10 Celebrities With Outstanding Side Performances

We've covered some celebrity side hustles, but they're by no means a new trend. (For example, 1940s movie star Hedy Lamarr basically invented Wi-Fi .)

Numerous prominent figures throughout history have achieved fame for one thing, and also made a name for themselves with some lesser-known skills. Let's take a look at 10 of the most notable ones.

10. Alan Turing developed the biological field of morphogenesis.

History remembers Alan Turing as a World War II codebreaker and the name behind the Turing test, a method for assessing the intelligence of a machine. He was a man of many talents, but it is in these areas, primarily mathematics and computer science, that he is remembered. But the man had other interests, too, and one of them was daisies.

His love for flowers led him to an interest in morphogenesis , a biological process that causes things to form into certain shapes and patterns. In Turning's case, he was fascinated by the way how daisies grow He saw repeating patterns in nature, such as the stripes on tigers and the spots on leopards, and created a theory to explain them, based on the idea of chemical interactions. This paved the way for an entirely new system of mathematical biology, developed years before anyone understood DNA.

9. Paul Winchell voiced Tigger… and also patented the first artificial heart

You may not know Paul Winchell's name off the top of your head, but you've almost certainly heard his voice. Winchell was the voice actor who brought Tigger to life, as well as Gargamel on The Smurfs. He was also an accomplished ventriloquist and even won a Grammy for his voice work.

When he wasn't bringing puppets and cartoons to life, Winchell was involved in science and medicine. That's not to say he was a doctor who got into voice acting, he was a voice actor who simply had a keen interest in medical science but no formal training. Despite this, he still managed to find time to create artificial heart.

It was his friendship with Dr. Henry Heimlich, the inventor of the Heimlich maneuver, that inspired him to do more. After watching his friend perform the surgery, Winchell came up with the idea for a machine that could keep the blood pumping. Heimlich advised during the design process, and Winchell patented the device in 1963 .

8. Shel Silverstein wrote country songs

Shel Silverstein is best known as the author "The Giving Tree" and other children's stories. He may be a little less known as one of the most terrifying children's authors of all time. But that wasn't the only thing he wrote.

When he was feeling a little more lyrical, Silverstein wrote country music . His most famous song was immortalized by the Man in Black himself, Johnny Cash. Silverstein was the author of the legendary "A Boy Named Sue" .

This song won a Grammy, but it wasn't Silverstein's only foray into music . Cash also performed Boa Constrictor And 25 Minutes To Go. He co-wrote with Kris Kristofferson The Taker for Waylon Jennings. Queen of the Silver Dollar Emmylou Harris and One's the Way Loretta Lynn There were also tracks by Silverstein among others.

7. Lazar Edeleanu gave us amphetamines, as well as refined crude oil

The name Lazar Edeleanu is not as well known as many others in the history of great inventions, but the Romanian chemist left an indelible mark on the modern world in many ways.

Perhaps Edelyanu's greatest achievement was accidental discovery amphetamines. He was the man who first synthesized amphetamines and is therefore the father of speed, methamphetamine, and ADHD drugs like Adderall.

However, Edeleanu was not interested in producing stimulants. He abandoned his research because he saw no benefit in it, and it was not taken up again for many years. His main interests were in oil, and despite the long legacy of his accidental discovery, he is also known for discovering a modern method of purification. crude oil .

6. Elvis Presley was a sniper

You don't get the nickname "The King of Rock 'n' Roll" unless you take it to the next level. Elvis Presley is estimated to have sold more than one billion albums worldwide, making him still the best-selling artist of all time. And when the man wasn't moving his hips, he was playing with guns.

In one bizarre but infamous incident, Elvis is said to have shot his own television when Robert Goulet appeared on screen. Rumors began to circulate that Presley hated Goulet and instead of changing the channel, he simply turned off the television. However, this story was debunked by Kevin Kern of the Graceland Museum, who said that Presley and Goulet were actually friends and that Elvis simply liked to film. things for no reason .

It is known that Presley entered military service in 1958 and during that time he received the same training as any other soldier. During basic training, he received the Marksman's Medal and was classified as a pistol sniper. This meant he could hit from 30 to 35 out of 40 goals from a pistol that was one level above marksman and just below expert, which required 36 hits.

His skill with weapons turned into a lifelong fascination with guns, and it was said that he had 32 pistols , one shotgun and a machine gun.

5. King Louis XIV was a ballet dancer

What does the king do to keep busy? Not many countries in the world have a monarchy, and those that do are very regimented, so it seems that everything the public learns is vetted and regulated in advance. So we know that the Queen of England is very fond of corgis. When she was younger, she loved to ride horses. She also apparently enjoys gardening and stamp collecting . Pleasant, calm hobbies.

In 17th century France, King Louis XIV was also a passionate man, but in one special way. The king was passionate and skillful ballet dancer It is known that during his reign he staged a number of popular ballets, as well as many others for himself and his guests.

Ruling France during one of its most prosperous periods, the king appeared in a ballet The Ballet of the Night, having played god Apollo , when he was only 15 years old. This is the source of the nickname Sun King, by which he is still known today.

4. Edward Rulloff had the second largest brain in history… and he was also a murderer.

Edward Rulloff was a medical anomaly. Born in 1829, his main claim to fame, if you can call it that, is that he had one of the largest brains in history. In fact, it’s the second-largest brain ever measured. At the time of his death, he is said to have weighed 1673 grams , while the average adult male brain weighs about 1,300 grams.

His life's work seemed to fit with the idea that a big brain makes you smarter. Rulloff was a man of many interests, and worked at times as a justice of the peace, a doctor, and a teacher. He was apparently a self-taught linguist, and allegedly spoke several different languages. To be fair, all of his work seemed to be self-taught, and his work with a doctor was probably the most disturbing.

Also disturbing was the fact that Rulloff, in between writing articles on the formation and development of language, was also a full-fledged murderer. He was tried for the murder of a store owner, which occurred during a robbery of Rulloff. He was also reported to have killed his own wife and child. Although the bodies were never found, the fact that he fled to Chicago immediately afterwards tainted his reputation with the jury, who sentenced him to ten years in prison.

His life of crime began many years ago. He was involved in a series of burglaries and robberies about 25 years ago. The shopkeeper's death was the final straw, and he was convicted and then sentenced to death. His last words before being hanged were, "Hurry up. I want to be in hell for dinner.

3. Otto Skorzeny was an SS officer… and a Mossad killer

They say that no one is a villain in their own history, but it is hard to believe that this is true about people like Otto Skorzeny. The man was a senior SS officer in the Nazi regime, and when it was overthrown, he decided to become an assassin for Israeli intelligence. Try to reconcile that in your head.

Skorzeny is known as Hitler's favorite soldier. He engaged in daring and deadly missions, including dressing up in American uniform to infiltrate enemy lines. In 1943, he flew a group of SS soldiers by glider to Italy and saved the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Hitler himself later awarded Skorzeny the Iron Cross.

After the war, he escaped prosecution and was recruited by Israel to hunt other Nazis. He agreed on the condition that he would not be killed. Former Nazi scientists were working with Egypt, and Israel feared that they had developed nuclear weapons. Skorzeny was recruited to kill the scientists , who are able to get close to the most respected and famous Nazi. This is after he is said to have trained Egyptians and helped many other Nazis escape.

No one ever killed Skorzeny or brought him to justice. He died of cancer in 1975, and his funeral was said to have been attended by Nazis.

2. Lawyer Paul Bergrin was also a powerful crime boss.

It takes a lot of work for a lawyer to become famous in the real world, but Paul Bergrin did just that. After working as a prosecutor, he became a high-profile defense attorney. His clients included mobsters, drug dealers, and celebrities. He defended rappers likeLil Kim and Naughty by Nature . He was one of the biggest names in the country. And as it turned out, he was in charge a huge criminal empire .

In 2013, Bergrin received six life sentences for using his law firm to sell drugs, prostitution, racketeering and more. Even more shockingly, he was also found guilty of conspiracy to witness murders . He was convicted on 23 charges in total. He appealed a year later and lost. In 2016, he tried for a new trial, but it was denied. As of 2020, he was still trying to convince anyone who would listen that he had new evidence, but he is still serving those six life sentences.

1. Porn star Harry Reems became a real estate agent

Few people know the name Herbert Streicher, but to a certain audience in the early 1970s, he was incredibly famous, or perhaps infamous. Streicher went by the name Harry Reems. He was a porn star and starred in perhaps the most famous adult film of all time: " Deep Throat" .

In total, he starred in more than 100 films and until his retirement in 1985. He was indicted in 1975 on charges of conspiracy to distribute obscenity and is widely regarded as the first person in America to be prosecuted simply for appearing in a movie. the sentence was overturned on appeal.

Despite his fame, Reams spent most of his later life simply as a real estate agent. He gave up drinking, which he blamed for many of his bad decisions early in life. For a time, he even found religion, though he eventually abandoned his church and went his own way in that regard. He regretted his earlier life, but was still willing to talk about it for years afterward, as the fact that he had changed his life became, as one newspaper put it, a crutch societies .