Film stars offscreen interests

[davidb]

we all have our favourite stars and know the films and tv shows theyre famous for ,what surprising interests do they have offscreen ? will hay was a respected astronomer and discovered various features on the face of the planet saturn ! really !, thats not a wonky wikipedia fact neither ,george formby invented his famous grill cooking machine ,that probably is a wonky wikipedia fact ,but seriously your favourite film stars must have a surprising hobby or lifestyle away from the screen ,i know that theres some premier league rock n rollers who like nothing better than hornby train sets for example ! aaah ,an extremely controversial business man whose had whole world in actions and other documentarys devoted to his dodgy business deals and" forthright "views on the world ....stamp collecting !

[Steve Crook]

name='davidb']george formby invented his famous grill cooking machine

That's a wonky David "fact"

It was George FOREMAN, the boxer who invented the George Foreman grill



Steve

[CaptainWaggett]

Absolutely true fact - Terence Stamp is a big fan of girls' school stories, something discussed in his autobiography and happily repeated in interviews if the questioner has bothered to do any research.

[Harleybloke]

Ewan MacGregor is a biker!!



And what better subject for my 1,000th post???

[Nick Dando]

Pete Waterman plays with his real trains.



Nick

[batman]

Rock Hudson was very fond of embroidery, doing and collecting - fact.

[CaptainWaggett]

name='batman']Rock Hudson was very fond of embroidery, doing and collecting - fact.

A taste he shared with Ernest Thesiger who wrote an excellent book on the subject called Adventures in Embroidery (with patterns and everything). He also set up a needlework school after WW1 to provide therapy and work for wounded soldier.

[batman]

Sterling Hayden loved sailing and only acted to pay for his round the world adventures.



CW - I have heard that a book exists about him or by him re his sailing trips which is suposed to be excellent. Ever heard of it?

[CaptainWaggett]

This would be Wanderer, published in 1964 but reprinted quite recently. SOunds like a must for Bounty fans.

[jacobean]

I know someone on this board has a good web page on James Robertson Jusice and learning from that, one of his many interests was falconry.

[batman]

name='CaptainWaggett']This would be Wanderer, published in 1964 but reprinted quite recently. SOunds like a must for Bounty fans.

Thanks CW .... my order has just gone in, at only a fiver it would be rude not to.

[batman]

He led a very colourful life ......



Sterling Hayden - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[orpheum]

about 35 years ago i acted for Des O'Connor on the purchase of a hotel.Probably retired to it now that he is in his dotage!

[batman]

Sean Connery - golf



George Lazenby - ski-ing and carpentry



Timothy Dalton - fishing



Michael Caine - gardening



Harrison Ford - carpentry



Paul Newman/James Dean - race car driving



Edward G Robinson - art collecting and painting



Sly Stallone - painting





.... and all those from memory!

[CaptainWaggett]

Both Vincent Price and Edward G Robinson had notable private art collections.

[wadsy]

The late American actor Barry Brown (Bad Company) was a "B" horror film



aficionado.



George Montgomery was a noted builder & a very talented sculptor.



Tab Hunter has show horse stables.



Eric Clapton is an accomplished angler & shooter.



Joe Cocker has a ranch in Colorado raising long horn cattle.

[hankoler]

prunella scales loves narrow boats and owns one together with her hubbytimothy west.

[CaptainWaggett]

name='hankoler']prunella scales loves narrow boats and owns one together with her hubbytimothy west.

I recently saw them looking round SS Great Britain in Bristol (excellent, BTW especially if you're with kids) so I guess they like all things watery.

[christoph404]

Being a bit of a smudger myself (thats photographer btw) Im always interested to find that quite a few stars are interested in the medium. Peter Sellers was a camera and photography nut, he always had to have the latest gear and had a 16mm camera which he used for his home movies. I've seen a few of his stills published and he took some loveley photos of Britt, but I guess it would be hard not to take a good photo of her!

Kubrick was a keen photographer before becoming a full time film director and there is a published book available of his early photos, as you would expect they are excellent. Sammy Davis Jr was another keen photographer, he documented his life and there is a fascinating and very hefty book of his life in his own photos available, lots of backstage and informal stuff with the rat pack and a fascinating look at showbiz life in vegas from an insider.

Jeff Bridges always makes a photo journal of every film he makes, he uses a panoramic camera, (think cinemascope but even wider) to produce stunning black and white images. At the end of filming Bridges publishes his work as a limited edition book at his own expense and gives copies out to the cast and crew. Much of his work has been commercially published in several books and his prints are exhibited and sold through specialist photo galleries.

Dennis Hoppper is another published photographer as is LOTR star Viggo Mortensen and I believe Yul Brynner was a keen smudger as well. Seems like a logical hobby for people who spend their lives surrounded by the art and mechanics of recording images on film, must be a nice change to be the photographer rather than the subject.

[maturin]

When Cilla Black visited my school speech day she showed great interest in an exhibition of my photos in the school library.

Nice, but I always wished I'd taken up etching.