Actors Who Were There.....In Real Life Then In Movies.

[patches]

You see Kipp put his Teeth in to Sing Cadence LOL.

 

 

 

[patches]

On 3/22/2023 at 3:28 AM, patches said:

Douglas Fowley, he was in an incredible amount of movies from 1933 on, later T.V. too he's most familiar to us as Kipp in the 1949 Classic Battleground, Kipp right he has no teeth, has dentures. Well Fowley  was wounded. lost his teeth in the recent war, he wasn't in the Army, but in the Navy. Details are lacking, but he was a crewman on a Carrier, Carrier not mentioned and an explosion onboard, Enemy Action? knocked his teeth out.

 

Fowley on the left

CORRECTION

 

Fowley is on the RIGHT

[martyb]

I know this is an older topic but want to mention another well known actor. I found two other posts on him, James Arness, bka Sheriff Marshal Dillon. I remember many many years ago, on a radio trivia show, they asked who the first person was to hit the beaches on D-Day, they had their battles a little mixed up though.  It was none other than James Arness. Landed at Anzio and due to his height was ordered first into the water so others could see the depth. And, based on the other two posts, was also wounded later which I had forgotten about. He would also be in the movie "Battleground" to keep with the mantra of this thread. 

[MinutemanEMTer]

Here is a related question.

 

How many actors from the last 20 or 30 years served in the military, in any role, either before or after becoming an actor?

 

I would be willing to bet that's going to be a short list.

[Marshallj]

Colonel Sink in Band of Brothers is Marine veteran Dale Dye.

[Salvage Sailor]

On 2/8/2022 at 11:44 AM, Salvage Sailor said:

Henry Richard "Huntz" Hall 

Huntz Hall of the Dead End Kids aka the Bowery Boys

 

 

Hall served in the United States Army during World War II. In 1943, he appeared in the USN training film "Don't Kill Your Friends" as moronic Ensign Dilbert the Pilot, who carelessly causes the death of a civilian and three servicemen.

 

He also played Pvt. Carraway in 'A Walk in the Sun' with Dana Andrews & Burgess Meredith

 

Enjoy

 

 

...and speaking of Burgess Meredith, here he is in another Training Film

A Welcome to Britain, 1943 (Retitled 'How to Behave in Britain' to make a better point)

 

[Salvage Sailor]

Herman Raymond Walston

 

uh, who is he you say?

 

here he is in uniform...

 

 

and after a bad day

 

'Ray' Walston was born in 1914, thus too old for the draft but he made training films into the 1950's for the military.  He held a top secret security clearance for a while as he was narrating 'Operation Hardtack' reports for the United States military for the development of nuclear weapons.  (Many of them are declassified now and are posted on YouTube & the internet archive if you wish to view them.)

 

 

[FRISCAN]

On 9/29/2023 at 8:27 AM, martyb said:

I know this is an older topic but want to mention another well known actor. I found two other posts on him, James Arness, bka Sheriff Marshal Dillon. I remember many many years ago, on a radio trivia show, they asked who the first person was to hit the beaches on D-Day, they had their battles a little mixed up though.  It was none other than James Arness. Landed at Anzio and due to his height was ordered first into the water so others could see the depth. And, based on the other two posts, was also wounded later which I had forgotten about. He would also be in the movie "Battleground" to keep with the mantra of this thread. 

James Arness was a "dogface" and a "Cottonbaler By God!" Easy Co., 2d Bn., U.S. 7th Infantry Regiment, U.S. 3d Infantry Division.

TC1/c. Dunigan

[FRISCAN]

Here's one actor I'm VERY surprised not to see discussed here as of yet...

A VERY underrated and in my humble opinion, an iconic English actor... Kenneth More! The star of MANY phenomenal films such as... 'Operation Disaster"(1950), "Reach For The Skies"(1956), 'A Night To Remember"(1958), "The Longest Day"(1962), "We Joined The Navy"(1962), "Oh! What A Lovely War"(1969), "Battle of Britain"(1969), and many others...

He played Captain, Jonathan Shepard - Chief of Naval Operations assigned to hunt down and destroy the Bismarck. Oddly enough, this IS something he was VERY familiar with. 
 

As Kenneth More, WAS in reality serving aboard H.M.S. Aurora,(12) an Arethusa-Class Light Cruiser as a commissioned Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve, Lieutenant and Watch Officer that was VERY much in the hunt for the Bismarck in May, 1941!

He was later reassigned to "Robin" or "U.S.S. Robin"(pending who you ask, lol)H.M.S. Victorious,(R38) and served aboard her in Southwest Pacific in 1943 as a fighter direction officer. 



TC1/c. Dunigan

[Salvage Sailor]

On 9/14/2017 at 7:00 PM, SEABEE SON said:

And then there was Mel Brooks, combat engineer.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

 

 

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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

 

Corporal Melvin Kaminsky, 1104th Engineer Combat Group aka 'Mel Brooks', 1944 'Battle of the Bulge'

 

"I was a Combat Engineer. Isn’t that ridiculous? The two things I hate most in the world are combat and engineering.”

 

“War isn’t hell," he observed. “War is loud. Much too noisy. All those shells and bombs going off all around you. Never mind death. A man could lose his hearing.” Asked by his son if during the war he thought about “what it would take to rebuild postwar Europe ,” he replied “You thought about how you were going to stay warm that night, how you were going to get from one hedgerow to another without some German sniper taking you out. You didn’t worry about tomorrow.”

 

My favorite story from an interview on public radio some years back regarding his service in the Engineers in Belgium 1944/1945

(from memory, not verbatim)

 

 

So I'm out on a crossroads by myself, lying on my stomach and reaching for the fuse of a bouncing betty with both hands and the thought comes into my head, I yelled out loud "What the hell am I doing"......but I didn't say 'Hell'

 

Combat Engineer Corporal Melvin Kaminsky is 98 years old as I write this post, still cracking jokes today...

[Salvage Sailor]

 

Clifton James -  a decorated World War II veteran, U.S. Army Combat Infantry Platoon Sergeant Co. "A" 163rd Inf., 41st Div. He served forty-two months in the South Pacific, from January 1942 until August 1945. He spent time in Australia, New Guinea, and the Philippines. His decorations include: Silver Star (citation needed), Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Presidential Unit Citation, Combat Infantry Badge and six battle stars.

 

Among his many acting roles, he was in 'Cool Hand Luke' alongside fellow WWII veterans George Kennedy (USA), Paul Newman (USN), Harry Dean Stanton (USN), Strother Martin (USN) & J.D. Cannon (USAAC).

[eaglerunner88]

57 minutes ago, Salvage Sailor said:

 

Clifton James -  a decorated World War II veteran, U.S. Army Combat Infantry Platoon Sergeant Co. "A" 163rd Inf., 41st Div. He served forty-two months in the South Pacific, from January 1942 until August 1945. He spent time in Australia, New Guinea, and the Philippines. His decorations include: Silver Star (citation needed), Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Presidential Unit Citation, Combat Infantry Badge and six battle stars.

 

He truly looks like a soldier's soldier...a literal superman.

[Jones_Bradock]

I'm sure this has been posted before but, Lee Marvin's wiki could be the script of a Netflix movie all by itself. Great topic!!!

[General Apathy]

On 7/4/2025 at 1:03 AM, Jones_Bradock said:

I'm sure this has been posted before but, Lee Marvin's wiki could be the script of a Netflix movie all by itself. Great topic!!!

.

Dirty Dozen 1967.

 

Back in 1967 one of my friends who had served prior to that in the British airborne worked as an armorer on one of his first film jobs the Dirty Dozen, he approached Lee Marvin and said that he had been told to show Marvin how to hold and operate a Grease gun.   Marvin looked at him with a wry smile and took hold of the weapon, field stripped it, reassembled it and dry fired it saying he had served in the USMC in the Pacific during WWII. All done in a friendly way, it was never known if someone more aware of Marvins service history had set my friend up to embarrass him. 

 

regards lewis. 

 

..

[General Apathy]

On 12/7/2024 at 9:07 PM, Salvage Sailor said:

 

 

 

Corporal Melvin Kaminsky, 1104th Engineer Combat Group aka 'Mel Brooks', 1944 'Battle of the Bulge'

 

"I was a Combat Engineer. Isn’t that ridiculous? The two things I hate most in the world are combat and engineering.”

 

“War isn’t hell," he observed. “War is loud. Much too noisy. All those shells and bombs going off all around you. Never mind death. A man could lose his hearing.” Asked by his son if during the war he thought about “what it would take to rebuild postwar Europe ,” he replied “You thought about how you were going to stay warm that night, how you were going to get from one hedgerow to another without some German sniper taking you out. You didn’t worry about tomorrow.”

 

My favorite story from an interview on public radio some years back regarding his service in the Engineers in Belgium 1944/1945

(from memory, not verbatim)

 

 

So I'm out on a crossroads by myself, lying on my stomach and reaching for the fuse of a bouncing betty with both hands and the thought comes into my head, I yelled out loud "What the hell am I doing"......but I didn't say 'Hell'

 

Combat Engineer Corporal Melvin Kaminsky is 98 years old as I write this post, still cracking jokes today...

.

Hi Salvage Sailor,  Possible Doppelgänger.

 

I have always thought that my friend Joe Hobbs bore a small resemblance to Mel Brooks, especially wearing a similar tankers jackets as Mel Brooks is seen wearing.    Joe worked on Saving Private Ryan & Band of Brothers but unfortunately had a heart-attack and drowned while swimming in the sea off Australia while working on the Thin Red Line.

 

 

 

 

regards lewis.

 

..

[Salvage Sailor]

Now for something (someone) different, not an actor, but a legendary broadcaster covering the play by play in Baseball, Hockey, Football, Boxing etc...

 

Jack Buck (father of Joe Buck), US Army, wounded at the Remagen Bridgehead in 1945

 

 

Originally trained in triple A, sent to Germany as an infantry replacement in 1945

 

After completing his basic training in 1943, Buck was designated as an instructor, and assigned the rank of corporal.  In addition to his instructor duties, Buck participated in boxing as a form of recreation.  In February 1945, Buck shipped out to the European theater of the war, where he was assigned to K Company, 47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division.

 

During the night of March 7, 1945, Buck and his compatriots crossed the Ludendorff Bridge at the town of Remagen, Germany.  United States forces' successful capture of this bridge led to the Battle of Remagen from March 7–25. On the morning of March 15, Buck was the squad leader of a patrol that came under German fire in the Remagen zone. Wounded in his left forearm and leg by fragmentation, Buck received medical treatment on the battlefield from the only medic K company had at that time, Frank Borghi.  He received further medical treatment at the 177th General Army Hospital in Le Mans, France, where he was awarded the Purple Heart. Buck recovered, and rejoined his outfit sometime after German forces had surrendered.

 

Declining to re-enlist, and turning down requests to enroll in the Officers Training School, Buck joined his compatriots in guard duty of German prisoners of war.  Buck received orders to ship home in April 1946, effectively ending his military service.