# Americans who became notable citizens of another country. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2003, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-who-became-notable-citizens-of-another-country/198770 "2003-08-31T05:28:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-who-became-notable-citizens-of-another-country/198770/41 "2003-09-02T03:18:22Z")
The late, much-mourned writer [Carol Shields](http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030717.wshield0717/BNStory/Entertainment/) was born in the U.S., married a Canadian academic who was studying there, and moved to Canada with him. By the time of her death last month, she had won the Governor-General’s prize for fiction, had published numerous novels, and was a companion of the Order of Canada, our highest civilian award. From the linked obit: > [@](#): > > Last October, when Ms. Shields was named a companion in the Order of Canada, the order’s highest honour, she said she found Canada a puzzling place when she arrived as a young bride from the United States in the mid-1950s. She said she could not understand Canadian jokes, politics or literature but that Canada slowly grew to be her home. > > “There were many years when I thought that Canada was the country I came to,” Ms. Shields said at the time. “I don’t know when it happened, what year or week or day, but very gradually it became the country I was from and proudly from.” ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-who-became-notable-citizens-of-another-country/198770/42 "2003-09-02T04:06:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scr4 \* > \*\*There are a few American “TV talents” in Japan, like Dave Spector, Kent Gilbert and Kent Derricott. (Actually I think one of them is Canadian but I forget which…) They speak fluent but accented Japanese, and get used as token foreigners in TV game shows and talk shows. They’re not Japanese citizens though. \*\* There are also former US citizens Chad Rowan, Fiamalu Penitani and Salevaa Atisano’e, better known now in Japan as sumo wrestlers Akebono, Musashimaru and Konishiki, who have all become Japanese citizens. Btw, I had no idea until now how Kent Derricott’s name was spelled, since I’ve only seen it in katakana. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-who-became-notable-citizens-of-another-country/198770/43 "2003-09-02T18:04:39Z")
T.S. Eliot, the poet from St. Louis, moved to the UK and became a citizen, thereby cancelling out the poet W.H. Auden’s move to the US. The scientist Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, grew up in Woburn, Massachusetts before moving to England. OK, well, it was still an English colony at the time. But then he moved to Munich and created the Englischer Garten for the court of Bavaria. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-who-became-notable-citizens-of-another-country/198770/44 "2003-09-03T05:45:39Z")
Yes, in fact Josephine Baker did become a French citizen in 1937. This was after she had tried to make it back in the United States as a performer with the Ziegfield Follies, but was disrespected because of her race. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-who-became-notable-citizens-of-another-country/198770/45 "2003-09-03T06:24:37Z")
I think that Princess Grace (Kelly) would certainly rank high on the list, though I’m presuming that marrying a head of state requires a change of citizenship. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wendell Wagner \* > \*\*I’ve been told that Mel Gibson never gave up his American citizenship. \*\* Anecdotal to be sure, but a close friend who has a hand in the processing of expedited passports reported handling those of all 8 members of the Gibson clan roughly 5 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-who-became-notable-citizens-of-another-country/198770/46 "2003-09-03T11:59:22Z")
TeaElle, I’m not sure if I’ve understood your post correctly. Does your friend who handled the Gibson passports work for the U.S., so that what you’re saying is that Gibson is indeed an American citizen? I was looking at your location to find out where you live, but I have no idea what “BTB, BPC, NYC” means. NYC is New York City, but what are BTB and BPC? ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-who-became-notable-citizens-of-another-country/198770/47 "2003-09-03T12:07:33Z")
Sorry, **Wendell Wagner** , I should have been more clear. Yes, my friend works for the U.S. and the passports which she handled for the Gibsons were U.S. passports. This would indicate to my satisfaction that Gibson does hold American citizenship, and his children do as well. Upon reflection, my friend did _not_ say that she had processed a passport for Gibson’s wife, who is AFAIK, Australian by birth and presumably by citizenship, too. For the record, BTB = Big Tall Building. BPC = Battery Park City. This is the first time anyone has asked in the 2 years I’ve been a member of the SDMB, two months before I move. Go figger. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JerH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@JerH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerH)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-who-became-notable-citizens-of-another-country/198770/48 "2003-09-03T16:11:52Z")
How about Terry Gilliam? I’m not sure if he ever took UK citizenship, but pretty much his entire professional life has been as a Briton. ---
**Author:** ![slipster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@slipster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slipster)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-who-became-notable-citizens-of-another-country/198770/49 "2003-09-04T23:14:46Z")
During World War II American poet Ezra Pound gained distinction as a radio commentator in Italy. Towards the end of Italy’s involvement in the war the government yanked him from the air, fearing that his rambling, confused, crazy-sounding commentaries were actually coded messages to the Allies. They overlooked that (1) anyone who tried to argue that Mussolini’s position was fair and rational was bound to sound crazy and (2) anyone who sincerely believed it–as Pound did–likely _was_ crazy. Pound spent his later years in the U. S. institutionalized. I don’t know if he was particularly well-known over there, but Hank Ketcham, the creator of Dennis the Menace, lived in Switzerland. Carl Foreman, screenwriter of **High Noon** , had a long and successful career as a movie writer in England after being blacklisted in Hollywood. When John Wayne went to Great Britain to shoot a film in the early 1970s, he immediately began flapping his mouth about how the country was harboring a dangerous Commie. Orson Welles got his start as an actor in Ireland, but I don’t know how much attention he got from his work with The Abbey Theater. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-who-became-notable-citizens-of-another-country/198770.md?page=2)