# 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:** 5
**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 4, 2015, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/81 "2015-06-04T09:03:32Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > 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). Dancer and choreographer Martha Graham met both Helen Keller and Madonna. I got that from a book called _Hello Goodbye Hello: A Circle of 101 Remarkable Meetings_ that is all about meetings of famous people. It forms a chain; Madonna met Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson met Nancy Reagan, Nancy Reagan met Andy Warhol, etc. The end of the book even comes back to the beginning, so it forms a full circle. ---
**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 4, 2015, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/82 "2015-06-04T09:16:59Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Angelina Jolie’s uncle wrote “Wild Thing.” He also wrote “Angel of the Morning,” which was a hit for both Merrilee Rush and Juice Newton. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/83 "2015-06-04T13:59:13Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Bill Wyman once dated a young girl while his son dated the girl’s mother. Had both couples gotten married then his son would also be his father in law. And he would have become [his own grandpa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_My_Own_Grandpa)… ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/84 "2015-06-04T14:03:47Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > 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. Completely off-topic, but I have to mention the WWII incident where a crew cobbled together a damaged DC-3 and a wing from a DC-2, and flew the resulting monstrosity to safety. Famously known as the [DC-2 **½**](http://www.douglasdc3.com/dc2half/dc2half.htm). ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/85 "2015-06-04T14:17:48Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Well, maybe not so sad. Remember, the grandparents are people who didn’t throw their pregnant daughter out of the house. They’re not people who demanded that the baby be adopted and never spoken of again. They’re not people who let the daughter and baby grow up in their house and then spent the rest of their life telling them both how they were an eternal shame to the family. These are people who knew that the only way that they could avoid shame to the family and yet raise the child within the family was to create this elaborate pretense. These are people who loved and wanted to protect their child and grandchild, even if it required a complicated set of lies. This is the plot in the movie ‘Susan Slade’ (1961) with Connie Stevens and Troy Donahue. I believe this kind of thing has been going on for centuries among all kinds of families. It’s only in recent decades it’s become acceptable to be a proud single mother, without the convoluted deception as practiced in the past. My favorite factoid: Dr. Ruth Westheimer lived in Israel and as a young girl was trained to be a sniper. She said she could hardly lift a rifle, much less shoot it! ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/86 "2015-06-04T14:22:37Z")
Nico was deaf in one ear. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/87 "2015-06-04T15:35:26Z")
> [@Honey](#): > > I have one. > > Rebecca Romijn has 6 toes on one foot. 😃 Whoosh? Or was she maybe born with six but had surgery? Because I googled to see, and got [this pic](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bQ0SqifjNcg/TEU3Oc-8RgI/AAAAAAAAYuk/9yUGmSUBFNE/s1600/rebecca-romijn-feet-5.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/88 "2015-06-04T15:43:24Z")
Creator of The Man Show and king of podcasting, Adam Carolla, set up the candeholders Sting knocks down in the video to Wrapped Around Your Finger. He also lost his virginity to Molly Ringwald’s sister. ---
**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 4, 2015, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/89 "2015-06-04T16:00:35Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > And he would have become [his own grandpa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_My_Own_Grandpa)… Beat you to it. Post #68. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/90 "2015-06-04T18:12:43Z")
Julia Child played professional basketball in a women’s league in Italy. ---
**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 4, 2015, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/91 "2015-06-04T18:16:38Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > Nico was deaf in one ear. The name reminded me, and it’s off-topic, but the Blind Melon album [Nico](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico_%28album%29) was named after singer Shannon Hoon’s death, and was named after his daughter, Nico Blue Hoon, who was born in 1995. Nico Blue Hoon and I have a mutual friend that I’ve known for damn near my whole life. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/92 "2015-06-04T18:29:39Z")
A lot of the technology and marketing around podcasts was made possible through the efforts of one of the original MTV VJs Adam Curry. ---
**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 4, 2015, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/93 "2015-06-04T18:37:40Z")
This might be straying a bit from the definition of a celebrity, but it’s still interesting. John Tyler, the 10th President of the U.S., who was born in the 18th century, has two grandsons who are alive in the 21st. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/94 "2015-06-04T19:04:27Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > Actor Jon Pertwee - famous as the third Doctor in “Doctor Who” was a genuine [secret agent man](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2283542/Double-O-Who-Jon-Pertwees-secret-life-wartime-agent--years-did-battle-Daleks.html) for Britain during WWII, reported to Winston Churchill himself. Pertwee was married to actress Jean Marsh (most notable for “Upstairs, Downstairs”) until 1960. She played a role on “Doctor Who” before his tenure (Sara Kingdom in “The Daleks’ Masterplan”) and one after (Morgaine in “Battlefield”). ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/95 "2015-06-04T19:37:46Z")
Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys came home one day in the late sixties and found a bunch of hippie squatters there. The leader of these reprobates was a curiously charismatic fellow named Charles Manson. Dennis encouraged Charlie’s musical ambitions for a while; one Beach Boys song, “Never Give Up Your Love” was originally written by Manson under the title “Cease to Exist.” However, Dennis got so intimidated that he moved out of his house. Next he heard, Charlie and Company were on trial for murder. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/96 "2015-06-04T20:07:41Z")
According to Dan Savage, he was college roommates with Rick Santorum though I haven’t found anything to corroborate this. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/97 "2015-06-04T20:33:52Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys came home one day in the late sixties and found a bunch of hippie squatters there. The leader of these reprobates was a curiously charismatic fellow named Charles Manson. Dennis encouraged Charlie’s musical ambitions for a while; one Beach Boys song, “Never Give Up Your Love” was originally written by Manson under the title “Cease to Exist.” However, Dennis got so intimidated that he moved out of his house. Next he heard, Charlie and Company were on trial for murder. And IIRC, part of the motivation for the murder spree, or at least the choice of targets, was that Manson believed that someone associated with Wilson who had thwarted his nascent music career lived at the Cielo Drive house. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/98 "2015-06-04T20:35:15Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Julia Child played professional basketball in a women’s league in Italy. [Karola] Ruth [Siegel] Westheimer was too small for any other duty, so she was trained as a sniper with the IDF. ---
**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 4, 2015, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/99 "2015-06-04T23:56:04Z")
one of the main reasons Lucille Ball wanted to do I love Lucy was to get Desi Arnaz off the concert tour road trips since he was known to cheat on her. ---
**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 5, 2015, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/100 "2015-06-05T01:47:27Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys came home one day in the late sixties and found a bunch of hippie squatters there. The leader of these reprobates was a curiously charismatic fellow named Charles Manson. Dennis encouraged Charlie’s musical ambitions for a while; one Beach Boys song, “Never Give Up Your Love” was originally written by Manson under the title “Cease to Exist.” However, Dennis got so intimidated that he moved out of his house. Next he heard, Charlie and Company were on trial for murder. Nitpick: Dennis retitled CM’s song as “Never Learn Not To Love.” Now then: 1- That song, written by Chuck Manson, was released on the Beach Boys album **20/20**. 2- Jim Gordon played drums on that album. Years later, suffering from schizophrenia, he murdered his mother. Despite his obvious insanity, legal technicalities mandated his conviction for murder. 3- Same album features the song “I Can Hear Music,” co-written by Phil Spector. 4- Also the song “Cotton Fields”, written by Leadbelly. All of which makes 20/20 perhaps the only pop album with direct associations to four convicted murderers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392.md?page=6)