Not a crazy story but saw this tonight.

Mel Blanc, known as "The Man of a Thousand Voices," tells a story about persistence. He became a well known voice actor, comedian, and radio personality who provided the voices for iconic cartoon characters like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig during the Golden Age of… pic.twitter.com/usgX0hyTYT

— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) December 15, 2023

Some of yall were probably there, but a group of cadets and former cadets were extras in Courage Under Fire. I was there the day Matt Damon and Denzel Washington filmed the pool scene.

Matt made it a point to talk to the extras and treat them well. He told the story of how when he was in high school he was an extra on a movie and Kevin Costner treated him and his buddy well. Apparently Matt still does this on his movies. Anyhow, that buddy was Ben Affleck and it was the Fenway scene in Field of Dreams.

Matt also talked about dropping out of Harvard to give it a go and he was inspired by his high school teacher. He and Ben frequently talk about this teacher.

Anyhow, I thought it was cool and have always been a huge Matt Damon fan because of this.

chico said:

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Corporal Punishment said:

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Something about Richard Gere and ger…

Never mind.

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Before that it was Rod Stewart getting his stomach pumped because he swallowed a bunch of sp….

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It's crazy how we all heard the same stories before the internet.

Rudyjax said:

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chico said:

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Corporal Punishment said:

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Something about Richard Gere and ger…

Never mind.

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Before that it was Rod Stewart getting his stomach pumped because he swallowed a bunch of sp….

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It's crazy how we all heard the same stories before the internet.

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I've still yet to see anything on the Internet to disprove these stories. Until I do, I'm still saying they are true.

Skylar in Goodwill Hunting was actually based on a woman named Skylar who Damon dated at Harvard.
She left him for Lars Ulrich of all people around the time the movie was being filmed and had a few kids with him, but she really is a doctor.

Rudyjax said:

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chico said:

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Corporal Punishment said:

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Something about Richard Gere and ger…

Never mind.

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Before that it was Rod Stewart getting his stomach pumped because he swallowed a bunch of sp….

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It's crazy how we all heard the same stories before the internet.

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Yup, since the Internet it's just been Craig James this and Mark May that...

I read a bio about the original SNL cast that was written in the 80s. Pretty wild stories about Belishi and Akroyd.

Speaking of Jimmy Stewart

Him and his wife agreed to help smuggle a Yeti finger out of Nepal.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/saga-of-the-yeti-hand

Jimmy Stewart was just a decent man. This is my favorite story from him. Never gets old.

A story going around when I was in 6th grade was that someone reached up to the stage at a KISS show and Gene Simmons stepped on his hand and impaled it with the spikes in his shoe.

oragator said:

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Jimmy Stewart was just a decent man. This is my favorite story from him. Never gets old.

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A lovely story highlighting how ROGER MOORE was a rather lovely man. pic.twitter.com/4nYKL2GF12

— Michael Warburton (@MichaelWarbur17) December 25, 2023

Mr. Belvedere sat on his balls and the show taping had to be canceled for a week while he recovered…

One more that seems strangely apropos on Christmas, even if they might not all have celebrated it. I've posted it here before I think, but well worth another posting, longish thread but great.

I have a Carl Reiner story that I hold very dear to me. I figured I'd share it today, on the day of his passing, because I hope it will bring some other people some joy the way it does me.

— Matthew Rosenberg (@AshcanPress) June 30, 2020

This is like a carbon copy of the other very similar thread.

Don't care if this is true. Lucille Ball claims to have heard a WW2 Japanese spy ring through her teeth fillings.

https://www.facebook.com/NavalInstitute/videos/lucille-balls-teeth-detect-secret-message/763700741351389/

Ok one more.
Samuel L was kicked out of college for holding the trustees hostage trying to effect change. One of them was MLK's dad.

https://www.watchtheyard.com/colleges/samuel-l-jackson-morehouse/

And speaking of MLK, he paid the hospital bills when Julia Roberts was born.

https://www.npr.org/2022/11/01/1133121228/julia-roberts-mlk-birth

oragator said:

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One more that seems strangely apropos on Christmas, even if they might not all have celebrated it. I've posted it here before I think, but well worth another posting, longish thread but great.

I have a Carl Reiner story that I hold very dear to me. I figured I'd share it today, on the day of his passing, because I hope it will bring some other people some joy the way it does me.

— Matthew Rosenberg (@AshcanPress) June 30, 2020

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This made me remember the recent Conan podcast episode where he had Rob Reiner and Albert Brooks as his guests. Brooks told the story of his father's passing which is WILD. Here is an article about it, but the punchline from the story as told by Brooks in the podcast (which is apparently 100% true) is crazy. Highly recommend listening to the episode in general.

The Peculiar Truth about Albert Brooks' Father's Death | by Dan Spencer | The Peculiar Truth | Medium

BQRyno said:

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I also went to school with the kids of Frank Beard - ZZ Top drummer who ironically did not have a beard. They had a little chunk of land adjacent to my neighborhood, so his twins went to school with the rest of us. When it was time to play little league baseball, his kids didn't want to be on just any team, so he made a team for just his sons' friends, and they practiced at their house. I was not one of the cool kids they wanted on their team.

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I didn't run in the same circles as (Nico / Rico?) either - they went to Lamar, I was over at Terry. Played tennis in high school and was playing singles and my coach told me "You're playing that Beard kid"

Now - I wasn't a great tennis player by any means, but I was decent enough. I think I beat him that first set 6-1 or 6-2 - he cussed and broke his racquet and just left the court. I was like "WELP, OKAY" and went back to my cooler for my sammich and my coach and told them I won. Little crowbar felt good that day.

Listening to Arnold Schwarzenegger on Smartless podcast today.

Two stories: One fairly well known, one not.

Arnold really wanted to play Reese in The Terminator and auditioned for it. The studio had already agreed in principle for OJ Simpson to play the T-800.

The studios refused to invest in Arnold as a comedian, so to get "Twins" made, Arnold, Devito, and Ivan Reitman all decided to forgo their salaries for the movies and made a deal to get 37.5% of the film's gross instead - split three ways - so 12.5% each. The movie was thus made for $15 million. It made $110 million domestically and $252 million worldwide, which means Arnold, Devito, and Reitman each made $31.5 million off it. And they also got 12.5% each off the rental deal and VHS sales.

$31.5 million in 1988 dollars is equivalent to $81.8 million in today's money.

cr0wbar said:

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BQRyno said:

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I also went to school with the kids of Frank Beard - ZZ Top drummer who ironically did not have a beard. They had a little chunk of land adjacent to my neighborhood, so his twins went to school with the rest of us. When it was time to play little league baseball, his kids didn't want to be on just any team, so he made a team for just his sons' friends, and they practiced at their house. I was not one of the cool kids they wanted on their team.

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I didn't run in the same circles as (Nico / Rico?) either - they went to Lamar, I was over at Terry. Played tennis in high school and was playing singles and my coach told me "You're playing that Beard kid"

Now - I wasn't a great tennis player by any means, but I was decent enough. I think I beat him that first set 6-1 or 6-2 - he cussed and broke his racquet and just left the court. I was like "WELP, OKAY" and went back to my cooler for my sammich and my coach and told them I won. Little crowbar felt good that day.

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That's about what I'd expect! I went to Lamar my freshman year then Foster when it opened. Your memory is pretty darn good. Rory and Nico. They moved to town when we were in 3rd or 4th grade, so went to school with them for a while.

MASAXET said:

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oragator said:

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One more that seems strangely apropos on Christmas, even if they might not all have celebrated it. I've posted it here before I think, but well worth another posting, longish thread but great.

I have a Carl Reiner story that I hold very dear to me. I figured I'd share it today, on the day of his passing, because I hope it will bring some other people some joy the way it does me.

— Matthew Rosenberg (@AshcanPress) June 30, 2020

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This made me remember the recent Conan podcast episode where he had Rob Reiner and Albert Brooks as his guests. Brooks told the story of his father's passing which is WILD. Here is an article about it, but the punchline from the story as told by Brooks in the podcast (which is apparently 100% true) is crazy. Highly recommend listening to the episode in general.

The Peculiar Truth about Albert Brooks' Father's Death | by Dan Spencer | The Peculiar Truth | Medium

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That was a great episode. I love Conan's podcast.

When I worked at the George HW Bush Library the CBS Early Show wanted to do some live broadcasts to highlight a new exhibit we had just opened. In between segments, the reporter was standing in the gallery with George and Barbara talking about some random stuff, and George points his thumb at Barbara and says, "Barbara here is my dominatrix." Without skipping a beat, Barbara smacks his shoulder and exasperatingly scoffs, "George!" She then deadpan leaned in and said, "No one is supposed to know about that." The reporter and camera crew were stunned and had no idea how to react, while us library staff were doubled over laughing.

Not an actor, but Travis Barker's first drum set, which he used when he started Blink 182 was mostly fashioned out of equipment he stole from his high school.

BDG02 said:

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Mr. Belvedere sat on his balls and the show taping had to be canceled for a week while he recovered…

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I'd love to hear Bob Uecker give more details on that story!

BQRyno said:

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cr0wbar said:

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BQRyno said:

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I also went to school with the kids of Frank Beard - ZZ Top drummer who ironically did not have a beard. They had a little chunk of land adjacent to my neighborhood, so his twins went to school with the rest of us. When it was time to play little league baseball, his kids didn't want to be on just any team, so he made a team for just his sons' friends, and they practiced at their house. I was not one of the cool kids they wanted on their team.

---

I didn't run in the same circles as (Nico / Rico?) either - they went to Lamar, I was over at Terry. Played tennis in high school and was playing singles and my coach told me "You're playing that Beard kid"

Now - I wasn't a great tennis player by any means, but I was decent enough. I think I beat him that first set 6-1 or 6-2 - he cussed and broke his racquet and just left the court. I was like "WELP, OKAY" and went back to my cooler for my sammich and my coach and told them I won. Little crowbar felt good that day.

---

That's about what I'd expect! I went to Lamar my freshman year then Foster when it opened. Your memory is pretty darn good. Rory and Nico. They moved to town when we were in 3rd or 4th grade, so went to school with them for a while.

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Not sure the baseball story is entirely true. My neighbor coached the twins in little league. If Frank created a team, it wasn't in a sanctioned league. Maybe in Pony League. Or a select league.

My neighbor was crew on Marine 1 for a while. Said Barbara Bush was one of nicest people he's ever met. Always referred to the crew as her boys. Hello boys, how are my boys doing, etc. Often offered the crew the food and drinks set out for her and 41. Also said the crew and WH staff had code words for what kind of mood Hillary was in.

Just came across this story about Chevy Chase today that blows my mind.

In college Chase played drums in a band with fellow students Donald F agen and Walter Becker. Chase was expelled for keeping a live cow in his dorm room and during his time away from school decided to leave the band and pursue acting. F agen and Becker would go on to form Steely Dan.

Edited because F agen didn't pass the filters lol

There's that time Freddie Prinz tried to kill John Travolta with a crossbow.

https://pagesix.com/2020/09/17/jimmie-walker-says-freddie-prinze-once-tried-to-kill-john-travolta/

An oldie but a goodie ...

Freaking Rickles.

Spore Ag said:

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The movie The Outsiders Rob Lowe reported how Patrick Swayze showed the actors how things were done in Texas. He showed them how to jump trains.

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Rob Lowe is a fascinating guy.

turns out his great grandfather's father fought in the American Revolution.

On the BRITISH side.

he was a Hessian mercenary who was captured at Saratoga and then moved to Ohio.

that's pretty freaking cool.

LMCane said:

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Spore Ag said:

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The movie The Outsiders Rob Lowe reported how Patrick Swayze showed the actors how things were done in Texas. He showed them how to jump trains.

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Rob Lowe is a fascinating guy.

turns out his great grandfather's father fought in the American Revolution.

On the BRITISH side.

he was a Hessian mercenary who was captured at Saratoga and then moved to Ohio.

that's pretty freaking cool.

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So that's where his good looks and boyish charm come from.

Rob Lowe is fascinating. If you want to hear good stories, listen to his book, Stories I only tell my friends. He's either a tremendous writer, or hired one of the best ghostwriters in history. I take that back, listening to his podcasts, it's all him.

LMCane said:

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Rob Lowe is a fascinating guy.

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His podcast is awesome. He has a million great Hollywood stories. And he does a mean Lorne Michaels impression.

maroon barchetta said:

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Freaking Rickles.

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He was the best.

The star power gathered for that taping of "The Tonight Show" was something else. Carson, Rickles and Sinatra. Good Lord.