Chris Pontius is the name of both a soccer player with MLS’ DC United club, and one of the non-Johnny-Knoxville participants in the *Jackass *TV series and movies.
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin’s mother’s maiden name was Moon.
Buzz Aldrin was born Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr. He got his nickname due to his older sister’s mispronunciation of the word “brother” as “buzzer,” shortened to “Buzz.” He changed his first name legally to Buzz in 1988.
Buzz Aldrin originated the catchphrase “I’m impressed!” in a commercial for Volkswagen’s computerized auto diagnostics in 1972.
A Volkswagen commercial from the 1960’s featured young actor Dustin Hoffman unable to find the engine in a VW Fastback.
During the filming of Marathon Man, Hoffman immersed himself in his role to the point where he was having fits in anticipation over the “dentist” scenes. Co-star Laurence Olivier said “Dustin, old boy, why don’t you try acting?”
Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh both played the lead in major motion pictures of William Shakespeare’s Henry V.
John Astin and Marty Engels starred in the short-lived TV series I’m Dickens, He’s Fenster, which was cancelled after one season, leaving Astin free to star in The Addams Family. Engels quit acting to become a Hollywood agent. Emmaline Henry, who played Astin’s wife, later had a recurring part on I Dream of Jeannie as Doctor Bellows’s wife
Marty Ingels and Shirley Jones have been married for 35 years and were together as a couple for a few years before they married, but during that time each has filed for divorce at least once and they’ve separated numerous times (once was particularly nasty, with Ingels airing a lot of dirty laundry in interviews), though they always seem to get back together. They’re one of Hollywood’s most volatile success stories.
Marty Engels later gained fame doing the commercials for Stax breakfast cereal. The gimmick was, if you didn’t want to eat the little toasted wheat thins, you could stack them.
On the syndicated Steve Allen Show, he told of doing take after take while filming one commercial, to the point where he was sick of eating Stax. Some company executives wandered onto the set just as the director yelled “Cut!” and Marty spat out a mouthful of the cereal!
Stax Records was founded by Jim Stewart and his sister Estelle Axton. It was primarily known for its African-American acts, including its biggest star, Otis Redding. The label’s house band was Booker T. & the M.G.'s.
Patrick Stewart played King David in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Peter Shaffer’s Yonadab in late 1985, two years before he was cast as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard.
And I saw him in it!
Also in the 1985 Yonabab production with Patrick Stewart was Anthony Head later of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame
Prior to Buffy, Anthony Head starred in the US TV series VR5, where he played the mentor to Sidney Bloom, a woman with the ability to interact and change people via virtual reality.
Anthony Head starred wtih Sharon Maughan in a series of mini-soap opera episodes Taster Choice (or Nescafe) commercials in the 1990s. The commercials were a huge hit in both the U.K. and the U.S., but they lasted longer in the U.K. with the couple marrying and having a child.
Edith Head’s 35 Oscar nominations and 8 awards make her both the most honored costume designer and woman in Academy Award history to date.
The appearance and mannerisms of Edna Mode, the superhero costume designer of choice in the Pixar hit The Incredibles, were loosely based on Edith Head. Her voice was supplied by Brad Bird, the movie’s director.
“No capes!”
Dame Edna Everage is an international superstar, known for her one-woman shows around the world and her catchphrase “Hello, Possums!”
When Barry Humphries was nine, his mother gave all his books to the Salvation Army since he had already read them. Humphries subsequently became a collector of rare volumes, a hobby he subsidizes with his earnings from portraying such characters as Dame Edna.
Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay was given her middle name to honor St. Vincent Hospital in Manhattan, where her uncle had recently been treated.