Wiley Post was the pilot for American humorist Will Rogers, the half-Cherokee native of Claremore, OK.
Dina Merrill is one of the richest actresses and it is through inheritance; her father was E.F. Hutton and her mother was Marjorie Merriwether Post (of Post cereal), each of them more than $100 million in their own right; her first cousin was “poor little rich girl” Barbara Hutton whose seven husbands included Cary Grant, internationally famous playboy Porfirio Rubirosa, tennis star Gottfried von Cramm and several penniless titled noblemen.
Dina Merrill was once married to actor Cliff Robertson, who played John F. Kennedy in the film PT 109.
Carol Merrill <sp> was a model on Monty Hall’s Let’s Make a Deal, riding a giant hobby or vapidly pointing to the wonderful prizes in Door Number 3.
Gary Merrill, the cashiered CO in “Twelve O’Clock High” and the pilot in “Crash Landing”, was married to Bette Davis, whom he had met while co-starring with her in “All About Eve”.
Bette Midler’s mother named her after her favorite actress, Bette Davis. Mrs. Midler didn’t know that “Bette” was pronounced like “Betty,” so she called her daughter “Bet.”
Bette Midler got her career started by singing in bathhouses with her accompanist, Barry Manilow.
Barack Obama went by the nickname “Barry” for much of his childhood, which included time in Hawaii, where he was born, and Indonesia, the homeland of his stepfather.
Indonesia ranks fourth among all nations in total population, and first in Muslim population.
Iran ranks only 17th among all countries by population, but seems to have the most current practitioners of each of four religions: Shi’a Islam, Zoroasterianism, Yaresan, and Yazidi.
Richard Strauss’ tone poem “Also Sprach Zarathustra”, featured in “2001: A Space Odyssey”, was based on the Nietzsche novel by the same name about the thoughts of Zoroaster.
General Electric used to call their light bulbs “Mazda lights,” named after Ahura Mazda, the “great divinity” in Zoraster’s philosophy. He was often represented in the West as the god of light.
Many modern neoconservatives were disciples of Leo Strauss, who taught that almost all the great philosophers of history planted secret, implied messages in their work.
Levi Strauss & Co. is almost entirely owned by indirect descendants and other relatives of Levi Strauss.
Writer Darin Strauss authored a (mostly fictional) novel about Siamese twins Chang & Eng Bunker; Gary Oldman owns the movie rights and is attempting to get funding for a film version.
Gary Oldman has played both villains (Dracula, Lee Harvey Oswald, the top Russian terrorist in Air Force One) and heroes (Sirius Black, Lt. Gordon in the most recent Batman movies).
In Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea”, the Cuban fisherman imagines how the great Joe DiMaggio would handle the predicament he was in with the giant fish.
Joe DiMaggio’s major league record 56-game hitting streak was the second best of his career: he put together a 61-game hitting streak when in the minor leagues.
In the movie version of Joseph Heller’s “Catch 22,” Bob Newhart played the reclusive Major Major Major Major.
Both the actor Bob Newhart and the psychologist he played, Bob Hartley, graduated from Loyola University of Chicago.