Before they became world-famous in politics, entertainment, sports, or royalty, these public figures served in the military, often in roles many people never expect.
Jimi Hendrix
Years before he became one of the greatest electric guitar players of all time, Jimi Hendrix joined the U.S. Army in 1961 as a means to avoid jail time after being convicted of riding in stolen cars.
Hendrix became a paratrooper with the elite 101st Airborne Division, completed over two dozen jumps, and received an honorable discharge after serving just over a year. During his time in the Army, Hendrix spent much of his free time playing guitar.
Elvis Presley
In 1958, when his fame was at its zenith worldwide, the “King of Rock and Roll” enlisted in the U.S. Army as a regular enlistee instead of taking a spot in Special Services.
He spent two years stationed in Germany as an armor crewman driving tanks. His stint in the military humbled his public image and gave him the opportunity to meet his future wife, Priscilla, who was also in Germany at the time.
Bea Arthur
Long before she played Dorothy on The Golden Girls, Bea Arthur was one of the first women to join the U. S. Marine Corps Women’s Reserve during World War II. She joined the Marines under her birth name Bernice Frankel and was a truck driver and typist who eventually became a Staff Sergeant.
Her military records from the time note that she was “a frank and open woman.”
Roald Dahl
Before writing beloved children’s stories like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dahl was a fighter pilot for the Royal Air Force in World War II. He miraculously recovered from a crash landing in the Libyan desert that initially blinded him and caused serious head trauma, and even returned to flying after recovering.
Dahl’s years in combat and time working for the British intelligence community with Ian Fleming (creator of James Bond) influenced his later darkly imaginative storytelling.
Julia Child
Before introducing gourmet French cooking to American households, Child was an intelligence officer in World War II with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).
As a top-secret spy, she worked overseas in Ceylon and China running communications and assisting in creating a shark repellent chemical device for underwater explosives.
Bob Ross
This soft-spoken painter you remember watching on public television was in the United States Air Force for 20 years, becoming a Master Sergeant. Most of his time was spent in Alaska, where he learned to be hard, loud, and strict with his subordinates.
He disliked that responsibility the most. Ross promised himself he would never yell again after retiring from the military; hence the legendary gentle voice we know.
Chuck Norris
Before becoming a world-renowned martial artist and action film star, Norris served in the United States Air Force in the late 1950s. While stationed in South Korea as an Air Policeman at Osan Air Base, he joined a local dojo to stay in shape, where he became a black belt in Tang Soo Do.
The time he spent there changed his life forever and gave him the training that led to an international acting career.
Audrey Hepburn
When she was a teenager growing up in Nazi-occupied Holland during World War II, Hollywood legend Hepburn helped fight against the Germans as part of the Dutch Resistance movement.
She gave proceeds from her ballet dancing performances at underground fundraising events to the Resistance. Hepburn even acted as a messenger transporting materials hidden in her ballet shoes since soldiers were unlikely to suspect young girls.
Christopher Lee
Lee played many memorable villain roles including Count Dracula, Saruman and Count Dooku. Less widely known is that he had a perilous undercover career as a British intelligence operative during World War II.
Lee served with the Royal Air Force, Special Air Service (SAS) and Long Range Desert Group behind enemy lines in North Africa and Europe. His intelligence work during the war was so extensive that while on the set of Lord of the Rings, he admonished director Peter Jackson for not realizing what sound a stabbed person actually makes.
J. R. R. Tolkien
Long before he created Middle Earth, the fantasy author fought for the British Army’s 11th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, during World War I. During months of horrific trench combat in the 1916 Battle of the Somme, he lost many of his dearest friends.
After falling ill with trench fever, Tolkien was sent home to England. He would later draw directly on his wartime experiences when describing the Dead Marshes and Mordor, not to mention the fellowship between his characters.
Tony Bennett
The legendary crooner was drafted into the U.S. Army late in World War II. He served as an infantryman with the 63rd Infantry Division in Western Europe. He fought through the snowy winter of 1944–1945 in Germany, taking part in some of the heaviest fighting as Allied forces battled their way across Europe.
He participated in the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp. He was scarred emotionally by his experiences as a soldier and became a lifelong pacifist.
J.D. Salinger
The writer of The Catcher in the Rye had a draft of his classic novel in his backpack when he fought in some of World War II’s deadliest battles.
He landed on Utah Beach as an intelligence soldier in the 4th Infantry Division on D-Day, participated in the Battle of the Bulge, and liberated concentration camps.
His time in the war left him with crippling psychological trauma that informed his writing and eventual self-withdrawal from society.
James Stewart
Although already a successful Oscar-winning Hollywood actor, Stewart joined the U.S. Army Air Forces to fight in World War II and demanded to fly actual combat missions in Europe.
Stewart flew 20 harrowing bombing missions over Nazi Germany as a command pilot and was awarded multiple Distinguished Flying Crosses for heroism. Stewart remained in the Air Force Reserve even after the war and eventually retired as a Brigadier General after 27 years in the Air Force.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
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