Actors, Politicians, and Celebrities

Discussion in 'General' started by morse1001, Mar 24, 2006.

  1. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

    Mel Brooks Comedian, actor, producer and director, i.e, Blazing Saddles (1974)] served in the U.S. Army in WW II as a combat engineer and took part in the Battle of the Bulge. His main job was to deactivate land mines.
     

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  2. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

    Raymond Burr, most famous for his role as Chief IRONSIDE: In World War II, Burr served in the Navy. When in Okinawa, he was shot in the stomach and sent home.
     

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  3. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

    British Actor, Ian Carmichael,
    In WW2, he served in Europe for many years with the Royal Armoured Corps as a commissioned officer in the 22nd Dragoons.
     

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  4. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

    American actor Charles Durning was a genuine World War II hero; Durning served in the U.S. Army in WW II. Drafted early in the war at age 21, he was first assigned as a rifleman with the 398th Infantry Regiment, and later served overseas with the 3rd Army Support troops and the 386th Anti-aircraft Artillery (AAA) Battalion. He participated in the Normandy Invasion of France on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and was among the first troops to land at Omaha Beach. For his valor and the wounds he received during the war, Durning was awarded the Silver Star and three Purple Heart medals.
     

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  5. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

    Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (1909-2000)
    During World War II Fairbanks became a lieutenant in the British Navy (where he made his way up to captain in 1954). He was posted to Lord Louis Mountbatton's staff where he devised gadgets to confuse the Germans. He later led a commando assault on the Casquet lighthouse on the coast of France. Two months later he conducted a desert raid on Sened Station in North Africa. He took part in the Allies' landing in Sicily and Elba in 1943. He also commanded a detachment of PT boats that sailed toward the coast of France to deceive the Germans about an invasion. He was awarded the Silver Star and the British Distinguished Service Cross.
     

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  6. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

    Bill Walker, well known to most Canadians as a CBC announcer and game show host. Joined the RCAF in 1943, he was assigned to RAF 77 Squadron in Yorkshire, where he piloted a Halifax bomber on 35 sorties in Bomber Command, winning the Distinguished Flying Cross.
     

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  7. DaveB

    DaveB Very Senior Member

    Just read an obituary in the newspaper for Efrem Zimbalist Junior (he died on the 2nd of May) - one of my earliest TV memories was watching the B&W series of The FBI

    Where we lived back then we only received one TV channel (ABC - the Government broadcaster here in Aus) and it was 99% news type shows and depressing British series (not many comedies to be had back then).

    This (American) show was the highlight of the week - gawd knows how it ended up on the ABC (or if my memory is playing tricks on me) but we loved that show.


    Anyhoo, the obituary mentioned that EZ picked up a Purple Heart during WW2 - I suppose I should wiki him to see if there are any details.



    Edit - I have wikied him (is that the verb?): Zimbalist attended Yale University in the late 1930s, worked as a page for NBC radio in New York, and served in the United States Army for five years during World War II, where he became friends with Garson Kanin. He was awarded the Purple Heart for a leg wound received during the battle of Hürtgen Forest.
     
  8. arnhem44

    arnhem44 Member

  9. idler

    idler GeneralList

    John Addison, composer of the scores for The Cockleshell Heroes, The Charge of the Light Brigade and A Bridge Too Far was a 23rd Hussar until he was wounded during GOODWOOD.
     
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  10. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

    bower2.jpg
    Athletes too!

    Hockey Hall of Fame goalie Johnny Bower lied about his age to enlist for the Second World War. He was just 16.
    “They wanted to see my birth certificate and I said ‘We had a big fire at home.’ And I said it was burned,” Bower recalled Monday with a healthy belly laugh. “I lied there just so I could get in.”
    “I wanted to go with my other buddies,” he added.
    Years later, the ugly truth of war remains with the former Maple Leafs great, who turned 90 on Saturday. Many of those friends didn’t come back.
    “I was lucky, very lucky to be back here,” said Bower, the laugh suddenly gone.
    The sacrifice of those and other hockey players is captured in a new Hockey Hall of Fame exhibit called “Hockey Marching As To War” which was unveiled Monday on the eve of Remembrance Day.

    The Hall says 40 of its inductees were First World War veterans, with another 31 serving in the Second World War.
    Some of those names live on via NHL and other trophies: Jack Adams, Conn Smythe, Frank Selke and Hobey Baker.
    The Memorial Cup, the symbol of junior hockey supremacy, was conceived as a way to honour young men who traded their hockey stick for a rifle and paid the ultimate price.
    Capt. James T. Sutherland, president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, used the Cup to honour Allan (Scotty) Davidson and George Richardson whom he coached when they were Kingston Frontenacs. Both died in action in the First World War.
    The Hall of Fame exhibit showcases a quote from Sutherland:
    “With every man doing his bit, Canada will raise an army of brains and brawn from our hockey enthusiasts the likes of which the world has never seen. The bell has rung. Let every man play the game of his life.”

    http://ww1.canada.com/faces-of-war/hockey-hall-of-famers-traded-sticks-for-rifles-to-fight-for-country-with-video
     
  11. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Just been reading quite a good page on HW Bush's Service, as lightly alluded to here previously:
    Vice President Bush Calls World War II Experience "Sobering"

    DFC citation:

     
  12. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

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  13. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Bonhams : The Distinguished Flying Cross and Bar to Flight Lieutenant K.Wolstenholme, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, and the famous BBC Sports Commentator, who's famous quote "They think it's all over" for the 1966 World Cup has become part of England's football commentating history,

    Kenneth Wolstenholme's wartime logbooks revealed | Daily Mail Online

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    Wolstenholme (pictured in the bottom row, second from left) and the rest of the crew member in 107 Squadron

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    Wolstenholme was an accomplished RAF pilot and was nearly killed in a bombing raid on Heligoland, a small German archipelago in the North Sea, in 1941

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    His logbooks documenting sorties between 1941 and 1945, during which he completed over 1,500 hours of flying, have emerged for sale are set to go under the hammer alongside his bravery medals for £9,000

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    An entry in his RAF logbook reveals his Blenheim bomber was badly damaged by flak in the raid and his air observer Sergeant John Wilson, who was nicknamed Polly, was killed

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    His medals and logbooks have been consigned for auction by a 'private source' and this is the first time they have appeared on the market

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    He enrolled with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in June 1939 and after completing his training joined 107 Squadron in March 1941 flying Blenheims
     
  14. Drayton

    Drayton Senior Member

    The actor James Mason was a conscientious objector in WW2, working on a farm for period.

    Serenditipously, he was born on 15 May, now celebrated as International Conscientious Objectors' Day.
     
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  15. Incredibledisc

    Incredibledisc Well-Known Member

    Writer and broadcaster Robert Kee - perhaps best known for being one of the original “famous five” presenters who started TV-AM. He flew bombers with the RAF and was shot down over Holland. He became a POW and wrote a book about his experiences called “A Crowd Is Not Company”. I found out about him after seeing his name in my Great grandad’s POW logbook.
    Robert Kee obituary
     
  16. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

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  17. bexley84

    bexley84 Well-Known Member

    nigelstock.jpg nigelstock1.png

    Repeat of a previous note on this thread but this time with some photo evidence..

    Nigel Stock from Goodwood House in June 1941 with G Coy 2 Bn London Irish Rifles. Second row, third from the left, sitting next to my Dad...
     
  18. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    CORPORAL MEL BROOKS

    Posted on February 15, 2018 by dirkdeklein under Battle of the Bulge, History, Humour, World War 2


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    “I was a Combat Engineer. Isn’t that ridiculous? The two things I hate most in the world are combat and engineering.” — Mel Brooks

    By far one of the funniest people on earth,Mel Brooks, born Melvin Kaminsky in Brooklyn in 1926.

    I won’t go into his life as Comedian,Director.Actor,Producer and Singer because I’d be here forever. In this blog my focus is on his role in WWII.

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    Mel Brooks was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1926 as Melvin Kaminsky to Jewish parents from Germany and Ukraine. Brooks lost his father when he was two years old, and in retrospect, reflects on that event as the genesis for his farcical comedy style: “I’m sure a lot of my comedy is based on anger and hostility. Growing up in Williamsburg, I learned to clothe it in comedy to spare myself problems – like a punch in the face.”


    Before he could complete his degree in psychology from Brooklyn College, Brooks was drafted into the Army to fight during World War II. He served as a corporal in the 1104 Engineer Combat Battalion, 78th Infantry Division as a combat engineer.The 1104th had been activated in March 1943 and landed in Normandy on 11 June 1944. It advanced with the Allied forces through France, Belgium, and the Netherlands and entered German [​IMG]One of his tasks during the war was to defuse land mines, and he also fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

    It has been reported that when the Germans played propaganda recordings over loudspeakers, Brooks responded by setting up his own sound system and played music by Al Jolson, a Jewish musician.

    I would have loved to see the reaction of the Nazis as the music of Al Jolson was blaring away. I don’t know what songs Mel Brooks picked to play but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was “The Jazz Singer” a double whammy a Jewish singer singing the music Hitler hated most.

    Even at war he had a sense of humour. Mel Brooks a Hero in the truest sense of the word. They just don’t make them like that anymore.

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  19. A-58

    A-58 Not so senior Member

    Dan Rowan, of Rowan & Martin's Laugh In (US TV) from the 60s was a P-40 pilot in the USAAF. Shot down two Japanese planes before being shot down himself and seriously wounded when he crashed in New Guinea.

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    Rod Serling, of The Twilight Zone and The Night Gallery (US TV) was in the 511th PIR of the 11th Airborne Division. Saw action on Leyte and Luzon. Was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. It is said that his writings were affected by his time in combat.

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    Clark Gable served in the USAAF as part of a motion picture unit. Flew 5 combat missions in a B-17 as a gunner/observer. Gable was Hitler's favorite actor, and had issued orders to have him brought to Berlin if shot down and captured.

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    Robert Montgomery served in the USN, rising to the rank of Lt. Commander on a destroyer. Before he joined the Navy, he served as a volunteer ambulance driver in the American Field Service, attached to the BEF in 1940. Was evacuated at Dunkirk.

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    Sterling Hayden enlisted as a private in the USMC, and was recommended to attend OCS. After graduation, he was assigned to the OSS. Saw action in Italy and the Balkans. Was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry. Became enamored with Tito's commies, and became one himself upon return to the US. Ratted on fellow Hollywood types when called to testify during the Red Scare in the 50s. Best known as the crazed USAF general who sent his B-52s to bomb the USSR in the movie Dr. Strangelove.

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    George C. Scott served in the USMC, and was assigned to guard duty at the Marine Corps Barracks in Washington DC where he served on the Honor Guard at Arlington Cemetery. Best known as playing General George S. Patton. Refused the Oscar he was awarded for his portrayal of Ole Blood N Guts.

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    James Arness served in the US Army. He wanted to join the USN as a pilot, but his poor eyesight and large frame (6'7) kept him out of the cockpit, so into the Army he went. Was severely wounded at Anzio, and was discharged from service after spending much of the rest of the war in a hospital overcoming his wounds. Was awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and the Combat Infantryman's Badge. Best known as Marshal Matt Dillon in the TV show Gunsmoke.

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    Inspector Jacques Clouseau served in the French Resistance. Was said to be a bungling absent minded idiot. Blew himself up while attempting to blow up a bridge, but somehow survived to cause more problems for everyone he worked with, both during the war and afterwards when he served in the Sûreté.

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    Oh yes, Peter Sellers served in the RAF. He wanted to be a pilot, but poor eyesight prevented him from flying. Spent the war doing clerical work, then as an entertainer, serving in India, Ceylon and Burma. Was said by many to be a great entertainer, and was adept at impersonating officers.
     
    Last edited: Feb 16, 2018
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  20. harkness

    harkness Well-Known Member

    Richard Greene
    Captain, 27th Lancers
    Robin Hood, plus numerous films
    .
    download.jpg


    Denis Shaw
    Trooper, A Squadron, 23rd Hussars
    The Avengers, Danger Man, Dixon of Dock Green, The Prisoner, Sherlock Holmes, Z-Cars but, most famously, the German guard Priem in The Colditz Story

    Shaw_DF_potrait02.jpg
     
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