# People with truly unexpected education and experience

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-truly-unexpected-education-and-experience/780656>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [February 24, 2017, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-truly-unexpected-education-and-experience/780656 "2017-02-24T19:12:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**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:** [February 24, 2017, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-truly-unexpected-education-and-experience/780656/1 "2017-02-24T19:12:34Z")

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Every once in a while, you learn something like Harrison Ford is an accomplished light plane and helicopter pilot, or John Travolta holds a commercial pilot rating, or Jayne Mansfield spoke five languages. This one threw me.

Honest, now, can you guess who…

[ul]  
[li]Got a BA in English Lit, summa cum laude;[/li][li]Was a Rhodes Scholar and took another English LIt degree from Oxford;[/li][li]Was a Deke (Delta Kappa fraternity);[/li][li]Appeared in Sports Illustrated for his college rugby team;[/li][li]Was ranked well in rugby and boxing;[/li][li]And THEN entered the army as a captain;[/li][li]Became a helicopter pilot;[/li][li]Was assigned to teach lit at West Point after his tour;[/li][li]But resigned instead to pursue his true interest?[/li][/ul]

I’m going to bury this in a lot of other words to keep the hover from showing off the answer prematurely. Blah blah blahdy blah blah blah blahdy blah blah blah blahdy blah blah blah blahdy blah blah blah blahdy blah blah blah blahdy blah blah blah blahdy blah blah blah blahdy blah blah blah blahdy blah blah blah blahdy blah blah blah blahdy blah blah blah blahdy blah blah blah blahdy blah blah blah blahdy blah blah blah blahdy blah blah blah blahdy blah blah blah blahdy blah blah blah blahdy blah blah blah blahdy blah blah. And blah.  
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Kris Kristofferson. You coulda knocked me over with a guitar pick.

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**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-truly-unexpected-education-and-experience/780656/2 "2017-02-24T19:22:59Z")

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I remember being surprised to learn when Phil Hartman died that before he became a comedian he was an artist that designed several famous album covers for bands like America and Crosby, Stills & Nash

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**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-truly-unexpected-education-and-experience/780656/3 "2017-02-24T19:23:48Z")

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You forgot to add “and a problem when he’s stoned”. As an almost lifelong fan, I knew most of these. Quite the man, indeed.

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**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-truly-unexpected-education-and-experience/780656/4 "2017-02-24T19:45:39Z")

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I knew Kris was a Rhodes Scholar, the other stuff is new to me though. I heard about [Hedy Lamarr’s inventions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr#Inventor) a while back, certainly a surprise, especially a patent for a[jam proof torpedo guidance system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency-hopping_spread_spectrum)designed during WWII.