Behind The Scenes: Trivia And Other Gossip

[GaT]

Angelina Jolie doesn't have an agent or a publicist. The article is actually pretty interesting, I knew she controlled her image (I showed my skepticism about her in this comment in the Miscellaneous Celebrity New thread), but I had no idea it was just her doing it. 

[Snow Apple]

It blew my mind when I first learned Melissa and Jenny McCarthy are cousins. I hear more about siblings being in showbiz than cousins.

[Sandman87]

Going back to an old old-time celebrity - Alexandre Dumas, the author of The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Corsican Brothers, and others, had an interesting family: He was the grandson of a freed slave (Marie-Cessette Dumas), the son of a French general (Thomas-Alexandre Dumas) who served before, during, and after the revolution, the father of the author and playwright (Alexandre Dumas, fils) who wrote Camille, and the great-grandfather of a two-time Olympic gold medal winning fencer (Alexandre Lippmann).

[Blergh]

OK, here's a bit of a humdinger of a name deal re a one-time well-known performer. The puppeteer born Sonia Hurwitz evidently was called 'Shari' by family and friends from an early age and had a  marriage to one Stan Lewis in her early 20's which prompted her to use the surname of Lewis as her own stage name from that point on- despite it ending by the time she was 25 and her remarrying   Jeremy Tarcher. Shari Lewis and Mr. Tarcher had a daughter Mallory who considered Lamb Chop to be her sister. Anyway, a few years after Miss Lewis's death in 1998, Mallory decided she had to revive her 'sister' and started her own puppetry performing career and, despite she herself having gotten married , legally changed HER surname to Lewis to honor her mother's memory (although, as far as I know, she had no interaction with her mother's ex- husband). I've heard of folks changing their surnames to their mother's maiden names but the only other person I can think who used their mother's previous married surname was Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. (born Douglas Elton Ulman).

Edited September 11, 2016 by Blergh
clarification

[roamyn]

5 hours ago, Sandman87 said:

Going back to an old old-time celebrity - Alexandre Dumas, the author of The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Corsican Brothers, and others, had an interesting family: He was the grandson of a freed slave (Marie-Cessette Dumas), the son of a French general (Thomas-Alexandre Dumas) who served before, during, and after the revolution, the father of the author and playwright (Alexandre Dumas, fils) who wrote Camille, and the great-grandfather of a two-time Olympic gold medal winning fencer (Alexandre Lippmann).

He was also a founding member of The Hashish Club, and apparently wrote most of his masterpieces while under the influence.

[UYI]

Nanette Fabray and Shelley Fabares are aunt and niece; it's just that Nanette changed her last name to  a more phonetic spelling, while Shelley kept the original family spelling. They DID play mother and daughter on Coach, though. 

[Blergh]

1 hour ago, UYI said:

Nanette Fabray and Shelley Fabares are aunt and niece; it's just that Nanette changed her last name to  a more phonetic spelling, while Shelley kept the original family spelling. They DID play mother and daughter on Coach, though. 

Yes, and the reason WHY Miss Fabray changed her performing surname to a 'more phonetic spelling' is that she had someone garble the pronunciation so it came out 'Fa- Bar-ASS' and she didn't want to chance that happening again. I guess her niece Shelley didn't mind, though. Oddly enough they seemed to have zero chemistry playing mother and daughter on 'Coach' (as Miss Fabray admitted in her Archive of Television Legends interview). However; the chemistry seemed downright electric when they both were on 'One Day at a Time' when they  were respectively   playing the protagonist Ann Romano's mother AND her rival/business partner. I guess it was more fun for these relatives to play catty than warmth.

[Blergh]

If we're going to discuss family ties, I don't think anyone can beat the family ties of Debbie Boone's offspring. I know they're not famous (and evidently they have no interest in fame) but they DO have a great many connections to fame. Let me count the ways: first off their mother's Debbie Boone, their paternal grandfather was Jose Ferrer, their paternal grandmother was Rosemary Clooney (and, yes, they're first cousins removed from George Clooney), while their maternal grandfather's Pat Boone AND he himself is a direct descendent from DANIEL Boone. Even if they don't ever want fame, I'm sure they could get good tables from one or more of these connections.

[cpcathy]

Not to mention Clooney's cousin is Miguel Ferrer, who's been in a ton of stuff including Traffic.

[Blergh]

8 minutes ago, forumfish said:

Another Ferrer, Mel (no relation to the above-mentioned Ferrer family) is an actor. He was married to Audrey Hepburn. Their son, Sean, is a producer.

As a young girl in Holland, Audrey Heburn helped the Resistance during WWII by performing ballet recitals to raise funds, and smuggled messages in her ballet shoes.

Thanks for bringing up Miss Hepburn! She had a most fascinating life from beginning to end (far deeper than just being an intriguingly photogenic film star). It should be noted that she had NO known kinship to the film legend Katharine Hepburn.  In actuality, her surname came from her father Mr. Ruston having added it earlier in life in the mistaken belief that he was a descendant of James Hepburn, the Earl of Bothwell- Mary, Queen of  Scots' notorious 3rd husband who was accused of helping murder her 2nd husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley.  I'm not sure if Katharine Hepburn herself was related to him but she DID play the tragic queen onscreen.

[Kromm]

One that a lot of people know about now, but which I'll post about here for those who don't is Marilu Henner. Star of Taxi.

Apparently she was the basis of the TV show Unforgettable (which she also had an ongoing guest star role on), minus all of the junk about being a cop. She has what's known as a highly superior autobiographical memory, or Hyperthymesia, which a lot like the TV stereotype of having a photographic/eidectic memory, although apparently more about being able to re-visualize your own past experiences (whereas eidectic memory is more generalized, and is more often about facts and figures rather than personal experiences). There's a lot of BS in the show (which is now off the air), but the main point is that there are only a few dozen verified cases of Hyperthymesia in the world, and Henner is one of them. 

[atomationage]

26 minutes ago, Blergh said:

her surname came from her father Mr. Ruston having added it earlier in life in the mistaken belief that he was a descendant of James Hepburn, the Earl of Bothwell

That's just the kind of thing that sends me off searching.  James was the 4th earl of Bothwell from the line of Lord Hailes.   I don't see that James had any children.   Some of his forefathers had more sons that may have had more descendants.  There were a few branches of Hepburns in Scotland.  Wikipedia:

Quote

There were also Hepburns of Waughton, thought by some to have branched off from the Hailes line, thought by others to predate it. Another line was the Hepburns of Beanston, and yet another was the Hepburns of Athelstaneford. All of these families were prominent in various ways at various junctures of Scottish history, but all were primarily located around the East Lothian area.

[GaT]

Food Network host Ina Garten didn't start out cooking, she originally worked in The White House Office of Management and Budget under Presidents Ford and Carter as the budget analyst, where she was responsible for writing the nuclear energy budget. She has an MBA from George Washington University, & didn't start her professional cooking career until after she left her government job.

[Blergh]

20 minutes ago, GaT said:

Food Network host Ina Garten didn't start out cooking, she originally worked in The White House Office of Management and Budget under Presidents Ford and Carter as the budget analyst, where she was responsible for writing the nuclear energy budget. She has an MBA from George Washington University, & didn't start her professional cooking career until after she left her government job.

Hmm, you think she and the late great Julia Child may have compared notes at one time or another re being women government employees ? I mean Mrs. Child had been in the OSI before she discovered her culinary passion in France but she tended to discount her earlier career (though she DID keep an OSI signaling mirror in her kitchen as long as she was able).

[AimingforYoko]

On the second (and final, sigh) season of Agent Carter, the big bad was a starlet named Whitney Frost who just happened to be a scientific genius. She was based on the real life of Hedy Lamarr.

"At the beginning of World War II, Lamarr and composer George Antheil developed a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes, which used spread spectrum and frequency hopping technology to defeat the threat of jamming by the Axis powers. Though the US Navy did not adopt the technology until the 1960s, the principles of their work are now incorporated into modern GPS, Wi-Fi, CDMA and Bluetooth technology, and this work led to their being inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014."

Edited September 14, 2016 by AimingforYoko

[Blergh]

Nice  trivia re Miss Lamarr, Aiming! I'd also like to add that the core of the guidance system was via player piano rolls.

[Sandman87]

Greta Garbo worked for the MI6 during World War II. She (along with others) used fake film production as cover for gathering information on places of interest.

On Saturday, September 10, 2016 at 10:34 PM, roamyn said:

...and apparently wrote most of his masterpieces while under the influence.

Cite me a source; this sounds like somebody's wishful thinking. I've been able to find no indication that he ever wrote a single word while under the influence, just that he used it as a source of inspiration for part of The Count of Monte Cristo.

[Kromm]

Actors Who Turned Down Roles:

Paul Shaffer (not even really an actor!) turned down the role of George Constanza (in Seinfeld). 
Matt Damon turned down the role of Sully (in Avatar).
Tom Selleck turned down the role of Indiana Jones.
Dana Delany turned down the role of Carrie Bradshaw (in Sex in the City).
Sandra Bernhard turned down the role of Miranda Hobbes (in Sex in the City).
John Travolta turned down the role of Forrest Gump (but to his credit the role he DID take, Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction, turned out okay for him).
Warren Beatty turned down the role of Bill (in Kill Bill).
Paul Giamatti turned down the role of Michael Scott (in The Office). 
Will Smith turned down the role of Neo (in The Matrix).  Whoa!
Sean Connery turned down the role of Gandalf, in those little known Lord of the Rings movies.
Matthew Broderick allegedly (this one is only rumored) turned down the role of Walter White (in Breaking Bad -- although Vince Gilligan says he always wanted Cranston). 
Gillian Anderson turned down the role of Lady Cora (in Downton Abbey).  She also turned down a role on Game of Thrones (she's admitted this but never specified what role it was). 

[Guest]

Andie MacDowell beat out Glenn Close for her role in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan; but they ended up having Glenn Close dub all her dialogue in post-production.

[roamyn]

1 hour ago, Sandman87 said:

Cite me a source; this sounds like somebody's wishful thinking. I've been able to find no indication that he ever wrote a single word while under the influence, just that he used it as a source of inspiration for part of The Count of Monte Cristo.

What that he was a founding member?  Or wrote under the influence.

I watched it in a biographical documentary.  Don't remember when, but probably on the last 7-8 years.  And I specifically remember the narrator or researcher or interviewee citing Three Musketeers.  I'll try it to remember it.  I don't even remember what the documentary was about, honestly.

[maraleia]

In honor of the PBS movie Churchill's Secret here's a link to all the famous people who are related to him. http://famouskin.com/famous-kin-menu.php?name=12944+winston+churchill

Of particular note are celebs Ellen DeGeneres, Matt Damon, Vincent Price, Walt Disney, Sigourney Weaver, Valerie Bertinelli, Richard Gere, Anderson Cooper, Illeana Douglas, Steve McQueen, Elizabeth Montgomery, Lee Remick, Paris Hilton, Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Julia Child, Britney Spears, Keri Russell, Christopher Reeve, Kyra Sedgwick, George Hamilton, Olivia DeHavilland, Joan Fontaine, Jane and Henry Fonda, Alec Baldwin and the rest of the Baldwin siblings, Lucille Ball, John Lithgow, Meryl Streep, Anna Gunn, David Carradine and the rest of the Carradine's Lillian Gish, Raquel Welch, Humphrey Bogart, Bing Crosby and the rest of the Crosby's, Zach Efron, Liv Tyler, Linda Hamilton, Jodie Foster, Ted Danson, Elisabeth and Andrew Shue and the list goes on and on.

[Joe]

That's a really interesting list. And it turns out that he's also related to John Hinkley Jr, who shot Ronald Reagan to win Jodie Foster's attention. He's not related Reagan, though. Almost a pity, you could claim it as an extended family squabble.

[maraleia]

9 hours ago, Joe said:

That's a really interesting list. And it turns out that he's also related to John Hinkley Jr, who shot Ronald Reagan to win Jodie Foster's attention. He's not related Reagan, though. Almost a pity, you could claim it as an extended family squabble.

Check out the link. The list is extensive.

[Blergh]

OK, here's one about Katharine Hepburn:

 

 In the late 1930's, she had a dalliance with the billionaire Howard Hughes but was quite open about this with her family. Anyway, she brought him to their Connecticut home for a weekend party where none other than her ex-husband Ludlow Odgen Smith  was also present filming home movies.  This caused no skin off of Miss Hepburn's nose  but the increasingly paranoid Mr. Hughes raised a huge fuss.  Without missing a beat, her father Dr. Thomas Hepburn, Sr. said ' Howard, Luddy's has been taking pictures of all of us for many years  before you joined us and he will be taking them long after you've left. He is part of this family.'

 Yes, Dr. Hepburn had his faults but I'm glad SOMEONE stood up to Howard Hughes and came away unscathed.

[legaleagle53]

1 hour ago, Blergh said:

OK, here's one about Katharine Hepburn:

 

 In the late 1930's, she had a dalliance with the billionaire Howard Hughes but was quite open about this with her family. Anyway, she brought him to their Connecticut home for a weekend party where none other than her ex-husband Ludlow Odgen Smith  was also present filming home movies.  This caused no skin off of Miss Hepburn's nose  but the increasingly paranoid Mr. Hughes raised a huge fuss.  Without missing a beat, her father Dr. Thomas Hepburn, Sr. said ' Howard, Luddy's has been taking pictures of all of us for many years  before you joined us and he will be taking them long after you've left. He is part of this family.'

 Yes, Dr. Hepburn had his faults but I'm glad SOMEONE stood up to Howard Hughes and came away unscathed.

I can see where she got her strength of character and her take-no-prisoners attitude from.

[Sandman87]

17 hours ago, roamyn said:

What that he was a founding member?  Or wrote under the influence.

Wrote under the influence - The part that I quoted.

[Kromm]

Celebrity In-Laws:

Cameron Diaz & Nicole Richie are sister-in-laws (through the Madden Brothers)
Stanley Tucci & Emily Blunt are brother-in-law and sister-in-law (through Tucci's wife/Blunt's sister)
by inference that makes Blunt's husband John Krasinski and Tucci whatever in-law relation you'd call the fellow spouse of siblings
Kate Spade (the one who makes handbags) & David Spade are sister-in-law and brother-in-law)
Ashlee Simpson & Diana Ross are daughter-in-law and mother-in-law
by inference, that last one also makes Jessica Simpson and Black-ish star Tracee Ellis Ross related through marriage too (although I don't know if sister-in-laws is the right term, since Ashlee and Ellis Ross would the sister-in-laws, and thus Jessica the sister of a sister-in-law to Ellis Ross)

Edited September 16, 2016 by Kromm

[Guest]

17 hours ago, Joe said:

That's a really interesting list. And it turns out that he's also related to John Hinkley Jr, who shot Ronald Reagan to win Jodie Foster's attention. He's not related Reagan, though. Almost a pity, you could claim it as an extended family squabble.

More trivia than celebrity, but Edwin Booth (brother of John Wilkes Booth) saved the life of Robert Lincoln (son of Abraham Lincoln) a couple years before John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln.

[UYI]

A very sad piece of celebrity trivia:

Dana Plato died on May 8th, 1999. Her death was originally ruled an accidental prescription drug overdose, but was changed a month later by the coroner's office in Oklahoma where she died (her ex-husband and his family, plus her son, all lived there, as well as the family of her fiance at the time of her death) to be a suicide. Personally, I have always believed the original ruling to be the correct one*--obviously, you never know what's going on inside a person's mind, but I just don't think she was trying to intentionally kill herself (and many of her friends and family have disputed the suicide ruling as well). That said, her final interview with Howard Stern--the day before her death--can be hard to listen to. All those disgusting phone calls.

Sadly, that was not the end of tragedy for her family. Her son, Tyler Lambert, shot himself to death on May 6th, 2010--nearly 11 years to the day after the death of his mom (which was over Mother's Day weekend). And unlike his mom's death, where there's an ongoing debate whether she intentionally overdosed or not, there's no question that Tyler committed suicide. Just a tragic, tragic end for those two.

*There's also a third. considerably more crackpot theory that Robert Menchaca, her fiance at the time of her death, had somehow killed her. Although a lot of her family--including her son--didn't like him, that story is quite a bit harder to prove.

Edited September 17, 2016 by UYI

[Kromm]

Celebrities with PhDs

Dr. (of Neuroscience) Mayim Bialik
Dr. (of Communications) Robert Vaughn
Dr. (of Education) Shaquille O'Neal
Dr. (of Art History) Peter Weller
Dr. (of Astrophysics) Brian May

and (ugh)

Dr. (of Education) William H. Cosby Jr.

The above are "real" degrees. If we get into Honorary ones, there are hundreds of lame ones given out to actors and celebs (J.K. Rowling has SIX, Aretha Franklin and Meryl Streep have FOUR each, and even Yoko Ono has TWO). The strangest one of all has to be...

Dr. (of Amphibious Letters) Kermit The Frog.  Seriously.

2nd strangest?  Dr. (of Humane Letters, whatever that is) Mike Tyson. Yikes.

[Popples]

Sarah Shahi is the great-great granddaughter of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar, the second Qajar emperor (shah) of Iran. She was also a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.

[Kromm]

5 hours ago, Popples said:

Sarah Shahi is the great-great granddaughter of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar, the second Qajar emperor (shah) of Iran. She was also a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.

Aside from a reminder of how crazy hot Sarah Shahi is, it also serves as a reminder of how different the pre-revolution Iran was. They were well on their way to being fairly Western... then... bam.  Back to the stone age. 

[GaT]

Somebody seriously needs to start a delivery camel service here.

[Kromm]

2 minutes ago, GaT said:

Somebody seriously needs to start a delivery camel service here.

And it was side by side with girls at Tehran University in miniskirts. Kinda why those Ayatollas got upset, apparently. But basically people like Sarah Shahi are products of that. A lot of them don't even want to be referred to as "Iranian" but "Persian" instead. 

[Blergh]

OK, this isn't a sidesplitter but a rather poignant fact about Cary Grant born Archibald Leach.  Although his mother Elsie  Kingdon Leach would be depressed over the early death of his older brother, she was a doting mother to him even encouraging him to develop entertainment skills despite the family's struggling circumstances. This came to an abrupt end when he was nine and he came home from school and was told that she had 'gone on a long holiday' by his father Elias who soon moved his mistress into the Leach family home then vaguely inferred that Elsie had died before the mistress gave birth to  Cary's half-brother. The reality was that Mrs. Leach had been committed to an asylum by her husband and her son wouldn't find out until  shortly before  Elias's death and he himself had become famous. As soon as possible, Cary took her out of there and had her in more comfortable surroundings. She would live to 95- becoming a grandmother at 88 with the birth of Cary's only child Jennifer.

Edited September 18, 2016 by Blergh
covered my s

[Blergh]

While Clark Gable and Cary Grant had very different interests and virtually nothing in common they DID each have a strong desire to keep from letting things go to waste to the degree that they had a tradition that they'd meet every December 26th- to exchange monogramed Christmas gifts each himself had had no liking for and couldn't return to stores but thought that the other might have use for.

[candall]

34 minutes ago, Blergh said:

While Clark Gable and Cary Grant had very different interests and virtually nothing in common they DID each have a strong desire to keep from letting things go to waste to the degree that they had a tradition that they'd meet every December 26th- to exchange monogramed Christmas gifts each himself had had no liking for and couldn't return to stores but thought that the other might have use for.

Really??  LOL  This would be a fun little story about anyone, let alone Cary Grant and Clark Gable.

[atomationage]

I get it now.  Their monograms would be the same.  I'm slow.

Edited September 20, 2016 by atomationage
having a bad day

[JBC344]

On ‎9‎/‎16‎/‎2016 at 4:34 PM, Kromm said:

Celebrity In-Laws:

Cameron Diaz & Nicole Richie are sister-in-laws (through the Madden Brothers)
Stanley Tucci & Emily Blunt are brother-in-law and sister-in-law (through Tucci's wife/Blunt's sister)
by inference that makes Blunt's husband John Krasinski and Tucci whatever in-law relation you'd call the fellow spouse of siblings
Kate Spade (the one who makes handbags) & David Spade are sister-in-law and brother-in-law)
Ashlee Simpson & Diana Ross are daughter-in-law and mother-in-law
by inference, that last one also makes Jessica Simpson and Black-ish star Tracee Ellis Ross related through marriage too (although I don't know if sister-in-laws is the right term, since Ashlee and Ellis Ross would the sister-in-laws, and thus Jessica the sister of a sister-in-law to Ellis Ross)

They actually consider themselves "sisters".  Society standards incorrect but familiarly correct.

[Cherpumple]

On 9/20/2016 at 2:48 PM, Blergh said:

While Clark Gable and Cary Grant had very different interests and virtually nothing in common they DID each have a strong desire to keep from letting things go to waste to the degree that they had a tradition that they'd meet every December 26th- to exchange monogramed Christmas gifts each himself had had no liking for and couldn't return to stores but thought that the other might have use for.

That's so cool! And I can totally see it adapted into a two-man play or film, where each scene shows a different year that they meet up.

[Blergh]

Now that would be interesting to contemplate what the two CG's could have talked about during their Boxing Day unboxings, Cherpumple.

 

 Here's a name humdinger one from the Golden Age: Iconic platinum blonde Jean Harlow used her own mother's full maiden name as a stage name (her own given name being Harlean Carpentier). However; from infancy onward all her family and friends called her 'Baby' or 'the Baby' to such an extent that when she during her first day of school, she had no idea who 'Harlean Carpentier' was when the teacher called her legal name. Oh, and as a coincidence to this nugget 'Babe' was what friends   called the portly comedian Oliver Hardy  and the two of them worked in a silent movie called Double Whoopee (1929) in which Mr. Hardy and his thinner pal Stan Laurel played bellhops in a fancy hotel who suddenly had to save the 18-year-old ingenue Miss Harlow's rep in the crowded hotel lobby. So one may wonder if at any point during the filming did the two of them hear 'Babe' and simultaneously respond?

[Guest]

James Doohan (Star Trek)  was shot six times in a friendly fire incident by a fellow Canadian on D-Day.  Its how he lost his finger.  And in something out of TV tropes, the bullet to his chest was stopped by a silver cigarette case given to him by his brother.

[roamyn]

21 hours ago, ParadoxLost said:

James Doohan (Star Trek)  was shot six times in a friendly fire incident by a fellow Canadian on D-Day.  Its how he lost his finger.  And in something out of TV tropes, the bullet to his chest was stopped by a silver cigarette case given to him by his brother.

How do you get shot SIX TIMES! in a "friendly" fire incident?

[atomationage]

22 minutes ago, roamyn said:

How do you get shot SIX TIMES! in a "friendly" fire incident?

Friendly fire casualties were massive in WWII.   The navy was the worst.  The admirals didn't believe in this new fangled radar, and thought they were all going to fight like John Paul Jones.   The radar techs would tell them where the Japanese were.   They could have fired their guns from way off, but instead they closed in and shot each other.

[kassygreene]

56 minutes ago, roamyn said:

How do you get shot SIX TIMES! in a "friendly" fire incident?

He was shot late in the evening after his unit landed on Juno Beach on D-day by a nervous sentry with a Bren (light machine) gun.   After he recovered from his injuries he became an observation pilot.  

You can get killed by a friendly fire incident.  It happens.

[Moose135]

8 minutes ago, kassygreene said:

You can get killed by a friendly fire incident.  It happens.

As they say, "friendly fire isn't..."

[roamyn]

50 minutes ago, kassygreene said:

 

You can get killed by a friendly fire incident.  It happens.

Oh I know.  It's more common, thaan people realize.  I didn't realize the James Doohan incident was during WWII.  The way it sounded, like they were out hunting or target practicing.

Six times just seems excessive, even for WWII.

Edited September 24, 2016 by roamyn

[Sandman87]

On Friday, September 16, 2016 at 9:44 PM, Kromm said:

Celebrities with PhDs...

On a similar note, Graham Chapman (of Monty Python fame) was an MD (Doctor of Medicine.)

[BoogieBurns]

On 9/16/2016 at 6:34 PM, Kromm said:

Celebrity In-Laws:

Cameron Diaz & Nicole Richie are sister-in-laws (through the Madden Brothers)
Stanley Tucci & Emily Blunt are brother-in-law and sister-in-law (through Tucci's wife/Blunt's sister)
by inference that makes Blunt's husband John Krasinski and Tucci whatever in-law relation you'd call the fellow spouse of siblings
Kate Spade (the one who makes handbags) & David Spade are sister-in-law and brother-in-law)
Ashlee Simpson & Diana Ross are daughter-in-law and mother-in-law
by inference, that last one also makes Jessica Simpson and Black-ish star Tracee Ellis Ross related through marriage too (although I don't know if sister-in-laws is the right term, since Ashlee and Ellis Ross would the sister-in-laws, and thus Jessica the sister of a sister-in-law to Ellis Ross)

Is it weird how happy this list makes me? I knew all of these, and useless trivia is my favorite. 

[Kromm]

Celebrities Who Are Military Veterans (a lot are so lets go for ones you wouldn't expect):

George Carlin was a radar technician, in the Air Force (in the 1950s). That said, it helps his rep. in a way that he not only never rose higher than Airman, but was court martialed three times (although I guess he won those cases since he had a normal discharge when he left).

Ice-T was in the army for four years. 

MC Hammer was an Aviation Storekeeper 3rd Class in the Navy for three years. 

Morgan Freeman joined the Air Force in 1955 and eventually trained as a Fighter Pilot. He didn't like it much though and left the Air Force in 1959.

Drew Carey was a Marine for six years. 

Bob Keeshan, aka Captain Kangaroo and/or Clarabell the Clown from Howdy Doody, was a marine.

Leonard Nimoy was an Army Reservist, who worked his way up to Sergeant. 

Hugh Hefner was in the Army and got a sharpshooter badge, and was a cartoonist in a military magazine, but that seems to be about the extent of his military career. 

Pat Sajak enlisted in the Army in 1968 and eventually took over the Vietnam morning Armed Forces Radio slot from Adrian Cronauer--the DJ Robin Williams played in Good Morning Vietnam. 

Willie Nelson was in the Air Force for 9 months after he left high school, but was discharged because he had back problems. 

Similarly, Jerry Garcia was in the Army for 9 months after HIS high school graduation, but unlike Nelson (or George Carlin) his dismissal was for poor conduct.

Kris Kristofferson was a helicopter pilot for the Army in the mid 1960s and eventually reached the rank of Captain.