How I read this:
God?
No, not him.
Spencer Pratt I guess, though I’m not sure how many people know who he is since the Hills has been off the air for awhile.
Maybe Joe the Plumber.
I think he’s more legendary for his legendariness. Fine difference.
This appears to be a hard question. First, Paris and Kim both “came to prominence” after a porn video, in which they were the stars, separately. No man could come to prominence in that way. Thus, the question is loaded. Otherwise, someone would have named Ron Jeremy.
That’s not what SHE said.
JFK Jr ran a moderately successful magazine.
Tom Arnold. He’s the only guy in this thread who has absolutely no discernible talent whatsoever.
He became famous by marrying Roseanne, and nothing else.
Tom Arnold was brilliant in “The Stupids”! He is an accomplished singer as well.
I’m not a fan of the guy but he’s been in plenty of movies and TV shows.
That said, the reference to Tom Arnold reminded me of Kevin Federline, the guy who was married to Brittany Spears.
What about Levi Johnson? Initially rose to fame for being Bristol Palin’s babydaddy, now trying to make it as a D list celebrity.
The Situation from Jersey Shore.
And now I have to go think of nice things to purge the thought of him from my brain.
PS. Nothing associated with The Stuipids can be considered brilliant.
Seacrest also now is the host of Dick Clark’s New Years Rockin’ Eve, now I believe called Ryan Seacrest’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. The man is everywhere.
He is also a guy who fascinates me because i have NEVER heard him stutter, say “uh”, or “um”. He is amazing in his delivery, and has been since day one.
As to this question, i think JFK Jr. was a good answer before he died. Now? I can’t think of anyone except that strange faced, wide-mouthed bass looking Phil Swift who hawks some waterproof sealant in a can.
K Fed is the poster boy for this.
Some men have careers, but are known more for their relationships. Wonder if they count.
Alessandra Ambrosio’s husband is known for being just that. He is a very successful businessman. Not known for that to the general public.
Don Gummer is one of the world’s reading sculptors, but otherwise only known as Mr Meyrl Streep.
The guy who married Natalie Portman… I think he is a successful something in ballet.
Some politicians kids. Mark Thatcher comes to mind.
I can’t [quickly] find it on youtube but this year after announcing that one of the contestants on AI was safe (for that week) the person came over, picked Ryan up, set him back down and then went over to the couches. Harry then said something like “that was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen, after he put you back down, it took you about 1 second to turn back into ‘ryan seacrest’”.
Here it is:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1cts6g_top-10-of-13-results-american-idol-13_music
Skip to 4:25
He was great in True Lies.
Wasn’t heimplicated in an attempt to overthrow the government of a third world country a few years back?
As to the OP, I’m not sure there’s many at international success level the way the Kardashians or Paris Hilton are famous for being famous, but there might be a few at “local celebrity” level - guys who are well known at maybe city level for either something incredibly trivial (being “The man who met Andy Griffith” or something like that) or because they’re married to someone famous and that gets them in the social pages of the paper a lot.
Methinks you need to recheck the direction on that “compass.”
Actually the guy who fucked Kim might be a decent answer to this. He’s nowhere near as famous as Kim but he’s relatively famous. For… not much.
Ray J. He’s mostly famous for being the brother of Brandy, a successful R&B singer. And also for the Kim thing. He actually was the bigger name in that sex video when it came out. A few albums of his own and a few TV roles. But his degree of success with those doesn’t match his degree of fame.
EDIT: Totally forgot he was also Whitney Houston’s boyfriend towards the end.
Even in moderately larger cities such as Nashville there are clowns like this coming out of the woodwork. They appear as guests on local TV gabfests to share their knowledge of some local trivia and keep coming back for reasons hard to discern.
However, the level of “fame” these people achieve is on a much smaller and more contained level than the OP’s candidates.
But the basic idea of people getting to be “well known” for being well known is tantalizing and it makes me wonder who would be the first or at least among the first to rise to this level of fame without ever having done anything. Outside of fiction anyway.