.

[Wendell Wagner]

While the story of Hedy Lamarr inventing frequency hopping (which is an early form of a more general technique called spread spectrum) is true, it's usually told in such a way to make her contribution sound more interesting and more unique than is really the case. First, here's a description of her life:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr

And here's a description of frequency hopping:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_hopping

There's no doubt that she was extremely intelligent, but she had no particular education in anything that is relevant to frequency hopping. Through her first husband, a arms manufacturer in Germany in the 1930's, she was told about a problem that designers of torpedoes had. They wanted the ship that launched the torpedo is be able to communicate with it so that if the target tried to evade the torpedo, the ship could signal it by radio to change its course so that it could still hit the target. The problem was that the target could jam the frequency that the ship used to communicate with the torpedo.

A decade later, while Hedy was acting in Hollywood (and married to her second husband), she was talking to the composer George Antheil. Antheil composed both film scores and avant garde music. Some of his avant garde music used multiple player pianos designed to automatically play parts of the musical piece. Antheil was playing for her on a ordinary piano a song where the notes jumped around a lot. She commented that if it was possible for a radio to jump around in frequency in the same way, it would be useful to communicate from ship to torpedo this way since it would make it difficult to jam a transmission, because it would be necessary to jam all of the frequencies. This was her entire contribution to the technology of frequency hopping.

Antheil then designed a machine that used player piano rolls to control the frequency a radio used so that the transmissions would jump around between 88 different frequencies (88 because that was the number of piano notes). Lamarr and Antheil got a patent for this idea. The notion of mechanically controlling the change of frequency was simply unworkable at the time though. After the patent had expired, other researchers independently rediscovered the idea. They were able to electronically control the change of frequency, which was workable, and it soon became a common idea in radio transmission. Later it was generalized into the even more common idea of spread spectrum.

Frequency hopping was actually discovered independently by various people, both before Lamarr and Antheil and after them. So it's not as if the idea was something that only Lamarr could come up with. She was also not responsible for the generalization of the idea into spread spectrum. Still, she did come with one great idea.

[TreacherousCretin]

While the story of Hedy Lamarr inventing frequency hopping (which is an early form of a more general technique called spread spectrum) is true, it's usually told in such a way to make her contribution sound more interesting and more unique than is really the case. First, here's a description of her life:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr

And here's a description of frequency hopping:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_hopping

There's no doubt that she was extremely intelligent, but she had no particular education in anything that is relevant to frequency hopping. Through her first husband, a arms manufacturer in Germany in the 1930's, she was told about a problem that designers of torpedoes had. They wanted the ship that launched the torpedo is be able to communicate with it so that if the target tried to evade the torpedo, the ship could signal it by radio to change its course so that it could still hit the target. The problem was that the target could jam the frequency that the ship used to communicate with the torpedo.

A decade later, while Hedy was acting in Hollywood (and married to her second husband), she was talking to the composer George Antheil. Antheil composed both film scores and avant garde music. Some of his avant garde music used multiple player pianos designed to automatically play parts of the musical piece. Antheil was playing for her on a ordinary piano a song where the notes jumped around a lot. She commented that if it was possible for a radio to jump around in frequency in the same way, it would be useful to communicate from ship to torpedo this way since it would make it difficult to jam a transmission, because it would be necessary to jam all of the frequencies. This was her entire contribution to the technology of frequency hopping.

Antheil then designed a machine that used player piano rolls to control the frequency a radio used so that the transmissions would jump around between 88 different frequencies (88 because that was the number of piano notes). Lamarr and Antheil got a patent for this idea. The notion of mechanically controlling the change of frequency was simply unworkable at the time though. After the patent had expired, other researchers independently rediscovered the idea. They were able to electronically control the change of frequency, which was workable, and it soon became a common idea in radio transmission. Later it was generalized into the even more common idea of spread spectrum.

Frequency hopping was actually discovered independently by various people, both before Lamarr and Antheil and after them. So it's not as if the idea was something that only Lamarr could come up with. She was also not responsible for the generalization of the idea into spread spectrum. Still, she did come with one great idea.

Thanks for posting this. Very interesting.

..

[Satchmo]

Holy crap! It's Eve!

Get with the program! She's been back almost two days now.
;)

We were all very surprised and pleased to hear from Eve again.
Careful, don't scare her away. Maybe she'll post some more.

[bup]

O.J. Simpson wrote a book about crime.

[pesch]

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. served notably during World War II by helping create a commando program (inspired by a similar British program).

He not only helped form the program, he went on raids along the Italian coast, attacking shipping, capturing German soldiers and destroying radar units. Sometimes, he was accompanied by a war correspondent who repeatedly bent the rules by carrying a weapon along, which opened him to execution if he was captured.

But John Steinbeck was willing to take the risk.

[Levolor the Blind]

Carlo Pedersoli, aka Bud Spencer, was an Olympic Swimmer, earned a law degree, and learned to pilot jets and helicopters.

[JKellyMap]

This one is a tad weak, but I think it counts: Maynard James Keenan has largely given up loud-musical-group front-manning (e.g., Tool) for supposedly fine-winemaking (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maynard_James_Keenan). Okay, so winemaking isn't rocket science; and, his rock music money, and perhaps to some degree his fame, helped him to break into the business. But he is serious about it, seriously involved, and the wines are good (I've tried 'em).

[PoorYorick]

Not really famous, but Tommy Casanova (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Casanova) (what a great name) played as safety for the Cincinnati Bengals from 1972 to 1977, and was selected for the Pro Bowl for four of those years. What makes him exceptional, though, was that he attended medical school while playing professional football!

He retired in 1977 to pursue his degree full time is now a respected oculoplastic surgeon.

Man, what a great line to pick up chicks in a bar, "Yeah, I'm a pro football player. And a med student."

[Mr. Excellent]

Holy crap! It's Eve!

I think this should be a new Dope meme - the obligatory response whenever Eve posts. :D

[salinqmind]

In addition to Bear Grylls' ridiculously long list of adventursome achievements, he has a degree in, of all things, Hispanic Studies. And has been appointed Chief Scout of the U.K. (I imagine similar to somebody being appointed Head of the Boy and/or Girl Scouts here).

[adhemar]

could be an "Elvis" style black belt in karate equivalent if you know what I mean

Can you explain this further? Are you saying that his black belt was not earned or that that the style was lacking or what exactly?

I am not personally a big Elvis fan but I know the instructor Elvis studied under and I know people who studied Tae kwan do with Elvis. PaSaRyu Korean style under Master Kang Rhee is very much a real style fo Tae kwan do and from what I heard from people who were training in Memphis with and at the same time with Elvis, he legitmatly earned his black belt. I trained with the same instructor although many years later so I will admit I have bias in this matter.

You of course have the right to believe whatever you would like but I would like to know what you are basing this belief on.

Ms Firebird
purple belt
PaSaRyu Ta Kwon do

[Max the Immortal]

James Franco. From wikipedia:<snip>

See, that just tells me that arts majors have a really light workload.

*Ducks and runs*

[I_Know_Nothing]

Brian May, Queen guitarist, earned a PhD in astrophysics and is now Chancelor of Liverpool John Moores University(24 thousand students). Coauthor of Bang: The Entire History of the Universe.

[Biggirl]

Brian May, Queen guitarist, earned a PhD in astrophysics and is now Chancelor of Liverpool John Moores University(24 thousand students). Coauthor of Bang: The Entire History of the Universe.

Brian Cox, keyboardist for the synth-pop band D:REAM went on to become a physicist who was also known for reading threads before posting.

[Askance]

I've seen many of her films and Shirley Temple is white. Bill Robinson is black.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjCFYpWDmfM

Happy to clear that up.

I think Biggirl was just saying I would PREFER that Shirley Temple was black, and yes, I WOULD prefer that, but that has nothing to do with Bill Robinson!
Bill "Mr Bo Jangles" Robinson held the world record for the 100 yard sprint. That is, the 100 yard backward sprint (http://www.recordholders.org/en/list/backwards-running.html), for 47 years.

[Biggirl]

I've seen many of her films and Shirley Temple is white. Bill Robinson is black.



Not black like Barry White, no white like Frank Black is.






A prize of an invisible box of nothing for anyone who knows where that comes from.

[Steken]

Not black like Barry White, no white like Frank Black is.






A prize of an invisible box of nothing for anyone who knows where that comes from.

That song. By that band.

From way back in the day.

[johnpost]

musician and comedic members of Riders in the Sky

Paul Chrisman (Woody Paul) PhD in Physics
Frederick LaBour (Too Slim) Masters in Wildlife Management
Douglas B. Green (Ranger Doug) Masters in Literature and is a music historian