# Celebrities with REAL (Not Honorary) Doctorates **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 17, 2007, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613 "2007-02-17T14:32:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613/21 "2007-02-17T17:51:39Z")
Golfer Gil Morgan has an OD.(which is Optometry) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613/22 "2007-02-17T17:57:51Z")
[QUOTE=Menocchio] Peter Weller has a Masters and is working on a PhD in Roman and Renaissance art. He’s also a lecturer at Ithaca. [/QUOTE] Weller (Robocop) shows up frequently these days as a talking head in documentaries. I did a double-take the fist time I saw him in that role. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613/23 "2007-02-17T18:05:34Z")
Dolph Lundgren has a masters in chemical engineering. It’s not a PhD, but it’s something. Fullbright scholar, too. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613/24 "2007-02-17T18:05:43Z")
[Theodore Kaczynski](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Kaczynski)? ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613/25 "2007-02-17T19:13:36Z")
Asimov was already an established writer before he got his Ph.D., so he should qualify. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613/26 "2007-02-17T19:23:55Z")
A couple of other science fiction writers are [E. E. “Doc” Smith](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._E._Smith) and [Cordwainer Smith](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordwainer_Smith). ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613/27 "2007-02-17T20:12:29Z")
Tony La Russa has a JD ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613/28 "2007-02-17T20:35:31Z")
[Don S. Davis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_S._Davis), best known as General Hammond on _Stargate SG-1_, has a Ph.D in theatre. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613/29 "2007-02-17T20:45:44Z")
[QUOTE=don’t ask] [Theodore Kaczynski](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Kaczynski)? [/QUOTE] After the Unabomber was caught, I figured out that he was on the University of Michigan campus at the same time as my dad was in law school there. Never met each other - it’s a big place - but still kind of ooky. MLK had a theology doctorate, IIRC. Bill and Hillary Clinton both have JDs, of course, as have several other U.S. presidents. The BBC always refers to the current U.S. Secretary of State as “Dr. Rice.” The last president to earn a doctorate was Woodrow Wilson. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613/30 "2007-02-17T20:48:28Z")
Whoopi Goldberg has a PhD in Literature from NYU. Dexter Holland, lead singer of the Offspring, has a PhD in Microbiology. ---
**Author:** ![look\_ninjas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613/31 "2007-02-17T21:13:15Z")
Milo Auckerman of the Descendants has his PhD in biochemistry. ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613/32 "2007-02-17T21:28:33Z")
Richard Vranch (the accompanist on the British version of _Whose Line is it Anyway?_) has a Ph.D. in physics. ---
**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:** [February 17, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613/33 "2007-02-17T21:42:20Z")
Actor [Harold Gould](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0332390/) has a Ph.D. in theater, which he received before going into acting. He taught theater in Cornell before deciding to practice what he preached. Jonathan Miller, member of the **Beyond the Fringe** comedy troupe (with Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, and Alan Bennett), is an MD. He also produced a BBC series of Shakespeare plays. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale became a very popular TV personality in the 50s. He was a minister so probably was a D.D. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613/34 "2007-02-17T22:34:53Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Howard Cosell had a J.D. [/QUOTE] I know Cosell had a law degree from NYU but are you sure it was J.D., and not a [LL.B.?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor_of_Laws) ? ---
**Author:** ![DadWagonDriver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@DadWagonDriver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DadWagonDriver)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613/35 "2007-02-18T00:47:38Z")
Greg Graffin of Bad Religion has a Ph.D. in either Zoology or Evolutionary Biology. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613/36 "2007-02-18T01:13:27Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] Weller (Robocop) shows up frequently these days as a talking head in documentaries. I did a double-take the fist time I saw him in that role. [/QUOTE] Same here. I didn’t know he actually was/is an historian, I figured the filmakers caught themselves a celebrity to shove in from of the camera. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613/37 "2007-02-18T10:10:49Z")
**Phil Alvin** of the Blasters has a PhD in mathematics from UCLA. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613/38 "2007-02-18T10:20:43Z")
One of the female gladiators on _American Gladiators_, either Jazz or Blaze (absolutely stunning black woman with long braided hair) was working on or had received her Ph.D. in psychology while she was on the show. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613/39 "2007-02-18T10:35:16Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] The last president to earn a doctorate was Woodrow Wilson. [/QUOTE] The only president to have earned a doctorate, wasn’t he? President of Princeton University, too, at one point, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613/40 "2007-02-18T11:35:38Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] The only president to have earned a doctorate, wasn’t he? President of Princeton University, too, at one point, I believe. [/QUOTE] Although he never earned a doctorate, I was a bit surprised to to see Herbert Hoover’s name on an English translation of Georgius Agricola’s [De Re Metallica](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_re_metallica) , translated from the Latin edition of 1556. Before entering politics, he was a very successful mining engineer. > [@](#): > > 1912 De Re Metallica, by Georgius Agricola, translated from the first Latin edition of 1556 by Herbert Clark Hoover and Lou Henry Hoover. London, Salisbury House, Mining Magazine; reprinted 1950, New York, Dover. 640 pp. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-with-real-not-honorary-doctorates/392613.md?page=3)