Entertainment
Cynthia Erivo Protects Ariana Grande During Scary Encounter With 'Wicked For Good' Premiere Attendee
15. Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness joined the Royal Navy at the start of the war and ended up commanding a landing craft during the 1943 invasion of Italy. He later helped supply weapons to Yugoslavian Partisans, long before he ever wielded a lightsaber on screen. | © Lucasfilm
14. Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker didn’t just entertain during WWII - she fought back. As a French Resistance spy, she smuggled secret messages in her sheet music and sheltered refugees, earning the Croix de Guerre for her bravery. | © HBO
13. Bob Barker
Before he ever picked up a mic, Bob Barker was training to be a Navy fighter pilot during WWII. The war ended before he saw combat, but he always carried that quiet sense of discipline and pride into everything he did. | © CBS
12. James Arness
Before he became Marshal Dillon, James Arness fought in the Battle of Anzio with the U.S. Army. He was badly wounded and lived with the pain for the rest of his life, but you'd never know it from the way he commanded the screen. | © Universal Pictures
11. Jason Robards
Right out of high school, Jason Robards joined the Navy and found himself in the thick of it. He survived the sinking of the USS Northampton in 1942 and later served on the USS Nashville during the invasion of Mindoro in the Philippines. | © Jason Robards
10. Kirk Douglas
Before Hollywood knew him as Kirk Douglas, he was Izzy Demsky, a Navy man serving as a communications officer in anti-submarine warfare. He was discharged in 1944 after being injured, trading the seas for the silver screen not long after. | © MGM
9. David Niven
When WWII began, David Niven left Hollywood and returned to Britain to rejoin the army he’d once served in. He helped with propaganda films and also saw real combat, including during the Normandy invasion, eventually rising to lieutenant-colonel. | © BBC
8. Clark Gable
After the tragic loss of his wife, Clark Gable enlisted in the Army Air Forces and flew combat missions over Europe as a gunner. He also put his film skills to work, creating training videos for new recruits. | © Prime Video
7. Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks joined the U.S. Army at just 17 and served in a combat engineer unit. He spent his days clearing landmines in Europe, years before trading explosives for punchlines. | © MGM
6. Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett was drafted in 1944 and sent to the front lines as an infantryman in France and Germany. He saw the brutal realities of war up close, an experience that stayed with him long after the guns fell silent. | © Paramount Pictures
5. Bea Arthur
Years before The Golden Girls, Bea Arthur was already breaking molds by joining the U.S. Marine Corps in 1943. She served as a typist and truck driver, stepping into roles few women dared to take on at the time. | © NBC
4. Paul Newman
Paul Newman wanted to fly, but color blindness grounded that dream. Instead, he served in the Pacific as a radioman aboard aircraft carriers, an experience that, he later said, shaped his sense of discipline and focus. | © Warner Bros. Pictures
3. Charles Bronson
Before he became Hollywood’s ultimate tough guy, Charles Bronson flew B-29 bombers over the Pacific as a tail gunner. He saw heavy combat, earned a Purple Heart, and brought that same hardened edge to the big screen later in life. | © United Artists
2. James Stewart
Long before his iconic Hollywood roles, James Stewart was flying real missions over Europe in WWII. A skilled pilot, he joined the U.S. Army Air Forces, flew over 20 combat missions, and quietly rose to the rank of Brigadier General, never one to brag, even when he’d earned it. | © Paramount
1. Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn wasn’t on the battlefield, but she risked her life all the same. As a teenager in Nazi-occupied Netherlands, she worked with the Dutch resistance, delivering messages right under the enemy’s nose while facing hunger and danger daily. | © Warner Bros. Pictures
