# Entertainers with better second careers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 15, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493 "2006-10-15T03:31:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/21 "2006-10-15T16:05:19Z")
[QUOTE=don’t ask] [Too late](http://www.purple-eggplant.com/Collections/Gifts/Les_Poules/poulesdeluxe.php) all is revealed. [/QUOTE] I like this part: > [@](#): > > Audrey and Elisabeth had babies! No wonder they’re gay icons. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/22 "2006-10-15T16:29:54Z")
[QUOTE=Savannah] I’ve never heard this expression before. Google translates it as “hens of luxury”. Is it an adept way of saying a kept woman? A woman who has enough looks and cachet that a man would be pleased to have her as his kept mistress? [/QUOTE] A Google search has it roughly translating to _une femme légère_–a ‘light’ woman. Do you mean an escort or a porn star, **Sonia**? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/23 "2006-10-15T16:31:25Z")
[QUOTE=Neptunian Slug] And while I am at it are you kidding me about Clint Eastwood? [/QUOTE] I agree. Clint is better behind the camera. He’s still a good actor. But he’s a GREAT director. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/24 "2006-10-15T16:33:30Z")
Bette Midler, while I like her singing, is a better actress, in my opinion. And Goldie Hawn is a better director/producer than an actress (even if she _is_ terminally adorable). ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/25 "2006-10-15T16:39:07Z")
[QUOTE=bienville] Was Reagan a more talented politician or a more talented actor? [/QUOTE] Whether someone likes the guy or not they would probably have to agree that twice being elected president of the US is about as successful as a person can possibly be as a politician. However good his acting was (I have honestly never seen any of his work) it can’t possibly be at that level. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/26 "2006-10-15T17:33:20Z")
Ron Howard was a decent actor, but not likely to win an Oscar. Really good director, though. As I’ve aged, I’ve gained more appreciation for Frank Sinatra as both a singer and actor. He had a unique style in both areas; one of those rare cases of being brilliant in two careers. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2006, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/27 "2006-10-15T17:55:13Z")
**Robert Towne** was much more successful as a screenwriter than he was as an actor. **Barry Levinson** was a major success as screenwriter, director, and producer, after his acting career went nowhere. **Mary Ingels** had some success as an actor, but he’s done much better as an agent and business manager. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2006, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/28 "2006-10-15T19:42:23Z")
Ivan Reitman was great as Egon Spengler… but he’s a much better director. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/29 "2006-10-15T20:09:50Z")
I’m not so impressed by people who went from being actors to being something else in the entertainment industry, even if they did it with great success. I make an exception, though, for Werner Klemperer ( **Hogan’s Heroes** , **Judgment at Nuremburg** ), a gifted conductor and violinist. He was also a pretty decent attorney. Fred Grandy made a bigger mark on Congress than he did on the Love Boat. Lisa Gerritsen. TV’s top child actor circa 1970, is said to be quite successful doing something in the software business. Ilona Staller, europorn’s “Ciccolina,” was an Italian MP for some time, and Melina “Never On Sunday” Mercouri was Greece’s Minister of Culture. I hear Grace Kelly married pretty well and gave Monaco’s tourism industry quite a boost. Minor 70s heartthrob Bobby Sherman was an EMT for many years. I’m sure the money sucked, but my opinion of his impact on the culture was greatly improved. Likewise, Tommy Tutone left “the biz” and became a music teacher. ---
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/30 "2006-10-15T20:40:19Z")
[QUOTE=Savannah] I’ve never heard this expression before. Google translates it as “hens of luxury”. Is it an adept way of saying a kept woman? A woman who has enough looks and cachet that a man would be pleased to have her as his kept mistress? [/QUOTE] A _poule de luxe_ is a high-class whore. The phrase was used a lot in the late Victorian and Edwardian era. To use a more readily understandable (and amusing) French idiom, it means _une grande horizontale_. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/31 "2006-10-15T21:06:00Z")
[QUOTE=Laughing Lagomorph] Whether someone likes the guy or not they would probably have to agree that twice being elected president of the US is about as successful as a person can possibly be as a politician. However good his acting was (I have honestly never seen any of his work) it can’t possibly be at that level. [/QUOTE] Well, actually … Reagan’s a very popular politician, mostly among conservatives, but that doesn’t necessarily translated into _talented._ It can be and has been argued that he was just a two-bit B-grade movie actor with political leanings that the Pubbie machine recognized could be made into Presidential material, and used him as such. Just as some publisher recognized that Jacqueline Susann churned out dreck that might be popular, and WAS popular, but that doesn’t mean she was the most talented writer of her generation, or anything close to it. She just got tons of marketing because it worked on the demographic the publisher was pandering to. Let us just say it is possible to disagree with your assertion on rational grounds. I’ll leave it at that lest we head into GD territory. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/32 "2006-10-15T21:27:58Z")
[QUOTE=E-Sabbath] Ivan Reitman was great as Egon Spengler… but he’s a much better director. [/QUOTE] Ivan Reitman has pretty much always been a producer and director, with a few writing credits, and an occasional “cameo”. Egon Spengler was of course played by [Harold Ramis](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000601/) whose acting and directing I would place on pretty even levels (I was happy to see him in [The Last Kiss](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0434139/), having not seen him onscreen for some time). His work as a writer I would place higher than both his work as actor and director, but all these careers have been quite concurrent. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2006, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/33 "2006-10-15T21:33:58Z")
Brain malfunction. I meant Howard Ramis, who I always thought gave up acting to focus on behind camera work. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/34 "2006-10-15T21:44:14Z")
[QUOTE=E-Sabbath] I meant Howard Ramis [/QUOTE] Again, **Harold** Ramis. It’s O.K., sometimes I have brain malfunctions too. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/35 "2006-10-15T22:00:01Z")
[QUOTE=Evil Captor] Well, actually … Reagan’s a very popular politician, mostly among conservatives, but that doesn’t necessarily translated into _talented._ It can be and has been argued that he was just a two-bit B-grade movie actor with political leanings that the Pubbie machine recognized could be made into Presidential material, and used him as such. Just as some publisher recognized that Jacqueline Susann churned out dreck that might be popular, and WAS popular, but that doesn’t mean she was the most talented writer of her generation, or anything close to it. She just got tons of marketing because it worked on the demographic the publisher was pandering to. Let us just say it is possible to disagree with your assertion on rational grounds. I’ll leave it at that lest we head into GD territory. [/QUOTE] But it would only be possible if you ignored his actual talents as a politician. For example, he managed to be elected as President of the Screen Actor’s guild, presumably without the help of the ‘pubbie machine’. And his promotional talents made him the spokesman for General Electric, where he went around essentially giving campaign speeches for GE to workers and others. He first made an impression on conservatives when he gave a speech in support of Barry Goldwater which electrified the Republicans. A speech he wrote himself, btw. Then of course he was elected as Governor of California before being elected President. And as President, he was obviously very successful in achieving most of the things he wanted to achieve, and he left office with a 64% approval rating, which is a virtual tie with Bill Clinton (65% - within the margin of error) for being the most popular president to leave office since WWII. So you can attempt to spin away his success if you want, but you’re going to have to really work at it. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/36 "2006-10-15T22:28:04Z")
I would have to agree. Whether Reagan was a great visionary leader can be debated. Whether he was a great politician cannot. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/37 "2006-10-15T22:54:37Z")
Apparently Jon Favreau is doing quite well for himself as a director (Elf, Zathura, the upcoming Iron Man), although he was a decent actor in movies like Swingers (which he also wrote). ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/38 "2006-10-15T23:01:21Z")
[QUOTE=Gorsnak] I would have to agree. Whether Reagan was a great visionary leader can be debated. Whether he was a great politician cannot. [/QUOTE] This is what I was getting at. Put it another way. Can you name someone who was a great politician but never had much success getting elected to anything? Of course the idea is ridiculous. Pretty much by definition a politician is supposed to win elections. In our system the pinnacle of that endeavor is to get elected President the maximum number of times possible, which Reagan did easily. FWIW I was never a fan of the guy myself, but I can’t argue with his success. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/39 "2006-10-15T23:02:51Z")
While I’m no fan of Reagan, it’s clear he was a successful politician. **George Murphy** was a moderately talented actor who was elected to the Senate; his election mad Reagan a viable candidate for California governor. **Helen Gahagan** appeared in only one film – as the lead – but was elected to the House and lost a Senate run to a nasty campaign by Richard Nixon. She popularized the phrase “Tricky Dick” in reference to Nixon. Fritz Leiber, Jr. tried to follow in his father’s footsteps as an actor, even appearing in several films with him. But he quit to become a writer and became one of the grandmasters of science fiction, winning six Hugo awards. He’s the author of such classics as _Conjure Wife, The Big Time, The Wanderer_, the Farfhrd and Gray Mouser Sword and Sorcery books, the Change War short stories and novels, and short stories “Coming Attraction,” “Gonna Roll the Bones,” “Catch that Zeppelin!”, and “Rump-Titty-Titty-Tum-TAH-Tee.” ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/40 "2006-10-16T03:31:42Z")
How about [Fred Thompson](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000669/bio)? Started out as a successful lawyer (he was on the Watergate Committee), he then became a reasonably successful actor. Then he went on to have a successful Senate career, and voluntarily left the Senate to go back to being an actor. I admire him a lot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493.md?page=3)