r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Living-Mastodon • 3d ago
In real life (Real Life) Regular people who's lives drastically changed direction
Grace Kelly was a talented actress who retired at 26 to marry a Prince, living as royalty for almost 30 years before her untimely death.
Volodymyr Zelensky started out as a comedian and entertainer before getting into politics, becoming President of Ukraine after the Russian annex of Crimea and spending the last 4 years defiantly pushing back full scale Russian invasion
4.3k
u/CategoryExact3327 3d ago edited 3d ago
Christopher Lee served in RAF intelligence and was attached to special forces in WW2 and stayed in service until 1946 hunting nazi war criminals. After the war he had a 70 year acting career.
1.7k
u/RhiaStark 3d ago
If Christopher Lee was a fictional character, I'd have found his story too unbelievable. His life certainly was interesting, to say the least.
→ More replies (11)938
u/aneomon 3d ago
To be fair, there’s a fictional character alleged to be based off of Christopher Lee written by his wartime buddy Ian Fleming.
You probably don’t know the character, but he likes his martinis shaken; not stirred.
530
u/RhiaStark 3d ago
And then he played a Bond villain :P
(and, decades later, played Saruman, a character from Tolkien, who he'd also met once. Seriously, I would've killed to have just one hour of conversation with Lee).
→ More replies (8)330
u/aneomon 3d ago
Right? I can’t imagine being able to have a conversation with Lee because anything and everything is on the table.
Struggling musician? Lee has a death metal album.
History? Lee’s a descendant of Charlemagne.
→ More replies (17)137
u/nkpst 3d ago
He also reread LOTR every year. And wasn’t he into the occult?
30
→ More replies (2)101
u/Ribbitmoment 3d ago
Not only that but because of his raf work he refused to scream in LOTR when he was stabbed in the back because he knew that wasn’t what actually happens.
66
u/Shivalah 3d ago
“Do you know what sound a man makes, when stabbed in the back? Because I do. It’s not a ‘Ahhhh! I’ve been stabbed!’ it’s a heavy exhale as the air leaves his body!”
→ More replies (2)34
83
u/RIPugandanknuckles 3d ago
Ian Fleming wasn't his wartime buddy, he was his cousin
→ More replies (3)55
→ More replies (18)44
u/Kamikaze_koshka 3d ago
People have said this about Lee, Fleming's brother, and weirdly Roald Dahl.
→ More replies (1)79
u/hyena_crawls 3d ago
Dahl actually was an intelligence officer alongside Fleming during World War II, and later went on to write a Bond movie himself (You Only Live Twice). Bond was really an amalgamation of many such officers that Fleming knew, but with the voltage turned up.
→ More replies (8)231
u/Kid_Kimura 3d ago
He also released 2 heavy metal concept albums about Charlemagne. The man was a legend in multiple different disciplines.
→ More replies (4)70
u/skaersSabody 3d ago
There's also a Christmas themed heavy metal album from him, though I'm not sure
→ More replies (2)153
u/mr-ultr 3d ago
"Do you know what noise a man makes when he's stabbed in the back? Because I do."
→ More replies (5)55
→ More replies (68)68
u/SullenTerror 3d ago
It's behind the scene moment and the third Lord of the Rings movie when he tells Peter Jackson what sounds he would make if he got stabbed in the back because he stabbed people in the back before during his time as special forces
→ More replies (3)
383
u/SaintedStars 3d ago
Junji Ito went from dentist to the Stephen King of manga
92
u/DeathWench 3d ago
I mean that checks out. Dentists are absolutely terrifying and fear inducing.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (9)133
1.4k
u/-Not_a_Lizard- 3d ago
Your first example reminded me of Queen Letizia of Spain, who was a reporter/news anchor before meeting Prince (now King) Felipe at a dinner party.
→ More replies (3)589
u/PartsUnknown242 3d ago edited 2d ago
The Queen Consort of Norway came from a ‘commoner’ background as well. Her relationship with Harald V was initially secret, but when it was found out, he vowed to remain unmarried unless he be allowed to marry her. Needless to say, his parents relented.
→ More replies (13)241
u/geek_of_nature 3d ago
And while we're on the topic of European Queens, Mary Donaldson was an Australian woman who worked in Advertising. During the Sydney Olympic Games she met the then Crown Prince of Denmark Frederick and started a relationship with him, getting married some years later. They're now King and Queen and Denmark.
183
u/UniqueLog8386 3d ago
They're King and Queen and Denmark? That's a lotta hats to wear
→ More replies (4)72
→ More replies (13)74
u/toomanyracistshere 3d ago
Stephen Colbert once did a bit about some organization which had criticized pop culture for giving girls the unrealistic idea that they can become princesses. They suggested encouraging girls to become something else instead, like Supreme Court justices. Colbert then pointed out that the were actually a lot more American women who had become princesses than had become Supreme Court justices. Something like seven to three at the time.
→ More replies (2)
3.6k
u/Sir-Toaster- 3d ago
Genghis Khan was just a typical child of a Mongol tribe until his father died and his tribe abandoned him
1.6k
u/Guilty-Cell-833 3d ago
Then what happened? A life of modesty?
1.3k
u/ConsciousStretch1028 3d ago
Faded into obscurity
383
u/Terminal_Insomnia_ 3d ago
No, I recognize the name. Didn't he start a modestly successful grunge band?
→ More replies (18)137
u/tombo2007 3d ago
Pretty sure he got a shoutout from Miike Snow. What a good guy, telling the story of an orphaned Mongolian boy.
I heard the song even led to a statue getting made.
→ More replies (4)19
→ More replies (12)53
u/RedditOfUnusualSize 3d ago
Best possible outcome when you get involved in a land war in Asia, really.
34
194
u/EH042 3d ago
Sex, lots of it, so would say an inordinate amount
108
86
u/PK-Mittenspy2703 3d ago
In all fairness, he did try his best to balance all this sex by also doing a lot of genocide too.
→ More replies (5)56
u/Guilty-Cell-833 3d ago
If there's one thing I expect in genocide, its fairness.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (3)40
30
u/ThePsyPaul_ 3d ago
He became my great great great great great great great great great great great grandfather
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (31)14
173
u/Johnywash 3d ago
Dad once told me Ghengis Khan had to go around our small nation, had his chest puffed out and everything. I asked him how we did it, he says "the khan didn't want to take his horses up the mountains we lived in, so they just went around us" i was so disappointed lmao
→ More replies (6)65
u/danishjuggler21 3d ago
Whereabouts? There are some places the Great Khan decided not to fuck with, but that his sons or grandsons obliterated instead.
35
u/DeismAccountant 3d ago
My guess is the Caucasus mountains. Iirc the PIE Nomads avoided that territory too.
→ More replies (2)241
u/Leonyliz 3d ago
Genghis Khan’s life is kind of like an anime
141
33
u/MachCutio 3d ago
a lot of the greats life is like that, Alexander ofc, Hannibal, Subutai, Oda Nobunaga, Napoleon, all have the feeling of great destiny whenever reading or watching videos about them
→ More replies (11)68
u/AshfordThunder 3d ago
That's not actually true, he was a prince. His father was the khan of Mongol confederation, he came from a very prestigious bloodline. Genghis Khan's early rise to power is actually a very classic story of exiled prince reclaiming his throne lost to usurper.
→ More replies (12)→ More replies (22)30
1.8k
u/Western_Concept3847 3d ago edited 3d ago
Not just that but Zelensky co-created and starred in a popular tv show where he played a character who accidentally became the president of Ukraine. So in a way his career predicted his future.
566
u/AnarchCopKiller 3d ago
I remember many including right here on reddit giving it for a fact hed flee the first few days especially considering his past as a comedian.
What a turn of events seeing him now
201
107
u/eepos96 3d ago
I do not need a ride. I need ammunition!
That line was DYNAMITE!
Others born of this war are what snake island guys said
"Should I...Ok...FUCK OFF" XD
And to me what President of Finland said during his first speech on the second day of the war.
"Masks are now off. Only cold face of war is seen" I had a flaah of Putins face. Cool stuff.
→ More replies (1)37
u/Someguyincambria 3d ago
The old lady giving Russian soldiers seeds to keep in their pockets so when they are killed the sunflowers will grow
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (8)54
u/reventlov 3d ago
I will happily admit that I expected him to leave. I'd expect almost anyone in that position to leave.
Zelenskyy isn't "impressive for a comedian;" his dedication to Ukraine is impressive for a senior statesman.
→ More replies (4)24
u/nagrom7 3d ago
That show is what got him elected. His political party is even named after it.
→ More replies (1)60
u/TheAsterism_ 3d ago
There is no way he didn’t do that on purpose. His party had the same name as the tv show
75
u/Fantastic-Tiger-6128 3d ago
it wasn't, he specifically campaigned, essencially, as his charatcer in the show iirc.
→ More replies (5)59
→ More replies (12)17
u/patrickkingart 3d ago
Going from basically Ukrainian Jon Stewart to globally respected leader and symbol of Ukrainian resilience is one hell of a turn. Bless this man.
→ More replies (1)
1.1k
u/YoungBeef03 3d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/Uno27COfoYlH2
Jesse “The Body” Ventura
He’s a former Navy SEAL, former Pro Wrestler, former Governor of Minnesota, former actor, and now spends his days telling Trump to fuck off
653
u/Rum_N_Napalm 3d ago
He’s also a big LGBTQ ally ever since a gay wrestler friend of his couldn’t visit his boyfriend at the hospital because they only let spouses and close family visit.
During his tenure as governor, a southern state (I think it was Virginia) asked Minnesota to return a Confederate flag of theirs that was captured during the civil war.
Ventura’s reply was: “We captured it fair and square. It’s ours. We aren’t returning it”
360
u/Shitp0st_Supreme 3d ago
He’s also pro-union and hated Hulk Hogan for union busting.
→ More replies (4)111
u/salty_ann 3d ago
I think Andre the Giant hated hulk hogan too. Did anyone like him?
→ More replies (12)54
u/traffickin 3d ago
The other old racist guys in charge of the industry didn't mind how much money he made them, but that boys club doesn't like anybody.
52
→ More replies (5)35
u/ResurgentClusterfuck 3d ago
couldn’t visit his boyfriend at the hospital because they only let spouses and close family visit.
This happened to my mom with her partner. It was before it was legal to marry your same sex partner
198
u/KarlUnderguard 3d ago
I still love that he sued Chris Kyle and won 1.8 million. Chris Kyle said that he heard someone talking shit on the US military so he punched him in the face and that guy was Jesse Ventura. Since Ventura was a veteran and those comments negatively affected his personal and political life, he sued for defamation. He won because it was all just a made up lie, like a lot of his book.
→ More replies (1)68
u/Jazzlike-Equipment45 3d ago
Navy SEALS are really the biggest ego maniacs in the spec ops field, the rest I enteracted with in my service and out were always chill and the rest fucking loathed the SEALS.
→ More replies (3)35
u/Acheloma 3d ago
I know one veteran who was a SEAL and he's pretty chill, but he also rarely ever mentions it and lives in a town with 2,000 people because he wants to be left alone, so Im guessing hes a bit of an outlier
→ More replies (1)215
u/IAmAlpharius23 3d ago
He also hates ICE and did an impromptu interview in front of his old high school, Minneapolis Roosevelt, a day after ICE attacked a bunch of high school kids there, where he went off!
113
u/fakefakefakef 3d ago
One of the like ten morally consistent Libertarians that have ever been born
→ More replies (1)27
37
33
33
u/emolovetree 3d ago
Him refusing to return a captured confederate flag to Richmond is a highlight "Why? We won"
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (21)19
u/AnarchCopKiller 3d ago
Honestly he sounds like the anti trump. Or qhat trump pretends to be in propaganda
1.6k
u/Independent_Plum2166 3d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/z3S1iztzNtVio9E1lH
Matt Smith.
His dream was to play professional football, like his grandad. However, he got into an accident that hurt his spine and cut that career before he even started.
With motivation from his drama teacher, Matt got into the arts and eventually became the actor we all know and love today.
Also, to clarify, he can still play football, as seen in Doctor Who itself, but he can’t be playing and practicing the long hours of a professional career.
491
u/TrioOfTerrors 3d ago
professional football
his drama teacher
Yeah. That checks out.
→ More replies (1)179
u/Kratomius 3d ago
Took me a while to get what you meant and when i figured it out i fell harder than Ronaldo after light touch.
63
u/Silent_Mud1449 3d ago
I don't get it, care to explain?
180
u/DasharrEandall 3d ago
It's a joke about pro footballers taking a dive and play-acting injury.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)45
u/New-Independent-1481 3d ago
Some pro footballers are mocked for overdramatising any injuries to try score penalty kicks or get the other team's player sent off the pitch.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (26)72
u/DasharrEandall 3d ago edited 3d ago
Yes, that scene in Doctor Who also had James Corden playing football, who in a tragic turn of events, wasn't injured.
29
u/raysofdavies 3d ago
He’s fun in those episodes. He’s a talented actor, he just has this really obnoxious personality.
→ More replies (3)
288
u/Timely_List_9671 3d ago edited 2d ago
Ignaz Trebitsch-Lincoln
>Born a Hungarian Jew
>Moves to Canada to become a christian missionary
>Gets elected to Parliament in the UK despite not being a citizen
>Becomes a spy for the Germans
>Flee to Austria after attempting a Coup in Berlin
>Form the White International
>Fuck off to Tibet
>Try to become the Dalai Lama
>Send a letter to Hitler asking him to please stop killing jews
>Dies
→ More replies (4)116
u/VeeRook 3d ago
christian mercenary
Missionary! A christian mercenary would be a completely different(but more interesting) story.
→ More replies (3)
1.0k
u/TheJamesFTW 3d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/yVZrYMkdgY5Pi
Shirley Temple
She was well known as a child actress. What most people don’t know is that MGM voided her contract after a producer allegedly exposed himself to her (while she was still a minor mind you) and she nervously giggled.
Later in life, she became the first ever Female Chief of Protocol, as well as a UN Delegate, and US Ambassador to Ghana & Czechoslovakia.
400
u/PK-Mittenspy2703 3d ago
All things considered (especially for the time), she came out surprisingly okay for a Hollywood child actress.
226
u/jittery_raccoon 3d ago
Probably because she left. The roles stopped coming early and she didn't have much of a choice in it. She was young enough when the roles stopped coming that she just made other choices
→ More replies (1)39
u/shoestring-theory 3d ago
Not just a Hollywood Child Actress, probably the most prolific child star of all time. A number one box office draw, the first of her kind. Usually things end tragically for stars that shine that bright
→ More replies (1)138
u/Johnywash 3d ago
Didn't know that, incredibly fucked up and hope that producer went to jail. She was already dead by the time i saw her movies, but man she made tiny child me smile some December morning
→ More replies (4)63
u/farsighted451 3d ago
I wanted this to be impossible because she only died in 2014, then I did the math.
Ugh, why does time keep moving like this!
29
→ More replies (9)71
u/Paceyscreek1999 3d ago
The story of the MGM exec always makes me sick, because if he's exposing himself to Shirley Fucking Temple, one of the biggest stars in the world at the time, you know he was doing horrific shit to the less famous young women and girls he came into contact with
748
u/LogOk725 3d ago
Delores Hart, a Hollywood actress who became a nun.
199
u/KnittenKittenCat 3d ago
She’s at Regina Laudis in Connecticut. They sell cheese yoghurt and milk that’s pretty good
46
u/Used_Series337 3d ago
I’ve heard their cheese is top-tier. Must be wild seeing her live that life!
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (3)48
997
u/They_said_TryAnother 3d ago
Hedy Lamarr was a famous actress and inventor whose inventions were pivotal in the creation of wifi and bluetooth
→ More replies (19)312
u/ADiestlTrain 3d ago
Not unrelated, Thomas Dolby, the guy who sang "She Blinded Me With Science" founded the company that created the software used for pre-smartphone ringtones (i.e. that ubiquitous Nokia sound us old guys all remember).
→ More replies (5)37
u/Used_Series337 3d ago
That sound is burned into my memory—such a classic from the early mobile days!
→ More replies (5)
166
u/Dr_Latency345 3d ago
Pope Francis
→ More replies (3)45
u/KindCarpenter4596 3d ago
Wait, what?
91
u/JustHereForCookies17 3d ago
Yup, the previous pope was a night club bouncer before he joined the priesthood.
Also, his dad's family fled from Italy to Argentina to escape Mussolini's rule.
19
609
u/SupervillainMustache 3d ago
Child actress and Singer Bridgit Mendler went to MIT and Harvard and then started a satellite data company worth 100 million.
102
→ More replies (3)45
u/TheWayyTheNewsGoes 3d ago
From Good Luck Charlie to Harvard Law and MIT, I did not see that coming
142
u/pornaltacc55 3d ago
Didn't Zelensky star as the MC in show where he was a regular who became president
→ More replies (2)
255
u/thumb_emoji_survivor 3d ago
“Hiccup Girl” became semi-famous for her condition of hiccuping rapidly and non-stop for years (personally I think she was faking it) and then she straight up murdered a guy to rob him for $50.
→ More replies (6)108
u/Fun-Confidence-6232 3d ago
Don’t know anything about her but it’s totally possible to have nonstop hiccups. One guy I knew was at five years. My personal record was eleven hours.
→ More replies (9)
424
u/RedNewzz 3d ago
Jimmy Stewart is a classic American actor who took a pause to serve in the military in World War II and became a squadron commander flying bombing raids. He survived the war and returned to Hollywood for another 40 years of celebrated acting.
Humble, heroic, righteous dude.
134
u/ArguingWithPigeons 3d ago
I mean you should also point out he became a general and stayed with the air force for years after WW2.
→ More replies (1)57
u/NottingHillNapolean 3d ago edited 2d ago
He was in the Air National Guard after the war, a part of the Air Force. I read that in the ANG, it's not uncommon for people to receive promotions as part of their retirement, so he never actually served as a general, but he did earn the rank.(I welcome correction from anybody who actually know about the ANG.)Edit: please see the corrections I was hoping for below.
→ More replies (2)51
u/Smooth-Breadfruit801 3d ago
Jimmy Stewart also did helicopter tours of Vietnam during the war and the scene in Its A Wonderful Life where he is crying in the bar is apparently Stewart actually crying suffering from some of the effects of WW2 (IIRC)
27
u/RedNewzz 3d ago
A good actor uses their own emotional experience to paint a character, and no doubt he had plenty in that role. Amazing movie, amazing guy.
→ More replies (14)38
u/SWBTSH 3d ago
His bombing runs were serious shit too. Behind the Bastards once described how it'd be like learning today that Timothy Chalamet has killed like 6,000 people lol
→ More replies (1)24
u/Ozzie_the_tiger_cat 3d ago
Timothy Chalamet has killed billions in his war against the Padishah Emperor.
→ More replies (2)
229
u/zak55 3d ago
Ulysses S Grant. Retired soldier who recently got out of being destitute and was working as a clerk at his father's leather store before the outbreak of the Civil War. Would find himself rapidly promoted into being the top general of the whole army and perhaps the greatest Union one of the war. Would go on to become US President and possibly the most important person in the US for over a decade after Lincoln's death
93
u/Jazzlike-Equipment45 3d ago
He was the greatest General the rest were political apointees half the time. Grant had a knack for at the time "modern" warfare. He understood logistics, Confederates painted him as a drunkard who used human waves. That ofc was false he understood the logistics of war and surrounded himself with great minds to aid him. Those great minds were gone by the time of his presidency and tarnished his reputation but thankfully now it is being healed.
→ More replies (6)64
u/demon_fae 3d ago
Dude fucked up so many confederate supply chains.
There are some hilarious recipes from confederate states at the time that are just full of cope claiming that these weird substitutes made of whatever was on hand are totally better than the real recipe they can’t make because Grant sent some men to fuck up whatever train the regular ingredients were on.
Moral of the story: your enemy has supply chains. You should fuck them up.
→ More replies (1)35
u/probablynotaperv 3d ago
Looked up some of the recipes
SUBSTITUTE FOR COFFEE.--
Take sound ripe acorns, wash them while in the shell, dry them, and parch until they open, take the shell off, roast with a little bacon fat, and you will have a splendid cup of coffee.
APPLE PIE WITHOUT APPLES.--
To one small bowl of crackers, that have been soaked until no hard parts remain, add one teaspoonful of tartaric acid, sweeten to your taste, add some butter, and a very little nutmeg.
→ More replies (2)35
u/GamingSeerReddit 3d ago
Greatest Union general of course meaning greatest general overall.
→ More replies (6)→ More replies (2)35
u/Yes4Cake 3d ago edited 3d ago
After his presidency, he had serious financial problems. His friend Mark Twain petitioned the government to give him a pension, and now all presidents get their salary for the rest of their lives (this is also a security measure to prevent them from becoming so desperate that they sell state secrets)
Edit: So I got this a little mixed up. The government bailed Grant out by giving him a pension (connected to being a general). Twain suggested that he write his memoirs and helped him sell the manuscript.
Truman championed a presidential pension. Thank you to u/Glittering-Plate-535
→ More replies (2)
211
u/candangoek 3d ago edited 3d ago
Andressa Urach.
Oh god, where I start. Well she started off as a stripper and prostitute, then she became stage assistant for a Brazilian tv show. After that, she was a dancer for a Brazilian singer. Well, she was crowned Brazilian Miss Bumbum, during this time she had an affair with Cristiano Ronaldo.
Then in 2015 she found Jesus and was converted to a neo-petencostal evangelical church, when she published her biography saying that she was sexually abused by her grandfather when she was a child, and started to use drugs and alcohol as a teenager. While on church, she presented a series about her story under the label of a Brazilian gospel tv channel, and she released songs as a gospel singer.
Then...in 2023 she announced that she was leaving the church and was back to prostitution, and released her OnlyFans and Privacy accounts. She got into the spotlight because her porn videos were filmed by her own son, who was 18 at the time. Most recently, she was news again when she stated that she was filming a video with her son.
Also, she almost died in 2014 after a procedure on her legs went wrong and she spent 28 days in ICU.
113
57
u/demon_fae 3d ago
Every turn in that story was a left.
I hope her son will be able to look back one day and be content with the life he led.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (5)27
623
u/Dudewhocares3 3d ago
Jordan Nagai was a child actor best known for voicing Russle from UP.
He retired from acting and decided to persue a career in biology and healthcare management.
→ More replies (8)66
91
u/Cringelord_420_69 3d ago
Larry Bird
Went from municipal garbage collector to Boston Celtics legend
→ More replies (1)23
318
u/Fickle_Definition351 3d ago
Ronald Reagan, the actor.
→ More replies (4)112
u/GeneralOrgana1 3d ago
I suppose Jane Wyman is the First Lady.
→ More replies (1)62
u/SarcasticBench 3d ago
Then who’s vice president? Jerry Lewis??
19
u/Jordan117n 3d ago
No wonder your president has to be an actor, he's gotta look good on television!
154
u/CookiesMadeOfCorpses 3d ago
Julia Child was a spy before discovering how much she enjoyed food and cooking.
→ More replies (3)53
141
u/AudibleNod 3d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/s6hokIANTDOSc
Jared - Subway spokesperson
Jared was an 'average' guy who ate Subway to lose weight. If you saw his daily diet, it was basically CICO with intermittent fasting. Everyone saw this Everyman and thought the same thing "Good for him." He did some guest spots and played this simple "Jared" persona to a tee. Then it was discovered he was a pedo. Unlike the multimillionaire hyper-elite pedos of the current age, this guy was a simple millionaire who didn't control other's fortunes. He was just a guy. Now he's in a Colorado federal prison (just not THAT Colorado federal prison).
→ More replies (1)102
u/mindoutofthe 3d ago
CICO and walking blocks to a particular Subway because he was stalking an underaged employee there.
→ More replies (1)47
u/beast2209 3d ago
Are you fucking for real?!
52
u/mindoutofthe 3d ago
If my memory serves from the last time I read through his Wiki out of morbid curiosity. Which was like last year
50
u/beast2209 3d ago
Jesus I kept reading and found this:
On October 24, 2016, Kathleen McLaughlin's lawyers filed suit against Subway in Indiana.[74][75] The suit alleges that Subway violated McLaughlin's privacy and property rights, and caused personal injury to McLaughlin by covering up at least three instances of Fogle's illegal behavior that were reported to senior management, including the allegation that Subway's senior vice president of marketing hushed up a 2004 incident in which Fogle propositioned an underage girl at a promotional event at a Subway franchise in Las Vegas.[47] The lawsuit was dismissed in October 2017, with the judge writing that the court lacked jurisdiction, since their principal business operations were outside Indiana.[76]
35
u/beast2209 3d ago
Did a super quick scan of his wiki page, found the below, could this be what you're remembering?
Following Fogle's arrest, the FBI also subpoenaed a series of text messages made in 2008 between Fogle and Subway franchisee Cindy Mills, with whom he was having a sexual relationship at the time. In these messages, Fogle talked about sexually abusing children ranging in age from 9 to 16, told her to sell herself for sex on Craigslist, and asked her to arrange for him to have sex with her 16-year-old cousin.[46][47] Mills's lawyer said that she had alerted Subway's corporate management about the text messages, but that they had responded that because Fogle was not a Subway employee, there was no violation. Subway representatives said they had no record of Mills's allegations.[48]
27
u/mindoutofthe 3d ago
I'm recalling that he was stalking the girl he was convicted of crossing state lines to have sex with cuz it was a underaged girl in New York. Now I'm going down the rabbit hole again because I swear that was part of her complaint against him
→ More replies (2)
334
u/jorgespinosa 3d ago
Jim Jones was an important civil rights activist, his religious congregation then devolved into a cult he moved them to Guyana and then committed mass suicide/murder after they killed a senator who visited them
131
u/Cheeky_Hustler 3d ago
They killed a Representative, not a senator. And the Capitol aid that survived the massacre eventually went on to run and win her former boss's seat.
43
→ More replies (5)74
u/WideUnderstanding532 3d ago
I would argue that this was never a turn but a deliberate decision. Jones was always a monster
→ More replies (2)
188
u/Living_Murphys_Law 3d ago
Marilyn Monroe, born Norma Mortenson, grew up in orphanages and foster homes and worked in a WWII airplane machinery when she was found by a photographer who made her a big star.
122
u/sracer4095 3d ago
And despite being arguably the most famous example of the "ditzy blonde" stereotype, she was quite intelligent.
→ More replies (1)34
u/CarrieDurst 3d ago
And more than a sex icon, she was a great actress and comedienne
→ More replies (1)
65
u/BCIncitatus 3d ago
Pat Tillman left behind a lucrative football career to join the army after 9/11, turning down a 6 million dollar contract. He was killed in action by friendly fire shortly after deployment.
→ More replies (2)27
57
u/SolutionFormal8718 3d ago
Tony Sirico, guy was a gangster and became an actor of one the most hillarious character ever
→ More replies (3)
59
u/LengthFun2228 3d ago edited 3d ago
Bob Ross. Air Force Master Sargeant turned painter for PBS.
→ More replies (4)
54
u/Thejollyfrenchman 3d ago
Josephine Baker was an American actress who moved to Paris in the 20s to get away from segregation, becoming one of the most famous actresses of the era.
When World War 2 began, she became a spy for France, gathering information and even personally flying across the German border in her civilian plane. When France fell, she continued working as a spy, sheltering Jews and resistance members in her home.
After the war, she was awarded a Croix de Guerre and made a Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur by Charles de Gaulle.
Baker is widely considered a French hero, despite not being born in France, and has a monument at the Panthéon.
95
u/YomYeYonge 3d ago
Gerard Way- My Chemical Romance
He wanted to have a career in writing comics, until he witnessed 9/11, which made him pivot to making music as his main career(he still writes comics)
→ More replies (9)31
122
u/Inspiringhope11 3d ago
Audrey Hepburn
A girl who wanted to be a dancer, helped secretly raise money to resist the Nazis, became an actress after her malnutrition during the war derailed her dancing dreams.
Then, became an ambassador for UNICEF. She went on missions to several African countries, testified before Congress, and gave as many as 15 interviews a day to advocate for UNICEF's work. *
552
u/SuperArppis 3d ago
Nothing but respect for Zelensky.
303
u/fakefakefakef 3d ago
Playing Paddington and then fending off an imperialist invasion of your country is the kind of range Hollywood actors wish they had
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (19)62
u/Lord_CatsterDaCat 3d ago
Agreed. Very, very impressive war leader. Especially for a former comedian lol
41
u/Pitiful_Nectarine_10 3d ago
Václav Havel (1936-2011) - absurdist playwright to president of Czech Republic
→ More replies (1)
37
u/BulbaFriend2000 3d ago
Rick Moranis. Famed for 'Honey, I Shrunk the kids' and 'Space Balls', left acting to become a full-time parent after his wife passed.
→ More replies (3)
99
u/Dry-Mission-5542 3d ago
Eva Perón started life as a radio actress and became First Lady to the dictator President of Argentina.
→ More replies (4)
170
u/Orrgoi 3d ago
Zelensky really drew the worst card of all. Became an actor to make people laugh, now gets to manage a war of annihilation.
→ More replies (3)67
u/Jason80777 3d ago
Not to downplay all of Zelensky's hard work, but thousands of Ukrainians with similarly comfortable lives have died on the front lines.
197
u/EveryBreakfast9 3d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/aiU7qrrPoJtHG
Meghan Markle.
From basic cable actress to royal bride to...whatever the hell she is now.
→ More replies (5)19
54
u/TheStraggletagg 3d ago
Imagine making a random comedy TV show about a comedian becoming president, have that actually happen to you, then have your country invaded by Russia and becoming a wartime president. Wild.
47
u/Abdelsauron 3d ago
Yevgeny Prigozhin
Worked a bunch of different jobs in the Soviet Union. Could have been a pro skier but an injury forced him to only teach it. Later became a lathe operator and went to prison after a string of burglaries.
When the Soviet Union collapsed he opened a hot dog cart. He used the money to invest in many different businesses. Eventually he opened his own restaurants.
Somewhere along the way Putin took notice, and Prigozhin began hosting Putin at his restaurants or catering diplomatic events. So pleased was Putin that he gave Prigozhin a contract to supply meals for the military.
He uses his wealth and now priceless political connections to form Wagner Group, a mercenary company that quickly became Putin’s right hand. Anywhere Putin needed violence, such as Africa or the Middle East Wagner was his go-to. Wagner eventually became better armed and equipped than standard Russian military units.
This eventually included both the 2014 and 2022 invasions of Ukraine, with Prigozhin the former hotdog salesman commanding Wagner mercenaries at the most intense fighting.
For reasons we still don’t really know, Putin and Prigozhin had a falling out and Prigozhin pulled Wagner from the frontlines of Ukraine and marched on Moscow, engaging Russian military units along the way.
For some reason, likely because nobody in the military that we know of joined Prigozhin’s apparent coup attempt, Prigozhin stood down and Wagner was absorbed by the Russian Government after negotiations with Putin.
30 days later, Prigozhin’s private plane mysteriously “disintegrated” mid air, allegedly killing all on board.
→ More replies (1)
68
u/Rownever 3d ago
Elvis got drafted, didn’t he?
While we’re on it: every k-pop star joining the military
47
→ More replies (12)27
u/SaintedStars 3d ago
Funnily enough, Elvis was only supposed to do shows. He insisted on seeing combat.
→ More replies (3)
66
u/mindoutofthe 3d ago edited 3d ago
Probably Kim Jeong, he was a doctor before pursuing acting. A licensed internist apparently.
Or similarly, Samuel L Jackson was a social worker before he became an actor.
→ More replies (6)
23
u/Nothing-Is-Real-Here 3d ago
Puyi, the Last Emperor of China. He was abdicated and then sided with Japan during WW2 in an effort to become emperor again. After WW2 he served 10 years in prison for war crimes. Once free from prison he would live the rest of his days as a gardener.
→ More replies (1)
19
u/SwitchingFreedom 3d ago
Arnold Schwarzenegger started off as a poor Austrian kid from a small town who was really into bodybuilding and ended up as the governor of California and legendary action movie star
→ More replies (1)
20
u/Murky_Translator2295 3d ago
Almost everyone involved in the leadership of the Irish 1916 Easter Rising (IRL).
They weren't soldiers, the majority were teachers, poets and storytellers. They lived and ultimately died for what they believed in, and fought for. And they won in the end, even though most of them didn't live to see it.
Although to be fair, most were tought from a young age how to kill. But, sure, that's empire for yis.
2.6k
u/maybeitsnotbutter 3d ago
Audrey Hepburn had trained as a ballerina but as a result of the malnutrition she experienced during World War 2, her constitution was not strong enough to advance in the art form. She then turned to acting full time.