# Celebs with talents everyone (but you) knew about **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 24, 2016, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860 "2016-11-24T02:03:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860/41 "2016-11-28T02:24:41Z")
> [@velomont](#): > > Bruce Dickinson, lead singer for Iron Maiden, was also a competitive, national level fencer, and is a qualified Boeing 757 and 747 pilot. I also believe that he is also a qualified 777 pilot as well. John Travolta owns and flies his own 707 and is also certified for many other aircraft. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860/42 "2016-11-28T02:53:37Z")
I seem to recall that the late Dan Blocker, Hoss Cartwright on “Bonanza” was a gourmet chef and had poetry books published. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860/43 "2016-11-28T03:36:55Z")
> [@racer72](#): > > John Travolta owns and flies his own 707 and is also certified for many other aircraft. Harrison Ford is also a pilot, and has used his helicopter to help rescue people in need. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860/44 "2016-11-28T05:09:43Z")
> [@Wallaby](#): > > Kriss Kristofferson - Rhodes Scholar And Army trained helicopter pilot. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860/45 "2016-11-28T05:51:44Z")
Penélope Cruz started out wanting to be a professional dancer, but she moved to acting while still in her teens. She’d always used a “northern Castillian” accent, but her parents are from Southern Spain; when she heard that Fernando Trueba had discarded her for La niña de sus ojos due to the need for a southern accent, she phoned him and ripped him a few holes in the Extremeño of her childhood summers. He hired her. She already knew how to dance flamenco, again not from training but from family history. Her sister and lookalike Mónica used to be a professional dancer, and then someone hired her for a job in a “let’s teach people to dance” show and hey gee, turns out she could act. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860/46 "2016-11-28T07:38:25Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Rick Moranis was never going to have a career where he was not typecast as Rick Moranis. Hey, at least I kept it simple. Of course I meant to say “typecast as Louis Tully.” ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860/47 "2016-11-28T07:42:02Z")
> [@Wallaby](#): > > Kriss Kristofferson - Rhodes Scholar Kris. Sorry for the nitpick. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860/48 "2016-11-28T13:43:10Z")
Jack Kerouac was a high school football star, and was offered a scholarship to play at Notre Dame. Young Abbie Hoffman was a superb tennis player for the Brandeis team (Bud Collins was his coach). ---
**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:** [November 28, 2016, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860/49 "2016-11-28T14:30:29Z")
Kerouac also got football scholarship offers from Columbia and Boston College. He took the one from Columbia. He broke his leg during his freshman year while playing football. He dropped out during his sophomore year: > **[Jack Kerouac](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kerouac)** > > Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (/ˈkɛru.æk/; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. > Of French-Canadian ancestry, Kerouac was raised in a French-speaking home in Lowell, Massachusetts. He "learned English at age six and spoke with a marked accent into his late teens." During World War II, he served in the United States Merchant Marine; he completed his... ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860/50 "2016-11-28T16:16:01Z")
It was only a few years ago (on this board, in fact) that I learned that Karen Carpenter was an [accomplished drummer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdHyzGXAJPg). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860/51 "2016-11-28T16:20:07Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > John Urschel of the Baltimore Ravens NFL team has begun work on a Ph.D. in math (and is also a pretty good chess player): > > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=19812120](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=19812120) His teammate, kicker Justin Tucker, is an [opera singer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93s9pHGUpjY). ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860/52 "2016-11-28T17:01:17Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > It was only a few years ago (on this board, in fact) that I learned that Karen Carpenter was an [accomplished drummer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdHyzGXAJPg). I was never a huge fan of The Carpenters, but I knew she played the drums. Isn’t that (and singing) what she was _primarily_ known for? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860/53 "2016-11-28T17:04:43Z")
Leonard Nimoy was a photographer. Published a number of books during his lifetime. I hear he sung a song about a hobbit, too. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860/54 "2016-11-28T17:09:26Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > His teammate, kicker Justin Tucker, is an [opera singer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93s9pHGUpjY). I used to see Justin at Mass every Sunday, when he played for the Texas Longhorns. He really seemed like the perfect All-American boy. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860/55 "2016-11-28T17:54:46Z")
I recently learned Mark Harmon was quite the football quarterback at UCLA. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860/56 "2016-11-28T18:15:43Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > I was never a huge fan of The Carpenters, but I knew she played the drums. Isn’t that (and singing) what she was _primarily_ known for? AFAIK, despite the fact that she apparently considered herself to be “a drummer who sang”, most casual fans (myself included) primarily (if not only) knew her for her singing, and I think her drumming was primarily known to her serious fans (and industry people). On the Carpenters albums, it looks like she wasn’t often featured as the group’s drummer. If you look at that clip I linked to, though it’s certainly not a documentary, it does seem to be presented as “hey, did you know that Karen is a good drummer, too?” OTOH, if I’m the only one who was clueless about this…well, then it’s a perfect example for this thread. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860/57 "2016-11-28T18:18:45Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > I recently learned Mark Harmon was quite the football quarterback at UCLA. He was- but he’s only the 2nd best football player in his family! His Dad won the Heisman trophy. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860/58 "2016-11-28T18:27:46Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Leonard Nimoy was a photographer. Published a number of books during his lifetime. He was also something of a painter. He did a lot of the abstract artwork that decorated his home. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860/59 "2016-11-28T19:15:23Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > AFAIK, despite the fact that she apparently considered herself to be “a drummer who sang”, most casual fans (myself included) primarily (if not only) knew her for her singing, and I think her drumming was primarily known to her serious fans (and industry people). On the Carpenters albums, it looks like she wasn’t often featured as the group’s drummer. > > If you look at that clip I linked to, though it’s certainly not a documentary, it does seem to be presented as “hey, did you know that Karen is a good drummer, too?” > > OTOH, if I’m the only one who was clueless about this…well, then it’s a perfect example for this thread. 😃 Yeah, I get it. I was expecting most responses to this thread to be of the Geena Davis type: a skill, talent, or expertise that is entirely unrelated to the person’s main claim to fame, and therefore surprising. You might have seen all Geena’s movies but unless you followed her personal life outside her body of work, you would have no reason to expect her to be a near-Olympic-level archer. (Unless she’s used archery in some of her movies? Anyone?) So some of the posts above have surprised me because people seemed to be surprised that someone could do something that is not only in their general area (entertainment, mostly), but is among the things they are best known for. For instance, the mention of Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke being dancers. Okay, in their later careers I guess they didn’t do that much dancing. And there are apparently people here who only know them for the later work. But in the show those two are **best known for** , _The Dick Van Dyke Show_, they did a \*lot \*of dancing and singing. So it surprises me that anyone is surprised by that. Likewise Steve Martin playing the banjo. He included banjo in his earliest standup work, and ISTM that most of his current public appearances are concerts with the Steep Canyon Rangers, in which he plays banjo. So in this case, yes, there was a fairly lengthy period in his career in which the banjo was not much in evidence, but banjo playing has bracketed his career. Maybe this is all down to me being old, and knowing more about these people than you young whippersnappers. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860/60 "2016-11-28T19:28:13Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > I was expecting most responses to this thread to be of the Geena Davis type: a skill, talent, or expertise that is entirely unrelated to the person’s main claim to fame, and therefore surprising. Then, how about this one (and I’m surprised it hasn’t been mentioned yet, since it comes up on this board fairly often): Actress Hedy Lamaar was also an [inventor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr#Inventor), and held a patent for a torpedo guidance system, the idea of which proved to be instrumental for modern telecommunications. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebs-with-talents-everyone-but-you-knew-about/772860.md?page=4)