Kesha.
Thirty years ago it would be Rula Lenska. She was famous for being i a TV commercial that seemed to assume you knew who she was. Nobody seemed to know. People magazine had a picture of her wearing a T-shirt that read “Who the Hell is Rula Lenska?”, which summed up everyone’s feelings about her. She was basically famous for being in a commercial that assumed she was famous.
Years later I listed to tapes of the original Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and was shocked to hear her acting in it. It’s the only thing I know of, besides that commercial, that she’s actually done.
And, no, I can’t be bothered to look her up on the internet.
Rula Lenska was a pretty well known actress on British TV in the '70s and '80s, so in the UK her celebrity was earned (at least as much as is that of any actor who is lucky enough to be cast as a major character in a hit TV show, and who makes a competent job of it). So far as I can make out, she became a joke in America because some idiotic ad man put her in an ad as a “celebrity spokeswoman” on American TV, when she had, in fact, never, or scarcely ever, been seen in America before.
Are some people really that confused when someone is famous for being extremely attractive, like Kim Kardashian?
One I can’t understand is Sarah Jessica Parker. Nort remotely attractive and not a particularly good actress.
She was the voice of Rebecca Cunningham on Talespin.
…what? I’m not that old. Someone on this board must have watched that show, right? If you were 6-12 years old in the early '90s, it was great.
OK, show of hands: Is there anyone out there who doesn’t personally know several women who are hotter than Kim Kardashian, but who nonetheless are not famous? Sure, it helps to be hot, but that’s not enough for fame, not by a longshot.
I can think of several I know personally and see regularly. Admittedly Kardassian is not of the physical type I prefer; I don’t care for her face, which is, for me, the main determinant of hotness, and moreover her breasts are larger than I prefer. But any of these girls I am thinking of, all about her age (assuming KK is mid-twenties, yes?) simply blow her out of the water.
Chronos beat me to it. Being extremely attractive is one criteria that keeps people in the spotlight, but it doesn’t generate the original spotlight. She’s famous because she had money, a “famous” last name to drop, and connections in Hollywood to spin up the idea of being the center of a reality show about her celebutant life. After that, she’s ridden on being a celebrity, and her sisters have coasted along for the ride.
From what you’re saying, you’ve got the age thing backwards. I was 6-12 in the late '70s/early '80s. And she was well known for simply being Sally Struthers long before Talespin.
I guess in an odd way I was trying to say “don’t knock Talespin as a legit source of fame, because it was a pretty cool thing to watch when I was growing up.”
I was almost gonna mention the early '90s sitcom Step By Step, too, but I remembered that it was Suzanne Somers who was in that one, not Sally Struthers.
Sally Struthers is also famous for parading millions of starving Ethopians on TV during the 80’s.
Before she played Gloria on All in the Family, she was “The Smothers Brothers Dancer” on The Smothers Brothers (The joke being that other variety show had whole phalanxes of dancers: “…with the June Taylor Dancers!” The Smothers Brothers only had ONE – The Smothers Brothers Dancer.)
Years after All in the Family ended, she played a divorced Gloria Stivic in the short-lived comedy Gloria.
Iirc, she was pimping them for cups of coffee and/or pennies a day.
I was going to selfrighteously refute all the examples given in this thread then I read this and laughed so hard I forgot whatever the hell point I was going to make. Thanks for the guffaw, Skald.
Why is the word “other” in that bolded sentence?
I am not sure what you are getting at
I’ll nominate Liz Cheney and Bristol Palin. So they’re the offspring of veeps or veep wannabees. Doesn’t mean I really care what they have to say.
The Girl Most Likely To was very good, and as you said the ultimate revenge movie! This was the first I’d seen of Stockard Channing and I expected her to be a breakout big star after this aired. Wasn’t Ed Asner the detective in this film?
To the person who doesn’t know this movie, but who has seen a lot of movies, have you dismissed this because you don’t know it? Jeesh.
Justin Timberlake.
He’s not that good looking, in fact a bit wimpy, He still looks about 13 - his moves and music seem derivative - he hasn’t got a particularly impressive voice - the high pitched wining doesn’t work for me.
His performances continue to underwhelm me.
I still don’t get his success.
I’ll happily take your leavings!
Also the same reason Jenny McCarthy’s anti-vaccine idiocy managed to get any traction.