# Celebrities remembered for incidental career points **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 1, 2015, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688 "2015-01-01T17:18:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2015, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688/21 "2015-01-03T01:43:58Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > Wilford Brimley has had a long and distinguished Hollywood career, but an entire generation only knows him for [Diabeetus](https://www.google.com/search?q=brimley+diabeetus&es_sm=122&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=wSOnVKX_K8moyATD-4KgAw&ved=0CB8QsAQ&biw=1674&bih=776). I thought you were going to say Quaker Oats. What the hell is this “diabeetus” thing? ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2015, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688/22 "2015-01-03T02:05:42Z")
[This.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFIsoq63lwo)🙂 ---
**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:** [January 3, 2015, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688/23 "2015-01-03T02:15:25Z")
Mariette Hartley for not being James Garner’s wife? ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2015, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688/24 "2015-01-03T02:19:21Z")
Robert Wagner did some commercials for reverse-mortgages or life insurance. ---
**Author:** ![Arabella\_Flynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@Arabella\_Flynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arabella_Flynn)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2015, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688/25 "2015-01-03T03:20:37Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > Robert Vaughn may have been acting since the 60s but I always remember him as Joe Bornstein/ Mark E. Salomone. I don’t remember him strictly for it – I’m a pretty big fan of _The Man From UNCLE_ and _Hu$tle_ – but it was a notable moment when I started nosing around on Amazon and realized I’d actually read [his PhD thesis](http://www.amazon.com/Only-Victims-Study-Business-Blacklisting-ebook/dp/B0046HAH0Q/) as an undergrad. I knew the author’s name at the time, it just didn’t occur to me that it might have been _that_ Robert Vaughn. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2015, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688/26 "2015-01-03T03:41:21Z")
William Shatner for his Priceline commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2015, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688/27 "2015-01-03T03:57:07Z")
Rowan Atkinson - at least in the US - will forever be Mr. Bean, despite having the lead in _Blackadder_. Hugh Laurie will also be associated with House, even though most of the other characters he’s played in his long career have been well-meaning dimwits (Bertie Wooster, the various employers of Blackadder, tons of characters in _Fry and Laurie_, etc, etc). ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2015, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688/28 "2015-01-03T05:54:05Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > Hugh Laurie will also be associated with House, even though most of the other characters he’s played in his long career have been well-meaning dimwits (Bertie Wooster, the various employers of Blackadder Nitpick…he was only Blackadder’s employer in Blackadder the Third - his one appearance in Blackadder II was as one of Edmund’s drinking buddies (who was, though, as much of a ninny as any other non-House character of his), and he was Capt. Blackadder’s subordinate in Goes Forth. In the framing story for Back & Forth he was more or less a social equal (until the end). I’m not sure he’ll forever be House, but maybe that’s just my long acquaintance with his British roles and near-total lack of familiarity with House - beyond the most superficial knowledge of the premise - talking. ---
**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:** [January 3, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688/29 "2015-01-03T15:57:54Z")
Orson Welles did Gallo Wine commercials. “We will sell no wine before it’s time.” ---
**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:** [January 4, 2015, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688/30 "2015-01-04T00:04:50Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > Hugh Laurie will also be associated with House, even though most of the other characters he’s played in his long career have been well-meaning dimwits (Bertie Wooster, the various employers of Blackadder, tons of characters in _Fry and Laurie_, etc, etc). After 8 seasons and 176 episodes House is the opposite of being an incidental career point. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688/31 "2015-01-04T00:09:17Z")
Margaret Hamilton and Maxwell House coffee (although you might have to be pretty old to make that connection). ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688/32 "2015-01-04T00:46:34Z")
Athletes are gonna be a great source for this. Vikings defensive end Jim Marshall played in a record 282 consecutive games with a record 270 straight starts (both records have since been surpassed), but now he is best known for a 66 yard wrong-way run. Leon Lett of the Cowboys is now best known for 2 boneheaded plays that were not typical of his career - one coming in a long-since-decided Super Bowl where he picked up a fumble and ran it towards the end zone - but began to celebrate early and had the ball knocked out of his hands before reaching the end zone. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688/33 "2015-01-04T01:05:47Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Ben Stein isn’t really an actor. (Well, duh.) > > He’s a lawyer, political commentator, writer, etc. He used to write speeches for Nixon and such. He still does the hack talking heads shows. > > After that Bueller thing (his second role), he sort of became an actor. Mainly voice work. But also a game show host. For which he co-won an Emmy.😕 And unlike William Daniels, he was in the Wonder Years! ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688/34 "2015-01-04T01:50:03Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > William Shatner for his Priceline commercials. …with Kaley Cuoco as his daughter? (…the child the Klingons Didn’t kill…?) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688/35 "2015-01-04T02:53:26Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > William Shatner for his Priceline commercials. I was going to say “William Shatner for his singing.” It’s quite something. Exactly what, no one is certain, but it \*is \*something. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688/36 "2015-01-04T03:25:56Z")
Alec Guinness resigned himself to the fact that he would be nothing but Obi Wan Kenobi for millions of people. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688/37 "2015-01-04T03:43:58Z")
BB King and his diabetes ads. Lenard Nimoy and his art photography. Link is kinda not safe for work: www [arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/photography/arthistory\_leonardnimoy.html](http://arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/photography/arthistory_leonardnimoy.html) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688/38 "2015-01-04T04:11:53Z")
Henry Winkler for his ad for reverse mortgages. Pat Boone for walk-in bathtubs. ---
**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:** [January 4, 2015, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688/39 "2015-01-04T04:13:35Z")
Since this is concerning mostly actors and other artists I think it will work better in Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Grotonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c2a13f/32.png) [@Grotonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grotonian)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688/40 "2015-01-04T06:02:06Z")
This is the only thing I ever knew about Mean Joe Green. I think other Gen Xers might agree: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/xffOCZYX6F8/hqdefault.jpg "Coca-Cola Classic ad: 'Mean' Joe Greene [Full Version] (1979)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xffOCZYX6F8) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-remembered-for-incidental-career-points/708688.md?page=3)