# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/41 "2006-10-16T03:33:51Z")
Erle Stanley Gardner was by all accounts a decent lawyer, but his career really took off when he started writing about a fictional lawyer named Perry Mason. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/42 "2006-10-16T03:35:56Z")
And of course, if my short term memory worked, I would have remembered that the OP was asking about entertainers who had a second career. Alas, most lawyers are not very entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![ninevah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/46a35a/32.png) [@ninevah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ninevah)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/43 "2006-10-16T03:43:08Z")
Former child star [Mark Lester](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0504492/bio) (who played Oliver in the movie-musical **Oliver!** ) works as an osteopath. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/44 "2006-10-16T03:56:09Z")
Magic Johnson had a stellar career in the NBA, but he has become a very powerful businessman since his retirement from basketball. He does everything from running his own bank which specializes in loans to urban-based businesses to handling a very successful chain of Burger King franchises. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/45 "2006-10-16T03:59:20Z")
[QUOTE=Krokodil] Minor 70s heartthrob Bobby Sherman was an EMT for many years. [/QUOTE] Former 90210 cast member and singer Jamie Walters is also an EMT and firefighter in Los Angeles. > [@Laughing Langomorph](#): > > Put it another way. Can you name someone who was a great politician but never had much success getting elected to anything? AFAIK Karl Rove hasn’t been elected to any office since he was in high school but I doubt there are many who would say he isn’t a highly skilled politician. ---
**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 16, 2006, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/46 "2006-10-16T09:00:59Z")
George Clooney can be a very VERY good actor (he should have been nominated for an Oscar for **O Brother Where Art Thou?** ) but he’s proving to be an excellent director too, with **Confessions of a Dangerous Mind** and **Good Night, And Good Luck**. Sophia Coppola was a very very bad actress (and really, the poor thing was pushed into the role in Godfather III…I blame Winona Ryder for backing out at the last minute) but is turning out to be an wonderful director ( **The Virgin Suicides** , **Lost In Translation** and the upcoming **Marie Antoinette** , which is rumoured to be very good, churlish French critics notwithstanding). ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/47 "2006-10-16T12:58:26Z")
Jimmy Carter was a lackluster President, but Habitat for Humanity has proved his worth. Chuck Barris went from songwriter to making big bucks in the TV game show industry. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/48 "2006-10-16T13:18:47Z")
Peter Weller was a mediocre actor, but seems to be a perfectly cromulent lecturer on Roman and Renaissance art. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/49 "2006-10-16T14:32:21Z")
Fred MacMurray: good tenor sax player and singer, much better actor. Hoagy Carmichael: unsuccessful lawyer and investment banker, sublime songwriter. Bob Newhart: one-time accountant. Didn’t get into stand-up until age 30. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/50 "2006-10-16T14:33:48Z")
OK, delete the latter two. Neither got famous in their first jobs. Fred, however, was with several name big bands before the movies got him. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493/51 "2006-10-16T15:01:01Z")
Nat King Cole was a decent enough jazz pianist and wanted to be known for that. He became a superstar only after he started singing. Okay, it’s the same career in music, but he went from jazz to pop. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-with-better-second-careers/376493.md?page=2)