Here’s a TV-Holic tribute to some familiar faces who served their country. Happy Veterans Day to all our men and women in uniform, then and now!
1. Bill Cosby
Cosby Show fans will see a lot of Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable in Bill Cosby’s biography. In 1956, Cosby dropped out of high school and joined the Navy. While he trained as a medical corpsman, he also earned his high school diploma via a correspondence course. He was assigned for a time at Bethesda Naval Hospital, helping rehabilitate wounded Korean War veterans. He also excelled in basketball and track, and toured nationally with the Navy teams. When he left the Navy, it was with a scholarship to Temple University in hand.
2. James Doohan
James Doohan, Star Trek’s Scotty, was just 19 years old when he enlisted as a gunner in the Royal Canadian Artillery. He studied diligently and had worked his way up to the rank of Command Post Officer by the time he was sent to Normandy as part of the D-Day invasion. In command of 120 men in the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, Doohan sustained machine gun wounds to his chest (a metal cigarette case saved his life), leg and hand. The hand wound resulted in a partial amputation of his right middle finger, an injury that was visible (despite his attempts to conceal it) in several episodes of Star Trek.
3. Ernest Borgnine
Who would’ve guessed that the conniving, wise-cracking Lt. Commander McHale (of McHale’s Navy fame) had actually served in the U.S. Navy? Ernest Borgnine enlisted not once, but twice: his first tour of duty was from 1935 to 1941, during which time he served aboard the USS Lamberton. When the United States entered World War II, he re-upped and was promoted to gunner’s mate first class. He was assigned to the USS Sylph, which patrolled for U-Boats and also tested new equipment.
4. Brian Keith
The benevolent (and wealthy!) uncle any kid wanted to call their own in the late 1960s was Family Affair’s Uncle Bill, played by Brian Keith. Keith joined the Marines after graduating from high school, and received an Air Medal after serving as a rear gunner in several actions on Rabal in the Pacific Theater during World War II.
5. Dennis Weaver
Dennis Weaver has carved out several niches in TV-land – he won an Emmy for playing Chester on Gunsmoke, he played Marshall Sam McCloud as part of the NBC Mystery Movie wheel series, and he was pursued by a faceless truck driver in the classic made-for-TVer Duel. He joined the Navy right out of high school and served as an F4U Fighter Pilot during World War II. When the war ended, he enrolled at the University of Oklahoma where he excelled in track and just missed qualifying for the 1948 Olympic team.
6. Ed McMahon
Ed McMahon will forever be remembered as Johnny Carson’s second banana on TV, but let the record show that he bested Johnny in terms of military service. Ed dropped out of Boston College when Pearl Harbor was attacked and joined the Marines with hopes of becoming a fighter pilot. He went through the necessary training and worked as a flight instructor for two years in Pensacola before finally getting his orders for the Pacific fleet in 1945. His orders were cancelled, however, when the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. McMahon was called back to active duty during the Korean War, where he flew unarmed single-engine spotter planes.
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These are obviously just a handful of famous veterans. Please feel free to share others in the comments.
Comments (27)
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Lee Marvin was also a highly decorated veteran of the Pacific Theatre. I believe that the actor Charles Durning, is the most decorated WWII veteran still alive.
posted by harold on 11-11-2009 at 11:30 am
Bob Keeshan -Captain Kangaroo of children’s TV – fought at Iwo Jima
Also, Fred Rogers was in the military and was an expert in hand to hand combat
posted by doug on 11-11-2009 at 11:37 am
Drew Carey and Bob Barker are a few more famous entertainers that were veterans.
posted by Michael on 11-11-2009 at 11:43 am
@Doug
The Fred Rogers service bio is an urban legend…. Who could forget Durning’s turn as Doc Hopper?
posted by Karthik on 11-11-2009 at 11:49 am
The Captain Kangaroo and Fred Rogers stories are urban legends. Check snopes.com.
posted by Chris on 11-11-2009 at 11:50 am
Jimmy Stewart was an Air Force General (reserves) Served in the Army Air Corps.
posted by Jen Sweeney on 11-11-2009 at 12:08 pm
Ruth Westheimer was a veteran and a trained sharpshooter.
posted by Steven on 11-11-2009 at 12:24 pm
Most of Major League baseball from that era qualifies for this but the two that generally get the most press are Bob Feller, who would have easy gotten 300 wins if WWII didn’t take 4 seasons away, and Ted Williams, who flew in both WWII and the Korean War. I think they can qualify as “TV Stars”.
posted by Nick on 11-11-2009 at 12:26 pm
Bob Keeshan enlisted too late to see any combat.. the Iwo story is a myth. Jimmy Stewart flew 20 combat missions over Germany in a B-24. Robert Mitchum and John Wayne, quintessential tough guys, saw no service whatsoever (nor did Gregory Peck). Charlton Heston was a radio operator in a B-25 in the Aleutians. The list of servicemen is huge… it’s the deferments stand out. Or “Cheneys,” as they are now known.
posted by josh on 11-11-2009 at 1:29 pm
Audie Murphy he’s is quite a few movies westerns and war movies. “To Hell and Back” is a movie based upon him. check out his wiki page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audie_Murphy
posted by Robin on 11-11-2009 at 2:21 pm
Poor Josh, you can say whatever you want to about Cheney, but the fact remains that most vets and most current service members are Republicans.
Now the MoveOn.Org and Code Pink types are Democrats.
There are exceptions of course, the Democrats of the past are nowhere like the cowards, appeasers, and American Haters of today.
posted by TiminPhx on 11-11-2009 at 3:02 pm
I think it is a bit extreme to call modern democrats America haters. I am a democrat and I have several friends and family either in the military or heading into the military. I support America and its troops. I hope all of our men and women who are or have severed stay safe and come home
posted by meshartzer on 11-11-2009 at 3:33 pm
TiminPhx…can you back that up with statistics? Proud Vet here, and I can tell you that the mix of political parties among thosein the military is just the same as it is in the civilian world….
posted by Dan on 11-11-2009 at 3:56 pm
To add to the Jimmy Stewart comment up there, he was a captain who sent men on missions they didn’t come back from and was severely affected by his time in war. He asked for the assignment though as his father was a WWI vet and he felt it was his family duty. After the war he wasn’t even sure he should get back into acting.
posted by Merinda on 11-11-2009 at 3:59 pm
Didn’t Clark Gable join the army during WW II. I believe Gregory Peck also fought in WWII.
posted by Carol on 11-11-2009 at 7:36 pm
Clark Gable joined up after his wife died while returning from a bond selling tour. Without Carole Lombard, he didn’t care if he lived or died.
posted by CamilleR on 11-11-2009 at 8:08 pm
yall forgetting the famous ELVIS.
posted by Hf on 11-11-2009 at 11:05 pm
Jamie Farr of MASH was the only cast member who actually served in the Korean War. If memory serves me he was an orderly, in a MASH unit.
posted by emily on 11-12-2009 at 12:17 am
According to Military.com:
Ice T joined the Army in 1979.
MC Hammer was in the Navy.
Al Gore was opposed to the Vietnam War – but went anyway
And Mel Brooks – Brooks was a corporal in the U.S. Army. The graduate of the Virginia Military Institute served in World War II, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and on occasion, defused landmines — a job that requires a good sense of humor.
posted by Matt on 11-12-2009 at 6:58 am
Didn’t Charlie Murphy say he was in the Navy?
Charles Durning survived the Malmedy Massacre.
posted by Jim on 11-12-2009 at 9:40 am
So TiminPhx….Toby Keith is an America hater…he is a Democrat…mmmmmm.
posted by Marty on 11-12-2009 at 9:50 am
Eddie Albert, while in the Coast Guard, earned a Bronze Star for his actions at Tarawa.
posted by Christopher on 11-12-2009 at 11:11 am
Emily, Jamie Farr was NOT the only cast member that served in Korea. Hawkeye himself, Alan Alda, joined the Army Reserve after college and did served in Korea as a gunnery officer.
posted by Douglas on 11-12-2009 at 3:47 pm
Robin Williams was a nuclear technician in the Navy and Walt Disney used to hang his dishonorable discharge certificate upside down.
posted by Eric on 11-12-2009 at 6:51 pm
The comedian Sinbad was in the USAF
posted by Jim K on 11-17-2009 at 3:53 pm
Walt Disney – Walt Disney never actually served; the discharge he displayed was actually to acknowledge a snub he received from the USMC when he offered to design unit patches for them as he had for the Army. To this day, the USMC does not wear unit patches.
Jimi Hendrix – Was special forces in the Army, and, contrary to the company he kept, was also a supporter of the war in Vietnam which he was quite vocal about.
Not interested in getting into a lot of political wrangling, but Daniel Inouye, Senator from Hawaii, is a double amputee Congressional Medal of Honor winner and a Democrat of today. Seems like ther’es heroes and cowards on both sides of the aisle
posted by Vince on 11-22-2009 at 1:03 am
actually my objective observation from the detached viewpoint of sociopathic libertarianism seems to finger the conservative “interests” in this country as being more apt to accuse the democrats of some treason (say Georgia Senate candidate Saxby chambliss calling Georgia senator and amputee veteran Max Cleland a traitor,of course Saxcby never having even served.)
posted by peter huston on 12-20-2009 at 7:57 pm