# Weird Celebrity Friendships **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 11, 2013, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447 "2013-04-11T22:11:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2013, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/1 "2013-04-11T22:11:00Z")
There’s a Thread going on right now about The 3 Stooges and The Marx Brothers. The OP wonders if those comics ever socialized at all. The responses in the Thread point out why those two teams _wouldn’t_ have socialized and goes on to explain the kinds of social circles that may lead Celebrity A to meet Celebrity B. (oversimplification of the discussion in that Thread but good enough for the purpose of this Thread) What are some real life celebrity friendships that strike you as bizarre? Friendships that would not be accounted for through an analytic breakdown of expected social circles? Friendships that would defy the expectations of fans based on the disparate public personas of the two friends? Let’s discount instances of two celebrities having an unlikely encounter then speaking fondly of one another afterward. I’m sure that happens often enough. I’m only looking for examples of lasting friendships. My nomination: Groucho Marx and Alice Cooper This is why I thought of this Thread. Reading the other Thread, I had to chuckle at all the explanations of why Groucho Marx and Moe Howard wouldn’t have met since there is absolutely no way in hell of positing a hypothetical friendship between Groucho and Alice Cooper- and yet it happened! I’ve never read about how they met, but their get-togethers often happened when Groucho would call Alice up at 1:00am and tell him to come over. They’d sit and watch T.V./movies on T.V. all night. There are also stories of Groucho loudly announcing to waiters that his rock n roll friend would need some drugs. Alice loved that Groucho described Alice’s stage show as vaudeville. It was the first description that made Alice feel that somebody truly got it. (ETA: Alice Cooper was big in the public campaign the restore the dilapidated Hollywood Sign. When he made his donation to sponsor the “O” he donated in Groucho’s name- this was a year or so after Groucho died.) Also: The long time friendship between Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson always seemed bizarre to me, though I’ve never read much about that. Other examples? ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2013, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/2 "2013-04-11T22:18:43Z")
Wally Cox and Marlon Brando were college roommates. Unlike his media persona, Wally liked to ride motorcycles and party. Wally finally moved out of their dorm room because he couldn’t deal with Marlon’s pet wolverine. When he died, Wally Cox’s ashes were sprinkled over Marlon’s grave. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2013, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/3 "2013-04-11T22:24:43Z")
I was surprised by David Beckham and Snoop Dogg being good friends. Their kids hang out. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/4 "2013-04-12T00:58:58Z")
I remember being bewildered in the 1980s when I read a few times that Page 3 model/pop singer Samantha Fox was friends with Lemmy from Motörhead. Not the kind of pairing I’d ever have expected, and I’m inclined now to think that it was a creation of the UK music press. (Then again, perhaps my young teen mind was just knocked off kilter by the visual disparity between the two; they probably would have actually had a lot in common to talk about.) ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/5 "2013-04-12T01:03:58Z")
Ozzy Osbourne lived next door to Pat Boone and they were friendly. ---
**Author:** ![theoldman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b782af/32.png) [@theoldman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theoldman)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/6 "2013-04-12T01:33:55Z")
leanord cohen and iggy pop [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3554293/Leonard-Cohen-his-wit-warmth-and-wisdom.html](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3554293/Leonard-Cohen-his-wit-warmth-and-wisdom.html) ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/7 "2013-04-12T01:46:23Z")
Bob Newhart and Don Rickles are best of friends. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/8 "2013-04-12T01:52:32Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > Bob Newhart and Don Rickles are best of friends. :dubious: O.K., that’s not weird at all. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/9 "2013-04-12T02:04:39Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > :dubious: O.K., that’s not weird at all. Yeah, that one I can totally imagine. Rickles wasn’t the character he portrayed to the public. But, golly, who of us are? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/10 "2013-04-12T02:14:21Z")
I was looking around for an article I’d read on Mental Floss about this topic. I couldn’t find it. But I did find [this article](http://mwfseekingbff.com/2012/03/01/famous-friendships-schmidt-and-turtle/) about how the guy who plays Schmidt on _New Girl_ and the guy who played Turtle on _Entourage_ are best friends. I’ve watched both shows all the way through and I don’t know if it’s surprising or not but it’s interesting! ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/11 "2013-04-12T03:08:37Z")
This one was mentioned by Krokodil in the Marx Brothers/Three Stooges thread: Curly Howard and [Louis Jordan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Jordan). ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/12 "2013-04-12T03:44:44Z")
Frank Zappa and Donnie Osmond. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/13 "2013-04-12T04:48:30Z")
I remember hearing that Axl Rose and George Michael got on well. I thought that odd at the time. Dennis Rodman and Kim Jong Un, if you count the latter as a celebrity. Churchill liked Stalin better than he expected and claimed in a letter to (I think) Clementine that if he and Stalin could just dine together once a week they’d get on like a house on fire. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/14 "2013-04-12T05:26:41Z")
Pat Buchanan and Hunter S. Thompson Abbie Hoffman and Amy Carter Patricia Hearst and John Waters ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/15 "2013-04-12T05:55:35Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > Yeah, that one I can totally imagine. > > Rickles wasn’t the character he portrayed to the public. > But, golly, who of us are? In an interview on Sirius Newhart told about how his wife had met Rickles once and wanted to go to his show. Rickles saw them in the audience and introduced them as “The stammering idiot from Chicago and his hooker wife from Bayone New Jersey are here tonight” While Rickles isn’t the guy he is on stage, most wives would have a problem with that intro. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/16 "2013-04-12T05:57:38Z")
Bono and Jesse Helms. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/17 "2013-04-12T06:12:03Z")
Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/18 "2013-04-12T06:50:20Z")
Groucho Marx was friends with several rockers. In March 1977, he invited Queen to his house and they performed _a capella_ for him. And of course, two of their albums, _A Night at the Opera_ and _A Day at the Races,_ were named for Marx Brothers movies. Groucho was also friends with Elton John. He and Elton attended a performance of _Jesus Christ Superstar_ together and Groucho called out, “Does it have a happy ending?” And Groucho gave Elton the inspiration for an album title when he pointed his index fingers at Elton as if he were aiming pistols at him. Elton raised his hands and said, “Don’t shoot me, I’m only the piano player.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/19 "2013-04-12T08:58:40Z")
Tammy Faye Bakker and Ron Jeremy met while making a reality TV series and apparently became good friends. ---
**Author:** ![dead0man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@dead0man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dead0man)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/20 "2013-04-12T11:40:04Z")
Penn Jillette and Glenn Beck [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447.md?page=2)