Celebrities With Master Degrees Or More

[Markxxx]

I was reading a mini bio on Agnes Moorehead has a Master's Degree in English and Public Speaking.

Of course Mayim "Blossom" Bialik has a Phd in Neuroscience.

Anyway I got to thinking, what celebrities have earned "Master Degrees" or "Phds"?

[joebuck20]

I believe Bill Cosby has a doctorate in education.

[silenus]

Robert Vaughn has a PhD in Communications.

David Duchovny has a Masters in English Lit, with an unfinished PhD.

[campp]

Doesn't Brian May of Queen have a mathematics degree?

[kenobi 65]

Originally Posted by campp

Doesn't Brian May of Queen have a mathematics degree?

PhD in astrophysics, actually. He'd left off his studies in the 1970s, when Queen hit it big, but returned to science in recent years, and got the doctorate a few years ago. In addition to still recording and touring, he's now the chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University.

[Spatial Rift 47]

Former Queen guitarist Brian May abandoned his PhD in astrophysics when the band hit it big. He went back and finished it decades later, officially earning his PhD from Imperial College London in 2007.

EDIT: Scooped! Should learn to post faster.

[Sigmagirl]

Phil Alvin of The Blasters has a Ph.D. in mathematics and artificial intelligence from UCLA.

Cowboy band Riders in the Sky, who provide the music for the Toy Story movies, call themselves "the most needlessly overeducated act in show business." Fiddler Woody Paul has a Ph.D. in in theoretical plasma physics from MIT; guitarist and singer "Ranger Doug" Green has a master's degree in literature from Vanderbilt, and bassist "Too Slim" has a master's degree in wildlife management from the University of Michigan. Only accordionist Joey "The Cowpolka King" Miskulin has no degree, but touring with Frankie Yankovic must count for something.

[Paul in Qatar]

Marrion Barry, sometimes mayor of Washington DC is ABD for his PhD in Mathematics.

[Bijou Drains]

Actor Ken Jeong is a medical doctor

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

Baseball manager Tony LaRussa has a law degree.

[astorian]

I'm sort of fascinated by people with advanced degrees who are perceived as dumb. Among them:

Wrestler George "The Animal" Steele was a high school teacher and football coach for many years. He had a master's degree in Education.

Dolph Lundgren has a master's degree in Chemcal Engineering.

Porn star Ron Jeremy has a master's degree in Special Education.

[astorian]

Graham Chapman of Monty Python was a medical school graduate. Though he never practiced medicine, he WAS able to prescribe medication for the many Life of Brian cast members who became sick while filming in Tunisia.

[Joey Tightlips]

Heavyweight boxing champs Vitali and Vladimir Klitschko both have Ph.D.s in Sports Science.

Also, Danica McKellar (formerly known as Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years, and currently known as my dream girl) deserves mention for having written numerous books trying to get girls involved in math. Her Wiki page doesn't specify an advanced degree in math but I'm making an exception for her.

[Bijou Drains]

Sportscaster Dick Enberg has a PhD in health sciences

[President Johnny Gentle]

Greg Graffin, singer for the band Bad Religion, has a zoology Ph.D. and has taught some classes in the biology dept. at UCLA.

[pravnik]

Originally Posted by Spatial Rift 47

Former Queen guitarist Brian May abandoned his PhD in astrophysics when the band hit it big. He went back and finished it decades later, officially earning his PhD from Imperial College London in 2007.

Everyone in Queen has (or had) at least a college degree: a First Class Honours Degree in electronics (Deacon), a Diploma in Art and Graphic Design (Mercury), a Biology Degree (Taylor), and a PhD in Astrophysics (May).

[Wendell Wagner]

Paul in Qatar writes:

> Marrion Barry, sometimes mayor of Washington DC is ABD for his PhD in
> Mathematics.

It's "Marion" and it's A.B.D. for his Ph.D. in chemistry.

Art Garfunkle has a master's degree in math.

Ron Silver had a master's degree in Chinese history.

[Sigmagirl]

Barret Hansen aka Dr. Demento has a master's degree in folklore and ethnomusicology from UCLA.

[pravnik]

Milo Aukerman, singer for the Descendants, has a PhD in biochemistry.

Peter Garrett, singer for Midnight Oil, is a lawyer.

MMA fighter and former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin has a master's in education.

[pravnik]

UFC fighter Terry Martin is working on a PhD in clinical psychology.

UFC fighter Jeff Monson has a master's degree in psychology.

[Flip Pancake]

Peter Weller is working on his PhD in Italian Renaissance art history.

Rowan Atkinson has a MSc in electrical engineering.

[gregorio]

Peter Weller has a Master's degree in Roman and Renaissance Art and working on a PhD.

In 1974 Ken Dryden returned to the nets for the Montreal Canadiens after his law articling.

[RealityChuck]

Harold Gould, a successful character actor, has a Ph.D. in theater.

Frank Ryan, the QB for the Cleveland Browns in the 1960s, had a Ph.D. in Mathematics.

Moe Berg, a backup catcher in the 1930s, held a law degree (and worked as a spy for the US government).

[JRDelirious]

Ashley Judd should be near finishing a Master's in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

[Valgard]

Tom and Ray Magliozzi (Click and Clack of NPR's "Car Talk") are both graduates of MIT. I'm not sure whether Ray has any advanced degrees but Tom has a PhD in Marketing.

Tom Scholz of the band Boston has a Master's in mechanical engineering from MIT.

[Dewey Finn]

Not sure if you want to consider only those with non-drama degrees, because Yale University has a very good drama program, only offering master's degrees. Among its graduates are Patricia Clarkson, Charles Dutton, Henry Winkler, Paul Giamatti, Meryl Streep, Liev Shreiber, Chris Noth, Paul Newman, and a bunch of others. So all of those have at least master's degrees.

[Exapno Mapcase]

Sheila James, my childhood crush as the brainy Zelda on Dobie Gillis, graduated first in her class at Harvard Law. Isaac Lidsky of Saved By the Bell also graduated from there.

Other actors with law degees include William Sanderson, Taylor Simpson-Wood, Josh Saviano, and Fred Thompson.

[Dewey Finn]

Charlie Korsmo, who was the kid in Dick Tracy and was also in Can't Hardly Wait, received a law degree from Yale Law School, as did Ben Stein and Pat Robertson.

[Flip Pancake]

James Franco has an MFA in Writing, and will be starting on his PhD in English at Yale.

[Little Nemo]

Graham Chapman had a medical degree. In fact, I believe all of the members of Monty Python have degrees.

[aruvqan]

Originally Posted by astorian

Porn star Ron Jeremy has a master's degree in Special Education.

there has got to be an obscene joke in there somewhere

[ErinPuff]

Originally Posted by Sigmagirl

Barret Hansen aka Dr. Demento has a master's degree in folklore and ethnomusicology from UCLA.

I learned this a couple months ago when he did a lecture at UNC (where I'm a musicology student). There's a huge collection of American music here that used to be at UCLA, and he worked on cataloging it back in the 60s.

Rachel Maddow has a PhD in politics from Oxford.

Richard Vranch, the pianist on the original British version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, has a PhD in physics from Cambridge.

[pravnik]

Ilan Mitchell-Smith, Wyatt in "Weird Science," has a PhD in English and teaches at Cal State Long Beach.

[President Johnny Gentle]

Something I forgot about earlier - as long as we're including athletes, we should mention pro football Hall of Famer Alan Page, who has a JD, and has been an Associate Justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court since 1992. He actually selected the panel which heard the Franken-Coleman election dispute.

[kenobi 65]

Figure skater Debi Thomas (silver medalist at the 1988 Calgary Olympics) is now an orthopedic surgeon.

[It's Not Rocket Surgery!]

Former NFL QB Pat Haden is a Rhodes Scholar and also holds a J.D. from Loyola Law School.

[Sampiro]

Originally Posted by astorian

Graham Chapman of Monty Python was a medical school graduate.

His friend, sometime roommate (starting out and twixt divorces) fellow Python John Cleese was a law school graduate, and after the show Terry Jones attended and sometimes lectures in medieval history at Cambridge.

[fiddlesticks]

Another music guy, Dexter Holland of The Offspring has a Masters in Molecular Biology from USC and abandoned progress on his PhD after the band hit it big.

[Jet Jaguar]

Do cartoonists count as celebrities? Stephan Pastis (creator of Pearls Before Swine) was a lawyer before he became a syndicated cartoonist.

[tbook]

Dionne Warwick has a masters in Ed.

[MPB in Salt Lake]

Originally Posted by joebuck20

I believe Bill Cosby has a doctorate in education.

I am pretty sure that Bill Cosby's degree is only an honorary one, not an actual degree.

[Duke]

Joe Pernice of the Pernice Brothers has an MFA.

Anyone who reads his business manager's hilarious diary of "things Joe said to me" may think this actually stands for "Master of Fucking Argument".

[astorian]

If we're counting athletes, I can think of two very prominent athletes who became doctors.

Tenley Albright, who won the figure skating gold medal in the 1960 Winter Olympics, had a very successful medical career.

And of course, Roger Bannister (best known as the first man to run a mile in 4 minutes) had a lengthy career as a neurologist in England.

If there's any justice (and if he's in good health), Dr. Bannister should light the torch at the Olympics in London. Who's a better repesentative of British amateur athletics?

[Monstera deliciosa]

Originally Posted by MPB in Salt Lake

I am pretty sure that Bill Cosby's degree is only an honorary one, not an actual degree.

No. From Wikipedia

In 1976, Cosby earned a Doctor of Education degree from the University of Massachusetts. For his doctoral research, he wrote a dissertation entitled, "An Integration of the Visual Media Via 'Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids' Into the Elementary School Curriculum as a Teaching Aid and Vehicle to Achieve Increased Learning".

There have been accusations that the work he did to earn the degree was not as rigorous as that of other doctoral candidates, but it is a real degree.

[Dewey Finn]

Originally Posted by MPB in Salt Lake

I am pretty sure that Bill Cosby's degree is only an honorary one, not an actual degree.

No, he earned a doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts (although I'm sure he has honorary degrees as well).

[mozchron]

Originally Posted by Joey Tightlips

Also, Danica McKellar (formerly known as Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years, and currently known as my dream girl) deserves mention for having written numerous books trying to get girls involved in math. Her Wiki page doesn't specify an advanced degree in math but I'm making an exception for her.

Danica McKellar is one of the authors of the Chayes-McKellar-Winn theorem (1998, Journal of Physics A, 31:9055-9063) which she helped develop as an mathematics undergrad at UCLA.

[fiddlesticks]

Eric Heiden went on from his 5 gold medals in speed skating to be a serviceable pro bike racer (1986 U.S. national champ), then went on to become an orthopedic surgeon.

[MPB in Salt Lake]

My mistake on Bill Cosby. (was I possibly thinking of Bing Crosby?)

[kenobi 65]

John Michels was a first-round draft choice of the Packers in 1996. He made the all-rookie team as an offensive tackle, and played in Super Bowl XXXI for the Packers, but his career was cut short by a knee injury. He is now a radiologist.

[MrSquishy]

Originally Posted by mozchron

Danica McKellar is one of the authors of the Chayes-McKellar-Winn theorem (1998, Journal of Physics A, 31:9055-9063) which she helped develop as an mathematics undergrad at UCLA.

Which gives her a very low Erdős–Bacon number.

[Chronos]

Marrion Barry, sometimes mayor of Washington DC is ABD for his PhD in Mathematics.

The more usual abbreviation for "all but dissertation" is "M. S.". The only difference between a Master's and a Doctorate is the thesis.

And if we're going to include honorary degrees, then we would be remiss to omit Kermit T. Frog, Doctor of Amphibian Letters.