Folks from all walks of life join the military. Even some of the biggest actors of all time have spent time in the armed forces, and you might be surprised at who some of them were.
There’s no shortage of reasons why people enlist. Some join out of a simple desire to serve their country. Others join to feel a sense of purpose, to get physically fit, or to gain valuable life experience – while others, frankly, have more practical reasons, like being able to pay for college through the GI Bill, or gaining practical knowledge in some technical field that might translate into post-service job opportunities. At certain periods of our history, too, some people just get drafted.
During World War II, making movies whose storylines supported the Allied war effort was considered important enough that some Hollywood stars could easily have avoided service – but many joined up anyway, feeling that they’d rather be real soldiers or sailors than simply playing them on screen (Henry Fonda famously said “I don’t want to be in a fake war in a studio”), and some displayed some true bravery: Jimmy Stewart, for example, flew 20 missions on a B-24 Liberator bomber over Nazi-occupied Europe during the war, and retired as a brigadier general from the Air Force in 1968. (These are the best military movies of all time.)
To compile a list of famous actors who have joined the military – either voluntarily or because they were drafted – 24/7 Tempo reviewed military-related sites such as the United Service Organizations (USO) and the National WWII Museum, as well as features written for the U.S. Department of Defense. The military experience listed below is only partial in most cases.
We excluded some celebrities who served their country in wartime but were not actually in the armed forces – for instance, Betty White, who in 1941 joined the American Women’s Voluntary Services, a volunteer support organization and not part of the military. We have also omitted people who became actors after their military service – most notably Western movie star Audie Murphy, who was one of America’s most decorated soldiers in WWII, but who didn’t start acting until after the war, in 1948.
It may be hard to envision such well-known performers as Mel Brooks, Alan Alda, and Kris Kristofferson in full military dress, but they, too, served – and are just a few of the celebrities who have donned a uniform. (Many future Chief Executives of the United States were in the armed forces, as well. These are the presidents who served in the military.)
Humphrey Bogart
> Enlisted in: 1918 (Navy)
> Military experience: Served as coxswain; ferried troops between Europe and the U.S. after the armistice; tried to re-enlist during WWII but rejected due to age
> Best known for: “Casablanca,” “The African Queen,” “To Have and Have Not”
James “Jimmy” Stewart
> Enlisted in: 1941 (Army Air Corps)
> Military experience: Piloted a B-24 Liberator; served with the Strategic Air Command after 1947; retired as brigadier-general, highest rank of any actor in military history
> Best known for: “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “It’s a Wonderful Life”
Clark Gable
> Enlisted in: 1942 (Army Air Forces)
> Military experience: Flew combat missions as part of motion picture unit out of England with the U.S. 351st Bomb Group
> Best known for: “It Happened One Night,” “Gone with the Wind, and “Anatomy of a Murder”
Henry Fonda
> Enlisted in: 1942 (Navy)
> Military experience: Served as quartermaster on a destroyer; joined the Air Combat Intelligence Unit in the Pacific; served three years in Naval Reserve
> Best known for: “12 Angry Men,” “On Golden Pond,” “The Grapes of Wrath,” and “The Wrong Man”
Bea Arthur
> Enlisted in: 1943 (Marine Corps Women’s Reserve)
> Military experience: Truck driver and dispatcher; honorably discharged in 1945 with the rank of staff sergeant
> Best known for: “All in the Family,” “Maude,” “The Golden Girls”
Kirk Douglas
> Enlisted in: 1943 (Navy)
> Military experience: Gunnery and communications officer in anti-submarine warfare in the Pacific
> Best known for: “Spartacus, “The Vikings,” “Lust for Life”
Paul Newman
> Enlisted in: 1943 (Navy)
> Military experience: Trained as a radioman and rear gunner; flew with torpedo squadrons
> Best known for: “Cool Hand Luke,” “The Hustler,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”
Harry Belafonte
> Enlisted in: 1944 (Navy)
> Military experience: Loaded military ships for the Pacific theater in a segregated unit
> Best known for: “Odds Against Tomorrow,” “Kansas City,” “Bobby”
Mel Brooks
> Enlisted in: 1944 (Army)
> Military experience: Served as a combat engineer deactivating land mines and booby traps; after WWII toured army bases as an entertainer
> Best known for: “Spaceballs,” “The Producers,” and “Blazing Saddles”
Sidney Poitier
> Enlisted in: 1945 (Army)
> Military experience: Lied about his age to enlist; worked with psychiatric patients at a VA hospital
> Best known for: “In the Heat of the Night,” “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “Lilies of the Field”
Gene Hackman
> Enlisted in: 1946 (Marine Corps)
> Military experience: Lied about his age to enlist; worked as a field radio operator in China, Japan, and Hawaii
> Best known for: “The French Connection,” The Conversation,” “Unforgiven”
Steve McQueen
> Enlisted in: 1947
> Military experience: Assigned to an armored unit; demoted from PFC to private seven times; went absent without leave, resisted arrest, and served 41 days in the brig
> Best known for: “The Great Escape,” “Bullitt,” “The Getaway,” and “Papillon”
Clint Eastwood
> Drafted in: 1951 (Army)
> Military experience: Was a lifeguard and a swimming instructor at Ft. Ord, California, during the Korean War
> Best known for: “Unforgiven,” “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” “Million Dollar Baby”
James Earl Jones
> Drafted in: 1953 (Army)
> Military experience: Attended Ranger School; helped establish a cold-weather training facility in Colorado
> Best known for: “The Lion King,” Darth Vader in the first Star Wars movies, “Coming to America”
Robert Duvall
> Drafted in: 1953 (Army)
> Military experience: Served after the end of the Korean War, attaining the rank of Private First Class
> Best known for: “Apocalypse Now,” “The Apostle,” “Open Range,” “Tender Mercies”
Moses Gunn
> Drafted in: 1954 (Army)
> Military experience: Served for three years in Germany; details unknown.
> Best known for: “Shaft,” “Heartbreak Ridge,” “Ragtime,” and “Rollerball”
Morgan Freeman
> Enlisted in: 1955 (Air Force)
> Military experience: Worked as a radar repairman; discharged as an airman first class
> Best known for: “Driving Miss Daisy,” “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Se7en”
Alan Alda
> Enlisted in: 1956 (Army Reserve)
> Military experience: Served at Fort Benning; then spent six months as a gunnery officer in Korea
> Best known for: “M.A.S.H.,” “The Four Seasons,” “Crimes and Misdemeanors”
Gene Wilder
> Drafted in: 1956 (Army)
> Military experience: Joined the medical corps; served as paramedic at Valley Forge Army Hospital
> Best known for: “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein”
Chuck Norris
> Enlisted in: 1957 (Air Force)
> Military experience: Served as an Air Policeman in South Korea and California
> Best known for: “Way of the Dragon,” “Walker, Texas Ranger”
Elvis Presley
> Drafted in: 1958 (Army)
> Military experience: Served as an armor intelligents specialist with the 3rd Armored Division in Germany
> Best known for: “Girls! Girls! Girls!” “Tickle Me,” and “G.I. Blues”
Kris Kristofferson
> Enlisted in: 1960 (Army)
> Military experience: Trained as a helicopter pilot; completed Ranger School; taught English at West Point
> Best known for: “A Star Is Born,” “Blade,” “Payback”
Tom Selleck
> Enlisted in: 1967 (National Guard)
> Military experience: Served in the 160th Infantry Regiment of the California National Guard, avoiding being drafted into the army
> Best known for: “Blue Bloods,” “Magnum P.I.,” and “Three Man and a Baby”
Ice-T
> Enlisted in: 1977 (Army)
> Military experience: Served in the 25th Infantry Division; became a squad leader in Hawaii
> Best known for: “Rhyme Pays” and other rap albums, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “New Jack City”
Rob Riggle
> Enlisted in: 1990 (Marine Corps)
> Military experience: Was a public relations officer in New York City; served in Afghanistan, Kosovo, and elsewhere; retired as lieutenant-colonel
> Best known for: “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” “The Hangover,” “The Daily Show”
Jennifer Marshall
> Enlisted in: 1998 (Navy)
> Military experience: Worked in aviation logistics in California and on the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier; deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom
> Best known for: “Stranger Things,” “Timeless,” “Mysteries Decoded”
Adam Driver
> Enlisted in: 2001 (Marine Corps)
> Military experience: Enlisted after September 11; served as a mortar man with the 1st Marines
> Best known for: Star Wars films, “Marriage Story,” “Paterson”
J.R. Martinez
> Enlisted in: 2002 (Army)
> Military experience: Served with 101st Airborne Division; deployed to Iraq, where he was seriously injured by an IED
> Best known for: “All My Children,” “SAF3,” “Army Wives”