Jailed US Celebrities
June 14, 2005 8:37 AM Subscribe
Name 5 US Celebrities to have gone to jail that aren't boxers or rap stars.
Because, apart from Christian Slater, I can't think of any.
Because, apart from Christian Slater, I can't think of any.
Look under "Hollywood" right here. There's a ton of 'em.
posted by PantsOfSCIENCE at 8:41 AM on June 14, 2005
posted by PantsOfSCIENCE at 8:41 AM on June 14, 2005
How far back in history are we going, how long of a sentence are we talking, and where do you draw the line about who's a celebrity?
Anyway, Martha Stewart and James Brown probably fit the criteria you have in mind. Martin Luther King probably doesn't.
posted by box at 8:41 AM on June 14, 2005
Anyway, Martha Stewart and James Brown probably fit the criteria you have in mind. Martin Luther King probably doesn't.
posted by box at 8:41 AM on June 14, 2005
Nick Nolte. Robert Blake (not convicted but definitely went to jail). Johnny Cash. Heidi Fleiss (celebrity???). Vince Neil from Motley Crue. Shannon Doherty.
posted by spicynuts at 8:43 AM on June 14, 2005
posted by spicynuts at 8:43 AM on June 14, 2005
Martha Stewart, Lenny Bruce for two. Further, ,you might want to define celebrity here. For instance, I would consider G Gordon Liddy celebrity, but I guess the crime came first.
posted by SteveInMaine at 8:45 AM on June 14, 2005
posted by SteveInMaine at 8:45 AM on June 14, 2005
Um...Martha Stewart, Robert Downey Junior, Steve Madden (how are we defining celebrity), Daryl Strawberry. That's off the top of my head.
Gone to jail = in the lockup (eg held overnight)
or sentenced to jail time? (I think only the former applies to Cash).
posted by cushie at 8:47 AM on June 14, 2005
Gone to jail = in the lockup (eg held overnight)
or sentenced to jail time? (I think only the former applies to Cash).
posted by cushie at 8:47 AM on June 14, 2005
And there are a lot of people who attained celebrity partially by being criminals (serial killers, mafiosos and political radicals spring to mind).
posted by box at 8:50 AM on June 14, 2005
posted by box at 8:50 AM on June 14, 2005
There's a little pizza joint near our house that has all sorts of fun Hollywood stuff on its walls. The wall near the entrance is plastered with celebrity mug shots. It's great fun.
posted by jdroth at 8:52 AM on June 14, 2005
posted by jdroth at 8:52 AM on June 14, 2005
Response by poster: I was thinking more of actually convicted, not just 'held in the cells because they were too drunk to focus' type thing.
For it to count, they must have done time AFTER they became famous, so Tim Allen doesn't count.
posted by BigCalm at 8:52 AM on June 14, 2005
For it to count, they must have done time AFTER they became famous, so Tim Allen doesn't count.
posted by BigCalm at 8:52 AM on June 14, 2005
or sentenced to jail time? (I think only the former applies to Cash).
Johnny Cash never actually spent more than a night or so in jail.
Tommy Lee spent six months or so for beating up/defending himself against Pamela Anderson.
posted by togdon at 9:07 AM on June 14, 2005
Johnny Cash never actually spent more than a night or so in jail.
Tommy Lee spent six months or so for beating up/defending himself against Pamela Anderson.
posted by togdon at 9:07 AM on June 14, 2005
Robert Mitchum did time (about 2 months I seem to remember) for, all things, getting caught with a little weed in his pocket. When people asked him what jail was like he said it was "like Palm Springs without the riff-raff"
the coolest white man ever, with the possible exception of Johnny Cash
posted by matteo at 9:08 AM on June 14, 2005
the coolest white man ever, with the possible exception of Johnny Cash
posted by matteo at 9:08 AM on June 14, 2005
heh, richat beat me on the Mitchum thing
defending himself against Pamela Anderson.
even considering her massive cleavage as a weapon, I still think that a pretty tall man like Lee has a definite advantage over a small woman like Anderson, frankly. I have so very little sympathy for the plight of a jailed wife-beater
posted by matteo at 9:11 AM on June 14, 2005
defending himself against Pamela Anderson.
even considering her massive cleavage as a weapon, I still think that a pretty tall man like Lee has a definite advantage over a small woman like Anderson, frankly. I have so very little sympathy for the plight of a jailed wife-beater
posted by matteo at 9:11 AM on June 14, 2005
dobbs wins.
posted by fingers_of_fire at 9:25 AM on June 14, 2005
posted by fingers_of_fire at 9:25 AM on June 14, 2005
Kevin Mitnick
posted by Four Flavors at 9:25 AM on June 14, 2005
posted by Four Flavors at 9:25 AM on June 14, 2005
Oh, and Dalton Trumbo, Oscar Wilde, and Ring Lardner Jr. And possibly Norman Mailer and Billy Burroughs.
posted by dobbs at 9:30 AM on June 14, 2005
posted by dobbs at 9:30 AM on June 14, 2005
I think Tom Sizemore (Black Hawk Down, Red Planet, Relic) did at least some time for beating up Heidi Fleiss.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:33 AM on June 14, 2005
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:33 AM on June 14, 2005
oh, crap, you said American. Doestoevsky and Wilde aren't American. :)
My others are, though. Adrian Scott and Sam Ornitz, Albert Maltz, and John Howard Lawson as well, but that might be cheating.
(And possibly James Ellroy--I can't remember.)
And what about Charlie Parker and other jazz greats? I'm sure there were a slew of them who got pinched for drugs or working without a union card.
posted by dobbs at 9:35 AM on June 14, 2005
My others are, though. Adrian Scott and Sam Ornitz, Albert Maltz, and John Howard Lawson as well, but that might be cheating.
(And possibly James Ellroy--I can't remember.)
And what about Charlie Parker and other jazz greats? I'm sure there were a slew of them who got pinched for drugs or working without a union card.
posted by dobbs at 9:35 AM on June 14, 2005
Johnny Cash never actually spent more than a night or so in jail.
Merle Haggard, on the other hand...
Sonny Rollins for heroin.
posted by kenko at 9:38 AM on June 14, 2005
Merle Haggard, on the other hand...
Sonny Rollins for heroin.
posted by kenko at 9:38 AM on June 14, 2005
dobbs - on a point of pedantry, Oscar Wilde was British and was imprisoned in Britain (hence this).
posted by prentiz at 9:39 AM on June 14, 2005
posted by prentiz at 9:39 AM on June 14, 2005
Tom Sizemore's currently in jail for drug charges so he definitely counts.
posted by xmutex at 9:54 AM on June 14, 2005
posted by xmutex at 9:54 AM on June 14, 2005
Oh, and what about Edward Bunker (though he was in jail then out of jail then became a celebrity then went back to jail) and... whatshisface... the guy Mailer got freed who then killed again and went back to jail?
And did Matthew Broderick ever do time for killing that girl (I think it was)? I know it was in Europe but he's American.
posted by dobbs at 10:09 AM on June 14, 2005
And did Matthew Broderick ever do time for killing that girl (I think it was)? I know it was in Europe but he's American.
posted by dobbs at 10:09 AM on June 14, 2005
And did Matthew Broderick ever do time for killing that girl (I think it was)? I know it was in Europe but he's American.
Nope, he just paid a fine to the family.
posted by Alison at 10:25 AM on June 14, 2005
Nope, he just paid a fine to the family.
posted by Alison at 10:25 AM on June 14, 2005
>And what about Charlie Parker and other jazz greats? I'm sure there were a slew of them who got pinched for drugs or working without a union card.
Frank Morgan, Gene Ammons, Art Pepper. Miles had a long rap sheet, apparently. Gene Krupa, Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker. Dexter Gordon, Elvin Jones.
Good point about the union cards - but most of these went up on posession charges. Frank Morgan went in on forgery, Miles has weapons offences, too. I'm not sure how many of these players are/were "celebrities", though.
Lenny Bruce, maybe? Frank Sinatra was charged with "seduction" as everyone going to an Imaginus show knows.
posted by philfromhavelock at 11:27 AM on June 14, 2005
Frank Morgan, Gene Ammons, Art Pepper. Miles had a long rap sheet, apparently. Gene Krupa, Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker. Dexter Gordon, Elvin Jones.
Good point about the union cards - but most of these went up on posession charges. Frank Morgan went in on forgery, Miles has weapons offences, too. I'm not sure how many of these players are/were "celebrities", though.
Lenny Bruce, maybe? Frank Sinatra was charged with "seduction" as everyone going to an Imaginus show knows.
posted by philfromhavelock at 11:27 AM on June 14, 2005
Broderick (from here):
Tragedy struck again in 1987, when Broderick and [Jennifer] Grey - who were visiting his family's Irish vacation home - were driving in Northern Ireland. Broderick was behind the wheel on a country road when he collided head-on with another car. The crash broke Broderick's leg and, worse, killed the two Irishwomen in the other car. Broderick pleaded guilty to a reckless-driving charge and was fined $175. The event still haunts him, and he doesn't like to discuss it. "I don't feel comfortable spouting off," he says, "because the families of those women who were killed don't get to."
The accident sent Broderick into psychotherapy. Then, a year later, his therapist died as well. "I've experienced a lot of death," Broderick has said. "But experiencing it doesn't make you any more comfortable with it."
Huh. I didn't know that.
posted by Hankins at 11:42 AM on June 14, 2005
Tragedy struck again in 1987, when Broderick and [Jennifer] Grey - who were visiting his family's Irish vacation home - were driving in Northern Ireland. Broderick was behind the wheel on a country road when he collided head-on with another car. The crash broke Broderick's leg and, worse, killed the two Irishwomen in the other car. Broderick pleaded guilty to a reckless-driving charge and was fined $175. The event still haunts him, and he doesn't like to discuss it. "I don't feel comfortable spouting off," he says, "because the families of those women who were killed don't get to."
The accident sent Broderick into psychotherapy. Then, a year later, his therapist died as well. "I've experienced a lot of death," Broderick has said. "But experiencing it doesn't make you any more comfortable with it."
Huh. I didn't know that.
posted by Hankins at 11:42 AM on June 14, 2005
Here are arrests of all kinds of famoous people. It's not necessarily people who were jailed, but it's a decent start.
posted by abbyladybug at 11:45 AM on June 14, 2005
posted by abbyladybug at 11:45 AM on June 14, 2005
Those kids from Different Strokes. You know, Willis and the crack smoker.
posted by klangklangston at 12:45 PM on June 14, 2005
posted by klangklangston at 12:45 PM on June 14, 2005
Merle Haggard watched Johnny Cash in San Quentin from the first row.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 1:13 PM on June 14, 2005
posted by The Jesse Helms at 1:13 PM on June 14, 2005
James Brown. Ray Charles.
I don't know if you'd call him a celebrity, but Jim Gordon, studio drummer and co-author of "Layla" was sentenced to 16 years to life for the murder of his mother. He's serving his sentence in Atascadero State Hospital.
posted by timeistight at 2:00 PM on June 14, 2005
I don't know if you'd call him a celebrity, but Jim Gordon, studio drummer and co-author of "Layla" was sentenced to 16 years to life for the murder of his mother. He's serving his sentence in Atascadero State Hospital.
posted by timeistight at 2:00 PM on June 14, 2005
Oops! Ray Charles was arrsted and convicted of heroin possession, but did not serve any time in jail.
posted by timeistight at 2:04 PM on June 14, 2005
posted by timeistight at 2:04 PM on June 14, 2005
Do you mean jail or prison? Jail is the place you go when you get arrested. Prison is the place you go when you are convicted.
Jail's pretty easy to name a ton of celebs, prison not so much.
Example: Russell Crowe went to jail, but not to prison
posted by falconred at 2:54 PM on June 14, 2005
Jail's pretty easy to name a ton of celebs, prison not so much.
Example: Russell Crowe went to jail, but not to prison
posted by falconred at 2:54 PM on June 14, 2005
Steve Earle. He did four and a half months of a year sentence in 1994.
posted by essexjan at 3:08 PM on June 14, 2005
posted by essexjan at 3:08 PM on June 14, 2005
even considering her massive cleavage as a weapon, I still think that a pretty tall man like Lee has a definite advantage over a small woman like Anderson, frankly. I have so very little sympathy for the plight of a jailed wife-beater
He claims in The Dirt that she came at him with a frying pan, but yeah...
posted by togdon at 3:57 PM on June 14, 2005
He claims in The Dirt that she came at him with a frying pan, but yeah...
posted by togdon at 3:57 PM on June 14, 2005
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Coffeemate at 8:40 AM on June 14, 2005