Wow, I can't believe ___________ was the same person who did ____________!

a thread for when you know about two (or more) cultural products for a long time, and at some point you piece together that the same person was involved in both of them, and it blows your mind.

this is inspired by my realization that Fred Gwynne aka Herman Munster was the same guy who wrote the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and If You Give a Moose a Muffin books, which I read and loved as a kid.

I was also surprised to learn that the country singer Terry Allen was the creator of the iconic Corporate Head statue in downtown LA; i.e. this:

http://i55.tinypic.com/258b81g.jpg

but I'm sure someone here has better examples than these. blow my mind, plz!

http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2004/08/12/443.aspx

(awesome thread btw)

bea arthur suffered a skull fracture after a policeman hit her with a billy club during a protest of the passage of the taft-hartley act

that's not quite within the spirit of the thread but i felt like sharing

Sidney Sheldon, who created I Dream of Jeannie, is also the sixth best-selling fiction author of all time.

The woman who wrote the screenplay for this
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/514TRCWCD5L._SS500_.jpg

also wrote this book
http://orbitrecords.com/product/lsd838_edited.jpg

Jack Cardiff, cinematographer of Black Narcissus and Rambo: First Blood Part II

Michael Nesmith's (from The Monkees) mother invented correction fluid.

David Berman's dad: http://bermanexposed.org/

Gillian Hills (French singer and star of the '60s teensploitation film Beat Girl) designed VC Andrews book covers in the early '80s:

http://i55.tinypic.com/2d9sbrc.jpg http://i51.tinypic.com/142se3a.jpg

Sandy Salibury (soft-pop singer, member of the Millennium, bros with Curt Boettcher) wrote this children's book:

http://i54.tinypic.com/1zd88k6.jpg

which my secret Santa gave me when I was in 5th grade, and which I never actually read and probably still have somewhere.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(about Gillian Hills)

For those keyword-searching, my first post (the link) was about Dick van Dyke becoming a massive computer animation geek in his 60s.

now I really wanna see D*** van D***'s CGI bike crash!

I think a few of these are missing the point of the thread. It's not "finding out famous person x is good at something other than what they're famous for". It's, well, it's "when you know about two (or more) cultural products for a long time, and at some point you piece together that the same person was involved in both of them, and it blows your mind". They're different.

I hate be too much of a threadstarter fascist, but I mean yeah, what emil.y said.

I mean, obviously the line is blurry: for me, the Millennium singer being a kid's book author is the former, as I'd never heard of the book, whereas for unregistered it's absolutely true to the thread premise.

I remember my sister going on and on about this book when we were kids :

http://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/446304-L.jpg

and I used to read this book to my nephews all the time :

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/79/The_Tiger_who_came_to_tea.jpg

but it took me years to twig that they were both written by Judith Kerr, due to being somewhat dissimilar to say the least. Didn't exactly blow my mind, but as I recall it I raised my eyebrows in mild surprise.

J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of my fave sci fi Babylon 5, also wrote 2 seasons of Murder, She Wrote in the 80s.

The tiger is Hitler.

xpost

Phil Hartman designed the Aja cover.

chevy chase was in an early version of steely dan.

Jerry Lewis invented Video Assist, subsequently used by every film director for everything, ever.

hedy lamarr pwns this thread.

"hedley"

these things,

http://www.hosenow.com/images/flat_band.jpg

are called marman clamps, and found in almost every automobile ever, they were invented by zeppo marx (the handsome one). amazing!

Actor Curtis Armstrong is also perhaps the world's leading expert in all things Harry Nilsson.

It blew my mind when I realsied that Russell Hoban, author of some seriously excellent novels, especially Riddley Walker, was also behind the Frances the Badger books I read when I was a kid.

Novelist Paula Fox produced both the following:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/P/039331894X.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg - her best-known book
http://danshamptons.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Courtney-Love.jpg - her granddaughter

I think one-eyed cat is better known than desperate characters, but I'm speculating. It's my understanding that her adult fiction was in need of a revival whereas her ya fiction was not.

see, i'd forgotten she'd done ya fiction too

remy gets this thread

Sometime in the mid-90s, April March (francophile garage chanteuse) reluctantly revealed that her day job was as writer/principal layout animator for Ren & Stimpy and PeeWee's Playhouse.

I always thought that was pretty rad! She married one of the Del Fuegos according to wiki, wow!

yo lamp according to the wiki

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (ISBN 0-06-024586-7) is the title of a 1985 book illustrated by Felicia Bond. It is the tenth and best-known book written by Laura Numeroff. Its plot deals with a boy who gives a cookie to a mouse, which in turn asks for various other favors. At length this leads back around to the mouse wanting another cookie. The book features two characters, a mouse and a boy. Neither character speaks, but their dialogue is reported indirectly by a narrator.

also when I was in kindergarten the author of if you give a mouse a cookie came to my class and signed everyone's books so I don't know if they were lying to me or what

aaron neville played our school's crawfish boil when I went there, coulda really been cousin it

oh you're not lamp you're unregistered I file you dudes in the same place of my internet thinking

heh, i still don't know who half you people are these days

April March (francophile garage chanteuse) reluctantly revealed that her day job was as writer/principal layout animator for Ren & Stimpy and PeeWee's Playhouse.

No wai. Thats amazing. On a similar note (tho also not in the real spirit of the thread), Al Gore's daughter was one of the principal editors on Futurama.

Gaby Rodgers, who played "Gabrielle" the woman who opens the suitcase at the end of Kiss Me Deadly, later co-wrote the classic country song "Jackson".

April March (francophile garage chanteuse) reluctantly revealed that her day job was as writer/principal layout animator for Ren & Stimpy and PeeWee's Playhouse.

This is impressive. John K. is one of the worst cartoon snobs (I say that admiringly) ever in the business of tv cartoons.

Learning that Art Spiegelman invented Garbage Pail Kids was a mind-blowing confluence for me.

yo lamp according to the wiki

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (ISBN 0-06-024586-7) is the title of a 1985 book illustrated by Felicia Bond. It is the tenth and best-known book written by Laura Numeroff. Its plot deals with a boy who gives a cookie to a mouse, which in turn asks for various other favors. At length this leads back around to the mouse wanting another cookie. The book features two characters, a mouse and a boy. Neither character speaks, but their dialogue is reported indirectly by a narrator.

― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, August 18, 2011 1:05 AM (5 hours ago)

AW SHIT I got my facts wrong. well Herman Munster wrote A Chocolate Moose for Dinner and that's indisputable (I think).

Okay, the Art Spiegelman/Garbage Pail Kids thing has blown my mind.

Gaby Rodgers, who played "Gabrielle" the woman who opens the suitcase at the end of /Kiss Me Deadly/, later co-wrote the classic country song "Jackson".
--Mucho! Macho! Honcho!: Turn Off The Dark (C. Grisso/McCain)

Knew what April March's day job was, but still got a surprise when watching a Richard Scarry DVD with the kids and seeing her real name in the credits

Spiegelman dayjobbed for Topps for about 20 years, all the way through his (effective) comics career - also created Wacky Packages

Mark Newgarden co-wrote and designed Garbage Pail Kids btw

a few months ago I read a novel by Ursula Vernon (alias T. Kingfisher), and just now I learned that she is the creator of the LOL WUT pear, an internet meme of considerable note:

http://i.imgur.com/KGCOJqf.jpg

(LOL HUEG, oops)

Van Dyke Parks arranged "Bear Necessities" from the original Jungle Book cartoon, then went on to play keys in the Byrds and the Mothers of Invention.

HOPE spread a lot further than the controversy (which I'd never heard of) though.

finding out that Billy West did the voices for Doug Funnie, Ren and Stimpy, Bugs Bunny in Space Jam, half the voices in Futurama, the Honey Nut Cheerios Bee, and the red M&M was kinda mindblowing for me

I was going to say something about finding out that Jackie magazine was named after children's author Jacqueline Wilson, who was working as a junior employee at DC Thomson when it launched, but wikipedia says this is actually an urban legend :(

remember being surprised to find out that Ian Levine the Northern Soul/Hi-NRG DJ and producer was the same person as Ian Levine the infamous Dr Who superfan and official 'continuity advisor' to the show in the 80s

The director of the new BBC adaptation of Poldark, Ed Bazalgette, used to be the guitarist in The Vapors.

I was going to say something about finding out that Jackie magazine was named after children's author Jacqueline Wilson, who was working as a junior employee at DC Thomson when it launched, but wikipedia says this is actually an urban legend :(

I'm sure I've seen Wilson herself claim this on a documentary

The Wombles Christmas Party and Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds were two of the first albums I ever owned as a kid, and I only recently found out that Chris Spedding played guitar on both.

find it cool that Steve Miller Band did both 'The Joker' and 'Abracadabra', which sound nothing like each other.

i mean, their career arc is probably a lot better known to Americans, but for me those are their only two songs.

find it cool that Steve Miller Band did both 'The Joker' and 'Abracadabra', which sound nothing like each other.

― p:s nerds know (dog latin), Thursday, May 7, 2015 5:53 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I always wanted to play "Concierto de Aranjuez" and "Rated X" for someone who'd never heard either just to see how long it would take to convince them they're both by Miles Davis.

Miles was the first person I thought of when I saw this thread. You could leapfrog all through his catalog making connections like that. Ditto Dylan, from the likes of "Desolation Row" and recent bad-boy songs like "Wasted Years" and "Early Roman Kings" to his Sinatra album and Self-Portrait(not to equate those two, or the ones in the first group). Also, smooth-jazz master Bob James made a good avant album, Explosions, on ESP-DISK, even.

Also Neil Young, from his buckskin granola folkie ballads to whole albums of feedback.

I was a huge of Takako Minekawa's music (particularly "Roomic Cube" and "Cloudy Cloud Calculator") for a few years before realizing she was the voice behind the title tag in the original "Playstation" commercials.

Tony Burrows is my perpetual go-to for this topic. Lead singer on "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" by Edison Lighthouse and "My Baby Loves Lovin'" by White Plains and "Gimme Dat Ding" by the Pipkins and "Beach Baby" by the First Class and "United We Stand" by Brotherhood of Man.

A lesser example along the same lines was when I realized that John Waite of "Missing You" fame was also the lead singer for the Babys ("Every Time I Think Of You") and Bad English ("When I See You Smile").

Stretching the definition of person, but discovering that the Nyan Cat song was the voice of Hatsune Miku

I discovered Thomas M. Disch's poetry and his sci-fi writing years apart and just amused there were two different writers with similar names (I believe the poetry books had "Tom Disch" on the covers)

always wanted to play "Concierto de Aranjuez" and "Rated X" for someone who'd never heard either just to see how long it would take to convince them they're both by Miles Davis.

try being a fan of Ween, they're really far out in that category

Still hoping to hear that someone's separately an enormous fan of Iain Banks and Iain M Banks.

was initially shocked to learn that the author of Riddley Walker and Bread and Jam For Francis were the same guy

lol of course already mentioned by James Morrison my bad

Richard Donner's career always trips me up. Just realized the other day that he directed The Omen. Alongside Superman, Scrooged, the Lethal Weapon franchise, and The Toy.

Had a slight "!" at discovering that the slobby Onslow of Keeping Up Appearances
http://aboutknowsley.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/onslow_keeping_up_appearances.jpg
was the voice of Paul McCartney in Yellow Submarine

Also that playwright Steven Berkoff has played Bond villains and the like.

Both of these are probably well known to Brits especially?

Stephen Berkoff = "Foley's on the grounds!"

Also brass eye, his finest role

I stilll forget that occult writer Gary Lachman is Blondie bassist Gary Valentine.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/14/us/gary-lachman-from-blondie-to-swedenborg.html

Miguel Ferrer from Twin Peaks and Robocop played drums on Keith Moon's solo album.

David Duchovny being in Twin Peaks AND X-Files is kind of amazing even though it makes sense.

John Foxx designs book covers, like this one for example:

http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1310497457l/937204.jpg

this is probably common knowledge, but Gene Wolfe (the sf writer) designed the machine that cooks Pringles.

http://nicefucking.graphics/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/dWJMmqm.jpg

just learned that Paul Kirchner, who I knew for his comic strip, The Bus and for being an assistant to Wally Wood, was the co-creator of the Zest ad campaign featuring Craig "Ironhead" Heyward

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQm1_ff5Pb0

also, was reminded the other day that 'Anouchka' from Terry, Blair & Anouchka was Anouchka Grose, the Lacanian psychoanalyst and author of articles for the Guardian, Daily Mail, Evening Standard etc

Terry, Blair & Anouchka was a musical outfit, active in the early 1990s. The group was formed by Coventry born singer Terry Hall, American actress Blair Booth and jeweller Anouchka Grose. Anouchka was formerly the lead singer and guitarist of Urmin Spindle, an acid folk group who played songs about the dark heart of the rural dream and their chemical estrangement from nature.[clarification needed]

and jeweller as well according to wikipedia? I'm intrigued by Urmin Spindle, but google is not providing much

http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsL/10756-8898.jpg

I never realised until today that 1. the guy above, who I recognised as an actor from The Liver Birds, Bar Mitzvah Boy + The Knowledge, is Jonathan Lynn, the co-writer of Yes Minister and 2. that Jonathan Lynn had also directed Nuns on the Run, the Steve Martin Sgt. Bilko film and The Whole Nine Yards

Wow, I can't believe your mom was the same person who did me!

Wow

this is pretty niche but i was tickled to learn that Marlon James was the graphic designer for a bunch of Sean Paul albums: http://www.thefader.com/2016/07/12/sean-paul-album-covers-marlon-james

I remember reading that David Yow had helped on some character design on The Incredibles, it was Frozone's surfboard iirc

Yow also did the artwork for Garfield The Movie.

Watched What Lies Beneath last night and was boggled to see that it was written by Clark Gregg, aka Marvel's Agent Coulson.

Albert Lamorisse, director of The Red Balloon and White Mane, also created the board game Risk

This is well-known now, but back in the '90s I remember being surprised to find out that Conan O'Brien, the talk show host on the telly, also wrote that Simpsons episode with Leonard Nimoy in it.

A poster for Lord of the Rings, one of the best-selling for UK retailer Athena, was drawn by Jimmy Cauty of the KLF / The Orb

http://klf.de/home/jimmy-cauty-solo-projects/athena-posters/

I remember reading that Face interview at the time. It's such a ghastly drawing in the tradition of horribly lifeless and overworked A level art projects with no colour sense or flair - god knows who'd want that on their wall!

I bet £500 could go a long way back in them days...I'm rich!

he was a teenager and it probably sold mostly to teenagers

Johnny Cash entered the air force when he was 18, and was eventually shipped out to Landsberg, West Germany, where he worked as a Morse code operator intercepting Soviet Army transmissions. He was the first American to hear of the death of Joseph Stalin.

Justin Dupieux, the film maker who created Rubber (2010), Keep an Eye Out! (2018), Deerskin (2019), Mandibles (2020), and Smoking Causes Coughing (2022) is also Mr. Oizo, of Flat Beat fame

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmsbP13xu6k

Except he's actually Quentin Dupieux, no idea where I got 'Justin' from.

It's such a ghastly drawing in the tradition of horribly lifeless and overworked A level art projects with no colour sense or flair - god knows who'd want that on their wall!

oh wow I recognise that poster, it was in the front room of a local dealer in our area about 30 years ago.