# Famous for being famous **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 14, 2001, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394 "2001-10-14T21:02:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394/21 "2001-10-15T14:24:37Z")
Maybe somebody can fill me in on why Bert (Burt?) Convey ever achieved even a minor degree of fame. His most recent thing was dying, but other than game shows and maybe a guest spot on “Love Boat”, I couldn’t tell you what he has ever done. ---
**Author:** ![Odieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a87d85/32.png) [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394/22 "2001-10-15T15:41:33Z")
We have gotten this far without mentioning the wonder that is [Pia Zadora](http://www.stomptokyo.com/pia/pia-main.html). Keith ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394/23 "2001-10-15T16:18:03Z")
Bob Denver. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2001, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394/24 "2001-10-15T17:03:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ethilrist \* > \*\*Bob Denver. \*\* When Gilligan’s Island stops running in syndication is when Bob Denver will stop being famous. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394/25 "2001-10-15T17:21:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mahaloth \* > \*\*I will give anyone $1000 dollars if they can show me any footage of Whoopi Goldberg being funny. \*\* I thought it was funny when she kept saying “shit” on national television while hosting the Oscars. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Fleetwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fleetwood/32/271_2.png) [@Fleetwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fleetwood)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394/26 "2001-10-15T17:33:34Z")
Dr. Joyce Brothers ---
**Author:** ![DPWhite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d26b3c/32.png) [@DPWhite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPWhite)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394/27 "2001-10-15T17:39:58Z")
You are all showing your youth. Charo is famous for being the couchie couchie girl. The is a very good classical guitarist who never got traction as a guitarist, so she developed this loose girl routine and finally became lounge act successful doing the nympho routine with the rat pack. Bob Denver was famous before Gilligan, namely as Maynard B. Krebs on The Many Lives of Dobie Gillis. George Hamilton was a boring movie star that dated one of LBJ’s daughters. He is a reasonably good actor who last did something really good in Godfather III as the new consigliere. Zsa Zsa did a bunch of movies and Green Acres, and got married a lot. And the slapped a police officer. Her sister Eva was much nicer and a damn good actress. (See A Touch of Evil) Who the hell is Rula Lenska except the pitch woman for Alberto VO5? ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394/28 "2001-10-15T17:59:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DPWhite \* > **Zsa Zsa did a bunch of movies and Green Acres, and got married a lot. And the slapped a police officer. Her sister Eva was much nicer and a damn good actress.** That was Eva in Green Acres. I nominate Jaye P Morgan ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394/29 "2001-10-15T18:01:27Z")
I feel old. When the OP brought up Richard Hatch I automatically thought, “The guy from Battlestar Galactica is still considered famous?” ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394/30 "2001-10-15T18:20:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DPWhite \* > \*\*She is a very good classical guitarist \*\* Actually reputed to be one of the BEST flamenco guitarists alive today. I’ve heard her play and she is terrific. And that cell phone ad she’s on breaks me up when she “couches.” Yoko wasn’t even that famous in conceptual art circles. Like Princess Di, she’s a nobody who married well. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394/31 "2001-10-15T18:26:07Z")
> [@](#): > > Maybe somebody can fill me in on why Bert (Burt?) Convey ever achieved even a minor degree of fame. His most recent thing was dying, but other than game shows and maybe a guest spot on “Love Boat”, I couldn’t tell you what he has ever done. IIRC, Bert Convey originated the role of Perchik in **Fiddler on the Roof** on Broadway. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394/32 "2001-10-15T18:35:09Z")
Bert Convy hosted a number of game shows, too. To be honest, like a lot of these people he was never really all that famous. Griping about Bert Convy’s or Pia Zadora’s lack of real accomplishments is not the same as griping about Madonna’s inexplicable fame. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394/33 "2001-10-15T18:40:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Who the hell is Rula Lenska except the pitch woman for Alberto VO5? Rula Lenska really does belong here. She was even featured in **People** magazine wearing a T-shirt that read “Who the HELL is Rula Lenska?” Aside from doing those shampoo commercials (that seemed to assume you knew who she was), the only thing I know she’s done is one of the voices on the original radio broadcast of **The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy**. ---
**Author:** ![DPWhite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d26b3c/32.png) [@DPWhite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPWhite)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394/34 "2001-10-15T18:43:33Z")
OOOpps! I knew it was Eva in Green Acres! What a maroon! I am so embarrassed. Yeah, Charo is a damn good guitarist, but let’s face it, none of us would have ever heard of her if it weren’t for that awful nympho routine. I didn’t think it was sexy twenty five years ago. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394/35 "2001-10-15T18:46:29Z")
Oh, the **definitive** answer would have to be [Angelyne.](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Angelyne) For those who don’t know her, Angelyne is a Los Angeles-local “celebrity” who’s spent the last twenty years being famous for trying to be famous. She’s had obvious plastic surgery done all over her body, and is thus instrantly recognizable by her Betty Boop-like beesting lips and her 44DDDwhatever breasts. She regularly buys some billboards around Los Angeles advertising herself, but AFAIK the only work she’s ever really done were some signs for a local car dealership and a few cameos in movies (_Earth Girls Are Easy_ being the one that comes first to mind). The woman is definitely an L.A. landmark. I have no idea what her real story is, but when it comes to “people who are famous for being famous,” nobody else comes close. ---
**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, 2001, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394/36 "2001-10-15T23:30:06Z")
A lot of “celebrity” game shows had people who had one brush with fame, but who kept at it for years. Most obvious were Charlie Weaver, Wally Cox, Charles Nelson Reilley, Robert Q. Lewis, Nipsey Russell, and Orson Bean (though he’s made a comeback lately). All actually had success at one point, but eventually became famous primarily for being on game shows and as talk show guests. Even Zsa Zsa Gabor had something of a movie career (“Touch of Evil” for instance) before she became solely famous for being Zsa Zsa. In fact, most in this category had _something_ that launched their celebrity status, if that something became forgotten as time went by. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394/37 "2001-10-15T23:41:21Z")
Monte Rock III – I remember him singing on the Tonight Show, but could never figure out why. When I plugged his name in on google, this came up: an excerpt from Aerosmith’s biography “Walk This Way.” Steve Tyler’s talking: "Later that night (they had just seen the Rolling Stones play in NYC in 1965), a funny thing happened. We got hooked up somehow with Monte Rock III and his campy friends. Monte was a hairdresser who dressed up in flashy pseudo-Mod clothes and went on The Tonight Show and sang a little, coming on as an outrageous hipster. We went up to his place, where he kept a chimp and a couple of mastiffs. So we’re partying, popping amyl nitrate, and I think they gave us some Placidyls, a heavy downer. I came to about six hours later. My pants were off and our girlfriends were naked. Someone had their way with us! Maybe it wasn’t so funny, but it’s a snapshot of a certain scene in New York, 1965." ---
**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 16, 2001, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394/38 "2001-10-16T00:31:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DPWhite \* > Who the hell is Rula Lenska except the pitch woman for Alberto VO5? My point exactly! What Cal Meacham said. ---
**Author:** ![saudade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@saudade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saudade)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394/39 "2001-10-16T00:41:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Odieman \* > \*\*We have gotten this far without mentioning the wonder that is [Pia Zadora](http://www.stomptokyo.com/pia/pia-main.html). > > Keith \*\* This may be an UL, but I heard that Pia Zadora was so awful in the title role of a stage adaptation of “The Diary of Anne Frank” that when the Nazis entered the stage, someone in the audience shouted “she’s in the cellar!” during her debut. And speaking of shampoo ads…who was that “don’t hate me because I’m beautiful” woman that used to be on television? Talk about an ego… ---
**Author:** ![DPWhite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d26b3c/32.png) [@DPWhite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPWhite)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394/40 "2001-10-16T01:06:03Z")
Even Zsa Zsa Gabor had something of a movie career (“Touch of Evil” for instance) before she became solely famous for being Zsa Zsa. In fact, most in this category had something that launched their celebrity status, if that something became forgotten as time went by. Reality Chuck! I did it and so did you, poor guy. I’m pretty darn sure it was Eva in Touch of Evil, as well as Marelene Dietrich, Dennis Weaver, Ray Collins, Charleton Heston, Orson Welles. Incidentally, for you youngsters who want to study film or impress your friends, this is an all time classic that does not get seen enough. For furture directors, the opening three minute shot is considered one of the best ever done: no cuts, two stories, building tension. This kind of shot is why Welles is considered the father of modern American film directing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-for-being-famous/87394.md?page=3)