Lee Iacocca was fired from Ford Motors, before taking over at Chrysler.
This news anchor was fired after his first day. Granted, a good portion of his fame was because he got fired…
Mike Rowe was supposedly fired from QVC three different times.
I’m tempted to ban you for that.
Willem Dafoe was fired as an extra on Heaven’s Gate, but has done OK in his career since: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=725540
Fun political trivia: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill all lost their first campaigns.
Me. Oh, wait. I’m not famous.
Yet. 
John Lennon was kicked out of art school for being a general nuisance and, IIRC, not caring that much about making art.
Barbra Streisand was fired from an early gig in a nightclub (?). The owner didn’t like her singing.
Sarah Silverman was fired from Saturday Night Live in 1994.
William Faulkner was fired (technically allowed to resign) from his job as Postmaster at the USPO for the University of Mississippi.
Since the following is a cite of a cite quotation in entirety should be acceptable:
Dec 1921 to Oct 1924 William Faulkner Works as Postmaster of the University of Mississippi
(from link):
Eric Roberts was fired from Another World because “the camera didn’t like him.” Head writer Harding Lemay admits in his book “Sometimes we were wrong.”
Ozzy is a poor candidate here, as he was was fired from Black Sabbath after 10 years and 8 albums, fronting the most important Metal band in history through their most important creative period. “Fired early in their career” - not.
Unfairly, I’d say. Haven’t you heard about his painting talents??
Ban? I was thinking of something like using a gun…a very big one…
Good point. He has had such a long career it is easy to forget that; especially for people my age who were teenagers long after his days with Black Sabbath.
I know it’s over a month after the fact, but that was the first laugh I’ve had today. Awesome.
They say that when he retired, the circus manager said, “I’ll never find another man of your caliber.”
Eric Stoltz was fired from Back to the Future.
Fired! is a fun documentary about celebrities being fired.
Tate Donovan has a great story about being fired from the movie version of Torch Song Trilogy and moving back to New York and finding out they are filming the movie right outside his apartment.
Slash unsuccessfully auditioned for Poison a year before Guns and Roses formed. Man, that would have sucked.
It’s The Decline of Western Civilization, Part II [The Metal Years].
Denied admission.