# Actors and Comedians turned "musicians" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 9, 2009, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-comedians-turned-musicians/492465 "2009-04-09T02:05:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-comedians-turned-musicians/492465/81 "2009-04-10T18:23:56Z")
I suppose it remains to be seen if Joaquin Phoenix will be a musical success. Anthony Steward Head, most noted as Giles from _Buffy: The Vampire Slayer_, started in musical theater and has put out an album, “Music for Elevators”. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-comedians-turned-musicians/492465/82 "2009-04-10T18:59:58Z")
Chris Jericho (the professional wrestler) has had some minor success with his band Fozzy (something). ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-comedians-turned-musicians/492465/83 "2009-04-10T20:04:59Z")
Rick Moranis is now mostly playing country music. Not sure how successfully, but he’s not doing much acting anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-comedians-turned-musicians/492465/84 "2009-04-10T21:31:45Z")
Hillary Duff of Lizzie Maguire fame seems to be doing fairly well as a pop singer (one of her recent videos, “Reach Out” is… interesting in a mildly NSFW kinda way:D) ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-comedians-turned-musicians/492465/85 "2009-04-10T21:58:15Z")
Hmmm… lots of actors… how about athletes? Wayman Tisdale had a huge college and pro basketball career, then became a rather successful jazz musician. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-comedians-turned-musicians/492465/86 "2009-04-13T00:22:46Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > John Barrowman, Captain Jack on _Doctor Who_ & _Torchwood_ is a fine example of your first group. The “Captain Jack Harkness” episode of _Torchwood_ featured a WWII style swing band; he took to the mike between scenes: [Anything Goes](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-3ZI280EaE). Barrowman can also be seen belting away as the blond Nazi singing “Springtime for Hitler” in the film musical version of _The Producers_. The Milla links didn’t do much for me, although the throat singing is impressive. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-comedians-turned-musicians/492465/87 "2009-04-13T01:34:20Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Hmmm… lots of actors… how about athletes? While still playing for the Rams, Deacon Jones tried a singing career in the late '60s. His backing band went on to become War. ---
**Author:** ![Jihi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jihi/32/17768_2.png) [@Jihi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jihi)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-comedians-turned-musicians/492465/88 "2009-04-13T05:04:00Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Chris Jericho (the professional wrestler) has had some minor success with his band Fozzy (something). It’s just Fozzy. And speaking as a rock and metal fan, I much prefer Chris’s in ring work. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-comedians-turned-musicians/492465/89 "2009-04-13T05:54:07Z")
> [@bup](#): > > _The Monkees_ tried their hand at music after they got the TV show. Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork were musicians of a sort (playing around with various bands, doing gigs and jams) before the show. Tork had a serious affiliation with Stephen Stills, IIRC. Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz were both child actors and had done musical theatre. So while they all may have changed their style of music, and were certainly playing for larger audiences than they’d previously had, it’s not fair to suggest that they weren’t musicians before the show. Similarly, the whole bunch from the “[Band from TV](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Band_from_TV)” are all people who became famous for acting/TV work but have been musicians all their lives, but aren’t “known” that way by the general public. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-comedians-turned-musicians/492465/90 "2009-04-13T06:05:26Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > John Barrowman, Captain Jack on _Doctor Who_ & _Torchwood_ is a fine example of your first group. The “Captain Jack Harkness” episode of _Torchwood_ featured a WWII style swing band; he took to the mike between scenes: [Anything Goes](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-3ZI280EaE). I wouldn’t say he was quite like that. He was already well established in musical theater before he became known for other stuff. He just wasn’t known in America. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-comedians-turned-musicians/492465/91 "2009-04-13T06:12:10Z")
And that’ll teach me to read both pages of a thread.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-comedians-turned-musicians/492465/92 "2009-04-13T12:08:17Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I wouldn’t say he was quite like that. He was already well established in musical theater before he became known for other stuff. He just wasn’t known in America. He was to musical theatre people. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-comedians-turned-musicians/492465/93 "2009-04-13T13:30:10Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > Jamie Foxx probably has some of the catchiest hip-hop songs out now. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Jw24LbeV-w](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Jw24LbeV-w) Jamie Blows me away. I had no idea when I watched his sitcom and thought “ho hum” how talented the guy was. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-comedians-turned-musicians/492465/94 "2009-04-13T13:32:53Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > [Dudley Moore](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudley_Moore) was well known as an actor and a superb musician throughout his career. Absolutely. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-comedians-turned-musicians/492465/95 "2009-04-13T13:35:49Z")
> [@LH75](#): > > I am pretty sure I heard that Kevin Costner was touring with a country band a little while ago. He played in town at the Grand ole Opry. I believe he wrote the songs. I saw some clips on the news. Songs and his vocals were both mediocre. Come to think of it Stephen Segal played in town also and his musicianship is just as good as his acting. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-comedians-turned-musicians/492465/96 "2009-04-13T14:35:11Z")
One of my favorites for the older folks is Ken Curtis who played the great character Festus on GunSmoke. How could you guess with that Fetus voice that the actor stared out as a singer, singing with Tommy Dorsey before being replaced by Frank Sinatra. He also sang with the Sons of the Pioneers a famous country vocal group. Here he is in Festus Garb singing [Tumbleweeds](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWR6FLnPack) Walter Brennan another old time fabulous character actor had a hit with “Old Rivers” although it was a recitation {early rap} Lorne Greene from Bonanza and BattleStar Galatica fame recorded a couple of country folk albums in the 60s and had a hit with the gunfighter recitation Ringo. He could actually sing. I remember seeing him doing a comedy musical number on some old variety show and being surprised and how good his voice was. Lotta resonant bass quality. Pernell Roberts who played Adam on Bonanza was also a singer and used to sing on the show. He did some recording but I don’t think it went anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-comedians-turned-musicians/492465/97 "2009-04-13T15:30:00Z")
Both Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby had “hits” in the 70s/60s. Both, as I remember them, were the, music, music, music, Cosby/Pryor’s voice, music, music, music, Cosby/Pryor’s voice, etc. Robert Duvall demonstrated some definite musical ability in the film “Tender Mercies” (I think that was the name of it) and as I remember, he toured with a couple of musicians to get his character right before the film. Didn’t Sly Stillone have his voice appear on the album of Dolly Parton’s “Rhinestone”. He definitely attempted to sing in the film. Speaking of attempting to sing, was there ever a cast recording of the musical film of Bert Reynolds’ “At Long Last Love?” Bert’s voice definitely appeared in the album of “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.” Jack Benny actually played his violin seriously a couple of times. I remember my parents being upset, but impressed at the same time, when they went to the Hollywood Bowl and listened to Benny play, and not tell jokes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-comedians-turned-musicians/492465.md?page=4)