I remember seeing him as an expert on several History Channel shows some time ago, and being a bit surprised that he wasn’t just an actor.
The SF author Fred Pohl dropped out of high school, and educated himself after that, but become enough of an expert on the Emperor Tiberius that he wrote the entry on him for the Encyclopedia Britannica
So he wasn’t a performer but he was a writer who also wrote.
Oops. You’re right. Sorry about that. He had a part-time job as a drug tester at the racetrack for a while (for the horses, not the jockeys) but that wasn’t a major source of income.
I didn’t realize he was a helicopter pilot. I did work for American Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) 20-some years ago, and I ran into him (literally) as I was coming out of the bathroom and he was going in. Rumor had it he was buying a helicopter, but my assumption had been so someone else could fly him around in it. I had no idea it was for his own personal flying.
Jenette Goldstein still acts, but has her own lingerie boutique called Jenette Bras in Los Angeles, California, known for its slogan “The alphabet starts at D”.
Similarly, Adam Driver was in the U.S. Marines.
Fred “Mister” Rogers was ordained as a Presbyterian minister.
Jason Everman played in Nirvana, Soundgarden and Mind Funk. He later joined the Army, became a Ranger, then a Green Beret. Somewhere in there, he was also a biker messenger, worked at a Tibetan monastery, and earned a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy.
Heinlein quit writing at the beginning of WWII and worked for the Navy as a civilian engineer:
Heinlein was employed by the Navy as a civilian aeronautical engineer at the Navy Aircraft Materials Center at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Pennsylvania.[41] Heinlein recruited Isaac Asimov and L. Sprague de Camp to also work there.[34] While at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyards, Asimov, Heinlein, and de Camp brainstormed unconventional approaches to kamikaze attacks, such as using sound to detect approaching planes.[42]
And Hugh Beaumont, Ward Cleaver on Leave it to Beaver, was an ordained Methodist minister.
After leaving the Army, Kris Kristofferson flew helicopters professionally in the oil & gas service industry while trying to make it as a songwriter.
George “The Animal” Steele had a masters degree and taught high school along with being a football and wrestling coach for the school. He is inducted into the Michigan Coaches Hall of Fame.
Although Rogers and Beaumont were ordained, they never worked as ministers in the ordinary sense. This is similar to other people mentioned here and others not mentioned here. Graham Chapman was trained as a doctor but didn’t work as one. Ozzie Nelson of Ozzie and Harriet was trained as a lawyer but didn’t work as one. John Cleese, on the other hand, did work as a school teacher. This thread is kind of a jumble.
It’s probably actually easier to list British musicians from that era who didn’t go to art school. Though if Freddie finished his degree that might make him unusual.
The actor Omar Sharif, best known for his role in Lawrence of Arabia was also one of the world’s best contract bridge players and the author of several books on bridge.
Ed Wynn – famed radio comedian (“The Perfect Fool”), the voice of The Mad Hatter in Disney’s Alice in Wonderland and portrayer Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins and The Toymaker in Babes in Toyland, and occasional dramatic actor, was one of the the founders (and the president and visible head) of the Amalgamated Broadcasting System, which operated in the Northeast for about two months in 1933 in a bid for a Third Major Radio Network. Its failure resulted in severe stress for Wynn, who felt he had to make good on the losses. It caused a major disruption in huis career, destroyed his marriage, and led to his nervous breakdown.
Paul Winchell, the puppeteer, ventriloquist, voice actor, and kids show host, was also a noted inventor and acupuncturist and had been a pre-med at Columbia University. Along with Henry Heimlich (of the famous maneuver) he invented and patented an artificial heart. It’s claimed (by Heimlich) that the Jarvik 7 heart that was famously the first implanted used elements invented by Winchell. The Wikipedia article doesn’t mention it, but Winchell also invented heart valves and was present in the OR when they were implanted. He also patented many other devices, both medical and non-medical.
In something of an inversion of the thread topic–professional wrestler Sergeant Slaughter who made his career with a gimmick of Marine drill instructor was NEVER actually a drill instructor and NEVER actually served in the military in any capacity.
This has caused him problems at times because he has talked about his military service in public appearances while seeming to be speaking as himself, but was just staying "in character’;
Jessica Alba is a successful entrepreneur, having started a company that reached market value greater than a billion dollars.
Brian Cox, British physicist known from shows like Wonders of the Solar System, used to be in a boy band and even scored a hit in the early nineties.