# Obscure but interesting celebrity trivia. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 1, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392 "2015-06-01T22:16:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2015, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/261 "2015-07-23T22:36:51Z")
> [@lost4life](#): > > I don’t get your reference then.😕 [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL_0xt8gkBg&t=792) Enjoy! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2015, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/262 "2015-07-23T23:04:45Z")
> [@lost4life](#): > > It’s a Cheers reference. > [@cochrane](#): > > _whoooosh!_ 🙂 > [@lost4life](#): > > I don’t get your reference then.😕 > [@terentii](#): > > [https://youtu.be/uL\_0xt8gkBg?t=792](https://youtu.be/uL_0xt8gkBg?t=792) > > Enjoy! 😃 Now I’m confused. ---
**Author:** ![Tess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@Tess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tess)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/263 "2015-07-24T02:06:19Z")
As an adult, Dylan McDermott was adopted by his former step-mother, playwright Eve Ensler. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/264 "2015-07-24T02:22:37Z")
Not celebrities per say, but still famous- presidents. The comments on Michael Douglas’ family name reminded me how some presidents were born with different names than the ones they became known for. Dwight David Eisenhower was born David Dwight Eisenhower. Gerald Rudolph Ford was born Leslie Lynch King Jr. Bill Clinton’s original last name was Blythe III. Same first and middle name though(William Jefferson). The strangest case is that of Ulysses S. Grant, who died on THIS day 130 years ago in 1885. His birth name was Hiram Simpson Grant, an error while in the military stated his name as Ulysses S. Grant and he liked it and changed his name. Oh the S. in the middle of Harry Truman’s name stands for nothing. Natalie Wood’s real name was Natalia Nikolaevna Zacharenko. George Michael’s real name is Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, his father being a Greek Cypriot. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2015, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/265 "2015-07-24T03:40:20Z")
> [@Nema98](#): > > The strangest case is that of Ulysses S. Grant, who died on THIS day 130 years ago in 1885. His birth name was Hiram Simpson Grant, an error while in the military stated his name as Ulysses S. Grant and he liked it and changed his name. Not exactly: His birth name was Hiram Ulysses Grant. This next part sounds suspiciously “Parson Weems”-ish, but… As a young boy, he noticed that his initials were H.U.G. and he didn’t want to get teased by other kids, so he demanded to be called “Ulysses S. Grant”. Another version of the story is that when his local congressman nominated him for a spot at West Point, he mistakenly wrote the name “Ulysses S. Grant” and rather than try to correct the mistake and jeapordize his spot at the prestigious military college, he kept the name. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2015, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/266 "2015-07-24T03:48:56Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > In the film “Ghostbusters,” after the containment unit is shut down, thousands of ghosts explode through the roof of the firehouse, and we have several establishing shots of them terrorizing various New Yorkers as we set up the climax of the film. > > Among the horrified Apple denizens seen briefly is a terrified and very young Ron Jeremy, of all people. He was 30 at the time of shooting, and had been in adult films for about five years by then. “Very young” is a weird description. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/267 "2015-07-24T05:52:38Z")
> [@Nema98](#): > > Not celebrities per say, but still famous- presidents. The comments on Michael Douglas’ family name reminded me how some presidents were born with different names than the ones they became known for. > > Dwight David Eisenhower was born David Dwight Eisenhower. Gerald Rudolph Ford was born Leslie Lynch King Jr. Bill Clinton’s original last name was Blythe III. Same first and middle name though(William Jefferson). The strangest case is that of Ulysses S. Grant, who died on THIS day 130 years ago in 1885. His birth name was Hiram Simpson Grant, an error while in the military stated his name as Ulysses S. Grant and he liked it and changed his name. Oh the S. in the middle of Harry Truman’s name stands for nothing. Not exactly. His paternal grandfather’s name was Anderson _Shippe_ Truman, and his maternal grandfather’s name was _Solomon_ Young. And three other presidents were born _Stephen_ Grover Cleveland, _Thomas_ Woodrow Wilson, and _John_ Calvin Coolidge. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/268 "2015-07-24T07:34:02Z")
> [@lost4life](#): > > I don’t get your reference then.😕 I knew it was a _Cheers_ reference. I was just making a dumb joke. I doubt any of those three were ever in anyone’s kitchen at the same time. I knew it was Cliff’s Final Jeopardy guess. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/269 "2015-07-24T13:51:31Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I knew it was a _Cheers_ reference. I was just making a dumb joke. I doubt any of those three were ever in anyone’s kitchen at the same time. I knew it was Cliff’s Final Jeopardy guess. So what’s the whoosh? I’m lost here. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/270 "2015-07-24T14:12:22Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > He was 30 at the time of shooting, and had been in adult films for about five years by then. “Very young” is a weird description. Perhaps. A few years after that, a friend of mine got into the adult bookstore business, and the Ron Jeremy I got used to seeing was nowhere near as young or buff looking, is all. In other news, Boing Boing reports this morning, via Ahmed Best, the actor who played Jar Jar Binks: at one point, Michael Jackson was in talks to portray that beloved American nerd icon, Jar Jar Binks. Best has the idea that it fell through because Jackson wanted to do it in prosthetic makeup, whereas George Lucas had his heart set on CGI. That, and perhaps George didn’t want any of his actors to be bigger than the actual movie… ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/271 "2015-07-24T14:46:27Z")
Bill Haley, of Bill Haley & His Komets (“Rock Around the Clock”) had once been the Indiana state yodeling champion. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/272 "2015-07-24T14:47:30Z")
Roy Orbison and Pat Boone were classmates at North Texas State College. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2015, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/273 "2015-07-25T01:28:18Z")
The character of Mona Simpson, the mother of Homer Simpson, was introduced into the series _The Simpsons_ by Richard Appel. He named her after his wife, whose name was Mona Simpson. It was entirely accidental that her last name was Simpson, since the series existed for several years before he became involved in it. But that’s not even the really interesting trivia yet. The second most interesting thing is that Mona Simpson is a fairly famous novelist. The most interesting thing is that she’s Steve Jobs’s biological sister. Her and Steve’s parents became pregnant were Steve when they weren’t married. Her and Steve’s mother decided that she couldn’t marry the father of her unborn child because her own father forbid it. So she put Steve up for adoption when he was born. Then her father died, so Steve’s mother decided that their was nothing stopping her from marrying the father of Steve. They got married and had another baby, Mona. After five years they got divorced, and Steve and Mona’s mother married a guy named Simpson. Mona took her stepfather’s name. Mona and Steve didn’t know they were related and didn’t meet each other until Mona was twenty-five. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2015, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/274 "2015-07-25T05:56:34Z")
It’s also interesting that Homer Simpson’s illegitimate half-brother Herb resembles Homer (who resembles Mona) rather than their common father. The same is true for Hank Hill and his illegitimate Japanese half-brother Junichiro. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2015, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/275 "2015-07-25T06:48:04Z")
> [@lost4life](#): > > So what’s the whoosh? I’m lost here. Then forget about it. Like I said, it was just a dumb joke. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/276 "2015-08-01T01:49:29Z")
Just found this one out. Christa Miller, who played Kate O’Brien on _The Drew Carey Show_, is the niece of Susan St. James of _McMillan & Wife_ and _Kate & Allie_. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/277 "2015-08-01T02:14:36Z")
Ari Up of the Slits was the step daughter of John Lydon and the God Daughter of Jon Anderson of Yes. Keith Levene who was an original member of Pil with John Lydon, was a roadie for Yes. The Pil song Poptones uses the guitar figure from Starship Trooper by Yes but Johnny doesn’t seem to know that per his latest book. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/278 "2015-08-01T03:44:40Z")
Hockey HOFer Luc Robitaille is married to the ex-wife of Chad McQueen, son of Steve McQueen. Her son took the middle initial “R” to honor his stepfather. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/279 "2015-08-01T07:33:25Z")
FDR, Ike. and Rutherford B. Hayes all ate H. O. Oatmeal. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/280 "2015-08-01T14:29:39Z")
Phil Donahue and his family lived across the street from Erma & Bill Bombeck and their family for five years long before either Phil or Erma were famous. The families maintained a life long friendship. Erma’s last interview was televised from her house to the Donahue Show, as she was too sick to travel. And Phil spoke at her funeral, pointing out she was both the best and the only comedic writer like she was. There is no replacement for Erma Bombeck. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392.md?page=15)