Noteworthy Celebrity Coincidences

Cafe Society
1

I had started watching the Bogart/Bacall version of The Big Sleep on TCM just now when I had the thought that Robert Mitchum and James Stewart were in the 1978 remake and that they died a day apart in 1997.

And just this week after watching the DVD of No Country For Old Men, Zoe and I began wondering if any other former college roommates such as Al Gore and Tommy Lee Jones had ever gone on to win Oscars.

The one about John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both dying on the same July 4th might have occurred to me during an episode of the HBO miniseries in progress on John Adams, but I knew that a while back.

Help develop a list of such coincidences, and any others you think may be significant.

2

Blake Edwards and Mickey Rooney, both winners of honorary Oscars, once shared an apartment. Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman were roommates, too. But none of these folks were college roommates.

3

Those are in the spirit of the thread, though. Nice ones, too.

4

A well-known coincidence was Roger Bowen, who played Henry Blake in the movie MASH, died one day after McLean Stevenson, who played Henry Blake in the televison series MASH.

5

There’s the notorious James Dean safe-driving PSA.

6

Yul Brynner played the character of Adams in the movie The Magnificent Seven. The movie was successful and Brynner played Adams again in the sequel Return of the Seven. This was also a success so they decided to make a third movie, The Magnificent Seven Ride.

Lee Van Cleef played the character of Sabata in the movie Sabata. That movie also was successful and they decided to make a sequel Adios, Sabata. Van Cleef had to turn down the part because he was playing Adams in the above mentioned movie, The Magnificent Seven Ride.

So they hired Yul Brynner to play the part of Sabata.

7

Indeed! Dean’s buddy Bill Hickman has some interesting history in addition to being the one is whose arms Dean died.

8

Phil Donohue and Erma Bombeck lived on the same street and were friends long before either of them were famous. The friendship continued, and Donohue spoke at Bombeck’s funeral.

Peg Bracken & Homer Groening wrote a newspaper column called “Phoebe Get Your Man” back in the 1950’s, before she became a cookbook writer and his son Matt became incredibly famous. Marge Groening lived across the street from Bracken in the 1990’s.

9

Roger Bowen, who played Henry Blake in the movie MAS*H, and McLean Stevenson, who played Henry Blake in the TV show MAS*H, died within 24 hours of each other.

10

It’s a cool coincidence that they were roomies, but Gore didn’t win an Oscar. The award went to the movie’s producer (and director), Davis Guggenheim.

11

Oops. Maybe I should have said something like “went on the be world famous” or something, but that’s more wide open.

12

Financial TV show host Suze Orman was once apartment mates with John Belushi.

There was no romantic relationship: John was dating Suze’s roommate and moved into the apartment with them.

Orman was also friends with Dan Fogelberg, who performed at a club where she was waitressing.

13

Psst, see post #4. :slight_smile:

14

Susan Spungen, sister of the infamous Nancy, worked as an assistant to Martha Stewart.

Serial killer Cory Stayner is brother of Steven Stayner, the child who was abducted and held for seven years by a child molester.

15

The first person who posts the list of Lincoln-Kennedy “coincidences” gets a good thumping.

16

Roger!