GetListy » Arnold Schwarzenegger

Athletes who became actors

Bill Sullivan — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:05:19 +0000

Athletes are performers and used to plying their trade before the public, so it should come as no great surprise that some have been able to make the move from the jock kingdom to the small or large screen. Not everyone has been doing Shakespeare, of course, but a few have been able to make their mark (not to mention a decent living) in the thespian world.

Here are just a few who have successfully transitioned:

Jim Brown: NFL running back/The Dirty Dozen

Chuck Connors: MLB/The Rifleman

Fred Dryer: NFL/Hunter

Rick Fox: NBA/Oz, Ugly Betty

Alex Karras: NFL/Blazing Saddles, Webster

Howie Long: NFL/Broken Arrow, 3000 Miles to Graceland, Malcolm in the Middle

Ed Marinaro: NFL/Hill Street Blues

Merlin Olsen: NFL/Father Murphy

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Body builder/Terminator series

O.J. Simpson: NFL/Naked Gun series

Bubba Smith: NFL/Police Academy

Bob Uecker: MLB/Major League series, Mr. Belvedere

Carl Weathers: NFL/Rocky series

Fred Williamson: NFL/blaxploitation films, Starsky and Hutch

Celebrity second acts

Bill Sullivan — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:12:01 +0000

So you’re plugging along in a decent enough career, but something is missing. The money is okay, and no one is trying to push you out the door, but you still have the vague sense that you ought to be doing something else.

Life’s too short to be unhappy. If you aren’t satisfied where you are, make some changes, as many on Forbes‘ list of Celebrity Second Acts decided to do.

Here are just a few famous folks, and how they got where they are today:

Kathryn Joosten: Nurse/Actress

Ray Lamontagne: Assembly Line Worker/Singer-Songwriter

Harrison Ford: Carpenter/Actor

David Letterman: Weatherman/Comedian

Martha Stewart: Stockbroker/Celebrity Homemaker

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Body Builder/Actor/Governor

Dennis Farina: Policeman/Actor

Jon Corzine: Goldman Sachs CEO/New Jersey Governor

Jason Lee: Pro Skateboarder/Actor

Mickey Rourke: Boxer/Actor/Boxer/Actor

Alan Page: NFL Player/Minnesota Supreme Court Justice

Billy Donovan: Wall Street Banker/College Basketball Coach

To read all about these creative individuals, and to see a slideshow, head on over to Forbes.

Athletes who became politicians

Bill Sullivan — Wed, 06 May 2009 19:48:48 +0000

When former NBA great Dave Bing was elected Mayor of Detroit, he wasn’t exactly blazing trails when it came to making the leap from athlete to politician. The move has become common over the years, and many a retired jock has gone on to considerable success in the political arena.

Here’s a list of athletes who have become politicians. If there’s someone we’ve forgotten, use the Comments section to let us know!

Bill Bradley: College and NBA basketball player/U.S. Senator

Jim Bunning: MLB pitcher/U.S. House of Representatives/U.S. Senate

Ben Nighthorse Campbell: Olympic Judo/U.S. House of Representatives/U.S. Senate

Kevin Johnson: NBA/Mayor of Sacramento

Jack Kemp: Pro football quarterback/U.S. House of Representatives

Steve Largent: NFL wide receiver/U.S. House of Representatives

Bob Mathias: Olympic decathlon/U.S. House of Representatives

Tom McMillan: NBA/U.S. House of Representatives

Ralph Metcalfe: Olympic track/U.S. House of Representatives

Jim Ryun: Olympic track/U.S. House of Representatives

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Body builder/California governor

Heath Shuler: College and NFL quarterback/U.S. House of Representatives

Jesse Ventura: Pro wrestler/Minnesota governor

J.C. Watts: College quarterback/U.S. House of Representatives

Nation’s Top Green Governors

Tom Kessler — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:25:55 +0000

From GreenRightNow.com

Green Right Now recently took a look at the nation’s top green governors who are leading the fight against climate change:

Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger of California — “The Governor is sincere in his green efforts,” says Leo Kay, director of communications for the Air Resources Board. “He puts his money where his mouth is. He’s been very supportive of diesel pollution regulation and even replaced the chair of the board last summer with the very respected Mary Nichols. He has regularly opposed offshore drilling and is much more interested in the possibilities of renewable energy.”

Democrat Deval Patrick of Massachusetts — Like his West Coast counterpart, Massachusetts Governor Patrick has been a stickler on environmental issues since being elected in 2006. On July 2, he signed a massive energy reform bill (the Green Communities Act) which will lessen electric bills, develop more renewable energy and stimulate the clean energy industry.

Minnesota Governor Republican Tim Pawlenty — He was the key author of the Securing a Clean Energy Future (SCEF) Initiative which was the focus of the business portion of the NGA meeting earlier this month. At the four-day event, the NGA announced a state-industry partnership between the SCEF Initiative and General Motors Corporation. Pawlenty also is responsible for the Clean Energy Technology Collaborative, which is a group that gives advice to the governor’s staff on technological advances and research in an effort to achieve the state’s energy goals.

Kansas Governor Democrat Kathleen Sebelius — She was a co-chair of the SCEF Initiative and like Pawlenty, has a keen interest in green issues. Earlier this year, despite congressional opposition, she vetoed the construction of two large-scale coal power plants proposed for Holcomb Station in western Kansas.

Pennsylvania Governor Democrat Edward Rendell — He signed the Pennsylvania Climate Change Act, the state’s first global warming law requiring the state to keep an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions and set up a registry for business and industry to track their emissions and receive credit for pollution reductions. Rendell also shepherded a program to protect green spaces under a $625 million Growing Greener 2 investment initiative aimed at cleaning up polluted streams and parks and recovering industrial sites, while also creating jobs and investment opportunities.

Florida Governor Republican Charlie Crist — Knee-deep in environmental issues, Crist has convened two Florida summits on global climate change since taking office in 2007. Deforestation, a large environmental concern in Florida, is the third largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. In 2007, the governor signed an agreement with the UK to promote the initiatives of the Kyoto Protocol and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions beyond 2012.

Washington Governor Democrat Chris Gregoire — She signed an executive order last year to reduce her state’s emissions and build a clean energy economy, noting at the time that “…the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded our planet’s atmosphere has more greenhouse gases in it now than any time during the last 650,000 years. It is equally clear that humans are causing our climate to change by burning massive amounts of fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas.” She set goals that include reducing the state’s emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and lowering emissions by another 25 percent by 2035.

Oregon Governor Democrat Ted Kulongoski — Like Gov. Corzine of New Jersey, Kulongoski is concerned about lifting the offshore drilling ban on his coast. Earlier last week, he said, “More drilling for a diminishing resource is not the answer for giving our country energy security or freeing us from our addiction to fossil fuels.” The governor’s office is sponsoring a commuter challenge this summer for the state’s 8,500 employees, stressing bicycling, public transportation and car-pooling options for getting to work. The goal is to reduce carbon emissions by 500,000 pounds.

For more information, see the story at GreenRightNow.com.