# Best known accidentally-famous person **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 13, 2017, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547 "2017-05-13T18:15:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/81 "2017-05-14T19:58:21Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > No offense, but you really need to step away from the computer and join real life for a while. > [Molly Brown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Brown). She was rich, but largely unknown. I think I would win if it was head to head polling of people selected purely at random and you asked how many people who tell you who Stars Wars Kid was vs Anne Frank. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/82 "2017-05-14T19:59:53Z")
> [@Periwinkle](#): > > In the iconic image category, we also have the National Geographic “Afghan Girl with Green Eyes”. Few people know her name is Sharbat Gula, but her face is of course very famous. She is very well known but there is another one that beats her easily. [The identity of the subject in the Mona Lisa has now been verified to a high confidence level. She was Lisa del Giocondo, wife of a Florentine merchant.](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080115-AP-monalisa.html) Her real name has always been hiding in plain sight and billions of people are familiar with the image. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/83 "2017-05-14T20:05:42Z")
> [@astro](#): > > I think I would win if it was head to head polling of people selected purely at random and you asked how many people who tell you who Stars Wars Kid was vs Anne Frank. Google hits - 32 million vs 153 million. I’m not sure how to interpret that, or if it’s significant at all, but I was actually expecting it to be much closer, given that Star Wars kid _was_ an internet phenomenon. In any event when you say “purely at random”, do you mean a random sample from among your friends? Or among all of humanity? If the latter, I’d wager a very substantial amount that you’re wrong. Especially since that kid’s video is so old that a lot of _younger_ people may not know who he is. The advice to join real life was not misplaced! ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/84 "2017-05-14T20:06:26Z")
Christopher Columbus ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/85 "2017-05-14T20:11:23Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > …[The identity of the subject in the Mona Lisa has now been verified to a high confidence level. She was Lisa del Giocondo, wife of a Florentine merchant.](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080115-AP-monalisa.html) Her real name has always been hiding in plain sight and billions of people are familiar with the image. How does she qualify? Is the argument that her husband just ordered a portrait of his wife to hang over the fireplace, with no expectation that it would ever become well known? What was Leonardo’s reputation at the time? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/86 "2017-05-14T20:13:29Z")
> [@Telperion](#): > > Amerigo Vespucci > [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > Christopher Columbus Why? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/87 "2017-05-14T20:58:32Z")
This truly stretches the intent of the OP, but Archduke Ferdinand surely would be nearly unknown to history had that thing not happened to him. Now he is known everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/88 "2017-05-14T21:46:07Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > except most Chinese don’t even[know](http://www.zmescience.com/other/great-pics/tank-man-tiananmen-square/) about the event. > mc “The Tank man himself might be unaware of these photos.” The Tank man is unlikely to know of the photos because he is probably dead. The Chinese authorities did nothing to stop him when he stood in front of the tank because they knew there were many cameras watching the scene unfold in broad daylight. I can assure you that the crowds around Tiananmen Square that day were crawling with undercover police who witnessed the tank event. And when the individual stepped away from the line of tanks and eventually joined the crowds, he was followed and quickly arrested. He was never seen again and no one knows what happened to him. IMHO he was promptly executed. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/89 "2017-05-14T21:50:47Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > I think Mike got it in one. Lewinsky sure as hell never set out to be famous but got there in a hurry through a couple of poorly thought through decisions. And her infamy has lasted 20 years so far. “through a couple of poorly thought through decisions.” Are you saying that these “poorly thought out decisions” were made by Monica or President Bill Clinton? ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/90 "2017-05-14T22:19:26Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > So what? She’s famous for creating a work of art. Whether she had originally intended for other people to see it is immaterial. The premise of the thread is “people who became famous without any intent to enter the public sphere”, So I don’t see why it matters that she’s famous for what she created. She still had fame thrust upon her. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/91 "2017-05-14T22:34:43Z")
John and Lorena Bobbitt. The Lindbergh baby. Amanda Knox. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/92 "2017-05-14T23:09:57Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > About Jessica McClure, I remember those days and hours she was trapped. On the last day, Friday, I was working in a place with no radio or outside contact except for a phone. I was kind of anxious so I called the TV station to see if Jessica was out yet. The lady on the phone was nice, and checked for me saying that no, she wasn’t rescued yet. And then she told me it was nice to get a call from someone who cared about the kid, because a number of women had called to complain about TV updates interruppting their soap operas. To hell with a child in danger I guess. Oh, heck, people were doing that on 9/11. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/93 "2017-05-14T23:13:56Z")
> [@Periwinkle](#): > > In the iconic image category, we also have the National Geographic “Afghan Girl with Green Eyes”. Few people know her name is Sharbat Gula, but her face is of course very famous. Until NatGeo located her, she didn’t know she was famous either. She had never even heard of National Geographic, and only vaguely remembered having her picture taken - probably the only time this had ever been done in her life until that time. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/94 "2017-05-14T23:25:40Z")
I lost track — did anyone mention John and Lorena Bobbitt? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/95 "2017-05-14T23:43:25Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > How does she qualify? Is the argument that her husband just ordered a portrait of his wife to hang over the fireplace, with no expectation that it would ever become well known? What was Leonardo’s reputation at the time? The Mona Lisa is just an unassuming portrait of a wife of a merchant that wanted to impress her by commissioning a portrait. They didn’t have cameras back in those days. If you have never seen it in person (I have), the Mona Lisa is very small and indistinctive. You would probably just throw it away if someone gave it as a party favor. If it weren’t for all of the tourists elbowing to get an inferior camera shot of it, it would be unknown. Leonardo Da Vinci himself was an incredibly talented polymath but the Mona Lisa does not demonstrate that. It is just a painting that is for being famous and stolen for a few years in the early 20th century (cue Titanic nostalgia). There is no one that can explain why it is the most famous painting in the world. Look at it yourself in the Louvre if don’t believe me. Japanese and American tourists go into a mosh pits just to get a photo of it even though high-res images are available online and better pictures are right there in the gift shops. There are guards and infrastructure dedicated to protecting a commissioned a painting of someone that died hundreds of years ago. I love Leonardo Da Vinci in general but all this seems a little over the top. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/96 "2017-05-15T00:17:32Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > I think Anne Frank wins. High school students today don’t know Lewinsky. Everyone knows Anne Frank. There are schools named after Anne Frank. Anne Frank is the best one I’ve seen in this thread, but there’s a strong contender who might win out: Emily Dickinson, who published less than a dozen poems during her lifetime and showed at best a serious ambivalence toward any sort of fame. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/97 "2017-05-15T00:23:16Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Anne Frank is the best one I’ve seen in this thread, but there’s a strong contender who might win out: Emily Dickinson, who published less than a dozen poems during her lifetime and showed at best a serious ambivalence toward any sort of fame. That’s the problem with Anne Frank - the slippery slope! There must be numerous examples of artists or authors where we can make a case that although they are famous for their art, they did not _seek_ that fame. Does that then count as accidental fame? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/98 "2017-05-15T00:25:08Z")
Most artists sought recognition, I think. There are very few artists who became famous posthumously by name and who weren’t trying to become recognized humously. But the OP implies that they’re looking for folks who became famous during their lives, so maybe we exclude folks whose names became household after they died? Set the criteria this way: 1. The person’s name is well-known. 2. There’s an event or characteristic of the person widely associated with that name. 3. The person did not intend to become known. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/99 "2017-05-15T00:29:30Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > …Amanda Knox. Interesting one. I haven’t followed the end of the case closely enough to judge whether she’s likely guilty or not. If an innocent person becomes famous in such circumstances, that definitely counts. If a guilty person hopes to remain anonymous but fails, I don’t think it should count? After all, they are quite definitely the architect of their own fame. But then, maybe that’s no different from the author/artist who does not seek fame? ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547/100 "2017-05-15T00:53:23Z")
> [@Whatever4](#): > > Lenny Skutnik > > [Lenny Skutnik, CBO's Most Famous Employee, Retires | Congressional Budget Office](https://www.cbo.gov/publication/25080) > > Plane crash, Potomac River, winter, 1982. He jumped into the river to rescue a woman who was unable to grab onto a life preserver. Somebody I’ve never forgotten. In the same plane crash, [Arland D. Williams](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arland_D._Williams_Jr.) lost his own life saving others. He’s not a household name either, but there’s a bridge named after him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-known-accidentally-famous-person/786547.md?page=6)