Helen Zaltzman, of the Answer Me This podcasts, will appear on Sky.Com News at 7.30pm tonight. She offers her take on the former jobs held by celebrities which is one of the stories moving up the web today.
To find out what else will be on tonight's Sky.Com News, click here.
Traditionally, showbiz CVs show nothing but a stint of bar-tending or waitressing spoiling the path from Italia Conti to a music/TV career (via the occasional embarrassing advert or appearance as ‘Burns victim’ in Holby City).
However the public imagination far prefers a good ‘rags to riches’ story, the raggier the better.
For who could begrudge Warren Beatty’s success when he used to catch rats for a living? Or that of erstwhile mental hospital orderly Mick Jagger? Or former tarmac-spreader Boris Karloff?
The knowledge that, say, pre-fame Tim Allen and Johnny Vaughan each spent time in prison for drug-dealing adds a frisson of ‘The Boy Done Good’ to their subsequent achievements, even though non-showbiz employers might be rather put off.
Even a fairly prosaic job becomes intriguing when it is rapidly followed by stadium rock or Hollywood stardom. Did Jon Bon Jovi have a poodle perm when he used to make Christmas decorations? How much of Dustin Hoffman’s acting has been informed by his spell moonlighting as a Yellow Pages typist and Hawaiian lei-threader?
Some of these starter-jobs indeed seem pleasingly apposite, for example Boy George getting fired from Tesco for wearing the carrier bags.
But best of all is the Plucking From Obscurity of a star-to-be, the modern equivalent of the classic fairy-tale pattern of a prince you’ve only met once taking you for his bride.
A photographer spotted 16-year-old Cindy Crawford as she worked her summer job pollinating corn; carpenter Harrison Ford was discovered when he was fitting some cabinets for George Lucas; while David Lynch was so taken with the driver taking him to Roy Orbison’s memorial service that he gave him a regular role in Twin Peaks.
But why the perennial fascination with a celebrity’s former life of obscurity? I can only guess that such tales of serendipity breed the hope that one day, Harvey Weinstein will just happen to be sauntering through your office and be so struck by the panache with which you filled that spreadsheet that he offers you a three-picture deal with Miramax.
Thus far as many a cv they do provide many a joyous moments for [Laura Branigan] to maintain a level of [Self Control. None the less whether such forthcoming actors be celebs, quality remains to be seen. Other than that, heres mine Sky.
Posted by: Khalid 8 Feb 2008 09:55:41
I live in the UK are closest
neighbours are european, but
when I watch sky news I keep thinking I am in the USA
Please can you make your news channel geographically relevant I dont care whats happening 3,000 miles away just in the UK and in Europe.
Mr Murdoch is to powerfull
big brother is hear and is
pro american
Posted by: Steve Liverpool 7 Feb 2008 19:00:44