French silent film comic Max Linder was already a huge star when WWI broke out; he enlisted and was wounded three times (he never recovered his physical or mental health and killed himself in 1925).
Actor and dancer Vernon Castle won the Croix de Guerre for his work on the French front lines, and was killed in a training flight in 1918.
Michael Caine was not in WW2. Scroll up.
Let me stir up a small hornet’s nest…
These lists make me wonder how many big Hollywood actors of today would go an enlist in a time of national crisis…?
Josephine Baker , the cabaret star and film actor, was decorated by the French government for being in the French Resistance and as an ambulance driver in France during the occupation and for her work among refugees at the end of the war.
More corrections.:-
Richard Burton was an RAF navigator from 1944 til 1947 and not in the Marines . Michael Caine was not in the navy but served in the army in Korea and Germany in the early 50’s.
Wasn’t Charlton Heston a pilot?
Other actresses decorated for their war work were Anna Held (WWI), Magda Gabor and Carole Lombard (WWII).
. . . Oh, and Marlene Dietrich, of course! How could I have forgotten her?!
Legend has it that Clark Gable was Adolf Hitler’s favorite American actor, and offered a hefty reward to anyone who captured Gable alive during the war.
Was she lucky enough to get it during the war, or did she only get it a few years ago when they mentioned that she was responsible for a lot of ground breaking mathematics (I think she’s the actress that did that) which helped in codebreaking or something similar?
Tuckerfan, maybe you’re thinking of Hedy Lamarr, who is credited with the “frequency-shifting” method whereby guided torpedoes and missiles elude enemy jamming attempts.
Eve, what did Carole Lombard do during the ware, apart from USO appearances? Didn’t she die in 1943 when a USO plane crashed?
Oooh! I just remembered! My grandfather was telling us at Thanksgiving about a guy who was in the Air Force with him, who saw Tyrone Powers in the showers! Heh!
You’re right, that is who I’m thinking of. Tesla had done some pioneering work in that field, supposedly. Anybody know if she based her work on his?
Carole Lombard was killed in a plane crash. They later made a movie about it, with Clark Gable playing himself, IIRC.
And, DirkGntly, that’s a good question. I think the answer’s zero, since I don’t believe that any of the present crop of actors enlisted immediately after 9/11.
Carole Lombard was awarded her medal posthumously, as she was indeed killed (in early 1942) during a fund-raising trip. That movie Tuckerfan is thinking of was Gable & Lombard, with James “Mr. Streisand” Brolin as Gable . . .
Marlene was given her medal after the war—I don’t remember what medal it was, but something very high indeed from the French gov’t.
Marcel Marceau, everyone’s favorite CMSM mime and occasional film actor, was active in the French Resistence during WWII, along with his brother, Alain. He also later served in the Free French Army.
Just remembered: Dolores, a famous Ziegfeld Follies girl of the 1920s, was also in the French Resistance in WWII.
And also Edith Piaf did work for the French Resistance
I recently finished a biography of Bogart (my favorite actor) and it doesn’t mention anything about a war wound causing his speech impediment (in fact, I don’t recall that he served in the military at all).
Totally different situation. A massive army simply wasn’t necessary. WWII was a clash of empires, the current conflicts are a clash between an empire and small scattered groups of enemies, sometimes with and sometimes without government backing. It’s not fair to claim World War II standards to the Afghanistan conflict.
For one thing, if they had, they probably wouldn’t even have been deployed until well after the Taliban fell. Not to belittle the actions of our servicemen, but huge volumes of troops was simply not necessary this time around.
I did a bio on Bogart in college. Many stories indicated he received the injury to his lip during service in WWI while acting as an MP. On variation on this was that a prisoner who was handcuffed in front tried to make a break for it and smashed Bogart across the face with the cuffs.
I don’t know that a definitive statement on how he acquired his condition was ever verified, however. The studios doctored the story several times in order to pump up Bogart’s appeal (not that it needed a lot of help).