The actress Melina Mercouri became a very successful member of the Greek parliament, including being the first female Minister for Culture.
(Hopefully she didn’t play a role in the long-term economic stability of the country.)
Shirley Temple Black was the US Representative to the 24th General Assembly of the United Nations, United States Ambassador to Ghana and the first female Chief of Protocol of the United States. And as of 1990, still pretty adorable looking.
From the OP:
Arguably, this includes Shirley Temple Black, Arnie, Shirley Temple Black, and maybe my nominee Jack Larson. Well, composing classical music is hard to do, period, so maybe fame doesn’t help there. But he did it BEFORE he was an actor, so I guess that does not count as evidence that Larson aged gracefully.
You said Shirley Temple Black twice. You like Shirley Temple Black.
I’ve seen many of her films and Shirley Temple is white. Bill Robinson is black.
Happy to clear that up.
David Niven was in some sort of Commando comms unit during the war, as well as making a couple of propaganda films. He had been a regular in the Army before going to Hollywood, where he had some success. When the war broke out he re-enlisted and moved back to Britain.
I think Biggirl was just saying I would PREFER that Shirley Temple was black, and yes, I WOULD prefer that, but that has nothing to do with Bill Robinson!
But the idea really probably came from her ex-husband, an arms manufacturer.
Witali and Wladimir Klitschko, brothers who have both held world heavyweight boxing titles, are also both PhD’s in physical education.
Eddie Albert invented the drinking-duck toy.
A lot of guys left baseball for a stint in a war then came back to play more baseball. Most notable was Bob Feller who kicked ass playing baseball, went to WWII and kicked some ass there, then came back to kick more ass at baseball and then visit the Indians Fantasy Camp every summer and say angry things about “baseball today” on the radio until he died last year.
Here’s a list of all theMLB military veterans if you are so inclined.
Not as notable as Moe Berg- catcher, lawyer, and spy.
In addition to the bodybuilding, acting and politics, Arnold Schwarzenegger is a pretty competent violinist and can be seen playing bluegrass fiddle in Stay Hungry.
Back in the early 1980s Ricky Gervais was the frontman of a new-wave band called Seona Dancing, who had a surprisingly listenable hit, Bitter Heart.
He wasn’t a professor, but he did have some success publishing – he drew a number of cartoons that ended up in a book called The Lighter Side of Dialysis (he was an accomplished artist), and he published fiction (posthumously) – Veritas Part 1 came out earlier this year, and its sequel will be published this autumn.
Ironically, according to the law of entropy, things won’t
Must it be actors? Author Roald Dahl helped develop a medical shunt designed to (I believe, I’m not a doctor) relieve pressure in the brains of patients with hydrocephalus. The valve in the shunt is called the Wade-Dahl-Till valve. Dahl was an established author by the time the valve was developed, but he hadn’t written many of his major works yet. It looks like James and the Giant Peach had just come out the year before, though.
In 1954, the most famous athlete in the world was Roger Bannister, the first man to run a 4 minute mile.
Most of the outside world never heard of him again, but Bannister completed his medical studies and was one of England’s most respected neurologists for decades afterward.
If there’s any justice, he’ll be the man to light the torch at the London Olympics next year. I mean, who has ever better represented the old-fashioned virtues of British amateur athletics?
Creed from the Office used to be Creed, the lead guitarist for 60’s rock group “The Grass Roots”. IIRC, the show has hinted a few times that Creed on the show is either supposed to be Creed from the rock band, or stole his identity.
ETA: and on rereading the OP, Creed doesn’t count since he wasn’t an actor first. Ah well.
There are a lot of good examples here, but also a few that missed the requirement in the OP: I was specifically thinking of actors who accomplished something in another field after they became successful actors. I’d apply that to musicians and other celebrities, too.
I think there’s something particularly interesting about people who are already rich and famous for some achievement in the arts who then turn around and demonstrate that they have other extraordinary abilities, or who give up the wealth and fame to achieve something in another area. But it could also be a transition from one art to another - an actor who becomes a great painter, for example.
So Jimmy Stewart counts, because he was a big Hollywood star before he went on to be a distinguished aviator. But Ed McMahon probably doesn’t, because he was already successful in the military before he went into show business.
On of the reasons for the distinction is to eliminate those people who make it big in show business primarily because they became famous for their other achievements - making the show biz part somewhat irrelevant. Audie Murphy was the most decorated soldier of WWII, and he also had a career in Hollywood. But his career in Hollywood was a direct result of his achievements in WWII, so it’s not quite the same thing as someone who does it the other way around. The same applies to former bodybuilders, wrestlers, Olympians, models, and other people who achieve fame and use that to launch them into acting.
There have been a few celebrities who have gone on to become musicians, but it’s difficult to tell how much of their musical success is due to their celebrity status. Two come to mind as having become legitimately well respected in their field.
Steve Martin has won two Grammys for bluegrass and has collaborated with the likes of Earl Skruggs. He’s also a pretty well respected artist and writer.
Former NY Yankee center fielder Bernie Williams is currently touring as a Classical-Jazz guitarist, has 2 albums that cracked the top 5 on the US Jazz charts, was nominated for a Latin Grammy, and has collaborated with Bela Fleck and Bruce Springsteen among others.
Both of them seem pretty dedicated to their music and not at all trying to make a cheap buck off their other successes.
But speaking of absurd celebrity musicians, isn’t Shaquille O’Neal a sworn reserve Police Officer in LA and Miami.
Tommy Rettig, the kid in the TV show Lassie, went on in later years to become a rather well-respected database programmer for Ashton-Tate.
Oh sure, if you want to ground us in reality a bit… I might as well point out that as much as Brian May gets publicity for the astrophysics, it’s not clear that he’s a “respected astrophysicist” given it took him 40 years to finish his PhD and isn’t doing any practical work as far as I can tell. I mean mad propz to the degree and such, but come on…