Polititian-packed Predator number 1?

February 24, 2008 6:34 AM

Arnold Schwartznenegger and Jesse Ventura starred together in the movie Predator. Both went on to become US state governors. Are there any other movies featuring more stars (not politicians playing themselves) who went on to become successful politicians?

Note that I said successful politicians; Fred Thompson doesn't count.

posted by donkeymon to media & arts (16 comments total)

Anything with Ronald Reagan in it springs to mind immediately.
posted by essexjan at 6:35 AM on February 24

Can you then tell us what defines a "successful politician?" Fred Thompson was senator for nine years.
posted by neustile at 6:44 AM on February 24 [1 favorite]

Sonny Bono
posted by flabdablet at 6:45 AM on February 24

Glenda Jackson

And Predator also has a failed politician it... Sonny Landham
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:52 AM on February 24

Well, what I'm looking for is not politicians who used to be actors; it's movies starring actors that went on to become politicians. So far I can't think of one that beats Predator's 2 (and a half).

I didn't know that Fred Thompson was a Senator for nine years; that certainly qualifies him as a successful politician. Was he ever in movies though? I only know him from TV. I guess TV shows with lots of stars who went on to become politicians would count too.
posted by donkeymon at 7:05 AM on February 24

Fred Grandy played Herman the German in Death Race 2000 and appeared in the film adaptation of The Lincoln Conspiracy. His most recognizable role was on television - as Gopher on The Love Boat; Grady later became a Congressman for 4 consecutive terms.
posted by Smart Dalek at 7:08 AM on February 24

Clint Eastwood was mayor of Carmel, CA.
posted by sapphirebbw at 7:21 AM on February 24

I think y'all are missing the question:

Are there movies (or tv shows?) that have more than two actors-turned-successful-politicians in them?

The Running Man also had Ahnult and Ventura, so there's at least a tie.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:39 AM on February 24

IMDB will tell you that Fred Thompson had quite a few film roles. You may find it useful for other politicians, as well.
posted by vitia at 7:40 AM on February 24

Fred Thompson doesn't count because he was a politician before he was an actor. (Campaign manager of Howard Baker's 1972 reelection campaign and minority counsel for the Senate Watergate Committee.)

I'm hoping for a Carl Weathers gubernatorial run. All he needs is this campaign photo.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:28 AM on February 24

Not exactly what you asked, but Ben Jones (Cooter from Dukes of Hazzard) became a U.S. Congressman and later played a politician in "Primary Colors."

Also John McCain had a cameo in "Wedding Crashers."
posted by Frank Grimes at 8:58 AM on February 24

Maybe it's so obvious it doesn't bear mention, but Regan was an actor for decades. I don't know enough about politics before the late 80s to know whether other actors of his vintage ever went on to political office but it seems like it might be a decent line of inquiry...
posted by the christopher hundreds at 9:08 AM on February 24

This page on IMDB may help in your search. It allows you to put in names of actors/actresses and search for films they've appeared together in. Unfortunately, you can't put in a long list of people, as it only returns films where all the people entered appeared.
posted by hootch at 9:08 AM on February 24

The American actor-politician category page at Wikipedia should help a lot.

Also, while not listed there, Ben Stein has done both acting and politics. His political positions were appointed (or hired), rather than elected.
posted by tomwheeler at 9:30 AM on February 24

The question is what movies have multiple actors who later became politicians in them. The first movie I thought of was 1943's This is the Army starring song-and-danceman a future U.S. Senator George Murphy and Ronald Reagan. Reagan appointed actor John Gavin to be U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, but I don't think they were any movies together.
posted by Ranucci at 10:54 AM on February 24

Ranucci beat me to it.
posted by briank at 12:56 PM on February 24