# Famous Ugly People **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 7, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366 "2010-10-07T16:01:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366/21 "2010-10-07T17:08:53Z")
[Lyle](http://www.uglymales.com/wc/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/lyle-lovett.jpg) [Lovett](http://campussqueeze.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/lylelovett8.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366/22 "2010-10-07T17:09:36Z")
No such list is complete without [Sam Cassell](http://fansofmediocrity.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/sam_cassell_smiles.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366/23 "2010-10-07T17:11:04Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > I noticed Janis Joplin on that list. I have read that she found herself unattractive. I have no idea why. To me, she seemed to have average looks. I’ll grant the “average looks” conclusion based on these: > **[janis joplin - Yahoo Image Search Results](https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=janis%2Bjoplin&fr=yfp-t-701&ei=utf-8&x=wrt&y=Search)** But I have seen some shots of her that would back a dog off a meat truck. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366/24 "2010-10-07T17:11:10Z")
“It begins and ends with Brezhnev” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366/25 "2010-10-07T17:12:38Z")
> [@ReticulatingSplines](#): > > No such list is complete without [Sam Cassell](http://fansofmediocrity.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/sam_cassell_smiles.jpg). I don’t know if he’s _ugly_, but he has a weird-shaped head. Now, [Popeye Jones, on the other hand…](http://thesportshernia.typepad.com/blog/2007/04/the_alltime_nba.html) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366/26 "2010-10-07T17:13:24Z")
Why the absence of [Abe Vigoda](http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/celebrities/jt/celebrities/abe_vigoda/)? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366/27 "2010-10-07T17:19:42Z")
John Belushi Bill Murray Christiane Amanpour - To clarify, more plain looking than ugly but certainly different from the stereotypical female reporter. Interestingly, for me at least the more I’m exposed to her intellect and intuitive style, the more attractive she’s become. Miles Davis (although musicians should perhaps be excluded altogether since it isn’t their mug that drives our interest) Manuel Noreiga ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366/28 "2010-10-07T17:20:35Z")
I always said the ugliest person in music, is the one with the coolest name: [Lemmy Kilmister](http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/File:Mheadlm4.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366/29 "2010-10-07T17:27:26Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > I noticed Janis Joplin on that list. I have read that she found herself unattractive. I have no idea why. To me, she seemed to have average looks. Janis Joplin was a nude model for a time (one of the pictures was reprinted in a recent biography). How ugly could people really have thought her? ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366/30 "2010-10-07T17:37:06Z")
Don’t know if you could call him “famous” exactly (he was semi-famous as a child in a commercial in the 70s), but…Mason Reese (as a [child](http://blogs.suntimes.com/tv/mason%20reese.jpg) and an [adult](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bd6xxWdZdxo/SY5cvlQ584I/AAAAAAAAEYQ/herPIdpxOD4/s400/mason-reese-big-apple-comic-book-toy-art-and-sci-fi-expo-in-new-york-city-on-november-18-2007-0uZyYQ.jpg)). ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366/31 "2010-10-07T17:37:48Z")
I just had to go back and look at the thread [Anne Hathaway’s Eyes](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=510779) which, between 03-18-2009, 10:25 AM and 03-22-2009, 10:40 PM had 114 posts and many of them were of the variety we see in this thread. Maybe you’d like to check out some of them. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366/32 "2010-10-07T17:38:28Z")
Phyllis Diller based her comedic personality on a lack of good looks. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366/33 "2010-10-07T17:41:58Z")
The list descibes itself as: > [@](#): > > People in various high profile occupations who made it big without the benefit of classic good looks. And somehow Prince Charles is included??? He’s no beauty, but I don’t think that being firstborn son of the reigning queen means he “made it big.” His high-profile occupation (such as it is) was handed to him at birth (and presumably he was cute then) and there’s no way to take it away from him against his will. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366/34 "2010-10-07T17:49:17Z")
Musical talent goes a long way toward counteracting the anti-fame effects of homeliness. I’m thinking especially of Mick Jagger and [Carly Simon](http://www.peoplequiz.com/biographies-35055-Carly_Simon.html). ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366/35 "2010-10-07T17:49:39Z")
I would agree that some of the names on that list are suspect. Besides, any list that doesn’t include [Vincent Schiavelli](http://s1.moviefanfare.com/uploads/2009/06/vincent-schiavelli.jpg) and his 'lovely" bride [Allyce Beasley](http://www.davidandmaddie.com/covers/cvr/86-21.jpg) (just like her mother, she was never “comfortable with her beauty”) isn’t worth the ugly keyboard it was typed on. I always like to mention how for the longest time I thought the horrifying [Zelda](http://img523.imageshack.us/i/zelda2js0.jpg/) in “Pet Sematary” was played by [Amanda Plummer](http://www.cbc.ca/arts/images/pics/plummer3.jpg) with a minimum of makeup. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366/36 "2010-10-07T17:49:39Z")
Why do people include Bea Arthur? She was an older and not necessarily gorgeous older woman, but I never saw her as ugly. I mean, Betty White is old and no longer fits the young/hot ideal, but people don’t go around saying she’s ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366/37 "2010-10-07T17:53:29Z")
He is probably not famous anymore, but [Don Mossi](http://www.sportsargumentwiki.com/index.php?title=Don_Mossi) was a baseball player in the 50s and 60s. Bill James described him this way: [QUOTE=Bill James] Don Mossi was the complete five-tool ugly player. He could run ugly, hit ugly, throw ugly, field ugly and ugly for power. He was ugly to all fields. He could ugly behind the runner as well as anybody, and you talk about pressure … man, you never saw a player who was uglier in the clutch. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366/38 "2010-10-07T18:00:39Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > “It begins and ends with Brezhnev” Brezhnev was actually one of the people I was thinking of as being remembered as ugly simply because a lot of people (in the US anyways) only remember him in his declining years (and from the Seinfeld bit). He was fairly handsome into middle age, but was an alcoholic and then had several strokes in the last decade of his life. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366/39 "2010-10-07T18:13:05Z")
Susan Boyle Bill Gates ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366/40 "2010-10-07T18:34:28Z")
I think [Billy West](http://loyalkng.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/west.jpg) has the proverbial “face for radio.” Unless I missed them, I didn’t see any athletes on the list. There are professional athletes who are famous for something other than good looks, though no one in particular springs to mind at the moment. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-ugly-people/556366.md?page=3)