Check out the list of Top 10 Celebrities Turned into Politicians –
Celebrities Turned into Politicians
Ronald Reagan
Certainly the most famous performer-turned-politician in history, actor Ronald Reagan was elected President of the United States in 1981 after serving as Governor of California. Prior to entering politics, Reagan worked for Warner Brothers Studios for seven years, where he worked on various films; he also served in the United States Army Air Force’s Motion Picture Unit, and was president of the Screen Actors Guild for seven times from 1947 and 1960!
John Davis Lodge
From the 1930s to the 1940s, Lodge was a stage and screen star (“Little Women,” “The Scarlet Empress”), but he earned a new name for himself when he was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1947. From 1951 to 1955, he was Governor of Connecticut, and for the next three decades, he served as US Ambassador to Spain, Argentina, and Switzerland.
George Murphy
Murphy, a star of countless musical films during the early days of talking pictures, predated Reagan and Lodge. Murphy received an honorary Oscar in 1950 for “services in interpreting the film industry to the country at large,” and served as President of the Screen Actors Guild from 1944 to 1946. Murphy was elected as a Republican senator from California in 1964, and he is the only senator with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame to this day.
Helen Gahagan Douglas
This 1920s Broadway star (and star of the 1935 film “She”) made history by becoming the first Democratic woman elected to Congress from California. She served in the United States House of Representatives from 1945 to 1951, advocating for women’s and civil rights. She campaigned for the United States Senate in 1950, but lost to Richard Nixon, earning him the legendary nickname “Tricky Dick.”
Fred Grandy
Grandy, a renowned comedy actor in the 1970s and 1980s (he was on “Maude” and portrayed Gopher on “The Love Boat”), was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1986 and served four terms. He ran for Governor of Iowa in 1994, but lost by a narrow margin. Grandy was most recently featured in Season 3 of “The Mindy Project.”
Ben Jones
Jones, best known as Cooter on the long-running television show “The Dukes of Hazzard,” had a second career as a Democrat representing Georgia in the United States House of Representatives. Jones served from 1989 to 1993, and after losing his seat in 1994, he returned to acting, writing, and other endeavors.
Shirley Temple Black
No one could have predicted that this renowned child actor’s career would extend well beyond her scores of family flicks. The legendary ringlet and tap-shoe-wearing star of the 1930s and 1940s left show business in 1950 and began a career in foreign service with the United Nations General Assembly in 1969. She was named the 18th Chief of Protocol of the United States and the US Ambassador to Czechoslovakia after becoming the US Ambassador to Ghana in 1974.
Fred Thompson
Thompson’s twin occupations worked in parallel in 2002, when he played District Attorney Arthur Branch on “Law & Order” while still serving as a United States Senator from Tennessee. He left show business in 2007 to run for the Republican presidential nomination, but dropped out the following year. He served as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs from 2001 to 2003.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Schwarzenegger, dubbed “The Governator,” astonished fans by putting his acting career on hold to become the 38th Governor of California from 2003 to 2011. After Gray Davis was notably recalled from his position, the former Mr. Universe was elected to replace him, and he was re-elected in 2006.
Al Franken
Franken, best known as a writer and performer on “Saturday Night Live,” left the world of comedy (largely) behind when he was elected U.S. Senator from Minnesota in 2009. He is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and is now serving his second term in Minnesota.