# Renaissance people in the arts **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 24, 2017, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renaissance-people-in-the-arts/789794 "2017-06-24T22:47:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renaissance-people-in-the-arts/789794/1 "2017-06-24T22:47:16Z")
Recently I found out that the Sam Shepherd I’ve always enjoyed as an actor [esp Chuck Yaeger in The Right Stuff], is the same Sam Shepherd who is an accomplished playwright and author and whom I always assumed to be a different person. I have to say, he’s a mighty impressive bloke on all three counts. What other people would have comparable achievement and critical acclaim across at least three fields of the arts? For the purpose of this discussion I think some longevity and sustained output in each field is required as well as the acclaim of peers. I would not include, say, The Adam Sandler Barbecue Recipe Book as evidence of him either being a writer or cook, so he remains a single threat [or annoyance may be a better word]. ---
**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 24, 2017, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renaissance-people-in-the-arts/789794/2 "2017-06-24T23:14:35Z")
Martin Mull has an MFA in painting and started out as that, with work appearing in major art galleries over the years. He is a singer-songwriter who recorded eight albums of comic songs since the 1970s. He started acting after that, appearing movies like _FM, Serial,_ and \* Mr. Mom\* and with roles on TV in _Arrested Development_ (as Gene Parmesan); \*Roseanne; Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman; America 2-Night, Two and a half Men; Sabrina the Teenage Witch, \* and others. He also created the TV series _Domestic Life_ (with Steve Martin, who used one of Mulls paintings for his album “Love as Come for You.”) ---
**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 25, 2017, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renaissance-people-in-the-arts/789794/3 "2017-06-25T01:22:21Z")
Robert Shaw - Quint in _Jaws_ – was also a critically acclaimed novelist. He adapted his novel _The Man in the Glass Booth_ into a Tony-nominated play. William Shatner has gotten Acclaim as an actor, singer, and novelist. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renaissance-people-in-the-arts/789794/4 "2017-06-25T02:16:40Z")
**Moderator Action** Moving thread from General Questions to Cafe Society, our home for questions about arts and artists. ---
**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:** [June 25, 2017, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renaissance-people-in-the-arts/789794/5 "2017-06-25T02:40:05Z")
Warren Beatty had already earned Oscar nominations as an actor and a writer and a producer before he got Oscar nominations as the actor and writer and producer and director of one movie; and then, after getting Oscar nominations as the actor and writer and producer and director of _another_ movie, he went back to earning Oscar nominations as an actor and a writer and a producer. Now, pulling off that actor/writer/producer/director bit for one film at the Oscars? That’s rare; it’s _crazy_ rare. But pulling it off twice? AFAIK, that’s unheard-of. Of course, his real talent was getting folks to say _“uh, it’s not vanity if he’s right.”_ ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renaissance-people-in-the-arts/789794/6 "2017-06-25T03:00:51Z")
Here goes: Stephen King–mega-novelist, guitarist (I don’t think The Rock-Bottom Remainders recorded anything, but they [were?] playing benefit shows), and never-going-to-win-an-Oscar actor (I thought his performances were just fine for the movies he was in). What’s that in my cheek? Oh, it’s my tongue. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renaissance-people-in-the-arts/789794/7 "2017-06-25T04:16:55Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Steve Martin who is an obvious example: comedian, actor, writer (of screenplays, novels), and banjo musician. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renaissance-people-in-the-arts/789794/8 "2017-06-25T05:05:19Z")
Can we give props to Hedy Lamarr? > [@](#): > > Hedy Lamarr, the actress habitually regarded as “that most beautiful woman in Hollywood,” was a rocket scientist on the side, inventing and patenting a torpedo guidance technique she called “frequency hopping,” which thwarted efforts to jam the signals that kept the missiles on track. Okay, so that’s only two things. But damn! What diversity! ETA: Never mind. I misread the OP. ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renaissance-people-in-the-arts/789794/9 "2017-06-25T12:28:36Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > who is an obvious example: comedian, actor, writer (of screenplays, novels), and banjo musician. …and serious [art collector](https://news.artnet.com/art-world/steve-martin-art-collection-487922). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renaissance-people-in-the-arts/789794/10 "2017-06-25T12:41:40Z")
How about painter/percussionist Richard Feynman? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renaissance-people-in-the-arts/789794/11 "2017-06-25T13:30:53Z")
**Prince** : Songwriter; world class musician on at least three instruments; arranger; producer. And according to Charlie Murphy a badass 'baller, and according to ?uestlove, an excellent roller skater. ---
**Author:** ![HyacinthBucket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hyacinthbucket/32/3063_2.png) [@HyacinthBucket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HyacinthBucket)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renaissance-people-in-the-arts/789794/12 "2017-06-25T13:55:50Z")
**Viggo Mortensen** Not just a fine actor, but a publisher (Perceval Press), writer of poetry, books about the arts, nonfiction, some in Spanish and Danish, a photographer and a painter as well. Not bad for a scruffy Ranger! ---
**Author:** ![HyacinthBucket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hyacinthbucket/32/3063_2.png) [@HyacinthBucket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HyacinthBucket)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renaissance-people-in-the-arts/789794/13 "2017-06-25T13:57:04Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Can we give props to Hedy Lamarr? > > Okay, so that’s only two things. But damn! What diversity! > ETA: Never mind. I misread the OP. That’s HEDLEY! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Evin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@Evin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evin)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renaissance-people-in-the-arts/789794/14 "2017-06-25T14:16:49Z")
With his cameo in Knight of Cups, Peter Matthiessen qualifies. Among other things, he was the only winner of National Book Awards for fiction and nonfiction. From his New York Times obit: “Mr. Matthiessen was a man of many parts: littérateur, journalist, environmentalist, explorer, Zen Buddhist, professional fisherman and, in the early 1950s, undercover agent for the Central Intelligence Agency in Paris. Only years later did Mr. Plimpton discover, to his anger and dismay, that Mr. Matthiessen had helped found The [Paris] Review as a cover for his spying on Americans in France.” I recently reread _The Snow Leopard_. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renaissance-people-in-the-arts/789794/15 "2017-06-25T14:23:57Z")
> [@HyacinthBucket](#): > > **Viggo Mortensen** > > Not just a fine actor, but a publisher (Perceval Press), writer of poetry, books about the arts, nonfiction, some in Spanish and Danish, a photographer and a painter as well. > > Not bad for a scruffy Ranger! People like that make me feel so bad about myself. And if none of that was enough, he’s also unfairly good looking. Bastard. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renaissance-people-in-the-arts/789794/16 "2017-06-25T14:29:03Z")
Kris Kristoflferson, composer, actor, and Rhodes scholar with PhD in English Lit. ---
**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:** [June 25, 2017, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renaissance-people-in-the-arts/789794/17 "2017-06-25T16:19:43Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Kris Kristoflferson, composer, actor, and Rhodes scholar with PhD in English Lit. Award-winning singer, too. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renaissance-people-in-the-arts/789794/18 "2017-06-25T16:45:37Z")
Wallace Shawn - actor, playwright, essayist and comedian. Al Franken - comedian, actor, writer and politician. Ben Carson - neurosurgeon, author, and politician Ben Franklin - one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. author, printer, political theorist, politician, , postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. Paul Newman - actor, IndyCar driver, entrepreneur, activist, and philanthropist. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renaissance-people-in-the-arts/789794/19 "2017-06-25T23:02:53Z")
Kris Kristofferson was a Rhodes scholar, but he doesn’t have a Ph.D. Hedy Lamarr is more accurately described as an electrical engineer rather than a rocket scientist, since frequency-hopping is about the control of radio signals rather than about the building of rockets. Of course, she wasn’t in any professional sense either one. Here’s an article about multi-talented people in the arts (although it’s not totally accurate either, since it claims that Danica McKellar has a Ph.D., although she doesn’t). ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renaissance-people-in-the-arts/789794/20 "2017-06-26T00:06:31Z")
William Smith, who made a career playing bikers and gangsters, is fluent in four languages, has a master’s degree in Russian, and taught at UCLA before Hollywood lured him away. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renaissance-people-in-the-arts/789794.md?page=2)