Whether they were drafted during wartime, signed up as proud patriots, or simply enlisted as a way to get their lives in order (or in order to avoid jail time!), these celebrities stepped up and earned their stars and stripes!
Elvis Presley
By the timeElvis Presleyreceived his draft notice in 1957, he’d had already topped the charts with “Heartbreak Hotel” and scandalized the pearl clutches with his swinging hips on theMilton Berle show. But rather than trying to pull the star card to shirk service, the hit-maker traded his blue suede shoes for army fatigues.
“The army can do anything it wants with me,” Presley said. “Millions of other guys have been drafted and I don’t want to be different from anyone else.” The army chose to deploy him to 1st Medium Tank Battalion, 32d Armor in Friedberg, Germany. He was honorably discharged in 1960.
James Stewart
Jimmy Stewartwas already an Oscar nominee and a trained pilot when he tried to enlist in the Army, but he was initially rejected for being underweight. After a bit of bulking up, theRear Windowstar joined the Army Air Corps in 1941, where he rose from private to colonel in just four years.
Stewart received twelve military and civilian, honors including the Distinguished Service Medal and two Distinguished Flying Crosses. In 1959, the two-time Academy Award -winner was named Brigadier General, which according tomilitary.com, makes him the highest ranking entertainer in US military history. He remained active in the reserves until 1968.
Bea Arthur
It sounds like a zany scenario Dorothy might have found herself in onGolden Girls,butBea Arthurserved as a truck driver for the United States Marine Corps Woman’s Reserve during world War II, when, at the age of 21, the futureMaudestar enlisted in early 1943.
In addition to driving, the star served as a typist and rose to the rank of staff sergeant before receiving an honorable discharge in 1945. Her personality appraisal sheet described Arthur as “argumentative and Officious–but probably a good worker–if she has her own way!” Dorothy would no doubt be proud.
Drew Carey
Before he presided over pricing games and the big wheel as the host ofThe Price Is Right,Drew Careyserved in the United States Marine Corps Reserves from 1981-1987. It was during this time the future star ofThe Drew Carey Showfirst started doing standup.
“While in the Marine Reserves, I was looking for a way to make some more money, and it was suggested I try using my jokes,” the funnyman, later said, adding. “I knew that once I left the Reserves, I would give back to the military, so I teamed up with USO.”
Chuck Norris
FromMissing in Action’sColonial James Braddock to Major Scott McCoy inThe Delta Force,Chuck Norrisis no stranger to playing military men in the movies. And theWalker Texas Rangerstar served in real life as well. Chuck joined the Air Force in 1958 as an air policeman in South Korea.
And his stint in the military serendipitously aided his martial arts career when Chuck discovered some locals performing Tan Soo Do while on a walk. “I was mesmerized by their incurable ability,” he recounted. The star was smitten and began an intensive study and left Korea with a black belt.
Before donning her silver bracelets inWonder Woman,Gal Gadotspent six months of intensive training, spending hours in the gym and learning fight choreographers for the flick. But the actress says she was well prepared for all that from her stint in the Israeli Army. “The military gave me good training for Hollywood.”
In theJustice Leaguestar’s native Israel, military service is required of everyone over 18, and Gadot dutifully served two years as a combat instructor. And she says her service helped her land one of her first roles in theFast & Furiousfranchise, “the director…wanted to use my knowledge of weapons.”
Facing limited prospects after high school, Tracy Lauren Marrow—akaIce-T—began selling drugs until his situation changed at 19. “When I had my daughter I was like, man, I’m going to go to jail, I got to do something, and I went to an enlistment office,” he has said.
The “Cop-Killer” rapper served four years in the Army’s 25th Infantry division stationed in Hawaii’s Tropic Lighting Schofield Barracks. It proved a good run. “But when I come back from the Army, I’m back in trouble again because that’s what my friends were doing,” ICE-T has said. Luckily hip hop turned him around.
Clint Eastwood
He’s played countless action heroes, butClint Eastwoodstarred in his own adventure while serving in the US Army during the Korean War. In 1951 theDirty Harrystar—who was stationed stateside as a lifeguard at Fort Ord—was on a military aircraft from Seattle to Sacramento when the inter-communications system failed.
Their Douglas AD-1 crashed into the Pacific, and the Oscar-winner and the pilot had to swim two miles back to shore. “I thought I might [not] live,” said Eastwood, who reached the rank of corporal. “I kept my eyes on the lights on shore and kept swimming.”
Adam Driver
Before he turned to the Dark Side as Kylo Ren in theStar Warsfilms,Adam Driverserved in the US marines. At 17, he enlisted after the 9/11 attacks. “I joined…filled with a sense of patriotism and retribution and the desire to do something,” Driver has said.
TheGirlsleading man served two years stateside as a lance corporal in the 1st battalion, 1st marines weapons company, but broke his sternum in a biking accident and was medically discharged before his unit deployed to Iraq. “To not get to go with that group. . .was. . .painful,” he said.
OnMAS*H,Alan Aldaplayed Captain Hawkeye Pierce—a wisecracking Army doc in the Korean War who becomes the chief of surgery. Alda’s real military stint is bit less grand. “My Wikipedia page says I served. . . as a gunnery officer, but that’s actually not true,” he has said.
“I served briefly in the Army Reserve, and was deployed for about six months. They had designs of making me into an officer but, uh … it didn’t go so well. I was in charge of a mess tent. Some of that made it into the show.” Lucky for viewers!
