Admirable entertainment celebrities

[Leo Lakio]

The Paris Hilton thread got me thinking - which entertainment celebrities do you admire, for using their celebrity status/money to accomplish good in the world? Tell us about the lesser-knowns, rather than the Bonos and Stings of the world.
I understand the North Shore's own Jack Johnson has been involved with environmental causes.

Here's one: Michael Nesmith; yes, the ex-Monkee. He didn't make money off that TV show or their records, but he did inherit millions from his mother, who invented Liquid Paper and sold the patent to Gillette years ago. They created the Gihon Foundation, which gathers prominent thinkers from around the world, every two years, to address a single issue.

[Miulang]

Re: Admirable entertainment celebrities

Hawai'i's own Jason Scott Lee!

Miulang

[Adri]

Re: Admirable entertainment celebrities

Gary Sinise and his Lt. Dan Band for performing for charities and non-profits and especially the USO and Operation Iraqi Children.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Sinise

Also Jon Bon Jovi has done a lot of work for underprivileged children and charitable organizations.

[tikiyaki]

Re: Admirable entertainment celebrities

Joe Mantegna and his wife have a place that makes great Deep Dish Pizza right around the block from me. That's a great contribution, good Pizza is HARD to find in LA.

[tikiyaki]

Re: Admirable entertainment celebrities

On a serious note....

Sean Penn...wading through the water full of dead bodies in New Orleans at the Katrina catastrophe was pretty noble...it took our current moron in charge 5 days just to acknowledge that something actually happened, let alone DO anything about it.

[Adri]

Re: Admirable entertainment celebrities

Oh, and Denis Leary for putting his gear back on and helping the firefighters during 9/11 and for his charitable work for firefighters.

[modpirate]

Re: Admirable entertainment celebrities

I admire Bob Seger for putting his career on hold for 11 years so he could spend time with his kids.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Admirable entertainment celebrities

Here's one: Michael Nesmith; yes, the ex-Monkee. He didn't make money off that TV show or their records, but he did inherit millions from his mother, who invented Liquid Paper and sold the patent to Gillette years ago.

That is true, although it should be pointed out that Mike Nesmith has been a very successful film and music producer in his own right in the years since he left the Monkees. We're definitely not talking about a man who merely lived off the family fortune.

Getting back to the topic of the thread,... I thought I'd share one positive story about a celebrity who's gotten mostly bad publicity lately. About 6 or 7 years ago, my niece was granted her request (through the Kids Wish Network) to meet the group, 98 Degrees. I later found out that the one person who worked the hardest to make that meeting possible was Rosie O'Donnell. She used her talk show to schedule an interview with the group and then invited my niece and her family as VIP guests for the taping in NYC. Everything was first class, including the limo transportation from the hotel to the studio. She even personally met them after the show was over and took pictures. Rosie could not have been a more gracious host. Kudos to her!

[cezanne]

Re: Admirable entertainment celebrities

Harrison Ford donates his time and/or the use of his helicopter to look for missing hikers.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Admirable entertainment celebrities

That is true, although it should be pointed out that Mike Nesmith has been a very successful film and music producer in his own right in the years since he left the Monkees. We're definitely not talking about a man who merely lived off the family fortune.

Though it was the family fortune that made it possible to fund and create Pacific Arts. His post-Monkees albums for RCA, while critically acclaimed, were commercial flops - none of the Pacific Arts releases (his own or by other artists) did particularly well, either. His film productions largely have cult followings ("Repo Man" being the most successful), and Videoranch was developed after his settlement of a lawsuit with PBS regarding video distribution.

Creatively, however, there's no question he's done well, what with "Elephant Parts" gaining the first-ever long-form video Grammy, and acclaim for his first novel, "The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora" - a great read for fans of the 'magic-realism' school of writing. But none of his artistic output has made him wealthy; wise investing of mom's money and the PBS settlement were responsible.

Harrison Ford donates his time and/or the use of his helicopter to look for missing hikers.

He's also assisted in charitable causes to help Tibetans, much like Richard Gere.

[tikiyaki]

Re: Admirable entertainment celebrities

Though it was the family fortune that made it possible to fund and create Pacific Arts. His post-Monkees albums for RCA, while critically acclaimed, were commercial flops - none of the Pacific Arts releases (his own or by other artists) did particularly well, either. His film productions largely have cult followings ("Repo Man" being the most successful), and Videoranch was developed after his settlement of a lawsuit with PBS regarding video distribution.

Creatively, however, there's no question he's done well, what with "Elephant Parts" gaining the first-ever long-form video Grammy, and acclaim for his first novel, "The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora" - a great read for fans of the 'magic-realism' school of writing. But none of his artistic output has made him wealthy; wise investing of mom's money and the PBS settlement were responsible.

Not to mention the songs he DID write for the Monkees were really good ones....

[TATTRAT]

Re: Admirable entertainment celebrities

He has had minimal roles in a few select movies, and had a reality show, but I am fond of Sir Richard Branson. Seems to put his money to good causes and funds great drives for technology.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Admirable entertainment celebrities

Though it was the family fortune that made it possible to fund and create Pacific Arts. His post-Monkees albums for RCA, while critically acclaimed, were commercial flops - none of the Pacific Arts releases (his own or by other artists) did particularly well, either. His film productions largely have cult followings ("Repo Man" being the most successful), and Videoranch was developed after his settlement of a lawsuit with PBS regarding video distribution.

Creatively, however, there's no question he's done well, what with "Elephant Parts" gaining the first-ever long-form video Grammy, and acclaim for his first novel, "The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora" - a great read for fans of the 'magic-realism' school of writing. But none of his artistic output has made him wealthy; wise investing of mom's money and the PBS settlement were responsible.

I don't claim to be privy to Mike Nesmith's accounting books. But I DO know that he had a string of moderately successful hits with the First National Band in the early 1970s. (I don't consider top 40 hits like Joanne and Silver Moon to be "flops.") And in addition to all of his other songwriting/producing efforts, he was the creator of Pop Clips, a music video program. Warner bought the rights to his show and turned it into what we now know as MTV.

All of this, and much more, BEFORE Nesmith's mom died.

[Lei Liko]

Re: Admirable entertainment celebrities

As an auntie to a wonderful kid who happens to have Muscular Dystrophy, Jerry Lewis, for the years and years he's been helping raise money for the MDA.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Admirable entertainment celebrities

I don't claim to be privy to Mike Nesmith's accounting books. But I DO know that he had a string of moderately successful hits with the First National Band in the early 1970s. (I don't consider top 40 hits like Joanne and Silver Moon to be "flops.") And in addition to all of his other songwriting/producing efforts, he was the creator of Pop Clips, a music video program. Warner bought the rights to his show and turned it into what we now know as MTV.

Two hit singles out of nine albums was not particularly successful (which is why he called one disc "And The Hits Just Keep On Comin'"), and certainly didn't make him a profit when compared to the expenses of those albums over time. He also did very little touring, which is where you really made your money as a musician in the '70s. For the most part, he also stayed out of the Monkees reunion projects (with a couple of exceptions) in the '80s and '90s; he looks forward a lot more than backwards, which is why he is also credited with several of the first non-concert-footage music videos.

He did make a few thou off selling the "Pop Clips" concept (while turning down the opportunity to head up what became MTV - imagine where it might have gone in his hands!), as well as doing six episodes of "Television Parts" for NBC - which also flopped, but provided the first major national exposure for Bobcat Goldthwait, Garry Shandling and Whoopi Goldberg; I wish those shows would be issued on DVD.

All of this, and much more, BEFORE Nesmith's mom died.

Well, no. Bette died in 1980, "Pop Clips" came out in 1981. Again, the bulk of his money - far more than the projects we've discussed - came from two sources:
> Mom's estate, which was more than $50 million - he got half;
> The PBS settlement in 1999 - the jury awarded him nearly $47 million, though he settled with them in a later appeal, undoubtedly for much less, but the amount is confidential.

(Can you tell I'm a NezHead from way, way back?)

So - we've hacked this one to death. Who else do folks admire for their good works?