William Smith first became famous as an arm-wrestler, a weight-lifter, and a body-builder.
He made a career playing bikers, gangsters, and assorted tough guys.
Rich Man, Poor Man
C.C. and Company
Angels Die Hard
Red Dawn
Hell Comes to Frogtown
Conan the Barbarian
He also had a Master’s degree in Russian Literature, was fluent in half a dozen languages, and published a book of poetry.
Percy Helton, the diminutive (4’ 11"), raspy-voiced actor, was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross in the First World War.
Judith Love Cohen, who worked for NASA (she helped design the Abort Guidance System that rescued Apollo 13), went to work on the day she was in labor. She took a printout of the problem she was working on to the hospital with her. She called her boss and said she finished the problem. She then gave birth to a son.
That son is actor Jack Black
And her mother had a small role as the librarian ghost in the original “Ghostbusters.”
Dolph Lungren, who played Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, holds a Master’s degree in chemical engineering and speaks several languages, including fluent English and Swedish.
W 
W
I realize that longevity may mostly be genetic, but among actors, it may also have a bit to do with unusually clean living. Can’t find much regarding that Googling her, but she worked until 2012, except for an appearance on a podcast in 2021, and was married to one husband for 65 years until his death. Wow on the last one. I’m not even sure right now that I will make it to 65.
Two that surprised me were Jim Carrey and Johnny Depp. When I heard they painted, I figured it was like Keanu Reeves playing bass for Dogstar - mostly people indulging someone’s hobby regardless of skill level, due to fame.
Then I saw their work, and they’re both actually good.
We’ve already had a couple comments about military service.
Even though many actors popular in the 60s and 70s had served in WWII, I always found it impressive that Russell Johnson (the mild-mannered Professor on “Gilligan’s Island”) served as a bombardier on B-25s in the Pacific. He flew over 40 missions and was shot down once in The Philippines.
And then, to remember the blatantly obvious, there’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is truly amazing in this and many other contexts.
In 2005 Sean Penn traveled to New Orleans to aid Hurricane Katrina victims. Whereas FEMA was notoriously slow in helping people, Sean was there. In 2010 he went to Haiti and helped aid earthquake victims. He received the Peace Summit Award from the Nobel Prize group for his efforts.
Regarding those who’ve criticized his motives as PR stunts, Mr. Penn has suggested they “die screaming of rectal cancer”.
This might be true, but it’s worth noting that the first press account I could find was 1947, long after The Great War.
Maybe it doesn’t rise to the level of ‘wow’, but I found it interesting when I learned that all of the main Nazis on ‘Hogan’s Heroes’, as well as POW Corporal LeBeau, were Jews who had experienced tragedy or been adversely affected in some way by the Nazi regime. Robert Clary, who played LeBeau, may have suffered the most tragedy, having many of his family members, including his parents and 4 siblings, killed in the concentration camps.
Werner Klemperer (Col. Klink), and family fled Germany when he was a teenager, before the worst of the atrocities. But not before his father Otto Klemperer, a famous conductor, had survived an assassination attempt which left him permanently disabled. Werner told the producers of HH that he would only agree to play the role if Klink always came up the loser; he should never succeed at anything.
I’m going to say “wow” because of HH=Hogan’s Heroes. For me, that certainly would qualify for a post in the “realized after a million times” thread.
He was knocked out by Jim in the Rockford Files movie pilot.
Heh? It’s not like HH is a well-known abbreviation for Hogan’s Heroes. I only used it because I had already used the full name of the show in the post, and figured HH would be clear enough from context. Am I getting mildly whooshed?
No, your post is fine and I was only remarking on what is probably just a coincidence. HH and derivatives like 88 have been used in reference to the Nazis. I’m not saying you used it with that intention. It’s likely just a coincidence that the show’s title is two words that start with H, but I find it surprising.
There used to be a poster here who went by the name Handsome Harry and got himself banned. I don’t remember exactly why, but I seem to remember someone pointing out the Nazi connection.
I came on to say this, he absolutely makes me go “wow”. He apparently commented to Peter Jackson on Saruman’s death scene in the LoTR "Have you any idea what kind of noise happens when somebody’s stabbed in the back? Because I do.”
And then he also had a Charlemagne themed metal band in his eighties, as you do.
Absolute legend.
Oh, wow indeed, I had heard at some point about the 88 and HH references, but I did not at all put that together when I posted and abbreviated Hogan’s Heroes. That is a weird coincidence, criminey.
It is, isn’t it? I don’t mean to hijack the thread, but I’d be interested in hearing from anyone else who thinks it’s a surprising coincidence.
Is the HH thing meaning you know what a recent thing? Would it have occurred to anyone in the 60s?