# Celebrities with other remarkable achievements **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 30, 2011, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863 "2011-07-30T21:44:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863/21 "2011-07-31T01:41:55Z")
It’s not widely known, but Arnold Schwartzenegger was governor of CA. Oh, and Kris Kristofferson was a Rhodes Scholar. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863/22 "2011-07-31T01:41:57Z")
Kinda of a reversi- The host of Science Channel’s Wonders of the Solar System and Wonders of the Universe, [physicist Brian Cox](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Cox_%28physicist%29) used to be in the band D: REAM. A pop/synth band. They did Things Can Only Get Better. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2011, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863/23 "2011-07-31T02:01:19Z")
Jack Larson, who played Jimmy Olsen in the old Adventures of Superman serial, [started out as a classical composer in college.](http://www.sonofsuperman.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21:jack-larson-jimmy-olsen-in-the-tv-series-adventures-of-superman&catid=1:bio&Itemid=2) ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863/24 "2011-07-31T02:22:01Z")
Danica McKellar is a mathematician. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2011, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863/25 "2011-07-31T02:52:43Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Danica McKellar is a mathematician. I don’t believe Ms. McKellar has actually done work in mathematics beyond her undergraduate degree, and since then she’s mostly acted, so it’s not really accurate to call her a “mathematician.” She is largely famous in that regard not for her work in mathematics, but for writing books aimed at young girls to encourage them to not be intimidated by mathematics, which is a noble pursuit indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863/26 "2011-07-31T03:33:03Z")
Peter Weller is an adjunct professor at Syracuse University and a graduate student in art history at UCLA. I’m not sure if adjunct professor has any real significance academically or not … could be an “Elvis” style black belt in karate equivalent if you know what I mean … but he does seem to have a real interest in and knowledge of the topic. Does a lot of History Channel stuff. From his wiki: Weller is a contributor to the History Channel in several productions, credited as “Peter Weller, Syracuse University,” where he is an adjunct faculty member. He is a graduate student in art history at UCLA, focusing on the Italian Renaissance. Weller also hosts the series Engineering an Empire for the network. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863/27 "2011-07-31T03:33:43Z")
Andy Dick has passed out drunk and wett the bedd in various hotel rooms located in all 50 states, as well as both Guam and the US Virgin Islands. ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863/28 "2011-07-31T03:52:29Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > Andy Dick has passed out drunk and wett the bedd in various hotel rooms located in all 50 states, as well as both Guam and the US Virgin Islands. He also holds the record for the number of motel ice machines he’s taken a dump in. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2011, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863/29 "2011-07-31T04:33:51Z")
Doesn’t really count, since he left the band before their big hit because he was too young to play in bars, but the first drummer for The Ventures, George Babbitt, softened the blow by becoming USAF (4-star) General George T. Babbitt, Jr. Same rank as Washington and Grant, but in a better service. 😉 And outranking Maj Gen Stewart (got his second star on retirement) and Brig Gen McMahon. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2011, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863/30 "2011-07-31T04:37:17Z")
Evil Captor, an adjunct professor is someone who occasionally teaches courses at a university but isn’t paid a yearly salary. He is paid for each course. He generally has another job (usually one related to the field that he is teaching): > **[Professor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professor)** > > Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes." Professors are usually experts in their field and teachers of the highest rank. > In most systems of academic ranks, "professor" as an unqualified title refers only to the most senior academic position, sometimes informally known as "full professor." In some countries an... A typical example might be an engineer with a Ph.D. who runs his own consulting firm and who teaches one course a year at a university. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2011, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863/31 "2011-07-31T04:42:47Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > Andy Dick has passed out drunk and wett the bedd in various hotel rooms located in all 50 states, as well as both Guam and the US Virgin Islands. > [@wedgehed](#): > > He also holds the record for the number of motel ice machines he’s taken a dump in. But get this. Did you know that back before he became famous for being a complete asshole, Andy Dick used to appear in a popular television series? ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2011, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863/32 "2011-07-31T04:42:49Z")
Christopher Lee was in the special forces/esponiage unit SOE during the second world war. His experiences formed the basis of the James Bond character his cousin, Fleming wrote about. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2011, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863/33 "2011-07-31T09:09:50Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#): > > Christopher Lee was in the special forces/esponiage unit SOE during the second world war. His experiences formed the basis of the James Bond character his cousin, Fleming wrote about. Also, wasn’t Julia Child some kind of master spy in WWII? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2011, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863/34 "2011-07-31T09:57:26Z")
Come on, people, let’s not exaggerate. There is no reason to think that Christopher Lee was the model for James Bond, the character created by his step-cousin Ian Fleming: > **[James Bond](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bond)** > > The James Bond series focuses on James Bond, a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have written authorised Bond novels or novelisations: Kingsley Amis, Christopher Wood, John Gardner, Raymond Benson, Sebastian Faulks, Jeffery Deaver, William Boyd, and Anthony Horowitz. The latest novel is With a Mind to Kill by Anthony Horowitz, publis... Fleming never indicated that any particular person was the model. There are a number of other people that could equally well be some part of the inspiration for Bond, and there’s no reason to think that Fleming even wanted Bond to be like any one particular person. Furthermore, Fleming was himself part of British intelligence services during World War II: > **[Ian Fleming](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Fleming)** > > Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar James Bond series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Henley from 1910 until his death on the Western Front in 1917. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst, and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva, Fleming moved through several jobs before he started writing. > While workin... Similarly, although Julia Child was part of American intelligence services during World War II, she wasn’t a “master spy”: > **[Julia Child](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Child)** > > Julia Carolyn Child (née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American cooking teacher, author, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and her subsequent television programs, the most notable of which was The French Chef, which premiered in 1963. > On August 15, 1912, Julia Child was born as Julia Carolyn McWilliams in Pasadena, California. Child's father was J... ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2011, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863/35 "2011-07-31T12:14:35Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > In the thread about actors aging gracefully, I suggested Paul Newman as an actor who aged extremely well. But that reminded me about another thing regarding Newman - he was a great race car driver. Not just ‘great for a Hollywood guy’, but great, period. He also created the quite successful Newman’s Own food company. ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2011, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863/36 "2011-07-31T12:41:42Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Hedy Lamarr - inventing the first spread-spectrum transmission technology She worked on this with the composer George Antheil. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863/37 "2011-07-31T13:21:23Z")
From the OP: > [@](#): > > So I’m thinking mostly of actors who achieved great things _after_ being actors first. Posts that ignored this instruction: #4, 10, 12, 23, 32, and 33. mmm ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2011, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863/38 "2011-07-31T13:25:36Z")
Scott “Santini” Powell of Sha Na Na graduated from medical school and is now an orthopedic surgeon. Michael Crichton and Monty Python’s Graham Chapman also graduated from medical school, though they never actually worked as doctors. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2011, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863/39 "2011-07-31T13:38:40Z")
Harrison Ford is a volunteer helicopter rescue pilot. [Example](http://www.helis.com/news/2000/harrford.htm). ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2011, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863/40 "2011-07-31T16:04:50Z")
James Franco. From wikipedia: > [@](#): > > Dissatisfied with his career’s direction,[1] Franco reenrolled at UCLA in the fall of 2006 as an English major with a creative writing concentration. He received permission to take as many as 62 course credits per quarter compared to the normal limit of 19,[95] while still continuing to act. He received his undergraduate degree in June 2008 with a GPA over 3.5.[95][1][96] For his degree, Franco prepared his departmental honors thesis as a novel under the supervision of Mona Simpson.[1][97] While at the university, the actor studied French, the Holocaust, philosophy of science, and American literature among other things. To continue acting, he would study on film sets.[11] > > He was selected as the commencement speaker at his alma mater, UCLA, and was to speak at the ceremony on June 12, 2009. On June 3, however, a press release announced Franco’s cancellation due to a scheduling conflict, making it the second cancellation in a row, after commencement speaker Bill Clinton had canceled the appearance.[98] On January 26, 2011, Franco and the Harvard Lampoon released a satirical video on prominent comedy website Funny or Die mocking his last-minute cancellation.[99] > > He moved to New York to simultaneously attend graduate school at Columbia University’s MFA writing program, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts for filmmaking (NYU),[91][100][101][102] and Brooklyn College for fiction writing,[95] while occasionally commuting to North Carolina’s Warren Wilson College for poetry.[1] He received his MFA from Columbia in 2010.[103] Franco is a PhD student in English at Yale University[104] and will also attend the Rhode Island School of Design.[1] The actor opted against watching the 2011 Academy Award nominees be announced (where he was a top contender) in favor of attending class. “I’m not gonna miss class to go and presume that I’m going to be nominated, but if you want to bring out a camera crew to Yale and wait and see if I get nominated, I’d be happy to step out of class and say I’m very grateful”, he commented.[105] > > He has been accepted to the University of Houston for the doctoral (PhD) program in literature and creative writing and plans to enroll in fall 2012. Franco—who was one of 20 people to be selected out of 400 applicants—originally planned to enroll for fall 2011, but has asked to defer for a year.[106] Having previously shown a desire to teach, in March 2011, it was announced that Franco will teach a fall semester course on modifying poetry into short films to ten to twelve third-year graduate film students at NYU. The course will focus mainly on production, meaning that the students will be in charge of creating their own film based on poetry. At the time of the announcement the actor had yet to put together a syllabus, but has until the summertime to do so.[107] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-other-remarkable-achievements/590863.md?page=3)