Hollywood Stars in the Military

Corsendonk

A successful career in the Military led to Audie Murphy becoming a Hollywood star after WW11 but what other Hollywood stars have served in the military before or after finding fame?


The story that always amazes me is the military career of Jimmy Stewart during WW2.

Wikipedia- James Stewart
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stewart

In August 1943, Stewart was finally assigned to the 445th Bombardment Group at Sioux City AAB, Iowa, first as operations officer of the 703rd Bombardment Squadron and then as its commander, at the rank of captain. In December, the 445th Bombardment Group flew its B-24 Liberator bombers to RAF Tibenham, Norfolk, England and immediately began combat operations. While flying missions over Germany, Stewart was promoted to major. In March 1944, he was transferred as group operations officer to the 453rd Bombardment Group, a new B-24 unit that had been experiencing difficulties. As a means to inspire his new group, Stewart flew as command pilot in the lead B-24 on numerous missions deep into Nazi-occupied Europe. These missions went uncounted at Stewart's orders. His "official" total is listed as 20 and is limited to those with the 445th. In 1944, he twice received the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions in combat and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. He also received the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters. In July 1944, after flying 20 combat missions, Stewart was made Chief of Staff of the 2nd Combat Bombardment Wing of the Eighth Air Force, and though he was no longer required or expected to fly missions, he continued to do so. Before the war ended, he was promoted to colonel, one of the few Americans to rise from private to colonel in four years.[6][30]

At the beginning of June 1945, Stewart was the presiding officer of the court-martial of a pilot and navigator who were charged with dereliction of duty when they accidentally bombed the Swiss city of Zurich the previous March—the first instance of U.S. personnel being tried for an attack on a neutral country. The Court acquitted the accused.[35]

fluffysierra

Elvis

Gneez

The tall one from the golden girls was a marine truck driver

Holybejaysus

Clark Gable was a tail gunner if I'm not mistaken-and this was at the height of his fame! As if the handsome bastard didn't have enough women to choose from...

Oh, and Christopher Lee was in the OSS I believe. On one movie, he corrected the sound department on what the sound of a knife going into a human body should really sound like....you can figure out for yourself how he knew that!

Tabnabs

Henry Fonda enlisted in the Navy to fight in World War II, saying, "I don't want to be in a fake war in a studio." Previously, he and Stewart had helped raise funds for the defence of Britain. Fonda served for three years, initially as a Quartermaster 3rd Class on the destroyer USS Satterlee. He was later commissioned as a Lieutenant Junior Grade in Air Combat Intelligence in the Central Pacific and was awarded a Presidential Citation and the Bronze Star.

source

Here's an interesting article about John Wayne and we he didn't serve
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1055/was-john-wayne-a-draft-dodger

A pretty full list of actors here
http://www.jodavidsmeyer.com/combat/military/actors_in_wwii.html

xflyer

John Wayne once visited a hospital full of wounded Marines and was booed by them, quite rightly. He had every chance to don a uniform and it's likely he would have been kept away from any danger. But there may have been an underlying reason he took to his grave.

In the list of actors I noted Anthony Quayle listed as being in the Royal Artillery. That's not quite the story as he later joined the SOE and operated behind enemy lines in Albania. Something he re-enacted somewhat in 'The Guns of Navarone'.

James Stewart was exceptional, he was even in the Air Force before Pearl Harbour and continued serving in the reserve post war ending up as a General.

Holybejaysus

xflyer wrote: »

John Wayne once visited a hospital full of wounded Marines and was booed by them, quite rightly. He had every chance to don a uniform and it's likely he would have been kept away from any danger. But there may have been an underlying reason he took to his grave.

In the list of actors I noted Anthony Quayle listed as being in the Royal Artillery. That's not quite the story as he later joined the SOE and operated behind enemy lines in Albania. Something he re-enacted somewhat in 'The Guns of Navarone'.

James Stewart was exceptional, he was even in the Air Force before Pearl Harbour and continued serving in the reserve post war ending up as a General.

+1. When I think of what it means to be a truly hypocritical spineless coward, the name John Wayne springs to mind. Fair enough if he didn't want to go to war, that was his personal choice.
But for the same greaseball to berate the public for not doing their 'duty', and making war movies encouraging them to get in the fight......I spit on him. Lower than a snakes belly. He would have been well suited to politics.

As for other movies stars in the Military, wasn't Roger Moore a Captain in the British Army for a few years? That explains why he was the only one with a proper beret in The Wild Geese!

Manic Moran

Ronald Reagan started the war as a cavalry officer before he was transferred to the Army Air Force's Public Relations department to make movies.

This is why the battle flag for USS Ronald Reagan is a cavalry guidon.

NTM

xflyer

Just to correct that, John Wayne did go to Vietnam but of course only on a morale boosting visit. Of course he did serve in 'The Green Berets'. Defeated the VC and famously caused the sun to set in the East!

His war was WW2. I still wonder what the real reason was because in any case it's unlikely he would ever see action. I do wonder why he didn't get a uniformed job like Reagan.

Mentioning Vietnam, I seem to recall James Stewart flew on a B52 bombing mission at least once. Just to rub it in.

BlaasForRafa

Richard Todd is another notable movie star that fought in ww2. He was part of the parachute operation that captured Pegasus bridge on June 6th and was involved in heavy fighting.

In later years as an actor he was able to advise the director of that sequence in the film The Longest Day on what exactly happened and where the various troops should be positioned during his scenes.

R.Dub.Fusilier

Tabnabs wrote: »

source

Here's an interesting article about John Wayne and we he didn't serve
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1055/was-john-wayne-a-draft-dodger
l

my understanding why JW didnt join up during WW2 is that he was rejected due to a back injury he got playing football in college. his films did far more for morale than military service would have done. his film "Iowa Jima" used to be shown to new marine recuits at the start of their training.

in a link to the above Victor Mclaglen was in the british army during the Boer war and WW1.

john Mills and David Niven served in WW2

Basil Rathbone an Nigel Bruce better known as Sherlock holmes and Dr Watson bought fought in WW1 .

concussion

BlaasForRafa wrote: »

Richard Todd is another notable movie star that fought in ww2. He was part of the parachute operation that captured Pegasus bridge on June 6th and was involved in heavy fighting.

In later years as an actor he was able to advise the director of that sequence in the film The Longest Day on what exactly happened and where the various troops should be positioned during his scenes.

Better still, he played his former O/C Maj. John Howard in the film. And he was Irish

stoneill

Christopher Lee:
Lee volunteered to fight for the Finnish forces during the Winter War against the Soviet Union in 1939; however, he along with other British volunteers were kept away from actual fighting, although he was issued winter gear and was posted on guard duty a safe distance from the frontlines. He went on to serve in the Royal Air Force and intelligence services during World War II, including serving as an Intelligence officer with the Long Range Desert Group. He trained in South Africa as a pilot, but eyesight problems forced him to drop out. He eventually ended up in North Africa as Cipher Officer for No. 260 Squadron RAF and was with it through Sicily and Italy. Additionally, he has mentioned (including in his audio commentary on the Lord of the Rings DVD) serving in Special Operations Executive. Lee retired from the RAF after the end of the War with the rank of Flight Lieutenant.

stoneill

In World War II, he joined the Royal Air Force, training as a sergeant radio operator and gunner and serving with No. 76 Squadron RAF under the command of Leonard Cheshire. On the night of 23/24 September 1942, his Handley Page Halifax bomber took part in an air raid on the U-boat pens at Flensburg, Germany. The aircraft was hit by flak and subsequently ditched in the North Sea near Sylt. Elliot and two other crew members survived; and he spent the rest of the war in a prisoner of war camp in Silesia, during which time he became involved in amateur dramatics.

Manic Moran

Clint Eastwood got drafted for the Korean War, served as a swimming instructor in Ft Ord.

Don't forget R. Lee Ermy!

NTM

fluffysierra

Chuck Norris served as an Airforce Policeman

Latchy

He was more rock star than Hollywood but Jimi Hendrix spent one year in the US army with the 101st Airborne Division , stationed in Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

jgr12

Donald Pleasance, from wikipedia

was commissioned into the Royal Air Force, serving with 166 Squadron, RAF Bomber Command. His Avro 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

PeterIanStaker

Manic Moran wrote: »

Don't forget R. Lee Ermy!

If you forget R. Lee Ermey, he will find you, gouge out your eyeballs and skullf*ck you!

Also,

Johnny Cash (USAF)
Anthony Hopkins (Royal Artillery)
Sean Connery (RN)
Al Matthews (Sgt Apone in Aliens, served in the USMC in Vietnam)
Brian_Dennehy(USMC - lied about serving in 'Nam)

madmac187

Guys we are forgetting about the more modern personalities, Fred Durst was a marine in Desert Storm, Huey from Fun Lovin Criminals was a Marine aswell and James Blunt was the First to ride into Kosovo to take over Pristina Airport.

Nolanger

Here's a fact no history school teacher knows: future Hollywood actor John Loder was one of the British soldiers Patrick Pearse surrendered to at the 1916 Rising.

Rawhead

Harvey Keitel was a Marine.

Latchy

Kris Kristofferson flew helicopters in the US army and rose to the rank of Captain .

concussion

madmac187 wrote: »

James Blunt was the First to ride into Kosovo to take over Pristina Airport.

Shame the Russkies got there first

Riddle101

Can't believe nobody has mentioned Steve McQueen yet. The guy is quite well known for having an army backround.

Governor and former wrestler/actor, Jesse Ventura served in the Navy, and apparently was a Navy Seal. Not to mention was said to have been in the Vietnam War. Although it's not this is all 100% true, he never actually saw real action in the Vietnam War, and I think there are conflicting statements about being a Navy Seal as well.

PatsytheNazi

fluffysierra wrote: »

Chuck Norris served as an Airforce Policeman

Yes, he was hoping to join the reguliar police when his service was over but got into martial arts and later movies instead. BTW, he had a brother killed in the Vietnam war.

PatsytheNazi

Jimmy Stewart was a Hollywood star in the 1930's/40's, served in the USAF during WW2. He won the Distinguished Flying Cross twice and was also awarded the Croix de guerre. Pretty impressive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stewart#Military_service

Rawhead

Riddle101 wrote: »

Can't believe nobody has mentioned Steve McQueen yet. The guy is quite well known for having an army backround.

Governor and former wrestler/actor, Jesse Ventura served in the Navy, and apparently was a Navy Seal. Not to mention was said to have been in the Vietnam War. Although it's not this is all 100% true, he never actually saw real action in the Vietnam War, and I think there are conflicting statements about being a Navy Seal as well.

Jesse was an armorer I think that was attached to a seal unit, nearly 100% sure he wasn't a fully tabbed seal though, it all came out during the Governors election I remember.

Who cares though, the man uttered the greatest line in movie history,

"Bunch of slack jawed fagg0ts around here,

this stuff will turn you into a God damned sexual tyrannosaurus,




Just like me"

PeterIanStaker

madmac187 wrote: »

Guys we are forgetting about the more modern personalities, Fred Durst was a marine in Desert Storm, Huey from Fun Lovin Criminals was a Marine aswell and James Blunt was the First to ride into Kosovo to take over Pristina Airport.

Durst wasn't in the Marines 1 Early life

Shaggy was in Desert Storm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaggy_%28musician%29

Corsendonk

Some very interesting names do I see Patsy forgot to read my original post that he posted it again:D


Humprey Bogart

Actually came from a very wealthy background, expelled from a number of schools including West Point if you believe some bio's of him. He ended up in the Navy in 1918. Various stories surrounding how he got his distinctive scar.


Wikipedia

It was during his naval stint that Bogart may have gotten his trademark scar and developed his characteristic lisp, though the actual circumstances are unclear. In one account, during a shelling of his ship the USS Leviathan, his lip was cut by a piece of shrapnel, although some claim Bogart did not make it to sea until after the Armistice was signed. Another version, which Bogart's long time friend, author Nathaniel Benchley, claims is the truth, is that Bogart was injured while on assignment to take a naval prisoner to Portsmouth Naval Prison in Kittery, Maine. Supposedly, while changing trains in Boston, the handcuffed prisoner asked Bogart for a cigarette and while Bogart looked for a match, the prisoner raised his hands, smashed Bogart across the mouth with his cuffs, cutting Bogart's lip, and fled. The prisoner was eventually taken to Portsmouth. An alternate explanation is in the process of uncuffing an inmate, Bogart was struck in the mouth when the inmate wielded one open, uncuffed bracelet while the other side was still on his wrist.[23] According to Darwin Porter's Humphrey Bogart: The Early Years, the scar was caused by his father, Belmont, during a terrible argument.

By the time Bogart was treated by a doctor, the scar had already formed. "Goddamn doctor," Bogart later told David Niven, "instead of stitching it up, he screwed it up." Niven says that when he asked Bogart about his scar he said it was caused by a childhood accident; Niven claims the stories that Bogart got the scar during wartime were made up by the studios to inject glamour. His post-service physical makes no mention of the lip scar even though it mentions many smaller scars, so the actual cause may have come later.[22] When actress Louise Brooks met Bogart in 1924, he had some scarred tissue on his upper lip, which Belmont Bogart may have partially repaired before Bogart went into films in 1930.[20] She believes his scar had nothing to do with his distinctive speech pattern, his "lip wound gave him no speech impediment, either before or after it was mended. Over the years, Bogart practiced all kinds of lip gymnastics, accompanied by nasal tones, snarls, lisps and slurs. His painful wince, his leer, his fiendish grin were the most accomplished ever seen on film.

Corsendonk

John Ford

Unlike his main leading man he actually managed to make it to the frontline working for the OSS filming the American forces in action for propaganda purposes.

During World War II, Commander John Ford, USNR, served in the United States Navy and made documentaries for the Navy Department. He won two more Academy Awards during this time, one for the semi-documentary The Battle of Midway (1942), and a second for the propaganda film December 7th (1943). Commander Ford was a veteran of the Battle of Midway, he received enemy fire while filming the Japanese attack from Sand Island's power plant, Ford was wounded in the arm by shrapnel.[36][37][38]

Ford was present on Omaha Beach on D-Day. As head of the photographic unit for the Office of Strategic Services, he crossed the English Channel on the USS Plunkett (DD-431), anchored off Omaha Beach at 0600. He observed the first wave land on the beach from the ship, landing on the beach himself later with a team of US Coast Guard cameramen who filmed the battle from behind the beach obstacles, with Ford directing operations. The film was edited in London, but very little was released to the public. Ford explained in a 1964 interview that the US Government was "afraid to show so many American casualties on the screen", adding that all of the D-Day film "still exists in color in storage in Anacostia near Washington, D.C."[39] Thirty years later, historian Stephen E. Ambrose reported that the Eisenhower Center had been unable to find the film.[40] Ford eventually rose to become a top adviser to OSS head William Joseph Donovan. According to records released in 2008, Ford was cited by his superiors for bravery, taking a position to film one mission that was "an obvious and clear target". He survived "continuous attack and was wounded" while he continued filming, one commendation in his file states.[41]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuEXQOGXj3c

Jack Pennick

Assisting Ford was the man who appeared in more John Ford Movies than any other including the non serving Wayne, Jack Pennick, second from left below.



Wikipedia

Jack Pennick (7 December 1895 – 16 August 1964) was an American film actor. After working as a gold miner as a young man, he appeared in over 140 films between 1926 and 1962. Pennick was a leading member of the informal John Ford Stock Company, appearing in dozens of the director's films. Pennick also drilled the military extras in John Wayne's The Alamo (1960).

He was born in Portland, Oregon, the son of gold miner Albert R. and Bessie (Murray) Pennick. He and his first wife, Grechin, had two children by the time he was twenty. He had a third child with his second wife, Nona Lorraine. Pennick joined the United States Marine Corps and served with the Peking Legation Guard in China in 1912. He was with the Marines in World War I and reenlisted in the United States Navy in 1942, at the age of 46. He served as Chief Petty Officer under Commander John Ford in the Field Photographic Unit and, according to Ford, was decorated with the Silver Star medal for action in which he was wounded at Majaz al Bab, Tunisia during World War II

Seems like Lee Emery would look up to someone like Jack Pennick!

Imdb

Was known to be an expert in the "manual of arms" for existing and some extinct military units. Can be seen marching as "right guard" at the very beginning of Stars and Stripes Forever (1952), uncredited.

Appears at the end of She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) (at the party) choreographing the escort squad, in a scene that someone in Continuity should have caught. Clearly knew his military drill.

A former Marine, Pennick served not only in WW I and WW II, but also fought in "The Banana Wars", a series of US occupations of such Central American and Caribbean countries as Nicaragua, Honduras, the Dominican Republic and Haiti in the 1920s and 1930s. Re-enlisting in the Marines at nearly 50 years of age during WW II, he received a Silver Star after being wounded in battle.

Was an acknowledged expert in military weapons, drills and customs. While filming a picture at West Point, Pennick pointed out that a pair of crossed swords hung in a display at the Army Museum, which had been there for countless years, were upside down. Army officials checked and found out that Pennick was right