Actors, Politicians, and Celebrities

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

  1. Fossil Phil

    Fossil Phil Junior Member

    Hollywood stuntman Joe Powell was in No.4 Commando and took part in the Dieppe raid in the assault against Hess Battery and on the attack on Flushing. He became an actor whilst off duty in Germany just post-war when an actor from Shepherd's Bush Studios pulled up as he was loitering at a bus stop and asked him if he could ride a horse. He agreed and his path was set simply by a chance encounter.

    Fans of the film 'Zulu' will know him best as Sgt. Windridge, the 'chap with the muscles'. He also did the death leap in 'The Man Who Would Be King' as well as appearing performing stunts in 'Where Eagles Dare', 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' and many others.
     

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  2. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

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    Lee Van Cleef -


    Also known as "Angel Eyes" in the movie "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly." Served in the U.S. Navy aboard a submarine chaser in the Caribbean, then in the Black and China Seas on a mine sweeper.,
     
  3. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

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    ("Scotty" on Star Trek) landed in Normandy with the U.S. Army on D-Day.
    According to his 1996 autobiography Beam Me Up, Scotty, Doohan landed with Royal Canadian Army troops on the D-Day invasion of France and lost the middle finger of his right hand to German fire. The injury didn't keep him from landing the role of spaceship engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott on the 1960s TV series Star Trek. Avid Trekkies will note that 'stunt double' hands were used whenever Doohan operated the ship's transporter
     
  4. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

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    Christopher Lee, Ft Lt, Intelligence Officer.
    Lee volunteered to fight with Finish forces at the outbreak of the Finish-Russian war in 1940, before joining the RAF and serving in North Africa, Sicily and Italy.
     
  5. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

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    Harry Andrews - British Films Stalward.
    Andrews served as an artilleryman (Major) throughout the entirety of World War II.
     
  6. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

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    Jimmy Stewart has already been mentioned but these are his impressive awards list:-
    Distinguished Service Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross (x2), Air Medal (x4), Army Commendation Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Presidential Medal of Freedom, French Croix de Guerre .
     
  7. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

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    Paul Newman has already been mentioned but He served aboard the Carrier USS Bunker Hill!. Due to his colour-blindness, Newman was denied a pilot's licence and instead was consigned to radio operations and gunnery detail. Served in the Torpedo Squadron aboard the U.S carrier USS Bunker Hill. His squadron was ordered to reinforce this carrier, but his pilot was unable to fly due to illness. The rest of his squadron were destroyed by kamikaze attacks on the carrier shortly afterwards.
     
  8. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Merged 2 similar threads.
    Keep them coming.
    Good to see old threads dug up.
     
  9. chick42-46

    chick42-46 Senior Member

    I had a list once of "famous" people who'd served with the RAF Regiment in WW2. Can't find it at the moment but I'm pretty sure Tony Hancock served.

    Cheers

    Ian
     
  10. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

    I had a list once of "famous" people who'd served with the RAF Regiment in WW2. Can't find it at the moment but I'm pretty sure Tony Hancock served.

    Cheers

    Ian

    Spot on ref Hancock. Hancock was born in Hall Green, Birmingham, England, but from the age of three was brought up in Bournemouth where his father, John Hancock, who ran the Railway Hotel in Holdenhurst Road, worked as a comedian and entertainer.

    After his father's death in 1934, Tony and his brothers lived with their mother and stepfather at a small hotel then known as The Durlston Court (now renamed The Quality Hotel). He was educated at Durlston Court Preparatory School, a boarding school at Durlston in Swanage and Bradfield College in Reading, but left school at the age of fifteen.

    In 1942, during World War II, Hancock joined the RAF Regiment. Following a failed audition for the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA), he ended up on The Ralph Reader Gang Show. After the war, he returned to the stage and eventually worked as resident comedian at the Windmill, home to many comedians and actors of the period and worked on radio shows such as Workers' Playtime and Variety Bandbox.Tony Hancock Biography - Biography Archives from When We Were Kids
     
  11. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

    Donald Pleasance

    During WW2 Pleasence was initially a Conscientious Objector, but later changed his stance and was commissioned into the RAF, serving with 166 SQUADRON, Bomber Command. His Lancaster was shot down on 31 August 1944, during a raid on Agenville. He was taken prisoner and placed in a German prisoner-of-war camp, where he produced and acted in plays. He would later play Ft Lt Colin Blythe in The Great Escape where much of the story takes place inside a German POW camp, Stalag Luft 111.
    Ironic isn't It........
     

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  12. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

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    Lorne Greene served as a flying officer in the RCAF in addition to being the Voice of Canada on CBC Radio earlier in the war.
    He was best known for his long running role as Ben Cartwright on Bonanza.
     
    Chris C likes this.
  13. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

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    Leslie Neilson served as an Air Gunner in the RCAF.
     
  14. AB64

    AB64 Senior Member

  15. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

    George Groves, who you ask?
    Was a Major in the United States Army Airforce during World War 2,
    Groves was basically the inventor of movie sound, who went to Hollywood from St.helens Lancashire and changed the movies for ever.

    The picture is of him receiving the Oscar for My Fair Lady from Steve McQueen and Claudia Cardinale.
     

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  16. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

    Jack Hawkins - Volunteered to serve in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. He spent most of his military career arranging entertainment for the British forces in India!
    Jack is an immortal when it comes to the British War Film... who can forget The Cruel Sea, Bridge on the River Kwai, Zulu, Lawrence Of Arabia, The Malta Story etc.....
     

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  17. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

    William Holden served as a 2nd Lt in the US Army Airforce in WW2 Where he "acted" in training films!.
    Holden will always be remembered for several fine movie performances including Stalag 17 and The Bridge on the River Kwai......
     

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  18. Bernard85

    Bernard85 WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    good day morse 1001,24-03-2006,12:37am.re:film and other stars at war,apart from joining the military voluntarily,they served without favour,and made entertaining films that were good for moral,and they all made it home.they were a credit to there respective country's great post,have a good day bernard85
     
  19. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

    Some people are on the pitch... THEY THINK ITS ALL OVER... it is now!
    The immortal words of Kenneth Wolstenholme, DFC & BAR. (1966 World Cup Final).

    From 1941 onwards he flew 100 missions over Germany and won the DFC and bar as a bomber pilot. Based at RAF Great Massingham in Norfolk, he flew Blenheims with 107 Sqn, before joining Bomber Command's 8 Group, elite Pathfinders flying Mosquitos.
     

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  20. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

    Eddie Albert, who stared in the Film Attack were he played a cowardly, psychotic Army captain whose behavior threatens the safety of his company. In a similar vein he played a psychotic United States Army Air Force colonel in Captain Newman, M.D. (1963), opposite Gregory Peck.

    These film roles could not have been further removed from his true persona:-
    He Served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Coast Guard in the Pacific during WW II. A genuine war hero, he was awarded the Bronze Star for his actions during the Battle of Tarawa in Nov. 1943, when, as a landing ship pilot, he rescued several hundred wounded Marines while under heavy enemy machine-gun fire.
     

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    Ramiles likes this.

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