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As incoming freshman pack up their stuff and head to college, one of their many anxieties is the roommate. Will they throw parties in the room all the time? Will they take my Pop Tarts? Will they smell? To remove some of the fear about being forced to live with some stranger, here are some former college roommates that went on to great individual success:
1. Tommy Lee and the V.P.
Actor Tommy Lee Jones and Former Vice President Al Gore (and eventually John Lithgow) shared a room at Harvard and, like plenty of college roomies, chased skirts together. However, most don’t join a country music band to do it. The unlikely duo also served as the inspiration for the character of Oliver in Love Story, written by fellow Harvard alum Erich Segal.
2. A Tale of Two Coaches
When rooming together at the University of Minnesota, Tony Dungy and Flip Saunders dreamed of capturing a national championship for the school, Dungy on the football field and Saunders on the basketball court. Little did they know they’d both be responsible for coaching nationally spotlighted teams; Dungy led the Indianapolis Colts to a Super Bowl victory last year and Saunders’ took the Detroit Pistons to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2006.
3. Popeye and Superman
At Julliard, roomies Robin Williams and Christopher Reeve vowed to always be friends and help each other throughout life. Both held true to the promise, as they remained close. Williams even covered some of Reeves’ medical expenses after he was paralyzed. Of course, being Robin Williams, he couldn’t stop there; after Reeve found out he couldn’t walk again, Williams channeled his inner-Patch Adams, visiting Reeve dressed as a doctor and pretending to be his proctologist. Reportedly, the act caused Reeve to smile for the first time after his accident.
more roomies revealed after the break!
4. The Guys Behind Rushmore
Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson have had great success collaborating on films from Rushmore to The Royal Tenenbaums. And it all started when they were roommates at University of Texas, where they co-wrote Anderson’s directoral debut Bottle Rocket. That’s not the only writing they did together, though; Anderson wrote an A+ paper about Edgar Allen Poe for Wilson in order to score the better bedroom in their apartment.
5. Legends of Notre Dame
Charlie Weis may run a pretty no-nonsense football program at Notre Dame, but back when he was a student there, he was fond of playing pranks on roommate (and quarterback) Joe Montana.
6. Stanley and Irving
Actor Ving Rhames probably wouldn’t have carved out his successful career if it weren’t for roommate Stanley Tucci. While at SUNY Purchase, Tucci convinced Rhames to shorten his name from Irving. And let’s face it, that was probably a good career move; Marsellus Wallace just wouldn’t be the same played by someone named Irving.
7. Two Rhodes to Success
When you’ve got two Rhodes scholars rooming together at Oxford, you know there’s bound to be some brainpower. But the pairing of future president Bill Clinton and Time editor/U.S. diplomat Strobe Talbot just seems excessive.
8. Climbing to Success
This is one of those anecdotes you just can’t make up. When they were friends in Michigan, Steve Mariucci and Tom Izzo would race up the steps of a man-made ski jump to see who would be successful. If Izzo won, he’d become head basketball coach at Notre Dame, but if Mariucci won, he’d be the school’s football coach. The two bffs roomed together at Northern Michigan University and then went on to live their childhood dreams. Izzo became head basketball coach at Michigan State University, while Mariucci went on to coach the San Francisco ‘49ers.
Sorry, but coach Saunders began coaching the Pistons in 2005. Larry Brown was the coach of the 2004 Pistons championship team.
posted by Daniel on 8-8-2007 at 5:32 pm
I wonder if there were any female roommates who later became successful.
posted by Noel on 8-8-2007 at 7:49 pm
great point Daniel! We’ve since tweaked it a little…
posted by Mangesh on 8-9-2007 at 11:33 am
While not quite as impressive, my high school English teacher was roommates with John Malkovich while at Illinois State University. Sadly, I don’t think they’ve kept in touch…
posted by SpaceMonkeyX on 8-9-2007 at 12:17 pm
I heard that David Lynch and the lead singer of the J Geils band were roomies
posted by Martin on 8-9-2007 at 12:29 pm
Don’t forget novelist, musician, and former Governor of Texas candidate Kinky Freeman once roomed with tower sniper Charles Whitman at UT.
posted by Carlos Machiste on 8-9-2007 at 1:13 pm
Weren’t Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin roommates? Those two went on to become some of the biggest shapers of hip hop as a business.
posted by Keath on 8-9-2007 at 1:14 pm
Nine years after college I bought a house. The next year, my freshman year college roomate moved into town. I ran into him and we talked about our houses. He recognized my house as a house he was bidding on the previous year. My broker told me to raise my offer because someone else was counter bidding. I ignored her and my roomate dropped out for other reasons.
posted by Stew on 8-9-2007 at 1:48 pm
Hillary Clinton was roommates with NBA star Grant Hill’s mother, Janet Hill, while she attended Wellesley College in Massachusetts.
I know it’s a strech.
posted by Steps on 8-9-2007 at 2:09 pm
My roomate’s name was Pat Kyne. He was not famous, and neither am I. He was a nice guy though.
posted by John on 8-9-2007 at 4:58 pm
My roomate Veck’s legs were SOOOOOO STRONG.
posted by George on 8-9-2007 at 9:14 pm
Too bad Bill flunked out of his Rhodes scholarship as he was too busy smoking dope and going to Russia to learn about communism.
Seriously.
posted by Hillary on 8-9-2007 at 9:55 pm
Pat and I, well, we fell in love one beautiful summer. We don’t need fame, him and I. We’ve got something better.
posted by John on 8-9-2007 at 10:32 pm
I remember reading that Dustin Hoffman & Gene Hackman were roommates.
posted by CropTillDawn on 8-10-2007 at 12:12 am
David Lynch and Peter Wolf (lead singer of the J Geils Band) were roommates in college. It is reported that Lynch thought that Peter Wolf was “weird.”
posted by Joe Buchanan on 8-10-2007 at 7:00 am
I worked with a museum curator that was Henry Winkler’s locker mate in high school.
posted by WV.Hillbilly on 8-10-2007 at 7:45 am
How about Wally Cox and Marlon Brando. Cox was the ultimate nerd, while Brando was the coolest in the 50’s. Stayed pals until Cox died. Their ashes were scattered together.
posted by Carlotta on 8-10-2007 at 9:43 am
I was roommates briefly with Jessica Alba. Boy, was I peeved when I woke up.
posted by G Money on 8-10-2007 at 10:08 am
David Lynch and Peter Wolf did room together in college, and Lynch did think Wolf was “weird”. So weird, in fact, that he threw him out. How weird do you have to be for David Lynch to not want to be around you?
posted by Anthony on 8-10-2007 at 11:03 am
To CropTillDawn:
Hoffman and Hackman (and Robert Duvall as well) were roommates while trying to break into acting. They weren’t college roommates.
posted by Ryan on 8-11-2007 at 12:12 am
I thought I read that Al Gore claimed to be the inspiration for Oliver in Love Story but that Segal denied it…hmmm…
posted by donner on 8-12-2007 at 11:41 am
For Fellow Canucks,
Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff, both Liberal MPs and competitors for the Party Leadership were roomies in university.
posted by McIntosh on 12-3-2008 at 7:23 am
In fact Robin Willaims and Chris Reeve were so tight that after Chris’s wife died Robbin gained custady of Reeve’s son.
posted by Heather on 12-3-2008 at 9:44 am
For all the indie music fans:
(Leslie) Feist and Merrill Beth Nisker (better known by her stage name, Peaches) were roommates while trying to start their musical careers.
posted by Kristy on 12-3-2008 at 11:04 am
Illustrator Edward Gorey was a roommate of Frank O’Hara at Harvard. I was a fan of both artists when I learned this, and find it all the more interesting that they lived together as they have very little in common.
posted by Jastin on 12-3-2008 at 12:01 pm
Although they weren’t college roommates, Bill Clinton lived with future Pulitzer Prize winner Taylor Branch way back in the dizzay.
posted by Shasta on 12-3-2008 at 1:26 pm
I went to Northern Michigan University.
Izzo & Mariucci were legends on campus!
posted by Shannon on 12-4-2008 at 12:45 am