# Celebs whose fame and success just baffles you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 14, 2000, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596 "2000-12-14T20:10:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![DavisMcDavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dfb087/32.png) [@DavisMcDavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavisMcDavis)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2000, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596/81 "2000-12-24T06:44:57Z")
My, my my! So many of my favorites mentioned as “baffling” people - actually, I think that’s a bit why I like them. Somehow if everyone actually “got” Sandra Bernhard’s humor I think I might be a bit disappointed. She doesn’t necessarily do “setup-punchline-applause sign lights up” humor, so it’s hard to get into. If you want to know why she’s famous, find any gay man and ask him for the bootleg copy of “Without You I’m Nothing” that he’s gotten hidden under his bed, and have yourself a listen, or else rent _I’m Still Here, Damn It!_ from your local video store. She’s best live, or in a live recording, so I guess if all you’ve seen is “Roseanne” and maybe a Letterman appearance or something, you might not think she’s great. Not to mention I met her once and she was very gracious about letting me get a picture with her, which was one of the peak moments of my life. But that’s another story… Bjork made some really amazing songs and has a totally unique voice. I think “Birthday” and _Dancer In The Dark_ easily explain her fame away. For many of these people, I think despite much mediocre work they’ve had one standout performance and/or famous parent. For example, Liza Minnelli: Judy’s daugther, _Arthur_ and _Cabaret_. Whoopi’s made some bad choices (i.e., _The Telephone_) but watch _Jumpin’ Jack Flash_ or _The Color Purple_ and tell me she’s talentless. I can’t imagine someone watching _The Color Purple_ and thinking she’s a bad actress - or that Steven Spielberg is a bad director, for that matter. Same for Melanie Griffith - _Working Girl_ is still a really great movie, PLUS she’s the daughter of Tippi Hedren. Why is Drew Barrymore famous? How is that baffling? She’s a **Barrymore** , she was in E.T. (Hey, wasn’t that a Spielberg film?), and she became addicted to cocaine before she hit puberty. If that doesn’t spell FAMOUS I don’t know what does. Now, her continuing success, that perhaps you can find baffling, but her initial fame is perfectly logical. In other words, maybe these people have something you’ve overlooked or don’t know about that led to their initial success, which they’ve then mucked up with crappy performances. In reading through many the lists, I found myself saying, “But she was on Laugh-In and won an Oscar for _Cactus Flower_! And _Overboard_ was sorta funny!” or “Didn’t they see his ass in _Thelma and Louise_?” Musically, I don’t understand the appeal of Patti Smith. She’s my Elvis Costello. I can see why little girls like Britney Spears, but I cannot understand why they don’t realize she’s not actually singing at her concerts, or even that she’s not lip synching that well. Mariah Carey and Christina Aquilera can both sing AND both dress like hookers, so I can see why they’re famous. I am dismayed but not baffled, let’s put it that way. So, finally, to answer the **OP** Caroline Rhea, hands down. You know you can’t beat that one, can you? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2000, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596/82 "2000-12-24T23:17:14Z")
When I saw the thread title I immediately thought “Rosie O’Donell”. Why is she famous? I think the Powers That Be one day decided to just grab some woman from a K-mart somewhere and make her famous. Rosie was that woman. The most noteworthy thing about her that I can think of is that she has memorized far too many TV show theme songs. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2000, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596/83 "2000-12-25T11:41:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Daniel Shabasson \* > \*\* > > Al Pacino ---- Horrendous actor. He’s himself in every role. \*\* Oooh, yeah, I totally agree with that. Have you ever noticed that every time he needs to express an emotion other than weariness or boredom, he does it by screaming? What a ham. Completely overrated. ---
**Author:** ![coosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@coosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coosa)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2000, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596/84 "2000-12-25T22:42:45Z")
Tori Spelling ---
**Author:** ![zero\_hr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6de8d8/32.png) [@zero\_hr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zero_hr)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2000, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596/85 "2000-12-26T04:22:51Z")
I don’t get Madonna. She’s ugly, and whenever she’s on Letterman, etc. she is pure prima dona. “You must make all the talk, as I have nothing I specifically wan to say.” Then when they finally give up trying to get her to say anything at all, and want to bring on the secodn guest, she throws a hissy fit and demands the second segment. Which then also tanks, and the real second guest is hung out to dry. ---
**Author:** ![alansmithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@alansmithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alansmithee)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2000, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596/86 "2000-12-26T04:37:38Z")
Jeff Goldblum - The guy has been self-righteous from the start and has only gotten worse with time. I see him as the John Luvitz character in the SNL “acting!..genius!” skit. I can’t understand why he’s famous, but whoever is responsible should be drawn and quartered. ---
**Author:** ![G.Nome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c89c15/32.png) [@G.Nome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.Nome)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596/87 "2000-12-29T06:49:20Z")
I have misgivings about saying what I have here in this thread and in the similar one I started called Strangely Failed Film careers. I remember reading an interview with Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin once in which he said that fans just don’t realise how ordinary stars remain to themselves throughout their careers. At Christmas, for instance, they just go home to their motley families like everyone else and spend time doing mundane things. Celebrities are obscenely overpaid but they must become completely fucked up by a lifetime of confronting stuff like this. If stardom is so great what happened to Elvis Presley and Kurt Cobain just to name two? It seems to me that Elvis Presley’s health would not have deteriorated if he had had any true friends at all. The performers who have success and yet remain under-talented and undeserving of it are probably well aware of the situation. ---
**Author:** ![DavisMcDavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dfb087/32.png) [@DavisMcDavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavisMcDavis)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596/88 "2001-01-02T19:34:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by G. Nome \* > \*\*. At Christmas, for instance, they just go home to their motley families like everyone else and spend time doing mundane things. \*\* But in Tori Spelling’s case, the home in question is the size of Idaho and has a bowling alley. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596/89 "2001-01-03T19:39:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Daniel Shabasson \* > **George W. Bush – out of all the people in the US, why was he picked by the Republicans?** “He’s a frickin’ moron! We can get away with _anything!_” And in a similar vein, I toss out Ronald Reagan, George F. Will, and Rush Limbaugh. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596/90 "2001-01-03T19:58:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by woodstockbirdybird \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Daniel Shabasson \* > > \*\* > > > > Al Pacino ---- Horrendous actor. He’s himself in every role. \*\* > > Oooh, yeah, I totally agree with that. Have you ever noticed that every time he needs to express an emotion other than weariness or boredom, he does it by screaming? What a ham. Completely overrated. \*\* Pacino WAS a good actor, though. To get an diea of the transformation from good to bad, watch him in the first two “Godfather” films - his acting is subtle and understated when it needs to be. Beautiful performances. Now watch him in the third “Godfather.” Yuck. So he may suck now, but there’s a reason he made it big; he really was a tremendous actor. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596/91 "2001-01-03T20:09:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dinsdale \* > \*\*I have nothing to add to this thread other than, > > **If you ain’t praising my man Elvis, you’re snipin. You better take back what you implied, or you and me gonna be slinging leather in the Pit.** \*\* Do you mean that no talent southern boy who capitalized on black music and became a slightly cooler version of Pat Boone? ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596/92 "2001-01-03T20:16:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crunchy Frog \* > And why the hell is Fabio famous? At least those bands I mentioned DO SOMETHING. Obviously people like their music and have reason to like them (but not I), but what the hell does Fabio DO to make him famous? It’s not like the supermodels who you actually SEE modelling things. How did this guy get famous? Fabio is famous for being on the covers of romance novels. For some reason, someone has the idea that women find him sexy. ---
**Author:** ![JosephFinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@JosephFinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JosephFinn)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596/93 "2001-01-03T20:47:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RickJay \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by woodstockbirdybird \* > > \*\* > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > \*Originally posted by Daniel Shabasson \* > > > \*\* > > > > > > Al Pacino ---- Horrendous actor. He’s himself in every role. \*\* > > > > Oooh, yeah, I totally agree with that. Have you ever noticed that every time he needs to express an emotion other than weariness or boredom, he does it by screaming? What a ham. Completely overrated. \*\* > > Pacino WAS a good actor, though. To get an diea of the transformation from good to bad, watch him in the first two “Godfather” films - his acting is subtle and understated when it needs to be. Beautiful performances. > > Now watch him in the third “Godfather.” Yuck. > > So he may suck now, but there’s a reason he made it big; he really was a tremendous actor. \*\* Erm…not to quibble, but you’re wrong. Sue, Pacino has made a couple of clunker choices in the 90’s. God only knows why anyone wanted to be involved in the stench-pit that was “Scent of a Woman,” but he also did some of the finest work of the decade. Let’s run it down: “Glengarry Glen Ross,” a standout in what Jack Lemmon refers to the finest cast he ever worked with. “Heat,” a movie full of fine moments, which all comes down to a quiet little scene in a diner between him and Robert DeNiro. Primo acting between the two, with som many unsaid things floating in the air. “Richard III,” which, yes, is about him…but it’s about so much more. Finally, the best Pacino performance since “Godfather II”: “Donnie Brasco,” in a towering achievement of stripping away the little mannerisms and shouting that plague some of his other performances (see the above “Scent”) and breathes wonderful delicate life into the potrayal of a guy who was once a big “made” man but is now just shuffling along the sidelines of the mob. On other hand, I’m not sure what I think of “Carlito’s Way.” ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596/94 "2001-01-03T21:59:08Z")
Would just a few more Dopers please post something to this thread? I’ve never started a thread that reached 100 posts before! ---
**Author:** ![scratch1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596/95 "2001-01-03T22:22:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ianzin \* > \*\*Would just a few more Dopers please post something to this thread? I’ve never started a thread that reached 100 posts before! \*\* Can I add a post just to confront a Doper for maligning the immaculate George Will? **rjung** is not fit to kiss Will’s bow tie. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596/96 "2001-01-03T23:01:38Z")
I think a lot of people in this thread are mixing up people who they dislike/hate with the actual talent of that person. I hate Michael Jackson but I can understand how and why he became so big. Like him or hate him the guy has talent. Woody Allen has done some very questionable things in his life but he is/was a great comic, writer and director. Jim Carey is positivly hateful IMO but anybody who saw him in _In Living Colour_ or _Man on the Moon_ has to admit the guy has talent. There are 1000’s of people out there who are amazingly talented and could blow the current crop of celebs out of the water but have not had the lucky breaks that others have. To add to the OP I’d add most of the members of boy bands. The majority of them are good looking people who just answered the right add in the paper and can dance a bit (but I suppose there is some talent in that aswell :rolleyes: ) ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2001, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596/97 "2001-01-04T01:47:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scratch1300 \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by ianzin \* > > \*\*Would just a few more Dopers please post something to this thread? I’ve never started a thread that reached 100 posts before! \*\* > > Can I add a post just to confront a Doper for maligning the immaculate George Will? **rjung** is not fit to kiss Will’s bow tie.\*\* Pul-eeze. The only difference between George Will and Rush Limbaugh is that George has a bigger vocabulary and better access to obscure quotes. (Are we over 100 yet? :)) And to get a less inflammatory nominee, I’ll toss in a vote for Madonna. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2001, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596/98 "2001-01-04T14:53:40Z")
Scott Baio. How any of those many beautiful women wanted to date him is beyond me. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2001, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596/99 "2001-01-04T15:02:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by diamud \* > \*\*Dr. Joyce Brothers - why is she famous again? > > Zsa Zsa Gabor – ditto\*\* Dr. Brothers won $64,000 on the “The $64,000 Question”. Then on the “$64,000 Challenge”, she won $70,000. Both times the topic was boxing. Zsa Zsa Gabor was Miss Hungary in 1936. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2001, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596/100 "2001-01-04T15:05:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by alansmithee \* > \*\*Jeff Goldblum - The guy has been self-righteous from the start and has only gotten worse with time. I see him as the John Luvitz character in the SNL “acting!..genius!” skit. I can’t understand why he’s famous, but whoever is responsible should be drawn and quartered. \*\* John Lovitz’s character was Master Thespian. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-whose-fame-and-success-just-baffles-you/45596.md?page=6)