Many celebrities did normal jobs before courting celebrityhood. Some of the best rock stars include Gene Simmons and Sting, who were teachers before they became famous. However, have you ever heard of lawyers becoming celebrities? If you have not heard about it, here are a few examples of lawyers leaving their law practice before choosing celebrityhood. They certainly chose green pastures, and thankfully, for them, it worked in their favor.
Peter Garrett
Peter Garett, a musician, and Australian politician is credited for the band Midnight Oil from 1973 to 2002. Some of the hits belted out by the band remain the 1988 hit Beds Are Burning.
Midnight Oil became very popular in Australia, and they are famous for their rock hits and condoning political activism. However, what makes Garrett a part of this list is that he attended the University of New South Wales, where he received his law degree. After the band broke up, he went on to pursue politics full time. He is now a Labour Party MP in Australia’s House of Representatives.
John Grisham
John Grisham has kept his readers glued to their books and screens with his taut legal thrillers. However, have you ever wondered how does he make his book sound so authentic? Well, he practiced law in Mississippi for a decade specializing in personal injury law and criminal defense.
Of course, you may have seen his books come live on screens. Some of his most popular books that turned into a screenplay for movies remain The Firm, The Pelican Brief, and A Time to Kill. He has over 275 million books in print, in as many as 40 languages and counting.
John Cleese
Actor John Cleese was not a lawyer in the true sense of the word, but his educational background at the Downing College in Cambridge proves that he came to Hollywood armed with a law degree. Of course, if acting did not work for him, he had a backup plan in law. Cleese’s best work remains Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Of course, other films are a part of his acting CVs, such as A Fish Called Wanda, The Pink Panther, and Shrek.
Scott Turow
Scott Turow, the lawyer-turned-author, has nine best-selling books to his name, including the one that set off his writing career, Presumed Innocent, which had a film adaptation too. Many of his other books have also had TV movies adaptations. Although he has met with great success as a writer, Scott prefers to continue his law practice in Chicago. His specialty lies in white-collar criminal defense and pro bono cases.
Wallace Stevens
There is another writer in this list of lawyer-turned-celebrities, the American modernist poet Wallace Stevens. After completing his degree, he attended the New York Law School, and he worked as a lawyer for an insurance company in Hartford, Connecticut.
Of course, he never stopped writing poetry. Still, he continued his legal work throughout his life despite winning several awards and accolades for his work, including a Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1955. Finally, he also became the vice-president of the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company. His literary work also holds major importance as school children read it in their textbooks.
Howard Cosell
People love Howard Cosell’s candid sportscasting style. But, he wasn’t always a sportscaster. He used to practice law before taking on the role of a broadcaster.
His specialization was union law in Manhattan, and he has also been the attorney of choice for several athletes and Little League of New York. Cosell was first asked to host a radio show for ABC that had Little League players, which he continued to do for three years, without pay, and of course, it became a part of sports broadcasting history.
Howard K. Stern
Howard K. Stern’s career as a lawyer began at the UCLA law school in 1994. His firm grabbed eyeballs as the firm handled the legal affairs of the model and billionaire J. Howard Marshall’s widow, Anna Nicole Smith. Stern also made headway in The Anna Nicole Show as her’ domestic partner’, manager, and co-star. Although his stint in the show was mired with controversy, it set off Stern’s showbiz career.
Can you think of any other lawyers who later became celebrities? If yes, write to us in the comments section below.