# (True) alternate careers for celebrities? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 8, 2003, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-alternate-careers-for-celebrities/200328 "2003-09-08T16:26:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-alternate-careers-for-celebrities/200328/21 "2003-09-09T13:44:23Z")
The Smothers Brothers and Fess Parker also own wineries. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-alternate-careers-for-celebrities/200328/22 "2003-09-09T13:50:22Z")
I used to babysit for the kids of Alan Page, a Minnesota Vikings football player. I don’t know much about football, so I can’t say what position he played, except that he was big and was supposed to stop players from the other team. Anyway, while he was a football player he went to law school and got his license to practice law. He’s now a Minnesota Supreme Court judge. A very sweet and smart man. StG ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-alternate-careers-for-celebrities/200328/23 "2003-09-09T14:46:05Z")
Wasn’t Cleese, himself, an attorney? ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-alternate-careers-for-celebrities/200328/24 "2003-09-09T16:52:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sam Stone \* > \*\* > R. Lee Ermey, who played the drill instructor in “Full Metal Jacket” (along with many other roles), was in fact a career drill instructor in the U.S. Marine Corps. > \*\* Gunnery sergeant, actually. Got a medical discharge. He was originally brought in as a consultant to help train the guy who was originally meant to play the drill instructor in “Full Metal Jacket.” He did such a good job they just hired him to do the role instead of the guy he was coaching. ---
**Author:** ![Isabelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5a626/32.png) [@Isabelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isabelle)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-alternate-careers-for-celebrities/200328/25 "2003-09-09T17:00:58Z")
Flip Wilson is an accountant. Fergie is a children’s book writer and diet advocate for weight watchers Joy Behr (from The View) was a stand up comic Darva Conger was/is a nurse ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-alternate-careers-for-celebrities/200328/26 "2003-09-09T17:12:04Z")
Jay North did a stint in the Navy, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-alternate-careers-for-celebrities/200328/27 "2003-09-09T17:17:56Z")
Actually, Flip Wilson is [dead](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0933400/). I can’t say that Fergie’s current pursuits don’t stem directly from her earlier renown as the Duchess of York. For Joy Behar, “talk-show host” isn’t much of an alternate from “stand-up comic.” And I don’t think reality-show contestants really qualify for this thread. My 2 cents . . . ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-alternate-careers-for-celebrities/200328/28 "2003-09-09T17:36:52Z")
**slortar** , “Gunnery sergeant” is not inconsistent with “drill instructor,” as the former is a senior enlisted rank while the latter is a job usually held by a senior enlisted man. One could well be both. In fact a drill instructor usually will be both. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-alternate-careers-for-celebrities/200328/29 "2003-09-09T18:16:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fiver \* > \*\ ***slortar** , “Gunnery sergeant” is not inconsistent with “drill instructor,” as the former is a senior enlisted rank while the latter is a job usually held by a senior enlisted man. > > One could well be both. In fact a drill instructor usually will be both. \*\* Learn something new every day, then. Thanks for the clarification. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-alternate-careers-for-celebrities/200328/30 "2003-09-09T18:40:01Z")
Last I heard (2000?), former NFL star Refrigerator Perry was a bricklayer. ---
**Author:** ![musicguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@musicguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/musicguy)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-alternate-careers-for-celebrities/200328/31 "2003-09-09T18:56:44Z")
Not exactly the same caliber of celebrity but I believe that porn star Ron Jeremy was once a school teacher. Either english or history. Just thought I would throw that in. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-alternate-careers-for-celebrities/200328/32 "2003-09-09T18:59:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dinoboy \* > \*\* > > I have a co-worker who claims that Ms. Crow was her fourth grade music teacher, and she is not ‘special needs’… \*\* If Sheryl Crow were my fourth-grade music teacher, I would have had “special needs”! 😃 * * * How is Rap like Porn? Both are better with the sound turned off. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-alternate-careers-for-celebrities/200328/33 "2003-09-09T19:11:26Z")
I know someone who went to law school with Jeff Cohen of _The Goonies_. The little girl who played Tracy on “The Partridge Family”, Suzanne Crowe, is now a buyer for Famous Footwear. The boy who played her brother Chris (the second Chris, that is!) is a race car driver. I can’t remember what happened to the first Chris. For fans of _Mystery Science Theater 3000_-if you’ve ever seen the episode _Eegah_, surely you remember the Cabbage Patch Elvis, Arch Hall Jr. He went to Vietnam and is now a commercial pilot, I THINK. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-alternate-careers-for-celebrities/200328/34 "2003-09-09T19:18:56Z")
> [@](#): > > I used to babysit for the kids of Alan Page, a Minnesota Vikings football player. I don’t know much about football, so I can’t say what position he played, except that he was big and was supposed to stop players from the other team. Anyway, while he was a football player he went to law school and got his license to practice law. He’s now a Minnesota Supreme Court judge. A very sweet and smart man. [aside] My sister used to live across the alley from him/next door to his Mom on Vincent Ave… I agree- very smart and sweet. He purchased new bikes for my nephews after theirs were stolen and his Mom was the first one over to welcome them to the neighborhood [/aside] ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-alternate-careers-for-celebrities/200328/35 "2003-09-09T21:58:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by groo \* > \*\*Bob Newhart was an accountant until he was 39 or 40. That brings me great comfort, somehow, and has always made me look at him with a little more respect. Not that I have a thing about accountants, but rather that it’s nice to know that people can make big changes to their lives. > \*\* Not quite Gru. According to IMDB Bob Newhart was born in 1929 and was hosting his own show (which was also called “The Bob Newhart Show”) on NBC in 1961 at age 32. [Link](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0627878/) But as Bob himself said he quit being an accountant because his motto was “That’s close enough.”😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-alternate-careers-for-celebrities/200328.md?page=1)