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A Condition Of Being Famous

The first celebrities of the ancient world were the powerful and fascinating gods of Greek and Roman pantheons. (In fact, the word "celebrity" has its roots in the language of the ancient Roman civilization. The word we now know to mean as “a condition of being "famous" or "a famous person" derived from the Latin word celeber, meaning "frequented or populous.") Citizens of these civilizations believed the gods had a direct impact on their lives, and it was, therefore, important to know about the gods' personal lives. This need to know led to the creation of myths, which personalized the gods and involved them in ancient celebrity scandals that titillated and excited the common people. While monarchs and political leaders were also important celebrities of the time, their fame could not compete with that of the gods.

During ancient civilization, amateur and professional athletes also began to make an impact on the celebrity culture. Victors in the ancient Olympic games were treated as hometown heroes and were often elevated to god-like status. In the ancient Roman civilization, gladiators (the equivalent of today's professional athletes) were also revered by the common people for their heroics and seemingly superhuman strength.

Hollywood's Hottest Keira Knightley Peak Hotness: Domino Harvey in Domino Since Keira usually sports corsets or pirate costumes (and makes a more convincing dude than Johnny Depp or Orlando Bloom), it was refreshing to see her play a leather-clad, nunchuk-wielding badass who disarms guys with lap-dances. And by "refreshing," we mean "extremely hot." Elizabeth Hurley Peak Hotness: Satan in Bedazzled In the movie, Liz decided that the Dark Lord of Hell would, naturally, be really into playing dress-up: As a hot cop, a hot schoolteacher, and (yes!) a hot cheerleader. The whole thing is like the sexiest Halloween party you´ve ever been to…just as long as you ignore Brendan Fraser. Sharon Stone Peak Hotness: Catherine Tramell in Basic Instinct Stone has never been hotter than this (see the unfortunate Basic Instinct 2). Her ice queen killer was so goddamn sexy, the flower of her womanhood alone was enough to hypnotize and entire room full of cops (and moviegoers). Shannon Elizabeth Peak Hotness: Nadia in American Pie Screenwriter Fantasy #101: The scathingly hot foreign exchange student who is inexplicably turned on by nerds. Wish-fulfillment has never looked so good, and neither has Shannon. We want the scene of her patting her "tummy" while looking at herself topless in the mirror installed on tiny LCD screens inside our eyelids. Jennifer Lopez Peak Hotness: Karen Sisco in Out of Sight Sultry. Seductive. Smoother than single malt Scotch. Man, George Clooney is something. And he needed a love interest that could match him. Lopez fit the bill (and the skirts) on all counts. The scene where she´s wearing nothing but short shorts and a Miami Dolphins jersey should not be viewed by anyone with a heart condition (that means you, Dennis Farina). Diane Lane Peak Hotness: Ellen Aim in Streets of Fire First, credit where credit is due: Even though she´s on the other side of 40, Lane is still smoking. But her role as a tough cookie pop singer in a strange, possibly futuristic world is unbeatable. She´s like some hybrid of Jessica Rabbit and a less-butch Joan Jett. Jordana Brewster Peak Hotness: Lucy Diamond in D.E.B.S. We actually should be complaining that Jordana is the only actress in this movie to not wear a schoolgirl outfit at any point. Still, her lovestruck lesbian criminal mastermind is like that comic book-and-Nyquil-fueled fever dream you had when you were 13. Halle Berry Peak Hotness: Jinx in Die Another Day If Billy Bob Thornton´s scrawny ass still didn´t give us night terrors, we´d have probably gone with her role in Monster´s ("I wanna feel goooood…") Ball. But watching Ms. Berry (if you´re nasty) emerge from the water in an orange bikini was so powerful, even Pierce Brosnan almost, for a second, seemed interested in women. Rosario Dawson Peak Hotness: Roxanne in Alexander Oliver Stone´s epic about Alexander the Great was pretty much a mess, but he fell back on an old trick to keep us interested: The ample bare breasts of a hot actress. Rosario´s "part sex, part Greco-Roman wrestling" match with Colin Farrell was more entrancing than the "part battle scene, part bad LSD at a Dead show" climax. Jessica Biel Peak Hotness: Erin in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre First of all, we could care less what, exactly, was causing Biel to sweat through her wife-beater-hell, it could have been The Texas Spin Class Massacre, just as long as she was drenched and breathing heavily. Uma Thurman Peak Hotness: Cecile in Dangerous Liaisons It´s a special woman who can steal a movie away from a still-in-her-prime Michelle Pfeiffer, but Uma pulled it off (in every possible sense of that term). Bonus for ripping her bodice in a flick that makes us look like we have taste when we rent it, not like we´re drooling freaks (which is every other time). Cameron Diaz Peak Hotness: Tina Carlyle in The Mask One scene. That´s all it took to launch Cameron´s career. All she had to do was walk into a bank on a rainy day and bend over, and her cleavage did the rest. Actually, her cleavage would also like to take this moment to personally apologize to you for In Her Shoes. Jennifer Connelly Peak Hotness: Josie McClellan in Career Opportunities Even sporting some baby fat and rocking a unibrow, Connelly still comes in at #3. Not impressed? She also did the impossible by temporarily making the world jealous of Frank Whaley. Oh, yeah, she´s that good. Jessica Alba Peak Hotness: Honey Daniels in Honey All thick dark hair and bare midriffs as hip hop choreographer Honey, Alba popped and locked her taught body in mind-altering ways. Considering that she´s now going generically blonde, it´s better to remember her here, at her multi-ethnic best. Angelina Jolie Peak Hotness: Gia Carangi in Gia Which part of supermodel junkie lesbian do you not understand? That´s right, before she was trying to feed or adopt the world into submission, she was doing scene after scene of girl-on-girl action. She may be above it all now, but we have our memories (and DVD).

As print media expanded into film and radio in the early 1900s, movie stars began to be the true A-list celebrities. The bright lights and warm sun of Hollywood became a perfect setting for the city of the stars, and the lives of these celebrities became increasingly more interesting to regular people. As radio began to make its way into the average home in the 1920s and 1930s, professional athletes also began to take on star status, as their games and exploits could be broadcast over the air for an entirely new audience. The rise of television in the 1950s only cemented the premier level of celebrity film stars, professional athletes, and television actors now shared. While political and religious figures would still maintain some celebrity, their fame paled in comparison to the new celebrities of the modern era.

Some professional activities, by the nature of being high-paid, highly exposed, and difficult to get into, are likely to confer celebrity status. For example, movie stars and television actors with lead roles on prominently scheduled shows are likely to become celebrities. High-ranking politicians, national television reporters, daytime television show hosts, supermodels, successful athletes and chart-topping pop musicians are also likely to become celebrities. A few humanitarian leaders such as Mother Teresa have even achieved fame because of their charitable work.

While some film and theatre directors, producers, artists, authors, trial lawyers and journalists are celebrities, the vast majority are not, or they garner much less celebrity than their professional importance in the business might seem to warrant.

Individuals with their own television show (or sections of television shows) often become a celebrity, even when their profession would not normally lead to celebrity status: this can include doctors, chefs, gardeners, and conservationists on shows like Trading Spaces and The Crocodile Hunter. However fame based on one program may often prove short-lived after a program is discontinued.

Red Skelton

July 18, 1913 – September 17, 1997

Hollywood has seen the coming and going of many comic geniuses, but only a select few have been as universally beloved as gentle, low-key Red Skelton and his cavalcade of characters that included the clown Freddie the Freeloader, the goofy Clem Kadiddlehopper, and his seagulls Gertrude and Heathcliffe.

That many of his best characters were clowns comes as no surprise for Skelton's father was a circus clown who died two months before Skelton was born Bernard Richard Skelton in Vincennes, IN. Skelton's mother was a charwoman and barely earned enough for them to get by. They were so poor that the comedian began singing for pennies on the street when he was only seven. At age ten, Skelton quit school and joined a traveling medicine show. He gained further experience on the burlesque and vaudeville circuits and on showboats. He became a standup comic in the early '30s, playing one-night gigs in small nightclubs.

His big break came after he developed a mimed donut-dunking routine that led to his employment at the Paramount Theater and then to a successful radio career and a long-running show during which he developed most of his characters. Skelton made his screen debut playing Itchy Falkner in Having a Wonderful Time (1938). He billed himself as Richard "Red" Skelton. Contracted to MGM during the '40s and '50s, Skelton played character roles and the occasional lead in numerous films, many of which were musicals and comedies. In 1951, Skelton launched a variety show that would alternately air on CBS and NBC until 1971. It was there that Skelton developed his characters and gained his most devoted following. Each show would begin with Skelton holding an unlit cigar and offering a warm greeting and doing a brief monologue; it would also contain a "silent spot" in which Skelton demonstrated his mastery of pantomime.

All of the characters he created on radio made regular appearances, as did a brand new one, Freddy the Freeloader, a silent clown who could be as pathetic as he was funny. Musical accompaniment was provided by David Rose and his orchestra. Rose had been with Skelton since his radio days. From the series' beginning to its end, Skelton would finish his show with a heartfelt "Good night and God Bless." Throughout the program's long, extraordinarily successful (it was never out of the Top Ten in the Nielsen ratings-run), Skelton occasionally appeared in feature films. In 1953, he played a rare dramatic role in The Clown, which was a remake of The Champ. Skelton had his final starring role in Public Pigeon No. One (1957). After that he made cameos and guest star appearances in films such Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965).

Skelton kept his high television ratings into 1970, but he ran into two problems with CBS. Demographics showed he no longer appealed to younger viewers, and his contracted annual salary raises grew disproportionately thanks to inflation. Since CBS had earlier decided to keep another long-time favorite, Gunsmoke, whose appeal was strictly to older audiences, it's possible that without Skelton's inflationary contract raises he might have been kept on the air a few more years. However, between 1970 and 1971, CBS moved away from its traditional weekly variety shows hosted by veterans Skelton, Jackie Gleason, Ed Sullivan, and others whom network programmers thought were alienating younger audiences and resulting in lower ratings. Remarkably, CBS continued with Carol Burnett's highly popular show until 1978 and aired variety programs hosted by younger entertainers such as Sonny and Cher. Years later, Burnett told reporters that network variety shows had become too expensive to bring back.

Skelton moved to NBC, in 1971, for one season, in a half-hour Monday night version of his former show, then, ended his long television career after being canceled by that network.

Skelton was said to be bitter about CBS's cancellation for many years to follow. Ignoring the demographics and salary issues, he bitterly accused CBS of caving in to the anti-establishment, anti-war faction at the height of the Vietnam War, saying his conservative politics and traditional values caused CBS to turn against him. Skelton invited prominent Republicans, including Vice President Spiro T. Agnew and Senate Republican Leader Everett Dirksen, to appear on his program.

As if the loss of his show was not enough, his wife Georgia committed suicide in 1976, five years after their divorce and on the anniversary of their son's death years before. This was her second attempt at suicide. When he was presented with the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Governor's Award in 1986, Skelton received a standing ovation. "I want to thank you for sitting down," Skelton said when the ovation subsided. "I thought you were pulling a CBS and walking out on me."

In addition to performing, Skelton excelled at several other interests. That he was a renowned oil painter of clowns is well known, but he also designed dishes and was an expert at creating bonsai trees. Skelton also composed about 8,000 songs, including the theme for the film Made in Paris (1966). For his lifetime of contributions in entertainment he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Literature from Emerson College of Boston, a Doctor of Human Letters from Vincennes University, and a doctorate of Theater Arts at Indiana State University. Skelton was a 33rd Degree Mason, the order's highest possible level. He also frequently contributed to children's charities. Though no longer a regular in films and television, Skelton continued performing live until his death from pneumonia at age 84.

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