# Celebrities physical deformties - Are these all real? Some seem over the top **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 17, 2010, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013 "2010-07-17T08:40:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013/21 "2010-07-17T15:05:58Z")
Telly Savalas was missing part of his left index finger. Harold Lloyd lost his right thumb and forefinger when a prop bomb exploded in his hand. He still did all his own stunts in **Safety Last** a few years later. Mordecai Brown lost parts of two fingers on his right hand, but managed to make it into baseball’s Hall of Fame. The accident supposedly made his fastball sink more than usual. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013/22 "2010-07-17T17:09:37Z")
> [@](#): > > James Doohan (“Scotty”) also had a couple of missing fingers (thanks to D-Day: yes he was part of the first Canadian wave hitting the beaches). I never understood why he hid it for _Star Trek_, either. It would have made perfect sense for Scotty’s character for him to be short a digit or two. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013/23 "2010-07-17T17:32:34Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > Childhood surgery gone wrong? Nice coverstory, but everybody knows that there are only two explanations for a missing belly button: clone or pod person! Yeah. I mean, please, she’s impossibly tall and gorgeous. That alone would be suspect. But no bellybutton? Clones walk amongst us, as I’ve always known they would. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013/24 "2010-07-17T17:33:25Z")
Bree Walker has ectrodactyly. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013/25 "2010-07-17T17:40:48Z")
Marky Mark’s third nipple looks more like a mole to me. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013/26 "2010-07-17T18:21:27Z")
There was a guy at my high school who had no bellybutton. He had a sort of long scar thing instead. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013/27 "2010-07-17T18:52:25Z")
Wasn’t there a fad for lack of belly buttons somewhere in Asia, such that people were deliberately getting them surgically removed? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013/28 "2010-07-17T20:20:56Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > This is not so. Rather, Joaquin was born with the scar. The scar developed while Joaquin was in his mother’s stomach. > > It was probably the acid. That can’t be right. When they do surgery on fetuses before birth the babies are born without scars. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013/29 "2010-07-17T20:37:59Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Celebrities physical deformties - Are these all real? Some seem over the top > > [Re this link](http://www.funlobby.com/index.php/201006171750/celebrities-and-their-physical-defects-17-images.html) > > Are any of these photoshopped? The Bollywood Hero guy has a freakshow hand. Those seem “over the top” to you? I dunno… I must run with a very different crowd. Mutants, maybe. Not only do I know people in my own circle of acquaintances with similar “deformities” (most of which seem pretty minor to me) but I know people with much greater scars and deformities that those depicted. Bottom line, all of the physical differences shown not only seem quite plausible to me, I was even aware of about half of them prior to viewing the link. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013/30 "2010-07-17T21:14:36Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Those seem “over the top” to you? > > I dunno… I must run with a very different crowd. Mutants, maybe. Not only do I know people in my own circle of acquaintances with similar “deformities” (most of which seem pretty minor to me) but I know people with much greater scars and deformities that those depicted. > > Bottom line, all of the physical differences shown not only seem quite plausible to me, I was even aware of about half of them prior to viewing the link. The deformities are quite plausible, but these are people who trade on their appearance to a significant extent. For the Bollywood leading man to have a hand that looks like it came from a “Night Gallery” episode is a bit surprising, and for Denzel to have 45 degree off kilter pinky it’s surprising they could let stuff like that go without geting it fixed. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013/31 "2010-07-17T21:25:36Z")
That overlapping pinky toe seems real enough. I have an [underlapping fourth toe](http://i28.tinypic.com/2qx42yw.jpg) on my left foot that occasionally disturbs people, and I’ve also met someone with the same underlapping fourth toe on her left foot, so I would imagine that crooked toes can’t be that rare. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013/32 "2010-07-17T21:35:21Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > That can’t be right. When they do surgery on fetuses before birth the babies are born without scars. It doesn’t say he had surgery. > [@](#): > > Rather, Joaquin was born with the scar. The scar developed while Joaquin was in his mother’s stomach. It is known as a microform cleft, a mild form of a cleft lip ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013/33 "2010-07-17T21:37:18Z")
I know several people with different-colored eyes. Two were from eye injuries; the eye turned blue as a result. The ones born that way don’t have webbed toes. I once saw an ad with Martha Stewart where she clearly had 6 toes on one foot, but I never heard anything about it again. I don’t know if it was a hoax or not. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013/34 "2010-07-17T21:38:31Z")
I think it’s great that perfect people are imperfect. However, I am sad that most of them prefer to hide it. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013/35 "2010-07-17T22:08:45Z")
In the UK, [Jeremy Beadle](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1093080.stm) had a withered hand. It was common knowledge throughout his career as a major TV star and a widespread subject of tasteless jokes, yet I don’t remember it ever being terribly obvious in practice. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013/36 "2010-07-17T22:14:24Z")
Lee Van Cleef was missing part of one of his fingers. It’s easily visable in the final gunfight in _The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly_. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013/37 "2010-07-17T23:12:12Z")
> [@bonzer](#): > > In the UK, [Jeremy Beadle](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1093080.stm) had a withered hand. It was common knowledge throughout his career as a major TV star and a widespread subject of tasteless jokes, yet I don’t remember it ever being terribly obvious in practice. [I wikied up Beadle out of curiosity.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Beadle) His life seems like nothing but one big list of accomplishments entertaining people. Why did the wiki say this re him being “hated”. > [@](#): > > His obituary in The Daily Telegraph noted that he “achieved the paradoxical double distinction of being voted the second most hated man in Britain (after Saddam Hussein) and of being the most avidly watched presenter on television”.[22] ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013/38 "2010-07-17T23:14:04Z")
> [@](#): > > The scar developed while Joaquin was in his **mother’s stomach**. Oww… that made my brain hurt. I’m surprised Joaquin survived being eaten my his mum. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013/39 "2010-07-17T23:20:41Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Those seem “over the top” to you? > > I dunno… I must run with a very different crowd. Mutants, maybe. Not only do I know people in my own circle of acquaintances with similar “deformities” (most of which seem pretty minor to me) but I know people with much greater scars and deformities that those depicted. I can’t speak for the OP, but I doubt that “over the top” in this context means, “The fact that such hideous freaks exist makes me question my belief in a benevolent God.” More probably, it’s something like “I’m surprised that somebody with extra thumbs has not only succeeded in a profession that puts a premium on physical perfection, but is apparently in tremendous demand as a romantic lead.” On the other hand (so to speak), losing a fingertip or two is such a common injury that it hardly seems worth remarking on, and ugly feet are almost irrelevant to an actor’s career. Few roles require displaying one’s bare feet, and doubles are available for those that do. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013/40 "2010-07-17T23:24:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I never understood why he hid it for _Star Trek_, either. It would have made perfect sense for Scotty’s character for him to be short a digit or two. In the 1960s, sure, the chief engineer of the USS Enterprise might be short a finger. By the 2260s, you can pop a pill to grow a new kidney. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-physical-deformties-are-these-all-real-some-seem-over-the-top/547013.md?page=3)