# How many obese actors have shed huge amounts of weight? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 8, 2014, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622 "2014-04-08T08:28:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622/21 "2014-04-08T13:23:15Z")
Greatest amount of weight gained or lost by an actor for a film. I’m not trying to be funny. But I can’t imagine they would keep records of such a thing. Vincent D’Nofrio has been in many great movies and I often cannot recognize him from one to the next. But he must have made several fortunes as the executive producer for all those Law & Order series. I can’t imagine how he finds the time to both act and produce. ---
**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:** [April 8, 2014, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622/22 "2014-04-08T13:25:46Z")
Here’s a picture of relatively thin Roger C. Carmel, apparently from “Three’s Company”, after his Star Trek role, illustrating the gaining-and-losing aspect: > **[Roger C. Carmel](https://www.imdb.com/media/rm452175872/nm0138354?ref_=nm_phs_md_2)** > > John Ritter, Suzanne Somers, Roger C. Carmel, Joyce DeWitt, and Don Knotts in Three's Company (1976) ---
**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:** [April 8, 2014, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622/23 "2014-04-08T13:27:00Z")
Here’s a picture of relatively thin Roger C. Carmel, apparently from “Three’s Company”, after his Star Trek role, illustrating the gaining-and-losing aspect: > **[Roger C. Carmel](https://www.imdb.com/media/rm452175872/nm0138354?ref_=nm_phs_md_2)** > > John Ritter, Suzanne Somers, Roger C. Carmel, Joyce DeWitt, and Don Knotts in Three's Company (1976) and from Different Striokes: > **[Roger C. Carmel](https://www.imdb.com/media/rm418621440/nm0138354?ref_=nm_phs_md_3)** > > Todd Bridges, Conrad Bain, Roger C. Carmel, Lilyan Chauvin, and Gary Coleman in Diff'rent Strokes (1978) ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622/24 "2014-04-08T13:29:13Z")
Not an “actor” but still a public figure: Perez Hilton. I saw him on Glee a while back and didn’t recognize him. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622/25 "2014-04-08T13:41:20Z")
In 1964, German actor Gert Fröbe played the villain Goldfinger in the James Bond movie with the same title. He was fat: [![](https://voiretmanger.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/goldfinger-gert-frobe.jpg) ](https://voiretmanger.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/goldfinger-gert-frobe.jpg) 16 years earlier, 3 years after WW II, Fröbe (who was more than 6ft tall) starred in a German movie in which he looked starved (since this was post-war Germany, he probably was actually malnourished, no method acting here): [http://www.rohkostforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=921&d=1376578902](http://www.rohkostforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=921&d=1376578902) By the end of his life (he died aged 75), he seemed to have shed some pounds: [http://stars-forever.com/d/8656-2/00017550\_jbh.jpg](http://stars-forever.com/d/8656-2/00017550_jbh.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622/26 "2014-04-08T14:13:08Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > Vincent D’Nofrio has been in many great movies and I often cannot recognize him from one to the next. > > But he must have made several fortunes as the executive producer for all those Law & Order series. I can’t imagine how he finds the time to both act and produce. Which Law & Order series did he produce? ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622/27 "2014-04-08T15:57:53Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Which Law & Order series did he produce? I may have gotten that wrong. I was certain he produced more than one of those series. But I can only find that he acted in Criminal Intent. Sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622/28 "2014-04-08T16:03:51Z")
NM. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622/29 "2014-04-08T16:30:34Z")
Going back a long ways, actress Judith Light was one of the first actresses to be known for a 'huge weight loss." But by today’s standards, her loss was pretty slight. In 1978, Light assumed the role of Karen Wolek on the soap opera “One Life to Live.” When she took over the part, a lot of critics were baffled - why would the show’s producers cast such a ‘fat, frumpy’ actress as one of the series’ major heroines? But the writers (and Light herself) used her ‘frumpy’ appearance to give the character special depth; the outlandish storyline (Karen was a bored housewife who became a daytime hooker) was given ‘realistic underpinings’ because Karen had pathological self-esteem issues due to her appearance. She was driven to seek out ‘johns’ by a desire to feel ‘wanted’ by men. This was considered so believable that Light’s character became one of the all-time most popular soap opera characters. Light of couse went on to star in “Who’s the Boss?” and become a Tony-winning stage actress. But in the early 80s, she was frequently on tabloid mag covers because of her “extraordinary weight loss.” The formerly fat, frumpy soap star was now a svelt, glamorous sitcom star! The irony (at least from today’s perspecitve) is that the ‘fat, frumpy’ Judith Light looked like [this.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d7/Karen_glamour_shot.png) No, that’s not a mistake on my part, I didn’t load the wrong picture. That is what was considered ‘fat’ in 1982. ---
**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:** [April 8, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622/30 "2014-04-08T17:15:34Z")
Drew Carey lost a lot of weight. Not sure if he’s kept it off, but he was pretty thin for a while. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622/31 "2014-04-08T17:18:23Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > Drew Carey lost a lot of weight. Not sure if he’s kept it off, but he was pretty thin for a while. _The Price is Right_ comes up on the TV screens here at work from time to time. He still looks pretty small. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622/32 "2014-04-08T17:22:23Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Roger C. Carmel** , who I suspect most people on this Board will recognize as Harry Mudd from two TOS Star Trek Episodes… But in between he seems to have lost a LOTR of weight a couple of times. I had to look really hard at this before I figured out what I was seeing. I sure as hell did not remember Harry Mudd being in _Lord of the Rings_. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622/33 "2014-04-08T17:49:58Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > The irony (at least from today’s perspecitve) is that the ‘fat, frumpy’ Judith Light looked like [this.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d7/Karen_glamour_shot.png) No, that’s not a mistake on my part, I didn’t load the wrong picture. That is what was considered ‘fat’ in 1982. Um… I’m not sure what you’re trying to imply, but the average actress of 1982 would be a porker by today’s standards. This shot of JL is verging on “whale.” We’re a sick culture - and we seem to get sicker with every era. ---
**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:** [April 8, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622/34 "2014-04-08T17:58:01Z")
Mike Meyers. At one point during the filming of the Spy Who Shagged Me he must have weighed at least 500 pounds. In a serious vein, [Nick von Esmarch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_von_Esmarchon), a guy on a show called Nikki lost so much weight between the first two seasons that many people including me thought it was a different guy. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622/35 "2014-04-08T18:26:38Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Mike Meyers. At one point during the filming of the Spy Who Shagged Me he must have weighed at least 500 pounds. > > In a serious vein, [Nick von Esmarch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_von_Esmarchon), a guy on a show called Nikki lost so much weight between the first two seasons that many people including me thought it was a different guy. Linky has too many letters. I think you meant [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_von_Esmarch). ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622/36 "2014-04-08T18:30:22Z")
Tom Arnold ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622/37 "2014-04-08T18:48:22Z")
[Horatio Sanz](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/24/snl-alum-horatio-sanz-dro_n_146143.html), from SNL. ---
**Author:** ![Hrududu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Hrududu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hrududu)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622/38 "2014-04-08T19:08:50Z")
[Josh Peck](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2198810/Drake-Joshs-chubby-child-star-Josh-Peck-reveals-buff-new-physique.html) from Drake and Josh lost a load of weight a couple of years back. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622/39 "2014-04-08T19:48:25Z")
> [@Hrududu](#): > > [Josh Peck](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2198810/Drake-Joshs-chubby-child-star-Josh-Peck-reveals-buff-new-physique.html) from Drake and Josh lost a load of weight a couple of years back. Reminds me of probably the ultimate chubby-child-star-to-hunk-adult actor, Jerry O’Connell. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622/40 "2014-04-08T20:55:42Z")
Jackie Gleason was never skinny, but when he went to Hollywood in the 40’s he managed to [lose a lot of weight](http://www.ripopmusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/BOBBY-HACKETT-JACKIE-GLEASON-ORCHESTRA-WIVES-copy.jpg) in an attempt to get leading roles. He didn’t get them and quit dieting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-obese-actors-have-shed-huge-amounts-of-weight/685622.md?page=3)