Funnyman Eddie Murphy has been on the national stage for nearly 30 years now, so it’s understandable that audiences think they know the comedian and actor inside and out. Here are five things you might not know about the man who brought Axel Foley to life:

1. He Knew What He Wanted to Be When He Grew Up

Murphy’s high school yearbook photo featured the caption, “Future plans: Comedian,” and the young Murphy got down to business pretty quickly. He started working Long Island clubs like the Comic Strip, and his act proved to be so popular that within two years he was a full cast member on Saturday Night Live. It was a pretty quick start for someone who was such a lethargic student that he had to repeat the 10th grade.

Murphy was a natural for SNL, where his impersonations included Buckwheat, Bill Cosby, Muhammad Ali, and Jerry Lewis. Murphy wasn’t as at home off-screen, though, where he had trouble using his paychecks responsibly. As he later put it, “Give any 19-year-old kid $1,000 a week and he’ll freak out.” In 1982 Murphy told People that he had blown his previous year’s earnings on a Trans-Am and gifts for friends.

2. He May Not Have Written Coming to America

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Bob Ross’ patient teaching and “wet on wet” painting techniques helped introduce thousands of amateur painters to the art world. The “serious” art establishment might not have had much time for Ross—and the contempt was mutual—but even now, 14 years after his death, Ross’ iconic show The Joy of Painting still enjoys a large following in syndication. Let’s take a look at five things you might not know about the man who brought us so many happy little trees.

1. He Was a Military Man

Ross’ quiet voice and gentle demeanor made him the perfect host for The Joy of Painting, but those traits might have kept him from being the perfect soldier. Before Ross became a TV painter, he spent 20 years in the United States Air Force and retired with the rank of master sergeant. In fact, an early assignment to Alaska helped expose the Florida native to the snowy mountains and evergreens that would become staples of his art.

Viewers might find it surprising that the serene Ross was an Air Force sergeant, and it sounds like the painter thought it was a little odd himself. He later told the Orlando Sentinel, “I was the guy who makes you scrub the latrine, the guy who makes you make your bed, the guy who screams at you for being late to work. The job requires you to be a mean, tough person. And I was fed up with it.”

When Ross retired from the Air Force, he allegedly vowed never to scream again, a plan that seems to have worked perfectly.

2. He Worked for Free

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He’ll sell you a vowel or sympathize when you go bankrupt, but how well do you know Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak? Here are a few things you might not have known about the veteran game show man.

1. He Got to Say “Good Morning, Vietnam”

Sajak joined the U.S. Army in 1968 with the hope that he could avoid being sent to Vietnam. Of course, since it was 1968, that plan didn’t work out so well; Sajak ended up working as a finance clerk in Long Binh, Vietnam. Desperate to switch jobs, he kept applying for radio duty, but nothing happened.

Eventually, Sajak hit on an idea. He wrote a letter to one of his old radio employers who had been elected to Congress. A few calls to the right people later, and Sajak became an Army disc jockey, a job he held for 18 months. Sajak didn’t love a lot of the military’s radio rules, so he circumvented them. He later told the New York Times, “If you said your name, you were supposed to say your rank – specialist fifth class, which kind of ruins your patter. So on the radio I would just not say my name at all. I went for a year on radio without ever identifying myself.”

2. His Career Had a Rough Start

Sajak’s first steady radio gig was in Chicago on a tiny 250-watt Spanish language station. (more…)

Singer and dancer Josephine Baker was probably the closest thing the Jazz Age had to a Britney Spears-type character. The African American diva, who was known as “La Baker” in her adopted France, was a worldwide celebrity and devoted civil rights activist who first rose to fame by dancing in a “skirt” of artificial bananas and very little else. (Have a look at the dance for yourself.) While Baker’s activism and military service were commendable, they often took a back seat in the contemporary media to her bizarre personal life. Let’s take a look at five things you might not have known about Josephine Baker:

1. She Was a Spy

When World War II rocked her adopted France, Baker didn’t simply move to a more peaceful country. Instead, she stuck around and did her part for the war effort. Since she had initially publicly supported Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia, the Axis powers mistakenly thought she was “one of them,” and Baker took full advantage of this misconception.

In fact, her fame made her the perfect spy. When Baker would travel Europe while touring, she obviously had to carry large quantities of sheet music with her. What customs officials never realized, though, was that a lot of this music actually had secret messages written on it in invisible ink. Fawning immigration officials never thought to take too close a look at the diva’s luggage, so she could sneak all sorts of things in and out of countries. On some occasions, Baker would smuggle secret photos of German military installations out of enemy territory by pinning them to her underwear.
This invaluable intelligence work eventually helped Baker rise to the rank of lieutenant in the Free French Air Force, and when the war was over she received both the Croix de Guerre (a first for an American woman) and the Medal of the Resistance in 1946.

2. She Was Worth Dueling Over

Lots of stars have devoted fans, but how many would be willing to fight a duel for their favorite diva? (more…)

The name Dalton Trumbo might not be familiar to you, but if you like classic movies, you probably know his work. This week, let’s take a look at the former American Communist Party member who wrote Spartacus, Roman Holiday, and a slew of other great films.

1. He Was a Bakery Pro

While Trumbo was trying to make it as a writer in Los Angeles, he got a job as a night wrapper at a bread bakery to help him make enough cash until he started selling his work. As it turned out, he held this bakery job for nearly a decade; from 1925 to 1934 he diligently wrapped bread at night and wrote during the day.

The only problem was that nobody seemed to like his writing much. Trumbo penned six novels and close to 90 short stories during his bakery years, and publishers rejected each one. His life wasn’t boring, though. Trumbo also dabbled in some side rackets, including repossessing motorcycles, to supplement his bakery earnings. Another thing Trumbo tried was bootlegging, although he quickly got out of that business after rivals killed a pair of his competitors.

The brief stint running liquor actually ended up launching Trumbo’s career, though. In 1932 he sold a piece about the bootlegging business to Vanity Fair, and the magazine liked the story so much it made Trumbo its new Hollywood correspondent, which finally enabled him to leave the bakery.

2. He Didn’t Name Names

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Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis was one of our country’s most stylish and elegant icons for decades, but she was no empty, aloof beauty. Let’s take a look at five things you may not know about Jackie O.

1. She Almost Didn’t Become Jackie Kennedy

Jacqueline Bouvier came to international prominence when JFK became president, but she very nearly had a different husband. In December 1951 she was engaged to another man, John G.W. Husted. Husted was a Yale grad, a stockbroker, and a member of the same upper class of New York society as the Bouvier family.

The engagement didn’t last long, though. By March of 1952, Jackie had called it off. It’s not exactly clear why she gave Husted the ax, but there’s been lots of speculation. Some biographers think that Jackie’s mother, Janet, felt that Husted didn’t make enough money to support her in style. (His salary of $17,000 a year was roughly equivalent to $100,000 today.) Other biographers have recounted stories of Jackie confiding to friends that Husted was immature and a little on the dull side.

Whatever the reason, the relationship ended, and Jackie Bouvier was soon dating John Kennedy; the couple would marry in September 1953.

2. She Accidentally Appeared in Hustler

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It looks like Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov has reached a deal to buy the floundering New Jersey Nets. What’s Prokhorov’s story, though? We did some digging, and here are five things you probably don’t know about the man who could become the NBA’s next owner.

1. He Got His Start in the Jeans Business

Buying an 80% stake in the Nets for an alleged $200 million would put a crunch in most peoples’ budgets, but earlier this year Forbes reported that Prokhorov’s cash holdings alone might be worth upwards of $5 billion. Unlike many fabulously wealthy men, though, he didn’t get any financial help from his family. In fact, he got his start in the jeans business.

Although Prokhorov’s parents weren’t particularly rich, they were sharp. His mother was the head of a polymer research department at the Moscow Chemicals Institute, and his father also ran a lab. Their son excelled in his studies and attended Moscow State Institute of Finance. After he graduated from college, he got a job at the International Bank for Economic Cooperation in 1989. Prokhorov put his money in an investment vehicle that would only have thrived in the late 80’s: an acid-washed jeans company. With the profits from his denim venture, Prokhorov continued to rise up the financial ladder.

2. He Knows His Metals

Although Prokhorov first grew to prominence in the financial sector, he made his serious loot in the mining industry. In 1993 he purchased Norilsk Nickel during the wave of post-Communism privatization and built the Siberian mining company into a natural resources titan. One of his major coups involved investing in specialized Finnish freighters that could move metals around the Arctic without needing icebreakers.

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You know him as the top-hat-wearing lead guitarist for Guns N’Roses, Slash’s Snakepit, and Velvet Revolver. Do you know where he got his signature hat and the name “Slash,” though? Let’s take a look at the man who’s darn near unbeatable in Guitar Hero.

1. He Grew Up With Rock

Slash was born Saul Hudson in Stoke-on-Trent, England, in 1965. The Hudson family lived there until Saul was 11, when they moved to Los Angeles. Slash had a pretty good foot in the door of the rock world from the time he was born. His mother, Ola Hudson, designed costumes for John Lennon, the Pointer Sisters, and Diana Ross, and his father, Anthony Hudson, designed album covers for Neil Young and David Bowie, among others. The family also lived near David Geffen and Joni Mitchell. Not a bad way to get into rock music.

Slash’s parents broke up in the mid-70s, and his mom started dating Bowie. In 1990 Slash talked to Rolling Stone about his childhood feelings for Bowie: “I really didn’t like him that much, because he was the new guy in the house. I was really resentful.”

2. Even the Nickname “Slash” Has a Famous Origin

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Are you worried about putting up a five-spot to play in your office’s NFL picks pool this weekend? Does the idea of putting down $10 on a blackjack hand make you queasy? We’re not sure these anecdotes will make you feel any better, but if you don’t want to play games of chance yourself, here are a few interesting facts about one of history’s most legendary gamblers, Nick “the Greek” Dandolos.

1. He Really Was Greek

Nick the Greek was born Nicholas Andreas Dandolos in Crete at some point around the turn of the 20th century. (Dandolos was cagey about revealing his age. While some friends insisted he was born in 1883, he claimed to be just 60 when he died in 1966.) Although he was born into a wealthy family, Dandolos was a diligent student and earned a degree in philosophy at the Greek Evangelical College – a degree that would later earn him the nickname “The Aristotle of the Don’t Pass Line.” He didn’t stay in Greece and become the next great Greek philosopher, though. Dandolos’ family sent him to the United States with an allowance of $150 a month.

Dandolos, of course, used the allowance to bankroll his early gambling adventures. After a short stay in Chicago he moved to Montreal and began betting on horse races. As it turned out, Nick the Greek had a knack for picking the ponies; he allegedly turned his allowance into $500,000 in just one racing season.

2. He Was Equally Good at Winning and Losing Money

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You may know him as the author of such masterpieces as Lolita, Pale Fire, and Pnin, but how well do you know Vladimir Nabokov? Here are five things you might not have known about the man who described himself by saying, “I am an American author, born in Russia, educated in England, where I studied French texts.”

1. He Came From Cash

Nabokov was born in 1899 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to the aristocratic family of a liberal lawyer and politician. Nabokov’s upbringing reflected the culture and wealth of his family. The author was raised trilingual – the family conversed in Russian, English, and French.

Nabokov’s father, who was also named Vladimir, had a fairly successful political career during his son’s childhood. After the defeat of the White Army in 1919, though, the family had to flee the country. The Nabokovs first went to England, where the sale of a single strand of his mother’s pearls financed two whole years of Vladimir’s study at Cambridge. They eventually settled in Berlin, though, where Nabokov’s father remained active in the politics of the Russian exile community. This involvement soon proved fatal for the elder Nabokov, as he died while trying to protect former Russian foreign minister Pavel Milyukov from an assassination attempt in Berlin.

2. He Really Knew His Butterflies

Even most casual Nabokov fans know that the writer had a butterfly-collecting hobby, but they might not know just how serious he was about his sideline as a lepidopterist. (more…)