# 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:** 2
**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:** [June 2, 2015, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/21 "2015-06-02T07:06:20Z")
Connie Booth isn’t the only actress to leave acting to become a therapist. There’s also Pamela Stephenson, who was born in New Zealand and who has acted in Australia, the U.K., and the U.S. She was in the _Saturday Night Live_ cast for a year. She has mostly given up acting to become a clinical psychologist. She’s been married to the British comedian Billy Connolly and has three children. She spent a year on a sailing voyage around the South Pacific Ocean: > **[Pamela Stephenson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_Stephenson)** > > Pamela Stephenson, Lady Connolly (born 4 December 1949) is a New Zealand–born psychologist, writer, actress and comedian. She moved with her family to Australia in 1953 and studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). After playing several stage and television roles, she emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1976. > Parts in television shows including Space: 1999, New Avengers, The Professionals and Tales of the Unexpected preceded her breakthrough role in the satirical sketch show No... ---
**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:** [June 2, 2015, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/22 "2015-06-02T07:16:43Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > John Ratzenberger from Cheers has a small role in the Empire Strikes back. He played a member of the rebel army. Ratzenberger was also in “Superman II.” He played a technician in Mission Control who was monitoring the manned moon mission that took place in the film. He has also voiced a character in every animated film made by Pixar. Ringo Starr’s wife Barbara Bach’s sister is married to Joe Walsh, making Joe and Ringo brothers-in-law. U.S. Rep. Barney Frank is related to Shemp Howard of the Three Stooges. Frank’s father Sam was the cousin of Shemp’s wife, Gertrude. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2015, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/23 "2015-06-02T07:18:53Z")
Christopher Lee was also an intelligence officer in World War II: > **[Christopher Lee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Lee)** > > Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee CBE CStJ (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career which spanned over 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimately playing the role nine times. His other film roles include Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Count Dooku in several Star Wars films (2002–2008), and Saruman in both the Lord of the Rings film trilogy... ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/24 "2015-06-02T10:44:12Z")
**Jason Everman** is the Pete Best of Grunge - he was kicked out of both **Nirvana** and **Soundgarden**. But he left music and became an Army Ranger and Green Beret. > **[Jason Everman](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Everman)** > > Jason Mark Everman (born October 16, 1967) is an American musician and soldier who played guitar with Nirvana and Mind Funk, and bass in Soundgarden and OLD. He later served tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan with the U.S. Army as an Army Ranger and Green Beret. As of May 2017, Everman plays the guitar in a military veteran band called Silence and Light. > In a 2013 interview with The New York Times Magazine, Everman said when asked about his birthplace, "My birth certificate says Kodiak, but I'... ---
**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:** [June 2, 2015, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/25 "2015-06-02T11:09:33Z")
Hal Roach, director of the _Little Rascals_ comedies, has met both Mark Twain (who once spoke at his school) and David Letterman (he was on the NBC show once as a guest). Jackie Brenston, vocalist for “Rocket 88” and technically the world’s first Rock n Roll star, was a WWII veteran. Rufus Wainwright is related to three prominent musical families: The Wainwrights, The Roches and the McGonigle Sisters. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/26 "2015-06-02T11:20:38Z")
The scruffy middle-aged bloke running around my local park with a Jack Russel is Mark Rylance. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/27 "2015-06-02T11:27:08Z")
I guess I started with the prominent relatives so I’ll add another one. Michael Douglas’ aunt (mother’s sister) was married to John Seward Johnson, the head of Johnson and Johnson and the son of the J&J co-founder. Michael Douglas is 1st cousins with his children who were involved in the famous court case over the inheritance when the old man married the maid before his death and cut them out of the will. That includes artist [Seward Johnson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Seward_Johnson_II). Through his mother’s family he is also part of a very prominent Bermudan family. His grandfather was Bermuda’s Attorney General. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2015, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/28 "2015-06-02T11:34:18Z")
John Ratzenberger was also the US Navy CPO who supervised the icecap refueling of Clint Eastwood’s stolen Soviet fighter in _ **Firefox** _. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2015, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/29 "2015-06-02T11:38:38Z")
Patrick Stewart once admitted to having had no idea of the importance of \*\*\*Star Trek \*\*\*in popular culture before he accepted the role of Jean-Luc Picard. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/30 "2015-06-02T12:34:42Z")
In addition to _Cheers,_ John Ratzenberger has portrayed the character Cliff Clavin in the following shows: _St. Elsewhere The Tortellis_ (Cheers spinoff) _Wings Frasier_ (Cheers spinoff) _The Simpsons_ (voice only) ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/31 "2015-06-02T13:16:54Z")
Kevin Costner played the guy who died in the Big Chill but all his speaking scenes were cut. Julia Louis-Dreyfuss’ father was a billionaire so she knew wealth as a kid before getting into acting. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/32 "2015-06-02T13:40:19Z")
Maria von Trapp and her family in settled in Stowe, Vermont, where the mountains reminded her of her native Austria. She became known as either (a) “Stowe’s premier tourist attraction”, or (b) “that old bitch”. (She had a rather … forceful personality.) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/33 "2015-06-02T13:43:45Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Julia Louis-Dreyfuss’ father was a billionaire so she knew wealth as a kid before getting into acting. He still is. Still alive and worth about 4 billion. I’m not sure how much if any of that she will get since she should have more money than she could ever spend from her career alone. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/34 "2015-06-02T13:47:25Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Maria von Trapp and her family in settled in Stowe, Vermont, where the mountains reminded her of her native Austria. She became known as either (a) “Stowe’s premier tourist attraction”, or (b) “that old bitch”. > > (She had a rather … forceful personality.) She not only had a forceful personality, but the Sound of Music switched the personalities. The real Captain von Trapp was pretty easy going. And the real force behind the von Trapps was a Catholic priest, Father Franz Wasner. > **[The truth about the Sound of Music family](https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31658799)** > > The Sound of Music was released 50 years ago - but what did the real von Trapp family portrayed in the move think of it? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/35 "2015-06-02T14:08:20Z")
Ricky Gervaise, famous for the British version of The Office among many other things, was in a New Wave music duo called Seona Dancing in the early 80s. They had one minor hit in Britain but it was just at the right time. He was asked to be in the famous charity song Do They Know It’s Christmas. You can see him briefly a few times in the back. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/36 "2015-06-02T15:06:16Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Ricky Gervaise, famous for the British version of The Office among many other things, was in a New Wave music duo called Seona Dancing in the early 80s. They had one minor hit in Britain but it was just at the right time. He was asked to be in the famous charity song Do They Know It’s Christmas. You can see him briefly a few times in the back. You got me on that one. I had no idea. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/37 "2015-06-02T15:34:00Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Rufus Wainwright is related to three prominent musical families: The Wainwrights, The Roches and the McGonigle Sisters. McGarrigle. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/38 "2015-06-02T15:42:28Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > OK, here are couple of Canadian celebrity trivial comments which I’ve mentioned before. > > [Leslie Nielsen’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Nielsen) brother [Erik](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Nielsen) was a politician and once was the deputy Prime Minister of Canada. > > [Kiefer Sutherland](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiefer_Sutherland) is the son of [Donald Sutherland](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Sutherland) and [Shirley Douglas](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Douglas). That’s not such a big deal, but Shirley’s father, [Tommy Douglas](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Douglas), was a politician who is responsible for Canada’s universal health care program. So it wouldn’t be odd for us to one day come across a clip of Jack Bauer shouting, _"MILLIONS of PEOPLE will LIVE!!!_ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/39 "2015-06-02T15:54:57Z")
Georgia Moffat played the Doctor’s “daughter” in an episode with the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant. In real life, they got together and are now married, Georgia Moffat is the daughter of the Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison. Doctor Who companion Romana was played by Lalla Ward. She was briefly married to the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker. She became good friends with Douglas Adams, who had worked on the show at the same time, and eventually he introduced her to his friend Richard Dawkins. Dawkins and Ward got married shortly afterward, and remain so. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/40 "2015-06-02T17:09:49Z")
Angelina Jolie’s uncle wrote “Wild Thing.” In the weeks leading up to the Mt. St. Helens eruption, her other paternal uncle was the only vulcanologist to accurately predict the type and direction of the explosion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392.md?page=3)