Actors, Politicians, and Celebrities

How about the other way around and famous as an actor first then WW2 service:

Jackie Coogan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ended up serving on Chindit 2, as a pilot in 1st Air Commando.

Interesting character apparently and loved to talk about his first wife, Betty Grable.

 

Eddie Albert earned Bronze Star at Tarawa

Eddie Albert - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dave

 

Stretching the theme somewhat, Coogan's boss on Chindit 2 was Colonel Philip Cochran, he had joint-command of 1st Air Commando in 1944.

His WW2 exploits were the inspiration for the cartoon character 'Flip Corkin' from the comic 'Terry and the Pirates'.

See links below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_and_the_Pirates_(comic_strip)

Philip Cochran - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So two media stars in one USAAF unit.

 

The Former Foreign Secretary, Peter Carington, later Lord Carrington.

From Wikipedia..

Following Sandhurst, he was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards as a second lieutenant on 26 January 1939. He served with the regiment during the Second World War, he was promoted lieutenant on 1 January 1941, and later rose to the rank of temporary Captain and acting Major, and was awarded the Military Cross on 1 March 1945. The MC was awarded for his part in the capture and holding of a vital bridge in Nijmegen. After the war Lord Carrington remained in the army until 1949, though he was on the unemployed list from October 1945.

 

Stretching the theme somewhat, Coogan's boss on Chindit 2 was Colonel Philip Cochran, he had joint-command of 1st Air Commando in 1944.

His WW2 exploits were the inspiration for the cartoon character 'Flip Corkin' from the comic 'Terry and the Pirates'.

See links below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_and_the_Pirates_(comic_strip)

Philip Cochran - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So two media stars in one USAAF unit.


Hello Bamboo
One of Coogan's co-stars in 'Our Gang' was killed in an AT-6 during training.
"Wheezer" Hutchins Sad. I think 'Our Gang' was funniest stuff ever put on film.

Jackie and Wheezer in 'Bear Hunters'

‪Our Gang - The Bear Hunters Pt.1‬‏ - YouTube

Bobby Hutchins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dave

 

One of the Great Directors, Admiral John Ford:

John Ford - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Hello Bamboo
One of Coogan's co-stars in 'Our Gang' was killed in an AT-6 during training.
"Wheezer" Hutchins Sad. I think 'Our Gang' was funniest stuff ever put on film.

Jackie and Wheezer in 'Bear Hunters'

‪Our Gang - The Bear Hunters Pt.1‬‏ - YouTube

Bobby Hutchins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dave

Hi Dave,

All the veterans I have met mention Mr. Coogan and his time in Burma. He was fond of a certain greeting reposte, that being, "you have shaken the hand, that held the p***k, that knew Betty Grable..........

I think you will get my drift!!!


Didn't always go down too well, by all accounts.

 

Another Chindit who went on to become a famous cartoonist after the war:

Obituary: Emmwood - Arts & Entertainment - The Independent

John Musgrave-Wood served in column 7 on operation Longcloth and was the last officer to see my Grandfather alive and still a free man, in the Kachin Hills of Burma.

 

James Stewart, flew B-24's with the "Mighty Eighth": Fact Sheets : Brig. Gen. James M. Stewart : Brig. Gen. James M. Stewart

Douglas Fairbanks Jr too: Biography - Commander Douglas Elton Fairbanks, Jr., USNR

Spike Milligan: Obituary: Spike Milligan | Books | The Guardian

Not technically true.

Jimmy Stewart was an established actor before the war thanks to his
leading role in You Can't Take It With You.

By the way, my grandma and Jimmy Stewart's mum grew up together in Apollo, PA. My dad told me that a young Jimmy Stewart once chased him and my Uncle Wally around the hills of Apollo.


Dave

 

Hey gang,

Here's another one that has escaped a lot of attention, probably because he was not an actor. But he did win two Oscars nonetheless. You have all seen his films: Goldfinger (and at least 6 other Bond flicks), Dr. Strangelove, The Ipcress File, Barry Lyndon, The Madness of King George III, etc. His name:

Sir Ken (Klaus) Adam

Ken Adam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

One of only two only German Jews to fly in the wartime RAF (along with my father). He flew Typhoons from '43 onward.

Marc

 

The Actor Sterling Hayden served with the OSS in the Balkans
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterling_Hayden

USMC Hero Peter Ortiz served behind the Lines in France with an Inter Allied Mission SOE/OSS - He later starred with John Wayne in John Ford Westerns

Colonel Peter Julien Ortiz: OSS Marine, Actor, Californian

Rene Dussaq - a Hollywood stuntman served in France with SOE/OSS and later filmed the Nuclear explosions in Japan.

Mel Brooks was a combat engineer in the NW Europe Campaign

Ernest Borgnine served 12 years in the US Navy

Charles Durning landed on D-Day - wounded in the Battle of the Bulge

Audrey Hepburn - Resistance Courier in Holland

Lee Marvin - just had to be a US Marine - wounded on Saipan




t

 

Sir Anthony Quayle, SOE in Albania

 

Not too many people in the British AFPU had been or went on to be famous 'on camera' but lots did behind it.

A few examples....
Peter Handford - Sound, Out of Africa (Oscar). John Aldred - Sound, Anne of a Thousand Days. Arthur Graham - Camera, The African Queen. Bob Baker - Producer, Roger Moore's partner on TV's 'The Saint' & 'The Persuaders'. John Boulting - Director, Brighton Rock. Hugh Stewart - Producer, Norman Wisdom and Morecambe & Wise comedies. John Wilcox - Camera on The Eagle has Landed, Cinematographer on The Cockleshell Heroes. Ernie Walter - Editor, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness. Geoff Seaholme - Camera, Kind Hearts and Coronets. Bryan Langley - TV's Doctor Who. Basil Keys - Associate Producer, Zulu. Len Harris - Camera, Phantom of the Opera.

And then there the RAF boys...
Gil Taylor - Camera, the original Star Wars. Harry Waxman - Cinematographer, The Swiss Family Robinson and at least one Pink Panther. And Graham 'Skeets' Kelly - Camera on classics from Great Expectations to The Battle of Britain, Those Magnificent Men and Zeppelin (on which he was killed in action).

Just a small selection. See Book Forum for When You're Smiler in which there is a comprehensive list.

 

Not sure if these have been covered but:

Ian Carmichael - Royal Armoured Corps (Major)
Niall MacGinnis - Royal Navy Surgeon
Christopher Rhodes (Sir) - 3rd Bt - succeeded 1955 - Essex Regiment Lt Col, CdeG & LOM (US)

Regards

Simon

 

Might have been this one Von, very popular in North America, people are still fighting him (off their hips mind you)




Thought he might have fought at the '36 Olympics, but apparently not, so I'll put him here:



BBC - WW2 People's War - The Brown Bomber: Meeting Joe Louis

 

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/general/15138-movie-stars-politicians-celebs.html

David Niven and I on comment #12

Ron

 

Leslie 'oh hello' Phillips

Stevenage Home Guard, then Commissioned into Durham Light Infantry

 

Most of these have been covered in this thread, but here are 50, plus pictures:
50 Famous Faces in Uniform during World War 2 | Abroad in the Yard