# People with two separate careers in show biz **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 23, 2016, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879 "2016-04-23T06:07:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879/41 "2016-04-24T05:09:42Z")
Jim Nabors, who made his career as Gomer Pyle, also tried a brief stint of singing. (IIRC, I saw him do that on the Ed Sullivan [del]show[/del] shew – yeah, that long ago.) It doesn’t seem like he got much traction there, though. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2016, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879/42 "2016-04-24T05:15:59Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Jim Nabors, who made his career as Gomer Pyle, also tried a brief stint of singing. (IIRC, I saw him do that on the Ed Sullivan [del]show[/del] shew – yeah, that long ago.) It doesn’t seem like he got much traction there, though. He sang pretty frequently on _Gomer Pyle_, too. It was amazing how his singing voice, a baritone, was so different from his normally higher pitched speaking voice. Shazam, shazam! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879/43 "2016-04-24T06:12:25Z")
Barbra Streisand started out as a very successful singer . . . then, a very successful actress . . . then a very successful director and producer . . . while remaining a very successful singer. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879/44 "2016-04-24T08:19:58Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Jim Nabors, who made his career as Gomer Pyle, also tried a brief stint of singing. (IIRC, I saw him do that on the Ed Sullivan [del]show[/del] shew – yeah, that long ago.) It doesn’t seem like he got much traction there, though. Brief singing career? He got a lot of traction as a singer, recording 28 albums, including three gold and one platinum, over a period of at least two decades. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879/45 "2016-04-24T10:30:14Z")
Mick Foley, pro wrestler and standup comedian. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879/46 "2016-04-24T12:00:29Z")
In 1980, Robert Redford starred in _Brubaker_, which made plenty of money. Later that year, _Ordinary People_ – which he didn’t act in – hit theaters, promptly winning him both the Golden Globe and the Oscar for Best Director. In 1992, Redford starred in _Sneakers_, which made plenty of money; and, later that year, _A River Runs Through It_ – which, okay, he narrated – hit theaters to earn him another Golden Globe nom as a director; he then acted in _Indecent Proposal_ in '93, before earning another Golden Globe nomination and another Oscar nomination directing _Quiz Show_ in '94 without acting at all. (Sure, he then started directing himself on screen, earning yet more Golden Globe nominations as both a director and an actor. And, sure, I’m glossing over just how big a movie star he was before he started directing; and also how he’d still headline a Best Picture winner even after he started directing. Still, he proved his talents as a director were completely separable from his talents as an actor.) ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879/47 "2016-04-24T12:10:10Z")
I’ll toss one out there that’s more obscure, yet I believe still fits the bill: Ken Levine Television writer, screenplays, books and so forth. Won an Emmy for his work on Cheers. Also wrote for MASH, the Simpsons and a host of other television shows. Also wrote a few movies. A successful career by any measure. Also, a quality baseball broadcaster who has been the voice of the Baltimore Orioles, the Seattle Mariners and the San Diego Padres. I recall him with the Orioles. He had an interesting wit and it wasn’t necessarily a traditional way to approach the role. He also once appeared on The Simpsons as the broadcaster for the Springfield Isotopes. AND… A successful DJ for a west coast network spinning disks in the 1970s. AND… He has a blog that’s very successful in which he gives advice and insight into the television industry. Time magazine gave him a ‘Best 25 Blogs’ award in 2011 for his writing. That’s a guy who’s been successful in a couple of different ways without ever really breaking through to ‘celebrity’ status. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2016, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879/48 "2016-04-24T12:32:49Z")
Two separate careers in another sense: Marie Blake was an actress in the _Dr. kildare_ series of films, retired, and had a second career years later as Blossom Rock. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879/49 "2016-04-24T12:37:42Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Jim Nabors, who made his career as Gomer Pyle, also tried a brief stint of singing. (IIRC, I saw him do that on the Ed Sullivan [del]show[/del] shew – yeah, that long ago.) It doesn’t seem like he got much traction there, though. My grandmother had all his records. He was a big hit with women over a certain age. His choice of material made sure he would never compete with the Beatles, but he did have a heck of a voice, even I’ll admit that. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2016, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879/50 "2016-04-24T12:38:00Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Two separate careers in another sense: Marie Blake was an actress in the _Dr. kildare_ series of films, retired, and had a second career years later as Blossom Rock. Grandmama! She was also Jeanette MacDonald’s sister. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879/51 "2016-04-24T12:53:50Z")
I offer\*\* Larry David\*\*. He was mainly behind the camera on **Seinfeld** as a writer and producer. With **Curb Your Enthusiasm** he is the starring actor. Plus his various other stand up comedy, film directing and guest acting roles. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879/52 "2016-04-24T12:59:54Z")
Mark Hamill never found the kind of success after _Star Wars_ that Harrison Ford did-- or really even Carrie Fisher, who at least got a lot of supporting actress roles after. Hamill has very few credits. However, he DID have a prolific career as a voice-over actor. He did voices for animated TV shows, a few movies, but also a number of video games. He’s the Joker in the Batman video games, including Arkham City. Ellen DeGeneres went from stand-up, to TV acting, where she did a lot of physical comedy, to hosting a really successful talk show. Anita Gillette isn’t really what you are asking about, but she is someone who has touched all the bases. She started on the stage in _Gypsy_, did Sally Bowles in the original run of _Cabaret_, then took a role on a soap opera. After that, she appeared on a lot of game shows, and made many one-off TV appearances. She went back to the stage for a while, and wasn’t so visible outside of New York for several years, but then got cast in a supporting role in _Moonstruck_, and stayed in Hollywood. She did several other movies, and started playing everybody’s mother on TV (she was Tina Fey’s mother on _30 Rock_). Now she is doing a cabaret show. She did one with Penny Fuller for a while, and now, in her 70s, she’s performing solo, to fantastic reviews. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879/53 "2016-04-24T13:04:41Z")
Not to mention, a lot of stars of successful shows become producers of the show for tax reasons, and then roll their profits into new shows by producing those as well-- Kelsey Grammer produced _Ghost Whisperer_, for example. This is what a lot of people who want a break from working do. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879/54 "2016-04-24T13:16:57Z")
John Travolta first came to fame on the TV series _Welcome Back Kotter_, then was in hit in _Saturday Night Fever_, _Grease_ and _Urban Cowboy_. Then he dropped off the A-list for several years before making a comeback in _Pulp Fiction_. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Terrific](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tom_terrific/32/342_2.png) [@Tom\_Terrific](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Terrific)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879/55 "2016-04-24T13:44:27Z")
Reba McEntire has had a very successful singing career and has her own TV show. She also is an author. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879/56 "2016-04-24T14:19:13Z")
**Kylie Minogue** first rose to international fame in daytime Australian soap opera Neighbours. She has continued to act on TV and film sporadically since. However she switched predominantly to a music career first as an undeniably cheesy, manufactured disposable pop artist before, after becoming romantically involved with Michael Hutchance of INXS, carving out a relatively serious dance pop career that has seen her compared favourably with Madonna. TCMF-2L ---
**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:** [April 24, 2016, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879/57 "2016-04-24T16:02:39Z")
Werner Klemperer had a pretty solid acting career even before he was Col. Clink on _Hogan’s Heroes_ (I mean, _Judgment at Nuremburg_ **alone** …). But he was also a concert violinist and spent his final decades as an in-demand orchestral conductor. David Bowie acted in a number of movies, several of them very highly-regarded, and starred onstage in _The Elephant Man_, all on top of a stellar musical career. Ed McMahon started his showbiz career as a carnival shill. HI-yoooo! Jennifer Lopez has had an interesting career trajectory: Dancer on _In Living Color_, actress in _Selena_ and finally as a recording artist (while still making the occasional film). Lyle Lovett, in addition to his amazing musical career and a surprising number of film and TV acting credits, modeled clothing for the Johnston & Murphy catalogue a decade or so ago. David Lynch, the acclaimed film director, drew a comic strip for alternative weekly newspapers back in the 80s. Matt Groening has a similar resume. Lynda Barry, another alt.news cartoonist, wrote a play that got produced in the early 90s. A number of popular actors–Harry Anderson and Bill Bixby come to mind–were also respected stage magicians. Penn and Teller have acting resumes on top of their magic act. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879/58 "2016-04-24T16:07:15Z")
Cyndi Lauper was an agent or representative of some sort for the stuntman The Human Fly. She used to drop by Marvel Comics’ offices to pick up his royalty check. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2016, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879/59 "2016-04-24T17:31:59Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > John Travolta first came to fame on the TV series _Welcome Back Kotter_, then was in hit in _Saturday Night Fever_, _Grease_ and _Urban Cowboy_. Then he dropped off the A-list for several years before making a comeback in _Pulp Fiction_. What was his second career? ---
**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:** [April 24, 2016, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879/60 "2016-04-24T17:45:11Z")
Barry Manilow wrote advertising jingles (You deserve a break today…) while trying to make it as a songwriter. When he ran out of money to pay real singers to record demos of his songs to send to record companies, he made a demo of himself singing the songs. When Clive Davis made an offer to release a record of his singing, Manilow replied “I’m not a singer.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-with-two-separate-careers-in-show-biz/752879.md?page=4)