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Stacy Conradt
The Quick 10: What 10 Famous People Did Before They Were Famous
by Stacy Conradt - January 27, 2009 - 3:27 PM

q10

If Sean Connery started his working life as a truck driver, that gives us all a little hope for doing something great, doesn’t it?

connery1. Sean Connery – coffin polisher. Back when Sean was still known as Thomas Sean, he held a series of odd jobs to help his family out during the depression. These included delivering milk, driving a truck, and polishing coffins.
2. Michelle Pfeiffer – supermarket cashier at Von’s.
3. Greta Garbo – a lather girl at a barber shop. Can you imagine?
4. Jack Nicholson – office boy in MGM’s cartoon department. He made friends with all of the animators, especially Tom & Jerry animator Erv Spence, who liked to draw caricatures of Jack’s big teeth and ears.
5. Alec Baldwin – busboy at Studio 54.
6. Luciano Pavarotti was an elementary school teacher for two years - but only after abandoning his dream job of being a professional football goalkeeper.
brosnan7. Patrick Swayze – professional ballet dancer with Disney on Parade.
8. Pierce Brosnan – fire-eater. Yeah, like with the circus. He learned it as a teen and says he still puts it on his resume.
9. Alan Ladd owned a hot dog stand named Tiny’s (some sources say it was a hamburger stand). But to be fair, he only did it to get his foot in the door with acting: the stand was just outside of Universal Studio Acting School and it was all part of Ladd’s ploy to get noticed.
10. Anne Rice – insurance claims adjuster. No wonder she needed a creative outlet.

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Comments (9)

  1. “Back when Sean was still Thomas Shane” – Thomas Sean Connery is his birth name. Where did the Shane come from?

    posted by Mandy on 1-27-2009 at 4:12 pm

  2. There was an episode of “Remington Steele” where Pierce Brosnan used that talent! It’s the one where Remington and Laura go undercover at the circus…

    posted by Trace on 1-27-2009 at 4:42 pm

  3. Bozo the Clown (who currently lives in Jacksonville, Oregon) used to drive a schoolbus… creepy, right?

    posted by Kate on 1-27-2009 at 5:15 pm

  4. Ron Jeremy used to teach high school. I think the subject was history, but could be mistaken. Anyway, I can’t wrap my head around the thought of him teaching…

    posted by bzzyb on 1-27-2009 at 7:24 pm

  5. You mis-read Mandy (unless it’s been changed since): It says Thomas Sean, not Thomas Shane.

    posted by Will R on 1-27-2009 at 8:24 pm

  6. @Will R, Mandy’s not nuts… I wrote it wrong and have since changed it :)

    posted by stacy on 1-27-2009 at 8:48 pm

  7. Didn’t Tom Clancy also work in the insurance field? (And composer Charles Ives before him.) I don’t know if this speaks well of that industry, or if people who work in insurance are so bored that they have to amuse themselves by writing music and books.

    posted by Wilson on 1-27-2009 at 10:47 pm

  8. Dang, I’m insurance claims adjuster, maybe I should start writing . . .

    posted by Emily on 1-28-2009 at 10:32 am

  9. Harrison Ford got the role in Star Wars because he was fixing a door and they needed someone to read lines. I learned that from MentalFloss!

    posted by Garrett on 1-28-2009 at 12:30 pm

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