# Most famous or interesting fictional alumni from your school? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 8, 2020, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108 "2020-09-08T17:23:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2020, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108/144 "2020-11-16T15:19:37Z")
A “fictional” alum from my college, Gary Cooper, allegedly rode a horse down the stairs in his dorm. Fictional in that Cooper attended but did not graduate, and the horse story is horsefeathers. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108/145 "2020-11-17T04:02:29Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Besides a State College of Agriculture, Penn doesn’t include a College of Hotel Administration or a College of Human Ecology like Cornell does. I was just watching Season 5 of _Veep_, in which Selina Meyer’s body man Gary Walsh tells her he graduated from the Cornell School of Hotel Administration. (Selina says to him, “No you didn’t!”) ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108/146 "2020-11-17T14:36:34Z")
Kimble wrote: > I think Major John D. MacGillis from Major Dad went to Vanderbilt. I can neither think of nor google anyone else who did. Wikipedia articles about colleges often list famous alumni. For Vanderbilt, it includes two US vice presidents, several foreign heads of state, Dinah Shore, Amy Grant, and Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel laureate developer of micro-financing. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108/147 "2020-11-17T15:12:01Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Wikipedia articles about colleges often list famous alumni. For Vanderbilt, it includes two US vice presidents, several foreign heads of state, Dinah Shore, Amy Grant, and Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel laureate developer of micro-financing. _Fictional_ alumni? ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108/148 "2020-11-17T16:44:29Z")
> [@Most famous or interesting fictional alumni from your school?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108/147): > > Fictional alumni? Fair enough. I did find a TV movie, _The Cradle Will Fall_, set on the Vanderbilt campus, but it’s a stretch to call that "famous or interesting. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108/149 "2020-11-17T16:46:52Z")
Can we get a new Internet “law”: “As an online discussion asking for fictional examples of X grows longer than a handful of posts, the probability of someone naming real-life examples of X rapidly approaches 1.” 🙂 ---
**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:** [November 17, 2020, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108/150 "2020-11-17T17:04:26Z")
As far as I know, my college (SUNY Plattsburgh) never had any fictional alumni. The only use of it in fiction that I’m aware of was in the movie _The Last Waltz_, a mockumentary about a polka band. In the movie the band played a disastrously bad concert at the college. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108/151 "2020-11-18T16:09:33Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > Can we get a new Internet “law”: “As an online discussion asking for fictional examples of X grows longer than a handful of posts, the probability of someone naming real-life examples of X rapidly approaches 1.” 🙂 So ordered. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108/152 "2020-11-18T16:22:32Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > Can we get a new Internet “law”: “As an online discussion asking for fictional examples of X grows longer than a handful of posts, the probability of someone naming real-life examples of X rapidly approaches 1.” 🙂 There’s a much more general rule. As a thread becomes longer, the probability of someone ignoring restrictions in the title or OP rapidly approaches 1. The chance that someone repeats an example already given (including in the OP) approaches certainty. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2020, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108/153 "2020-11-18T16:23:56Z")
Particularly amusing when someone says, “I can’t believe no one has mentioned [whatever]” when [whatever] was in the OP or one of the other posts. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108/154 "2020-11-18T16:41:09Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > President Josiah Bartlet President Bartlet’s press secretary, CJ Cregg, went to UC Berkeley – and even gave us a “Go Bears!” once from the lectern. ---
**Author:** ![Kimble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimble/32/19185_2.png) [@Kimble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimble)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108/155 "2020-11-19T07:41:31Z")
I finally thought of another fictional Vanderbilt alum: [Creme de la Creme](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDp-ABzpRX8) from one of Key & Peele’s East/West games. 🙃 ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2020, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108/156 "2020-11-26T10:02:59Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > I don’t have anybody, unless I can count Ronny Chieng semi-autobiographical: > [https://www.netflix.com/au/title/81004350](https://www.netflix.com/au/title/81004350) > > – which I do, because it’s a whole fictional netflix short series set at my university. I bet [Jack Irish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Irish) studied at Melbourne. Lawyer. Lives in Fitzroy. Case closed. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108/157 "2020-11-30T23:52:10Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike1](#): > > You’re mixing up the University of Pennsylvania with Pennsylvania State. Yes. I looked up Penn on the site mentioned above and apparently the only fictional Penn graduate was someone I’d never heard of in a novel I never heard of by a writer I never heard of. On the other hand, it has one graduate I fervently wish had been fictional: Donald Trump. As for prestige among the ivies, I would say there is the big three and then the other five. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108/158 "2020-12-01T02:16:26Z")
I guess the other question is what do you think the writers were trying to convey by using that school? For my school (Dartmouth) I think it’s usually used for old money, East Coast white, prep school educated, outdoorsy and athletic. Not top tier academics, but upper echelon. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108/159 "2020-12-16T15:27:53Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > …Oberlin College, my own alma mater… > > I’ve only come across a handful of fictional Oberlin grads over the years. There’s a professor of Far Eastern Studies who’s mentioned in John Scalzi’s military sf novel _Old Man’s War_, and several characters in William Goldman’s (himself an alum) 1984 semi-autobiographical novel _The Color of Light_, the opening of which is set on campus. I’ve written some _Star Trek_ fanfic and retroactively made Dr. Helen Noel, from _ST:TOS_, an Oberlin grad, as it happens… Just remembered that the protagonist of H.P. Lovecraft’s _The Shadow Over Innsmouth_ (unnamed in the story, but called Robert Olmstead in the author’s notes), is an Oberlin student. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108/160 "2020-12-16T15:53:34Z")
My wife went to Bates, and they’ve got a few mentions. Ally McBeal’s brother went there as well as her first love interest in the show. He was a friend of her bother, I believe. Jake Epping in Stephen King’s _11.22.63_ went there as well. In the episode entitled, “[Paths of Glory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paths_of_Glory_(The_Simpsons))”, it is suggested to Lisa that she transfers to Bates from Oberlin College. So you might have another Oberlin alum in a future/alternate Simpson’s universe. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108/161 "2020-12-16T15:58:44Z")
Good catch - thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2022, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108/162 "2022-01-24T19:39:21Z")
Bumped. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > …I’ve only come across a handful of fictional Oberlin grads over the years. There’s a professor of Far Eastern Studies who’s mentioned in John Scalzi’s military sf novel _Old Man’s War_, and several characters in William Goldman’s (himself an alum) 1984 semi-autobiographical novel _The Color of Light_, the opening of which is set on campus. I’ve written some _Star Trek_ fanfic and retroactively made Dr. Helen Noel, from _ST:TOS_, an Oberlin grad, as it happens. > … Just saw a _West Wing_ rerun, and Sam recruits Tom Jordan, an old Duke law school classmate, to run for Congress in the episode “The Midterms.” Jordan, Sam mentions, also went to Oberlin undergrad. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2022, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108/163 "2022-01-24T23:37:26Z")
UT grad here, and I couldn’t think of any. I had to look Ian Malcolm up! “David Gale” (played by Kevin Spacey) was a professor at “The University of Austin” [(no not that one!)](https://www.uaustin.org/) before he got put on death row. The characters in the long-forgotten comedy _Road Trip_ were trying to retrieve a tape from one of their girlfriends who also attended the then-fictional University of Austin. My graduate alma mater (Harvard) has lots of fake alums: Mister Peabody, for starters. But here’s a really cool fake/real mashup: in the TV series Fresh Off The Boat, the character Eddie gets rejected from Harvard because Andy Richter determines that he has a helicopter mom. But the actor who played him, Hudson Wang, [actually did get into Harvard](https://www.thewrap.com/fresh-off-the-boat-hudson-yang-harvard-accepted-eddie-huang-video/) (for reals) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-or-interesting-fictional-alumni-from-your-school/920108.md?page=9)