In honor of the 4th of July: John Nixon, who before the American Revolution was a militia officer and who during the American Revolution was with George Washington at Valley Forge; and who, in July of 1776, “made the first public proclamation of the Declaration of Independence from the steps of the Pennsylvania State House.”
(After the war? President of the country’s first national bank.)
Oscar Wilde doesn’t have a name that counts.
Lord Alfred Douglas, though, does.
Speaking of Douglas’s, what about Richard Douglas (Chip’s real name) of My Three Songs.
At that, I figure Doris Singleton was juuust barely ‘celebrity’ enough to qualify.
On what’s maybe the other side of the line, though, I’m not a hundred percent sure whether David Dastmalchian counts. I mean, yes, right now he’s reprising his minor role from ANT-MAN in what’s sure to be this week’s #1 movie; and, yes, in between Dastmalchian picked up recurring ‘villain’ roles on primetime TV — as MACGYVER’s brainy nemesis Murdoc, and as a deranged cultist on GOTHAM — when he wasn’t appearing on THE FLASH, as Abra Kadabra; and, yes, before that he’d written and starred in an independent picture that won him various film-festival awards; and, yes, next up seems to be work in a Kevin-Smith-And-Jason-Mewes flick.
And so on.
But does all of that get there yet? Is he at Hey It’s That Guy status? Because I feel like I should instead take care to bump the thread with, say, Sol Lesser: he got an Oscar and a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame and a classic ‘retirement’ line about how “I had reached the age that one either finishes on top or far below. I decided I would end on top, and I was satisfied.” And that’s, y’know, solid.
Theodore Roethke passed away in the 1960s. “In 1967 Roethke’s Collected Poems topped the lists of two of the three Pulitzer Prize poetry voters; Phyllis McGinley and Louis Simpson. However the group’s chairman, Richard Eberhart, lobbied against Roethke on the grounds that the award should go to a living poet. It would have been Roethke’s second Pulitzer Prize.” (That didn’t stop him from posthumously winning a second National Book Award, you understand; some of his stuff made an impact when he was alive, and some his other stuff did likewise later.)
Bob Bartlett, US Senator: “The Library of Congress estimates that he had more bills passed into law than any other member in congressional history.”
When a little baby boy was brought to an orphanage, the head nun named him Delaney after the police officer who brought him there, and since he was the fifth baby brought to the orphanage that month, she gave him a name being with “E”–Elwood. Elwood Delaney.
Elwood would later change his last name to Blues and form a band with Joilet Jake Blues called The Blues Brothers.
The fact that my brain remembered this with no computer help is frightening.
I’m not sure whether the OP is 100% cool with fictional characters — and, if so, I’m not 100% sure whether names they aren’t known by fit — but in that spirit, and since you mentioned Jake Blues, figure I’ll bump the thread with the borderline example of Jacob Batalon: he’s recognizable, and he’s in the top-grossing movie of the year, and all of that arguably adds up to something, right?
Chris Sale, the MLB’s career leader in strikeout-to-walk ratio, got 1500 strikeouts in the fewest innings pitched: he led the league in strikeouts in 2015, missed it close in 2016, led it in 2017, and is in front to do it again right here in 2018.
Mike Krukow, former starting pitcher for the Cubs, Phillies, and Giants.
Jean-Luc Crétier, Olympic gold medalist for France.
(Same event won at the following Olympics by Fritz Strobl, for Austria!)
Brad Delson, lead guitarist for Linkin Park
This weekend brings to mind Jack Crawford, who earned his Hall of Fame spot by winning the singles title at Wimbledon — and at the French Open, and four times at the Australian Open. And he also got the doubles title at Wimbledon — and at the French Open, and four times at the Australian Open. And also in mixed doubles at Wimbledon — and at the French Open, and three times at the Australian Open.
At that, there’s Olympic medalist Angelique Kerber — who, in between that last post and this one, won the championship at Wimbledon after having done likewise at the Australian Open and the US Open.
Kyle Long is a three-time Pro Bowl player — and, sure, the brother of Chris Long, and the son of Howie Long; but I think he’s made enough of a name for himself to qualify, having signed a $40 million contract extension not too long ago.
Performing tonight on THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT: Luke Combs, who’s had a number of Top 40 hits that went gold or platinum — which seems like a solid enough start, since he only just won a New Country Artist of the Year award.
Ted Demme never got as famous as his uncle Jonathan Demme; but after directing Dennis Leary in The Ref he directed Timothy Hutton in Beautiful Girls — before he directed Eddie Murphy in Life, and before he directed Johnny Depp in Blow.
And along the way, he picked up an Emmy for A Lesson Before Dying.
Milo O’Shea played Dr. Durand Durand in Barbarella (1968); in a particular scene his character tried to kill Jane Fonda’s title character with “pleasure”.
That’s the movie with Claude Dauphin as the President of Earth!
And, man, did that guy rack up lots of name-on-the-movie-poster credits: sometimes getting second-billed to Bing Crosby, or to Karl Malden; and sometimes getting billed third, after Audie Murphy and Michael Rennie or Doris Day and Ray Bolger; but, yeah, sometimes getting top billing, even.