# Huh...Things I learned recently **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 1, 2008, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587 "2008-04-01T21:34:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**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 2, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587/61 "2008-04-02T20:24:53Z")
> [@](#): > > After telling how he vanquished the Balrog, did he say “No brag, just fact”? Geeky nitpick: Gandalf didn’t fight the Balrog until well after The Hobbit. They’re talking about the Rank and Base TV version. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587/62 "2008-04-02T20:41:36Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] the Rank and Base TV version. [/QUOTE] I almost corrected you there… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587/63 "2008-04-02T20:42:52Z")
The recruiting sergeant in _Starship Trooper_ is the ME in _CSI_ ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587/64 "2008-04-02T20:48:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Actor Charles Durning was a POW during World War 2. > He was awarded the Silver Star and three Purple Hearts from combat. Dolph Sweet, another actor who was often confused with Durning, was also a POW in WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587/65 "2008-04-02T21:13:52Z")
[QUOTE=Plynck] After telling how he vanquished the Balrog, did he say “No brag, just fact”? [/QUOTE] Psst! That’s Walter Brennan from “The Guns of Will Sonnet.” ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587/66 "2008-04-02T21:14:53Z")
[QUOTE=Plynck] > [@furryman](#): > > Walter Houston did the voice of Gandalf in “The Hobbit” cartoon. This is one of my picks for perfect casting in a movie. After telling how he vanquished the Balrog, did he say “No brag, just fact”? [/QUOTE] I think you’re confusing Walter Huston and Walter Brennan. “No brag, just fact” was what Walter Brennan was always saying in “The Guns of Will Sonnet”. eta damn my slow coding. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587/67 "2008-04-02T21:31:42Z")
[QUOTE=ltfire] Actor Charles Durning was a POW during World War 2. … [/QUOTE] Actually it’s much worse, he’s one of the few men that escaped the Malmedy massacre after narrowly surviving the D-Day invasion! > [@](#): > > … On Omaha Beach itself, Pvt. Charles Durning was among the first troops to land. Drafted early in the war, he was first assigned as a rifleman with the 398th Infantry Regiment, but later served overseas with the 3rd Army Support troops and the 386th Anti-aircraft Artillery (AAA) Battalion. > > Durning was wounded by an “S” Mine on June 15, 1944, at Les Mare des Mares. He was transported by the 499th Medical Collection Company to the 24th Evacuation Hospital. By June 17, he was back in England at the 217th General Hospital. Although severely wounded by shrapnel in the left and right thigh, right hand, the frontal region of the head and the interior left chest wall, Durning recovered quickly and was determined to be “fit for duty” on Dec. 6, 1944. Durning was present for the Battle of the Bulge, the German counter-offensive in December 1944. Taken prisoner, he was among the very few troops who escaped being massacred by Gen. Pieper’s 1st Liebstandart Adolph Hitler, an elite SS Panzer unit at Malmedy. He escaped with two others, and returned to find the remainder murdered. > > Wounded in the chest, Durning was returned to the states and remained in army hospitals being treated for both physical and psychological wounds until his discharge as a private first class on Jan. 30, 1946, with the award of a Silver Star, three Purple Hearts and a Good Conduct Medal. …[RIGHT][CITE](http://www.gijobs.net/magazine.cfm?id=462)[/RIGHT] CMC +fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587/68 "2008-04-02T21:34:47Z")
Who has been in Star Wars: A New Hope, the original Batman AND Raiders of the Lost Ark (as well as Death Machine, a personal favorite)? William Hootkins, better known as Porkins. I didn’t connect them all till recently. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587/69 "2008-04-02T22:15:07Z")
There’s this one character actor who kept on catching my attaention these past few years. He played abour six different charcters on various \*Law & Order \* series(including an Irish gangster and his twin brother), a hotshot lawyer on the _West Wing_, a patient on \*House \* who loses the power of coherent speech, and more. Tall, balding and sardonic, he kept on popping up, and I started to keep an eye out for him. Eventually, I went to the IMDB to look him up, and I discovered that he was… … Danny Noonan from _Caddyshack_. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587/70 "2008-04-02T22:22:05Z")
“Danny Noonan” (i.e., Michael O’Keefe) was married to Bonnie Raitt through the nineties, too. He sang with her and wrote lyrics for her “Luck of the Draw” album. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587/71 "2008-04-02T22:24:00Z")
[QUOTE=Love Rhombus] Who has been in Star Wars: A New Hope, the original Batman AND Raiders of the Lost Ark (as well as Death Machine, a personal favorite)? William Hootkins, better known as Porkins. I didn’t connect them all till recently. [/QUOTE] Who was Porkins in the others? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587/72 "2008-04-02T22:29:36Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] Geeky nitpick: Gandalf didn’t fight the Balrog until well after The Hobbit. They’re talking about the Rank and Base TV version. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Earl Snake-Hips Tucker] Psst! That’s Walter Brennan from “The Guns of Will Sonnet.” [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=LurkMeister] I think you’re confusing Walter Huston and Walter Brennan. “No brag, just fact” was what Walter Brennan was always saying in “The Guns of Will Sonnet”. [/QUOTE] :smack: If there’s a record for how many mistakes a person can make in one post, I think I am in the running. There is really nothing to do now except slink away… ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587/73 "2008-04-02T22:39:57Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] Who was Porkins in the others? -Joe [/QUOTE] In Raiders he was one of the guys that recruited Indiana to look for the Ark. “I’m beginning to see Hitler’s interest in this…” And the one who delivered the famous line at the end: **Top** …men. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587/74 "2008-04-02T22:43:12Z")
[QUOTE=Sauron] You know, when I read Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, I had a specific picture in my head of Jonas, the head Big Coffin Hunter from _Wizard and Glass_. I didn’t know where it came from, but that picture was fully formed in my mind the instant King described the character. I just realized the picture came from the bad guy from Briscoe County Jr. He fits the Jonas description to a “t”. This doesn’t really fit in with the thread topic, does it? Sorry. Carry on. [/QUOTE] Bahaha! I was looking at Billy Drago’s headshot and was thinking the exact same thing. Then I scrolled down and saw your post. That’s awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587/75 "2008-04-02T22:43:52Z")
Reading the Dr. Seuss thread just now reminded me of another one. The voice of Tony the Tiger also sang the song from the Chuck Jones **How The Grinch Stole Christmas** cartoon. “You’re as cuddly as a cactus, you’re as charming as an eel…” And while I’m here, Ted Knight was the narrator from the old Superfriends cartoons. “Later…at…the Hall of Justice!” ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587/76 "2008-04-02T22:54:36Z")
[QUOTE=Noelq] Clancy Brown: 1. Kurgen in Highlander. 2. Mr. Krabs from Spongebob Squarepants. 3. Lex Luthor on Justice League. 4. Dr. West on ER. He seems to bounce from Good to Evil! [/QUOTE] Also was; The guy who died when bit by the spider thing in _Buckaroo Bonzai_. The stupid henchman in _Cast a Deadly Spell_ An uncredited appearance as a gas station attendant in Revenge of the Nerds III. Ratso, Captain Black and Super Moose in _Jackie Chan Adventures_. And good god, more voice work than pretty much anyone out there with very few exceptions. Check out [his IMDB page](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000317/)! And that doesn’t list the Commercial work he’s done. Why no, I’m not stalking him… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587/77 "2008-04-02T22:55:12Z")
The stunning [Liz Vassey](http://imdb.com/name/nm0890808/), who played Captain Liberty in the live-action version of The Tick also made one-shot appearances in several shows I watched regularly in the '90s, including Beverly Hills 90210, Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, Herman’s Head, Married with Children, and was Kristin in the Star Trek:TNG episode “Conundrum”. (She’s also appeared in a lot of other shows that I’ve never watched; I see she’s a regular on CSI now.) Also, her husband, David Emmerichs, has been a steadicam operator on five movies I’ve seen. ---
**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587/78 "2008-04-02T23:43:45Z")
[QUOTE=BMalion] Sgt. Zim in _Starship Troopers_. [/QUOTE] Naaaaawh! :smack: Missed that one! ---
**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587/79 "2008-04-02T23:44:49Z")
[QUOTE=Chimera] Also was; The guy who died when bit by the spider thing in _Buckaroo Bonzai_. The stupid henchman in _Cast a Deadly Spell_ An uncredited appearance as a gas station attendant in Revenge of the Nerds III. Ratso, Captain Black and Super Moose in _Jackie Chan Adventures_. And good god, more voice work than pretty much anyone out there with very few exceptions. Check out [his IMDB page](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000317/)! And that doesn’t list the Commercial work he’s done. Why no, I’m not stalking him… 😛 [/QUOTE] Wow! just… Wow! Captain Black is Mr. Krabs is the Kurgen! I think that crosses some Karmaic lines someplace. Thanks for the info. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587/80 "2008-04-03T00:50:32Z")
[QUOTE=Morbo] Reading the Dr. Seuss thread just now reminded me of another one. The voice of Tony the Tiger also sang the song from the Chuck Jones **How The Grinch Stole Christmas** cartoon. “You’re as cuddly as a cactus, you’re as charming as an eel…” [/QUOTE] That would be [Thurl Ravenscroft.](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0712391/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-things-i-learned-recently/443587.md?page=5)