# 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:** 9
**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 11, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/161 "2015-06-11T14:49:00Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > No; I think Douglas’ father changed his name legally. On the other hand, Ramon Estevez did not, and his son is still legally Carlos Estevez. I don’t find people, especially actors, who change their whole name or last name as interesting as those who change their given names. Especially when it’s odd cases like Christopher Walken and Robert Sean Leonard - or Ronald Walken and Robert Lawrence Leonard, as their birth certificates read and as they are still legally known. ---
**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 11, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/162 "2015-06-11T16:18:36Z")
Billie Holiday was Billy Crystal’s babysitter on more than one occasion. (A lot of our posts haven’t been all that “obscure” but are still interesting. This has been one of them.) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2015, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/163 "2015-06-12T01:10:08Z")
“Mrs Crystal, I have something that will help Billy sleep real good.” :eek: ---
**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 12, 2015, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/164 "2015-06-12T01:22:59Z")
The Roosevelts had an interesting family history. It is well known that Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt were fifth cousins. FDR and his wife Eleanor were fifth cousins once removed and Eleanor was Theodore’s niece. So when FDR married Eleanor, he became Teddy’s nephew by marriage as well as his cousin. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2015, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/165 "2015-06-12T05:10:47Z")
Christopher Lee was the only person in any Bond film who was related to Ian Fleming, if only by marriage. His stepfather’s sister Evelyn was Fleming’s mother. ---
**Author:** ![Sasori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Sasori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sasori)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2015, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/166 "2015-06-12T13:36:42Z")
Not really trivial, but both Peter Lorre and Marlene Dietrich (the latter had worked with Gerron in “The blue Angel” in which he plays the magician) tried to persuade popular jewish actor Kurt Gerron to emigrate to the USA when the Nazis came to power. Gerron refused, thinking he wouldn’t be able to find work there because he didn’t speak English. In 1944, already deported to the concentration camp, he was “asked” to direct one of the most cynical movies ever, the propaganda documentary “Theresienstadt - Der Führer schenkt den Juden eine Stadt” (The Führer donates a City to the Jews), which he accepted, desperately hoping his cooperation would save his family and those fellow prisoners forced to work behind and in front of the camera. To no avail: He, his family and most of the crew and actors, including all child actors, were murdered shortly after the film was finished. On a lighter note: Before regularly beating up Terence Hill, Bud Spencer worked as a librarian in Buenos Aires, a secretary at the Italian embassy in Uruguay and was a very successful professional swimmer. In 2011, the city council of Schwäbisch Gmünd in Germany renamed the city’s public outdoor pool, where Spencer had once won a swimming competition, to Bad (Bath) Spencer. He also registered an utility model of a travel-toothbrush with built-in toothpaste. Despite his incredible voice, former Undertones frontman Feargal Sharkey only had two major hits, both about the same incident: The sappy “A good Heart”, written by Maria McKee over her break-up with Tom Petty’s keyboard player Benmont Tench and Tench’s mightily miffed revenge song “You little Thief” (great video btw). ---
**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 12, 2015, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/167 "2015-06-12T13:39:48Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > The Roosevelts had an interesting family history. It is well known that Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt were fifth cousins. FDR and his wife Eleanor were fifth cousins once removed and Eleanor was Theodore’s niece. So when FDR married Eleanor, he became Teddy’s nephew by marriage as well as his cousin. Eleanor Roosevelt’s maiden name makes a good coffeehouse bet, if you set it up right. So does her first name. (It’s Anna.) ---
**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 12, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/168 "2015-06-12T16:57:38Z")
Peter Lorre was married for many years to Czech-born actress Celia Lovsky, aka T’Pau of _ **Star Trek** _ fame. She also played Elsa, the wife of John Banner’s character, in the war movie _ **36 Hours** _. Banner is, of course, famous for playing Sgt Schultz on _ **Hogan’s Heroes** _. Of interest too is that Felice Orlandi, Sgt Maurice DuBois on _ **Hogan’s Heroes** _, was married to Alice Ghostly, aka Esmeralda the maid on _ **Bewitched** _ … who was also the second Gertrude Burkhalter on _ **Hogan’s Heroes** _. Like Peter Lorre, Leon Askin, the actor who played Gen Burkhalter on _ **Hogan’s Heroes** _, was a Jewish refugee from Hitler’s Germany. Nearly all of the actors who played Nazis on _ **Hogan’s Heroes** _ were Jewish. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/169 "2015-06-12T19:22:01Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > It’s really more meaningful to say that the name ‘Ewok’ is never said in Return of the Jedi, as the Ewoks don’t appear in the other 5 films (except maybe a cameo in Phantom Menace? I can’t remember), so it’s not surprising that the name is never mentioned in them - especially in the two films before their creation. The planet name “Tatooine” is never mentioned in Star Wars Ep. 4 ---
**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 12, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/170 "2015-06-12T20:26:32Z")
Bill Paxton was in the crowd in Ft Worth, TX listening to [JFK](http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/the-day-bill-paxton-saw-john-f-kennedy-7118827) speak. On November 22, 1963, the day that he was assassinated. There’s even a picture of Paxton sitting on someone’s shoulders. ---
**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:** [June 13, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/171 "2015-06-13T16:50:05Z")
Tom Paxton was accepted as a member of the Chad Mitchell Trio, but reject because his voice did not blend well with Mitchell’s. The group did record his song The Marvelous Toy, which started Paxton’s fame as a songwriter and made me a huge amount of money. The Isley Brothers toured England with the Beatles in 1962 and introduced them to Twist and Shout (and talking with Rudy Isley about that experience was one of the best conversations I’ve ever had!) ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2015, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/172 "2015-06-13T17:22:23Z")
Johnny Cash’s birth name was J. R. Cash, initials only, and he was the first American to hear about Stalin’s death. ---
**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 13, 2015, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/173 "2015-06-13T18:05:01Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > The planet name “Tatooine” is never mentioned in Star Wars Ep. 4 So we all knew it from secondary sources? That doesn’t sound right. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2015, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/174 "2015-06-15T07:27:50Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > So we all knew it from secondary sources? That doesn’t sound right. Watch the movie. You’ll see. ---
**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 15, 2015, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/175 "2015-06-15T08:12:28Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > The planet name “Tatooine” is never mentioned in Star Wars Ep. 4 > [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > So we all knew it from secondary sources? That doesn’t sound right. > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Watch the movie. You’ll see. I was about to say that the name Tatooine was given in the opening crawl of Ep. 4 (and therefore not spoken in the movie), but I checked and it’s not. ---
**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 15, 2015, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/176 "2015-06-15T12:05:35Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Watch the movie. You’ll see. I don’t disbelieve you. I am just trying to reconstruct how we all knew the name… I am supposing it was from the secondary and promo material. Weird. ---
**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 15, 2015, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/177 "2015-06-15T13:44:01Z")
Heinrich Hoffmann, the man who later became Hitler’s personal photographer, captured the 25-year-old Adolf among the huge crowd that gathered in the center of Munich on the day war was declared in 1914. It was quite some time before the two men realized the coincidence: > **[A young Hitler cheers the start of World War One, 1914 - Rare Historical Photos](https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/young-hitler-ww1-1914/)** > > The caption on the picture reads: “Adolf Hitler, the German patriot in the middle of the crowd stands with blazing eyes". The Declaration of War, 1914. John Wilkes Booth attended Lincoln’s second inauguration just weeks before the President was assassinated. In at least one photo of the event, Booth can be seen staring down at Lincoln from only a short distance away: > **[Booth at Lincoln’s Inauguration Killing Lincoln](https://lincolnconspirators.com/2012/05/31/booth-at-lincolns-second-inauguration/booth-at-lincolns-inauguration-killing-lincoln/)** > > Screenshot of “Killing Lincoln” showing their composite image of Booth at Lincoln’s second inauguration. Coincidentially, they place Booth right next to himself in the image. ---
**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 15, 2015, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/178 "2015-06-15T13:48:01Z")
An unsung celebrity, perhaps: The first known photo of a human being is a man having his shoes shined: > **[First Ever Photograph of a Human Being](https://petapixel.com/2010/10/27/first-ever-photograph-of-a-human-being/)** > > This photograph of Boulevard du Temple in Paris was made in 1838 by Louis Daguerre, the brilliant guy that invented the daguerreotype process of ---
**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 15, 2015, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/179 "2015-06-15T14:07:07Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > John Wilkes Booth attended Lincoln’s second inauguration just weeks before the President was assassinated. In at least one photo of the event, Booth can be seen staring down at Lincoln from only a short distance away: > > [Booth at Lincoln’s Inauguration Killing Lincoln | LincolnConspirators.com](http://boothiebarn.com/2012/05/31/booth-at-lincolns-second-inauguration/booth-at-lincolns-inauguration-killing-lincoln/) The photo and caption in this link make no sense whatsoever. ---
**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 15, 2015, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/180 "2015-06-15T15:00:40Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > The photo and caption in this link make no sense whatsoever. I assume you scrolled down aways to the photo of Booth? :dubious: Yeah, I know the caption is not great, but this photo had the clearest image of Booth himself out of all the others I could find. If you Google “Booth Lincoln Inauguration Photo,” you’ll find many more images that show the entire scene on the steps of the Capitol, though it’s sometimes hard to distinguish either the President or the assassin. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392.md?page=10)