# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**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, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/41 "2013-04-12T18:31:12Z")
Here are a couple of other, if not weird, then improbable friendships. After his career as a lawman, Wyatt Earp became an unpaid consultant for silent Western films in Hollywood. He befriended a young contract actor named Marion Morrison on the set of one film. Morrison would bring Earp coffee and Earp would reminisce about his life. Morrison, of course, went on to fame as legendary film icon John Wayne. Wayne later said that he based his image of the Western lawman around Earp. In 1938, Orson Welles broadcast his radio play of “War of the Worlds,” based upon H. G. Wells’ novel. The broadcast famously spread panic among some listeners, who assumed that the Martian invasion was real. In 1940, Orson Welles and H. G. Wells encountered one another in San Antonio, TX, and agreed to be interviewed on a local radio station. They got along famously, each previously being aware of the other’s work. H. G. gently chided Orson for having a superflous “E” in his name and called the latter’s radio broadcast a “sensational Halloween spree.” He also helped Welles plug his upcoming movie, “Citizen Kane.” An audio recording and transcript of the interview can be found [here](http://www.rosslawhead.com/blog/2012/09/when-orson-welles-met-h-g-wells/). ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/42 "2013-04-12T18:31:30Z")
> [@Duke\_of\_Rat](#): > > Bill Maher and Ann Coulter, he said they got along great so long as the topic wasn’t politics. There’s a great section in World War Z about a celebrity fortress that is eventually overrun by other survivors looking for safety that ends with Bill Maher and Ann Coulter screwing each other’s brains out before they’re killed by the mob. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/43 "2013-04-12T19:01:39Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > After his career as a lawman, Wyatt Earp became an unpaid consultant for silent Western films in Hollywood. He befriended a young contract actor named Marion Morrison on the set of one film. Morrison would bring Earp coffee and Earp would reminisce about his life. Morrison, of course, went on to fame as legendary film icon John Wayne. Wayne later said that he based his image of the Western lawman around Earp. That the sort of example I find interesting, because I think of Wyatt Earp as a nineteenth century figure and John Wayne as a twentieth century figure. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/44 "2013-04-12T19:09:42Z")
John F. Kennedy and Senator Joe McCarthy? (Democrats don’t like to remember this, but Kennedy was in McCarthy’s wedding party!) ---
**Author:** ![ads95](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5daacb/32.png) [@ads95](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ads95)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/45 "2013-04-12T19:18:44Z")
Not sure if this one is surprising, but Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam) and Randy Johnson (retired MLB pitcher) are apparently good friends. I presume this started when Johnson pitched for the Mariners. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/46 "2013-04-12T19:47:07Z")
> [@ads95](#): > > Not sure if this one is surprising, but Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam) and Randy Johnson (retired MLB pitcher) are apparently good friends. I presume this started when Johnson pitched for the Mariners. Randy is a hard rock fan (particularly Black Sabbath). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/47 "2013-04-12T20:36:37Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > John F. Kennedy and Senator Joe McCarthy? (Democrats don’t like to remember this, but Kennedy was in McCarthy’s wedding party!) He attended the wedding IIRC, but wasn’t in the wedding party. Al Gore and Tommy Lee Jones were college roommates and have remained friends ever since; Jones spoke at the Democratic Natl. Convention in 2000. In addition to Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, mentioned upthread, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter became close friends after both left the White House, despite having run against each other in 1976. T.S. Eliot’s and Groucho Marx’s correspondence is a lot of fun. Here’s more: [http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/arts/lee-siegel/unexpected-alliance?page=0%2C1&utm\_source=feedburner&utm\_medium=feed&utm\_campaign=Feed%3A+MoreintelligentlifeTotal+(moreintelligentlife.com+-+total)](http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/arts/lee-siegel/unexpected-alliance?page=0%2C1&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MoreintelligentlifeTotal+%28moreintelligentlife.com+-+total%29) ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/48 "2013-04-12T20:41:04Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > John F. Kennedy and Senator Joe McCarthy? (Democrats don’t like to remember this, but Kennedy was in McCarthy’s wedding party!) JFK and his family were supporters which probably had a lot to do with both being Irish Catholic, but I think you’d have to really stretch things to call them friends. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/49 "2013-04-12T20:45:26Z")
Anyway, the friendships that make little sense to me is Jody Foster and Mel Gibson. Granted, I’m also shocked that Mel Gibson and Danny Glover were friends not just on-screen and in real life. ---
**Author:** ![Suil\_Dubh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/50 "2013-04-13T02:52:28Z")
> [@Student\_Driver](#): > > 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.) Oh, OK, this makes sense then… Back in 2000 or so, the space rock group Hawkwind had a concert where all members past and present were invited on stage to play. For those who don’t know, before Motörhead, Lemmy was in Hawkwind. Samantha Fox was also invited to perform for some reason, which I now guess is because of this friendship with Lemmy. She sang a song that someone else should have sang, there was a huge kerfuffle and blah blah blah. The basic complaint was “Why is this woman who has no relationship to the band whatsoever singing a song instead of the original songwriter?” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/51 "2013-04-14T02:50:00Z")
> [@jharvey963](#): > > Cher and Kathy Griffin appear to be pretty close friends. > > J. Better yet, Kathy Griffin and Gloria Vanderbilt . . . and of course, Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/52 "2013-04-14T03:36:12Z")
Paul Krassner gave Groucho Marx his first acid trip. Dan Rowan and John D MacDonald had a decades long correspondence. ---
**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 14, 2013, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/53 "2013-04-14T05:09:49Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Better yet, Kathy Griffin and Gloria Vanderbilt . . . and of course, Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper. Don’t forget Kathy Griffin and Quentin Tarantino ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/54 "2013-04-14T06:16:46Z")
I follow both Jessica Gomes (SI model) and Shay Mitchell (actress) on Twitter. Noting that they follow each other, I thought they were a pretty random pair to know each other. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/55 "2013-04-14T06:24:20Z")
I started noticing a long time ago that famous people are just like us - it’s easier to be a good sport and not make waves and agree while we may not see eye-to-eye on subjects; no one is as horrible as the media makes them out to be. Snoop Dogg is more than willing to look like a doofus if he thinks it’s funny. The newer crop of gangsta rappers jockeying over who gets custody of Justin Bieber is a head-scratcher though. (Tyler the Creator is the only holdout to date.) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447/56 "2013-04-14T17:33:34Z")
Truman Capote and Harper Lee were childhood friends. Uber-queen and proper Southern lady. Weird. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-friendships/655447.md?page=2)