# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/41 "2015-06-02T17:42:51Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > U.S. Rep. Barney Frank is related to Shemp Howard of the Three Stooges. Also, coincidentally, Moe and Curly. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/42 "2015-06-02T17:47:02Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Angelina Jolie’s uncle wrote “Wild Thing.” The Trogg’s song, Tone Loc song, or the 1987 action thriller starring Robert Knepper and Kathleen Quinlan? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/43 "2015-06-02T17:49:46Z")
Actor [Vinton Hayworth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinton_Hayworth), who played Dr. Bellows’s boss Gen. Schaeffer on “I Dream of Jeannie,” was the uncle of both Ginger Rogers and Rita Hayworth. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/44 "2015-06-02T18:17:52Z")
Ross Bagdasarian, under his stage name “David Seville,” created the singing group the Chipmunks (and sang all three parts on their original songs). He was a cousin of Pulitzer Prize winning playwright William Saroyan. A few years earlier, the two of them co-wrote “Come on-a My House,” which made Saroyan the only person to win a Pulitzer Prize and also have a #1 single. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/45 "2015-06-02T18:33:30Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Rufus Wainwright is related to three prominent musical families: The Wainwrights, The Roches and the McGonigle Sisters. He’s also related to Leonard Cohen - Cohen’s daughter is the mother of Wainwright’s daughter. Sacha Baron Cohen (unrelated to Leonard), known for Ali G and Borat, has a cousin named Simon who is an internationally-known autism researcher. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/46 "2015-06-02T18:40:19Z")
I’m surprised no one has mentioned yet that Al Gore and Tommy Lee Jones were roommates in college. But then again it’s hardly obscure, I think most people are aware of it by now. ---
**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, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/47 "2015-06-02T18:48:00Z")
Burt Reynolds and Lee Corso of ESPN were college roommates too. Both played FB at Florida State. Lucille Ball produced the first Star Trek series through her company Desilu studios which was later sold to Paramount. (the studio was started with Desi Arnaz thus the name) ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/48 "2015-06-02T19:12:34Z")
[Jack Nicholson grew up thinking that his mother was his sister.](http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/11/jack-nicholsons-supposed-sister-was-actually-his-mother/) [George Stephanopoulos](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Stephanopoulos), former worker in the Bill Clinton campaign (the first one), and unofficial press secretary for Clinton, is married to [Alexandra Wentworth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Wentworth), who appeared on _In Living Color_, and was the girlfriend of Ron Livingston in _Office Space_. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/49 "2015-06-02T19:53:17Z")
Before he was a sportscaster, [Howard Cosell was a practicing attorney](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Cosell#Early_career). ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/50 "2015-06-02T20:19:34Z")
[George Harrison was in Monty Python’s Life of Brian.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUJDvMpLafI) ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/51 "2015-06-02T21:02:07Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > 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’s in Superman I as well, with two lines after Lex hijacks the two missiles that were launched. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/52 "2015-06-02T21:34:48Z")
**The Terminator should have killed him: Bill, Brian and Brad.** At the beginning of The Terminator, Arnie robs three punks for their clothes. He kills Bill Paxton (“Somebody’s a few cans short of a six pack!”) and Brian Thompson (“Let me guess - wash day, nothing clean?”), while Brad Rearden surrenders and gives him everything. Paxton went on to several leading roles in tv and film, including working with Arnie again in _True Lies_. Thompson has a steady career as a character actor playing heavies, often in sci-fi, like The Vessel and later The Judge on BTVS, and an alien bounty hunter on The X-files. Rearden got a bit part in a 1987 Madonna vehicle “Who’s That Girl?” and hasn’t worked since. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/53 "2015-06-02T22:14:40Z")
David Letterman and Michael Keaton were performers on Mary Tyler Moore’s short-lived variety show, along with Swoosie Kurtz, Dick Shawn (from the original version of _The Producers_) and James Hampton (the bumbling bugler on _F-Troop_.) Watching that show must have been like an acid trip! ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/54 "2015-06-02T22:18:31Z")
Michael Keaton was also a stage hand on Mister Rogers Neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/55 "2015-06-02T23:29:43Z")
[QUOTE=Superdude;18408879[George Stephanopoulos] ([George Stephanopoulos - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Stephanopoulos)), former worker in the Bill Clinton campaign (the first one), and unofficial press secretary for Clinton, is married to [Alexandra Wentworth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Wentworth), who appeared on _In Living Color_, and was the girlfriend of Ron Livingston in _Office Space_. [/QUOTE] [And Schmoopie!](http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/seinfeld/images/3/3f/Schmoopie.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120114032816) ---
**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 3, 2015, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/56 "2015-06-03T01:09:54Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > The Trogg’s song, Tone Loc song, or the 1987 action thriller starring Robert Knepper and Kathleen Quinlan? Troggs song. He was (is?) Chip Taylor. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/57 "2015-06-03T02:03:06Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > David Letterman and Michael Keaton were performers on Mary Tyler Moore’s short-lived variety show, along with Swoosie Kurtz, Dick Shawn (from the original version of _The Producers_) and James Hampton (the bumbling bugler on _F-Troop_.) Swoosie Kurtz’s father was Frank Kurtz, an officer in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. After surviving an attack on Clark Field in the Philippines (concurrent with the one at Pearl Harbor), Kurtz escaped to Australia and cobbled together a B-17 from parts of two damaged airplanes. He named his plane “The Swoose”, after a bird in a popular song who was half swan and half goose. Swoosie is named after the airplane. The Swoose still exists and is the oldest surviving B-17 in the world. It is (according to Wikipedia) being restored by the Museum of the U.S. Air Force, but I believe it might belong to the Smithsonian. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/58 "2015-06-03T04:23:42Z")
I have one. Rebecca Romijn has 6 toes on one foot. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/59 "2015-06-03T06:17:07Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Ross Bagdasarian, under his stage name “David Seville,” created the singing group the Chipmunks (and sang all three parts on their original songs). He was a cousin of Pulitzer Prize winning playwright William Saroyan. A few years earlier, the two of them co-wrote “Come on-a My House,” which made Saroyan the only person to win a Pulitzer Prize and also have a #1 single. I didn’t know! That song was made famous by singer Rosemary Clooney (RIP), sister to broadcaster Nick Clooney, aunt to Nick’s son George. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/60 "2015-06-03T11:09:25Z")
Rose Wilder Lane, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s daughter, is considered one the three founders of the American Libertarian party. Her mother, author of the semi-autobiographical “Little House” books, flew on an airplane to Connecticut to visit her. She traveled by covered wagon to help settle the west as a child and flew on a plane by the time she was an older adult. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392.md?page=4)