This of you familiar with the EGOT (Tracy Jordan’s object of desire in 30 Rock) will know just how hard it is for one person to get the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony combination. In fact, only a dozen or so people have obtained the rare achievement, one of whom is Mel Brooks.

Topless Robot has a list of awesome achievements of the great writer and actor, including said EGOT and the fact that he gave birth to Max Brooks, one of the world’s foremost zombie experts.

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If you live for celebrity food and beverage lines, then you’ll love Mental Floss’s list of 10 Celebrity Refreshments.

Personally, I’d like to mix some of The Situation’s Devotion vodka mixed with some of Rush Limbaugh’s Two if by Tea. It might not be the most delicious drink, but the conflicting celebrity endorsements must give it a great kick.

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No matter how much you love or hate these celebrities, you never want to see them this close up, believe me.

Some of the images in this gallery will give you a good laugh, others are the stuff nightmares are made of (Iggy Pop). Check out the rest of the gallery at the link below. I didn’t realize that Zooey Deschanel is so fuzzy!

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If you’re like me, you tend to suck at comebacks (at least coming up with them fast enough for them to be useful), which makes BuzzFeed’s list of 32 wittiest comebacks even better.

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Have you ever wondered what Brad and Angelina would look like if they switched faces with each other? Or what Abraham Lincoln would look like if he was actually played by Nic Cage? Well, thanks to the magic of Photoshop, now you can -and the results are hilarious. WebUrbanist has a great collection of Photoshop face swaps along with links to blogs that specialize in that sort of thing. Enjoy.

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Neatorama presents

Tattoos. Nowadays, we see them everywhere we look. Movie stars, athletes, singers, and even (albeit rarely) the occasional politician proudly sports his or her special “tats.”

In 1862, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), the son of Queen Victoria, became the first “famous” person to receive a tattoo. The prince’s tattoo was a Jerusalem Cross he got when he visited Jerusalem. It is rumored that even Queen Victoria may have had one (heaven forbid!).

Even some of our US presidents have been tattooed. Although no president has been “officially verified,” both Franklin Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt reputedly had tattoos of the Roosevelt family crest on their respective persons. Various sources say George W. Bush has a tattoo, either on his arm or his back.

Probably the most popular tattoo for Hollywood celebrities (especially women) is the “star” tattoo. Drew Barrymore, Lindsay Lohan, Kate Hudson, Pink, Kelly Osbourne, and Britney Spears all have stars (Bruce Willis has one, too). OK, let’s take a look at 16 other people who had or have tattoos

Thomas Edison

“The Wizard of Menlo Park” had three dots tattooed on his right hand, in the form of the dots on the face of a die. Edison also invented electric tattoo pens in 1876, under the official name “Stencil-Pens.” It was the predecessor to the later “tattoo machine.”

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston proudly sported an anchor tattoo on his right arm. And why not? His mother, Jennie Churchill, had a snake tattoo encircling her wrist.

John Wilkes Booth

When John Wilkes Booth was a young man, he gave himself a homemade tattoo. Young John drew his initials “J.W.B.” on his right hand with a strong Indian ink. The initials remained on his hand for the rest of his life. When Booth was shot on April 26, 1865 after assassinating president Abraham Lincoln, his body was identified and verified by the tattooed initials.

Rowland Macy

Ever wonder why your local Macy’s department store’s insignia is a star? When founder Rowland Macy was working on a whaling ship in Nantucket as a teenager, he got a star tattoo on his right hand.

Ringo Starr

Which Beatle had a tattoo? A nice bar bet question. If you guessed Ringo, you would be correct. The Beatle drummer has a half-moon and shooting star tattoo.

Senator Barry Goldwater

The “Father of Modern Conservatism” had a small tattoo on the underside of his left hand. It was a crescent moon with four dots, the sign of the Smoki people. The Smokis are an adult Boy Scout-type organization based in Arizona.

Josef Stalin

Stalin (fittingly enough) had a “death’s head” tattoo across his chest.

Oliver Hardy

The “fat one” of the classic movie comedy team Laurel & Hardy had a tattoo of a leaf on his arm. You can actually spot it in the L&H movie One Good Turn. Hardy got the tattoo as a young boy and he always regretted it.

Charles Manson

Serial murder Charles Manson has tattoos on both forearms. He also has a swastika carved into his forehead between his eyes.

Michael Phelps

The world’s greatest swimmer, winner of a record 8 gold medals at the Olympics, Michael has two tattoos just below his pelvis bones. One is the Olympic rings and one is the letter “M” which stands for Michigan, the state where he trains.

Michael Jordan

Tattoos are almost too common on current NBA players. Michael Jordan, the greatest hoopster of all time, has a fraternity tattoo in the shape of the Greek letter omega on his chest.

Johnny Depp

When he was dating Winona Ryder, Depp had “Winona Forever” tattooed on his upper right arm. After the two split, he had the “NA” lasered off so his tat reads “Wino Forever.” Johnny has 13 verified tattoos on various parts of his body.

Charlie Sheen

By a strange coincidence, Charlie too has 13 verified body tattoos. His latest? “Winning” on his left wrist (what else?).

Sideshow Bob

Bart Simpson’s arch-nemesis on The Simpsons, Bob has “Die Bart Die” and “Ouch, Man!” (Bart’s head on a skateboard). He also has a skull and crossbones, plus “LUV” one one hand and “HAT” on the other.

David Spade

David has a tattoo of “Calvin” of the popular comics strip Calvin and Hobbes (it was done by Sean Penn).

Barbie

A Barbie doll a while back had a butterfly tattoo on her stomach. “Totally Stylin’ Barbie” came with her own tattoo machine.

See also: The Hidden Meanings of Tattoos

I’ve always wondered though if an insured celebrity gets fat, does that enable them to collect insurance money?

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I was surprised when I learned just how well Bill Murray could pull off the look of an 1800′s Russian general. But he’s not the only celebrity that looks right in the role. Replaceface features an array of modern celebrities in this classic portrait style.

Link Via BuzzFeed

These days it’s all too common to see celebrities like Paris Hilton trotting through the mall with their precious little puppies in their purse, but just imagine if they were as crazy as Salvador Dali with his pet ocelot or Lord Byron with his pet bear. For more strange celebrity pets, be sure to check out this great Flavorwire article.

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He’s not the only celebrity responsible for someone else’s death. BuzzFeed has an interesting list of people who have killed someone.

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Did you know Leonardo DiCaprio collects action figures or that Johnny Depp likes to play with Barbies? Also awesome -Ben Stiller is a Trekkie. If you want a little more insight into some of today’s most popular stars, this BuzzFeed article is a great place to start.

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Maya Angelou

Education has been an important part of Angelou’s life ever since a teacher helped her recover from becoming voluntarily mute. When Maya was eight, she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend, who was beaten to death shortly after by some of her relatives. Because she believed her confession of the act was responsible for his murder, she felt that her voice was directly to blame for his death. It wasn’t until she was 13 that she learned to speak again with the help of a dedicated teacher and family friend who introduced her to classic authors such as Shakespeare, Poe and Dickens as well as black female artists like Frances Harper and Anne Spencer.

Naturally, it was only fitting that Angelou repay her gratitude by working to educate others. While writing has remained her main passion, she has also taught at a number of colleges, including the University of Kansas, Wichita State University and California State University of Sacramento. For over 20 years though, she’s remained a professor at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.

Gene Simmons

You might know him best for his epic tongue-flicking rock concerts and terrible reality shows, but long before he was the legendary make-up sporting rocker, he was Mr. Simmons, a sixth-grade teacher in Harlem. While most celebrities who used to be teachers quit to follow their dreams, Gene was fired before Kiss started taking off. As it turns out, school administrators don’t particularly like it when a teacher decides to teach Spiderman comics in place of Shakespearean plays. In Gene’s defense, he’s right that the students were probably more likely to read the comic books than the plays, but I doubt they’d get as much out of them as they would the bard’s classic works.

Image via Lokomotive74 [Wikipedia]

Sir William Golding

If you thought Lord of the Flies did an excellent job depicting the attitudes and mannerisms of preteen boys, there’s a good reason for that –Sir William Golding served as a teacher before and after his stint in WWII. He often allowed the boy’s free reign of the classroom during debate sessions, which provided him with ample inspiration for the very novel that allowed him the financial freedom to leave the teaching profession.

Sting

Before joining The Police, Sting worked as a teacher during the week, heading out to the jazz clubs during the weekends. In his own words, he claimed to be a terrible teacher, only bothering to teach the students about subjects he enjoyed. This meant they pretty much only learned poetry and soccer from the future rock star.

Image via David Shankbone [Wikipedia]

Greg Graffin

While the name might not be immediately familiar to you, punk music fans will be familiar with his band Bad Religion. But Greg isn’t your typical punk rocker, he holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and geology, a master’s degree in geology, and a Ph.D. in zoology. He’s also published two books. Although he started in Bad Religion when he was only 15 and has hardly needed a second job since the band struck it big, Graffin has also spent much of his adult life as a professor, teaching Life Sciences at UCLA. He even shot a pilot for a reality show called “Punk Professor,” but nothing seemed to come of it.

Image via Ricapar [Wikipedia]

Art Garfunkel

Simon & Garfunkel went on hiatus in 1970 and during that time, Art Garfunkel took advantage of his math skills by heading into the teaching field and taking a position at Litchfield Private School. Of course, a few years later, the group released their Greatest Hits album, and he retired from his teaching position after only a two years.

Andy Griffith

The man best known as Matlock wasn’t ever actually a lawyer, but he was a teacher. One of Andy’s first jobs after graduating from the University of North Carolina was as a music teacher at Goldsboro High School. He only taught for about three years before he decided to venture into entertainment, starting out doing comedy monologues at night clubs.

Stephen King

After graduating from The University of Maine with a Bachelor’s degree in English, Stephen earned a teaching certificate and immediately started seeking a job in the teaching field. Fortunately for his writing career, he couldn’t find a job right away, so he had to work at an industrial laundry facility and started writing short stories to supplement his income. Eventually in 1971, he did find a position at the Hampden Academy in Maine. He continued to write short stories in the evening during this point in his career and started developing ideas for his novels. In 1973, Carrie was accepted by Doubleday Publishing and he was able to retire from teaching and focus on his writing career.

Image via Pinguino [Flickr]

Leonard Maltin

If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to take a film class from one of the world’s most respected film historians/critics, then you’d probably enjoy enrolling in some film classes at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. Leonard Maltin previously taught at the New School for Social Research in New York for almost 10 years, but since he has become a resident of Los Angeles long ago, it’s only fitting that his teaching career follow suit.

Image via Alan Light [Flickr]

Madeleine Albright

She might be better known for her role as the first female Secretary of State, serving under Bill Clinton‘s second term, but students at Georgetown University now know her as a professor of international relations at the college’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. With her job record, along with her Ph.D from Columbia University in public law and government, I’d say she’s pretty well qualified for the job.

Bonus: Tony Danza

To be fair, Tony only taught school for the sake of an A&E reality television show called, “Teach,” so he might not really count as an authentic teacher since he didn’t go through any effort to get the position and since everyone knew it would only be a one year stint. Surprisingly, the administrators and students of the school he taught at were actually quite impressed with his performance. In fact, one of the assistant principals noted that he wished all of the new teachers on staff would grow as much as Mr. Danza did.

Have any of you ever had a teacher that was famous for something else? I had a math teacher who was on The Gong Show back in the 70’s and one of my journalism professors co-founded Guitar Player Magazine, but that’s about as big as any of my teachers ever seemed to make it.

Sources: Mental Floss, Wikipedia #1, #2, #3, #4, East Buchanan School District, The Times, Contactmusic, Yahoo Movies, AZ Central

We all recognize the artwork on the cover of The Beatles’ 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Recognizing it and remembering who was in that image are two different things! Today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss challenges your recall by giving you a celebrity, and you decide whether that person was included on the cover or not. I only got 8 out of 12 right -because I was in a hurry, of course. Link

Here’s your question for the day: In what activity were men once 100% in control, but now women are in almost totally in control?

Did you say, “cheerleading?” Well, you’d be correct if you did. One hundred years ago, cheerleading was an entirely male activity, but by the 1920s (1927 is usually given as the first year), the girls moved in. By the 1940s, girls (and the newly-invented pompon) had almost totally overtaken the males as the nation’s cheerleader.

Why did girls so quickly overtake the guys in people’s hearts? No one knows the exact reason. Quite possibly, it was the lack of any sports for girls at the time, and they just wanted to get involved.

Interestingly, as it usually does, the sex angle played a part. Male cheerleaders still dress almost exactly the same as they did 100 years ago, i.e. full pants, full shirts, and a sweater with the team emblem. The female cheerleaders’ outfits, over the years, became skimpier and skimpier. The well-known cheerleader short shorts or short skirts became the custom. This of course, please the guys in the crowd immensely.

Also, by the 1940s, tumbling and gymnastics had become a popular part of cheerleading. The guys would stand and catch the girls, hold them aloft, or throw them up in the air. Obviously, the reverse was not possible, so the ladies became the stars of the act. In any cheering squad with both sexes, the girls inevitably are the center of attention.

Famous Girl Cheerleaders? The list goes on and on and includes Meryl Streep, Ann-Margret, Sally Field, Alicia Silverstone, Halle Berry, Katie Couric, Vanna White, Raquel Welch, Sandra Bullock, and Cybill Shepherd.

Madonna was a cheerleader (and a straight A student, too!). Even Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsberg (!!!) was once a cheerleader.

Famous Guy Cheerleaders include Jack Lemmon, Jimmy Stewart, Michael Douglas, Steve Martin, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jerry Lewis.

But did you know four U.S. presidents were once cheerleaders? It’s true, can you guess who they were?

Former president George W. Bush was the head cheerleader for Phillips Academy Andover in Massachusetts.

Ronald Reagan, “The Gipper” himself, was a cheerleader at Eureka College.

Dwight D. Eisenhower was actually a cheerleader at West Point Academy.

And Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a sad twist of irony, was actually a cheerleader at Harvard in the early part of the 20th century, long before polio befell him.

This list includes everyone from A-listers to TV stars, and products ranging from Pringles to Mylanta. It took me a while to track these down, but if you know of any more I’m missing, I’d be happy to amend the list with your finds. I’m sure there are a ton more out there, it can just be tough to know where to looks.

Enjoy the ones I’ve found so far, and keep in mind when watching commercials today, that someday that annoying kid from the Toyota commercials might be our next big movie star.

Go see them and find out who is in the picture here. Link

These letters were part of Dear Me: a Letter to My Sixteen-Year-Old Self, a 2009 project to raise money for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Some of them are funny (love the one from Jonathan Ross), some of them are practical and some of them are a bit of both. I think I see a bit of myself in 16-year-old Emma Thompson.

What would you say to your 16-year-old self?

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Tom Hanks Son is a Rapper

How many rappers do you know named Chester? Well now you know one: Chester Hanks AKA “Chet Haze” the son of Oscar winning actor Tom Hanks is an aspiring rapper and frat boy college student. Having released the song “Purple and White” in an effort to stir up school spirit at his college, North Western University Hanks throws down his street cred of growing up on “the west side” AKA Los Angeles. The video of his rap song which you can watch below has gone viral. Hanks raps about his frat boy lifestyle including keg parties, bagging freshmen and rolling blunts. I’m sure his dad is proud.

Overall he sounds like any other not-so-talented amateur rapper trying to make it  and no one outside of North Western would give him a second listen if his last name wasn’t Hanks. Remember when Kevin Federline came out with an album? Hanks and Federline should grab Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton and go on the “Just Because I’m Rich I’m going to Record an Album” tour.  I guess having children is kind of like that old Forrest Gump quote; “Sometimes life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.”

Chester Hanks “White and Purple”

(YouTube link)

Gallagher Too

When you think of prop comedy, one name comes to mind amongst all the rest: Gallagher. Gallagher is a comedian who was big in the 1980’s and early 90’s who stole the show smashing huge watermelons and showering his audiences with loads of goop. This may or may not be your thing, but Gallagher proved to have a successful act during this period with countless TV specials released.

Unfortunately his brother Ron Gallagher wasn’t having the same amount of success in life and around this time was unemployed and down on his luck. At first, like a good brother Leo Gallaher (the famous one) gave Ron permission to perform his water melon smashing “Sledge-O-Matic” shtick under one condition; Ron must promote these live appearances in a way that would make it clear that fans were getting the brother and not THE Gallagher. At first Ron adhered to these restrictions, but then slowly started to make the distinction less clear. He billed the shows as “Gallagher Too” or even “Gallagher II” and made no mention that he was not the mustached, long haired but balding man millions loved to watch smash watermelons on TV. He just really, really looked like him.

Eventually Leo Gallagher sued his brother Ron in 2000 for trademark violations and false advertising. Leo won the lawsuit and Ron can no longer perform his brother’s routine or even intentionally try and look like his brother. Check out Ron Gallagher impersonating his brother’s act.

Leo Gallagher is on the left; Ron Gallagher is at right.

Dane Cook’s Half Brother Embezzled Millions from Him

Working as his business manager for years, Dane Cook’s half brother Darryl McCauley stole millions from the comedian and is now serving jail time for what Dane told Larry King was a total “betrayal.”  Having used the money to buy a home and make investments in a hotel and restaurant, McCauley was sentenced to five to six years hard time for 27 counts of larceny and three counts of forgery and embezzlement. The dubious brother who wanted his chunk of the comic star’s wealth will have to repay 12 million dollars to Cook.

What’s with all the drama from comedians’ families? Also, Dane Cook is making enough money not to notice twelve million dollars missing? Instead of stealing the money, Darryl should have taken a page out of the playbook of Gallagher II and we could have all ironically enjoyed a second rate rendition of “who’s in my mouth” (supposing that there is a first rate rendition).

Marvin Bush 9/11 Conspiracy

Marvin Bush has a lot of big famous family shoes to fill as the son of former President George H.W. Bush and former first lady Barbra Bush, the brother of former President George W. Bush and the brother of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

While Marvin never ran for political office, he, like his well known relatives, was successful in business, sitting on the board of directors for a company called Securacom. Because of this, Marvin Bush is famous or rather infamous to people in the 9/11 Truth Movement, those who believe that the terrorist attacks were an “inside job” perpetrated by the US government (let the trolling begin).

If you do a quick Google search for Marvin Bush, a good number of links will be regarding his involvement in this 9/11 conspiracy claiming that Securacom was in charge of security for the World Trade Center and that the company’s contract ran out on September 10th 2001. From this, they speculate that Marvin’s company was responsible for what they deem strange security lapses in the days leading up to the attack and even setting up the explosive charges that they believe were the true cause of the trade center’s collapse. Others have pointed out that Marvin actually left the company in 2000, but this hasn’t dissuaded conspiracy theorists from asserting his involvement.

What are some of your favorite almost famous relatives of famous people?

Ever wonder what some of Hollywood’s hottest starlets would look like if they had Steve Buscemi’s eyes? No? Well, thanks to the amazing Photoshop work of Chicks with Steve Buscemeyes, now you won’t be able to stop wondering. Is it just me, or does Taylor Swift with Steve Buscemeyes look a lot like Heather Graham?

Link via AVClub

Illustrator Benjamin Douglas created this chart as your guide to famous redheads. Link -via Buzzfeed

“This is not porn” is a photo blog with posts about rare and beautiful photographs of various celebrities.

Here you you find rarely seen pictures of celebs such as Albert Einstein, Bill Murray, Ozzy Osbourne, Princess Diana and many, many more.

Link – via Nerdcore

In the past twelve months, more people have searched for the 16-year-old wonder on Google than have searched for “china,” “jesus,” or “boobs.”

Bieber also left other celebrities in the dust. The only person who came close was Lady Gaga.

Based on a rigorous analysis of Google Trends we’ve identified the most popular people on the Internet. Since Google provides only comparative data, we compared everyone we could think of to Bieber. Feel free to check the data and post a comment if we left anyone off the list.

Business Insider counts down the top 20, ranked in comparison with Bieber’s popularity. Link -Thanks, Adam!

Famous faces in public places, but these aren’t advertising bill boards. Web Urbanist rounded up pictures of street art that incorporates celebrities you know and maybe love. This image of Jack Nicholson was painted in Berlin a few years ago. Link -via Rue the Day

(Image source: Lost At E Minor)

Judy Berman of Flavorwire rounded up photographs of luxurious libraries in the homes of celebrities, such as Diane Keaton’s, which is pictured above. Karl Lagerfeld’s is astoundingly packed from floor to ceiling (and then some) with books.

Link | Photo: Calfinder

Alesia Newman-Breen sculpts dolls as characters from movies, TV, and literature. Each doll is one-of-a-kind and captures the look of the subject in a way no mass-produced doll can.She also does custom dolls that look like people you know! Link -via Nag on the Lake

Rosie Perez

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After graduating high school, Rosie Perez moved to Los Angeles and started attending LA City College with hopes of becoming a marine biologist. She was a killer dancer though and soon found herself working on Soul Train in the late 80s. After a few seasons, she went on to perform at the club Funky Reggae, which is where she was spotted by Spike Lee who soon cast her in his film Do The Right Thing.

She continued working in the dance field and earned three Emmy nominations for her choreography on In Living Color and she choreographed music videos for Janet Jackson, Bobby Brown, Diana Ross and LL Cool J. Of course, Rosie is best know for her acting, starring in White Men Can’t Jump, Untamed Heart, Fearless and more. She’s even appeared on Broadway, where she was able to combine her dancing and acting talents.

These days, she focuses most of her energies on activism and President Obama even appointed her to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS this year.

Sources: Star Pulse, Biography.com, Wikipedia

Carmen Electra

Born Tara Leigh Patrick, Carmen’s parents knew she was destined for fame and they enrolled her in creative and performing arts classes since she was a youngster. Before she was even 18, she had already moved to LA and started dancing on Soul Train in 1991. Her big break came when she snuck into a nightclub and was spotted by Prince, who asked her to audition for a new female singing group he was forming. While she failed that the audition, she soon met Prince a second time and he asked her to be a solo artist on his record label. He also asked her to change her name to something more exotic, suggesting Carmen Electra after Bizet’s opera, Carmen, and the Greek princess Electra.

Her music career failed, but she was able to land a job on Nickelodeon’s All That, and she soon posed in Playboy, which helped her land a role on Baywatch and in MTV’s Singled Out. Since then she’s starred in a number of TV shows and movies, although these days her biggest roles seem to be in parody films like Disaster Movie and Meet the Spartans.

Sources: Wikipedia, Hot Carmen Electra

Image via Rafael Amado Deras [Flickr]

Nick Cannon

Nick Cannon started young. He was only eight when he started doing comedy acts and at 11, he was performing his act on public access. At only 15, he moved to Hollywood and joined the cast of Soul Train while performing his comedy routine at night. Like Carmen Electra, he was also recruited for Nickelodeon’s All That and he served as the warm up stand up comedian before the sketches were underway. Soon enough, he was added to the cast and the writing crew, making him the youngest staff writer in the history of television at age 17.

In 2002, he starred alongside Will Smith in Men in Black II and was soon cast as the lead in Drumline. The same year, he also released his debut album. These days, while still working on movies, music and  his marriage to Mariah Carey, he is also the host on America’s Got Talent.

Sources: Star Pulse, NickCannon.com

Image via Loren Javier [Flickr]

Jody Watley and Jeffery Daniel

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Jody Watley was a Soul Train dancer since she was 14 and was immediately recognized as a trend setter in both fashions and dance styles. Jeffery was a little older when he started on the show, but also was a featured dancer at the very beginning of the show.

Dick Griffey, and Don Cornelius wanted to start a disco trio and the two dancers were selected to be part of the new group Shalamar. While the group had a string of hits throughout the seventies and eighties, many of which sold over a million copies, they are best remembered for inspiring Michael Jackson. Michael was a huge fan of Soul Train and of Shalamar and eventually hired Jeffery to teach him some choreography. Jeffery was actually the person who created the moonwalk and you can see the dance move in their 1982 performance on BBC’s Top of the Pops, a year before Michael stunned the world by performing it on television.

Sources: Wikipedia #1, #2, #3

Jermaine Stewart

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Before releasing hits like “We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off,” Jermaine Stewart started his career off as a dancer on Soul Train. He was on the first generation of Soul Train shows from the early seventies, when the show was still filmed in Chicago instead of LA.

Stewart soon started doing backing vocals and acting as a dancer for Shalamar and then moved on to doing the backing vocals for Culture Club’s Colour by Numbers. He did such a great job that Boy George and the rest of the group helped him land a recording contract with Arista Records.

Stewart had a string of hits throughout the eighties, but he slowed down in the nineties, and his last album was never released after the title track single sold poorly. He passed away from AIDs in 1997.

Source: Wikipedia

Fred “Rerun” Berry

You may remember Rerun and his catchphrase “hey hey hey” from the show What’s Happening!!, but before he played the iconic seventies TV character, Fred Berry was another dancers on the early Soul Train episodes in Chicago. His excellent dance moves eventually got him a spot in a Los Angeles break-dancing crew called the Lockers, who once appeared on Saturday Night Live. Within a year, he found himself cast on What’s Happening!! Berry’s character ended up being one of the most popular on the show, which led him to be typecast eternally as Rerun.

While the success of Rerun prevented Berry from being able to find other acting gigs, he eventually embraced the character and started wearing his classic red beret and suspenders in public and even legally changed his middle name to Rerun. Since then, he’s been hired to do a number of cameos as Rerun in various movies and TV shows.

Sources: Answers.com, Wikipedia

Do you watch Soul Train? If so, what’s your favorite part of the show? I personally love the outfits and some of the outrageous couples dances, but it is always fun to see people you recognize dancing like crazy.

Ross Luippold of The Huffington Post photoshopped nine movie posters, album covers, and title cards that imagined a world in which celebrities went by their real names instead of their stage names. Tom Cruise’s real name is Thomas Mapother?

Link via Geekosystem

Here’s an interesting and surprising list of celebrities who were leathernecks, including Bozo the Clown, Pat Robertson, and even Captain Kangaroo!

Prior to being Clarabell the Clown on The Howdy Doody Show and then the kindly Captain Kangaroo, Bob Keeshan was a trained killer. An urban legend claiming that he fought alongside actor Lee Marvin on Iwo Jima is false. Keeshan never saw combat because the war was over by the time he was of enlistment age (Lee Marvin was indeed a leatherneck who was wounded during the Battle of Saipan, but was not at Iwo Jima).

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From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Treliske.

So you probably are well aware that chessmaster Bobby Fischer, born an American, died a citizen of Iceland, having renounced his citizenship in the US, and eventually having renounced everything else about the US.

But what about President John Tyler or W.E.B. DuBois? And would you be shocked to learn that Terry Gilliam of Monty Python was originally an American but became an expat and is now 100% British?

OK, this one is cheating just a bit. Former President John Tyler, by accepting a post as representative of the Confederacy, basically renounced his U.S. citizenship (and technically was the only President to die on “foreign” soil when he passed in 1862 in Virginia).

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by nmiller.

Cary Grant was originally Archibald Leach and Elvis Costello was originally Declan MacManus, but both changed their names for obvious reasons. Michael Keaton was originally Michael Douglas and was forced to change his name since the latter was already a popular actor.

Of course, tons of celebrities change their names, but here’s fifteen interesting stories (including one about a comedian born ‘Albert Einstein’) of celebrities who have changed their names for one reason or another.

Funny, I always thought Whoopi Goldberg’s original name was Yahoo Rosenblatt.

We have to agree: Caryn Johnson just isn’t as catchy as Whoopi Goldberg. The actress decided to give up her birth name when she started acting, and instead chose to go by her nickname, “Whoopee Cushion” (we’ll let you imagine how she got that name). Her mother convinced her to change her last name to something more conventional, and suggested Goldberg.

Link – via mentalfloss

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by nmiller.

In celebration of today’s Boston Marathon, the Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss pits celebrity marathon runners against each other. From ten matched pairs of celebrities, you decide which one could best the other in a marathon race. The secret is that they have all participated in marathons at one time or another and have recorded times, but they didn’t necessarily run in the same year, or at the same age. I scored 50%, which tells you I am not a particularly good guesser. Link

Image: TMZ

TMZ has side-by-side photos of celebrities and the Sesame Street Muppets that they resemble. Queen Elizabeth II, Nick Nolte, Dustin Diamond, and Zach Braff are among the mocked.

Link via Urlesque

When a celebrity gives up something that he or she gets paid millions to do, in order to pursue what they feel could be their “true” calling, music, most of the population cringes. Digging through these videos was like sitting through a horror movie that I couldn’t keep my eyes off of. Joe Pesci? Kevin Costner? Guaranteed to drop jaws, here are 24 of the celebrities-gone-musicians that are awkwardly amazing in their own right, with video evidence.

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From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Peachi.

Before the age of photography, there was a strange custom of making  a plaster cast of the face of the recently departed.

These "death masks" were mementos of the dead, though they also had other purposes like for creating portraits or for recording facial records of unknown corpses.

Here’s a collection of death masks of the famous at Socyberty. To the left is Alfred Hitchcock:

Alfred Hitchcock dealt with death any number of times in his films – murder most horrid quite often – and in his death he retains a certain air of petulance.

He had a career that spanned six decades and most people are surprised to hear that he died as late as 1980. He directed over fifty feature films and is regarded by many as the most influential British film maker of all time.

He died of renal failure in California at the age of eighty. It is somewhat ironic that the film-maker who made generations of moviegoers wet themselves with fright should die of a kidney related illness.

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From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by taliesyn30.

All this and more can be revealed when you just admit that “you don’t know Jack.”

Image Via Computationally.Irrational [Flickr]

About the Name:

The name Jack came from a Middle English word, “jakke,” used to refer to any male, particularly those of the lower classes. Many people mistakenly believe the name comes from “Jacques,” which came from the names Jacob and James. English speakers associated the name Jack with John much more often than these other names, so the similar sounds are purely coincidental.

In the UK, the name is the most popular name for male babies between 2003 and 2007. In England, it has been the top name since 1994. The name is much less common in America, ranking in the top 30-40 names of male babies, but it is still much more popular than it was around 20 years ago, when it was closer to the 175th ranking.

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Phrases:

“Jack of all trades” has been used for centuries and refers to a person who could do a variety of tasks. The use of the word “Jack” was only included because it was still being used as a generic term for ‘man’ at the time. It was not originally a negative expression, but at some point, people started adding on the phrase “master of none,” which made for a whole new meaning. It can now refer to either phrase and, as a result, can be bad or good depending on the context.

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Image Via Joel Mark Witt [Flickr]

Because Jack was so often used to refer to social underlings, it was eventually used to refer to useless objects. Eventually, it began being used as a term for very little. The phrase “you don’t know jack” (with or without the expletive) has been used for decades to say someone knows very little. Yes, it seems to be a bit of a double negative, but expressions are commonly created and spread without any consideration for proper grammar.

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A Few Facts About A Few Famous Jacks:

Jack Black is the son of two rocket scientists and a college friend of Tim Robbins. He often jokingly refers to Philip Seymour Hoffman as his “nemesis” because the two frequently audition for the same roles.

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Jack Nicholson worked as a gofer at Hannah Barbara animation studios when he was young; when they offered him an animation job, he turned them down, saying he wanted to be an actor. Aside from being a good artist, he is also a great singer, as documented by his performance in Tommy. Fortunately, he stuck with acting and is tied with Walter Brennan for the title of male actor with the most Oscar wins.

Source Image ViaMharrsch [Flickr]

Jack Lemmon was not only a great actor, but also a great, self-taught pianist; he wrote the theme for the 1980 movie Tribute. When he first started acting, studio head Jack Warner wanted him to change his name to “Jack Lennon” so critics wouldn’t have the chance to say that his performance in a given film was a lemon. Jack convinced him the name would be compared to Lenin, which was even worse.

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Jack Kerouac was born to French-Canadian parents and did not learn English until he was six. He originally started writing On the Road in French and actually has two unpublished novels in the language as well. He was enrolled in the US Merchant Marines during WWII, but was honorably discharged on the grounds of psychiatric issues. At one point, he was arrested for helping a friend, Lucien Carr, hide the evidence after murdering a stalker.

Source Image Via Tompalumbo [Flickr]

Jack products:

The Jack in card decks was originally a knave card. The name wasn’t changed until the mid-nineteenth century, when card manufacturing became a big business and the companies realized having “Kn, Q, K, A” abbreviations were too confusing. They opted for the use of “J” instead. In the UK, they still commonly refer to the “Jack” card as a “Knave.”

Source Image Via Tadson [Flickr]

Jack Daniels opened his distillery in Moore County, Tennessee in 1866. When the state enacted prohibition in 1910, the factory reopened in St. Louis, Missouri and Birmingham, Alabama, but none of the alcohol made in these factories was ever sold due to quality control issues. The Tennessee ban on alcohol wasn’t repealed until 1938, but even today, the county the alcohol is produced is still a dry county.

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Jack In The Box started out as a burger joint in San Diego named Topsy’s. The locations all had a circus theme, which is where the Jack In The Box name came from. When the company started losing major market shares in the early 80’s they killed off “Jack” and moved to create more upscale fast food for yuppies. After their e coli scare in the early 90’s though, the company almost went bankrupt, but was saved, largely due to the resurrection of their famed Jack character.

Source Image Via Thomas Hawk [Flickr]

A Few Famous Fictional Jacks:

Jack Skellington, most widely remembered for his lead character in Nightmare Before Christmas, is a reoccurring character in Tim Burton films, appearing in Sleepy Hollow, James and the Giant Peach and Beetlejuice. Although his talking voice is done by Susan Sarandon’s ex-husband, Chris, his singing voice is done by Danny Elfman.

Source Image Via Veronica Bautista [Flickr]

Captain Jack Sparrow was originally supposed to be a much more minor character, who was merely intended to guide Will Turner through the movie. Johnny Depp’s performance was so well received though that the character’s entire role was reprised and he became one of the most adored characters of the movie. In fact, a back story was later created for him and turned into a children’s book series, Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow.

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Storybook Jacks:

Jack and The Beanstalk is based on an old oral story of Jack the Giant Killer. While many of the tales try to moralize Jack’s behavior, the most popular version leaves Jack as kind of a jerk who robs someone, manipulates his wife and then kills him…all on the grounds that the man is a giant.

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Jack Be Nimble was a nursery rhyme that never made sense to me as a child. Interestingly, it seems to be one of the few with a very clear meaning, as jumping over candlesticks was a game and fortune telling method in the mid-nineteenth century. If one could clear the candlestick without putting out the flame, they were said to have good luck coming their way.

Source Image Via ABakedCreation [Flickr]

The famed Jack and Jill rhyme originally was Jack and Gill and there are a variety of stories involving the origins of the song. Also, although we normally only hear the first verse of the song, there are actually four commonly accepted verses. The full rhyme goes:

Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.

Up Jack got and home did trot
As fast as he could caper;
And went to bed to mend his head
With vinegar and brown paper.

Jill came in and she did grin
To see his paper plaster;
Mother vexed did whip her next
For causing Jack’s disaster.

Now Jack did laugh and Jill did cry
But her tears did soon abate;
Then Jill did say that they should play
At see-saw across the gate.

Source Image Via gfpeck [Flickr]

Jim Carrey

In an interview during 60 Minutes, Mr. Carrey revealed that the inspiration behind his funny-man antics was “desperation.” Like many famous comics, Carrey channeled his emotional pain and scarring into humor. The laughter and attention brought from audiences helps ease the depression comedians feel and soothes their pain.

Carrey’s attention getting antics started when he tried to entertain his sick mother. To get her spirits up, he’d do anything from impressions to rolling down the stairs. When he was young, he grasped on to an optimistic dream of making it big. In 1987, he wrote himself a check for ten million dollars “for acting services rendered.” As it turns out, the check was a massive underestimate of what he ended up making when he cashed the check 1995. As financial worries lessened, so did his depression symptoms. He has since learned to better cope with his sadness and he says the valleys and peaks have gradually smoothed out a bit. While he used to take Prozac to help stabilize his mood, he now focuses on treatment through spirituality and clean living.

Sources: one, two & three Photo by IBWK [Flickr]

Rodney Dangerfield

“If a really good comedian isn’t depressed,” says Bob Saget, “something’s wrong.” Rodney Dangerfield is no exception to this rule. Around the end of his life, he attended regular therapy sessions with his psychiatrist and took around 137 prescription drugs a day, including anti-depressants and Valium.
Rodney’s father abandoned the family when he was a child and he was instead raised by a cold-hearted mother.

He found an outlet in writing jokes, and even remembers the first one. At age 4, Dangerfield finished dinner and whined, “I’m still hungry.”
“You’ve had sufficient,” replied his mom.
“But,” said Rodney, “I didn’t even have any fish.”

He has had wild mood swings throughout his career and tried to escape the pain and suffering in every way imaginable, including prostitutes and drugs. His wife helped pull him through to the end, but he still experienced these problems until the end of his days.

Source Photo by Breakfast For Dinner [Flickr]

J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling will be the first to tell you about the hardships of being a single parent. In fact, in her darkest hour, she strongly contemplated suicide while suffering from a massive bout of depression. She missed her ex-husband and worried about finances, that’s when the dark thoughts started coming out. Fortunately, her daughter was there to inspire her to seek treatment:

“Mid-twenties life circumstances were poor and I really plummeted,” said Rowling. “The thing that made me go for help . . . was probably my daughter. She was something that earthed me, grounded me, and I thought, this isn’t right, this can’t be right, she cannot grow up with me in this state.”

Rowling opted too treat her depression with cognitive therapy rather than anti-depressants. This type of therapy seeks to cure the emotional problem, rather than treating it. The therapy involves a series of counseling sessions providing the sufferer with the mental tools to cope with their emotions. Rowling has been very forthright about her disorder in the hope she can help remove the stigma associated with mental illnesses.

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Owen Wilson

Many people already know about Owen Wilson’s depression. After all, his attempted suicide took over all the tabloid headlines at their local grocery stores two years ago. But, you may still be wondering why.
The fact is, like millions of other Americans, Wilson is clinically depressed and will be throughout his lifetime. He has been battling depression by taking anti-depressants for years, however, breaking up with Kate Hudson pushed him beyond the effects of his medication and made him feel hopeless. While it has been debated whether Wilson was taking cocaine or heroin around this time, the fact is that either way, a major life change can dramatically endanger a depression sufferer.

Sources: one & two Photo by Smellmoregloves’ [Flickr]

Brooke Shields

Mrs. Shields is a perfect example of how beauty does not equal happiness. While not a lifelong depression sufferer, she has been very vocal about her experience with postpartum depression, an illness experienced by 13% of pregnant women and new mothers. Her book “Down Came The Rain” describes her experiences in detail.

Like many postpartum depression sufferers, she experienced a detachment from her baby daughter and self-destructive thoughts. At her lowest point, Brooke says she wanted to jump out of a window and throw the baby against a wall. Brooke began taking Paxil to cope with her emotions and eventually recovered. She now has a very close relationship with her daughter.

After being criticized by Tom Cruise for her use of anti-depressants, Brooke published an essay in the “New York Times” detailing the need for global recognition of postpartum depression and the use of anti-depressants for treatment.

Source Photo by WatchWithKristin [Flickr]

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I am horribly, terribly scared of clowns (and people dressed up in costumes or masks that obscure their faces, for that matter), but even I find this contest on Worth 1000 interesting. The contest lets people with wicked Photoshop skills put their techniques to the test with regular challenges. This one is to give the celebrity of their choice a Ringling-style makeover.

The one here is by Worth1000 submitter SassyDeb, and in case the grease paint threw you, it’s Hugh Laurie from House.

Here’s the whole gallery, but you can also find previous incarnations of this particular challenge here.