hilltopics
culture society entertainment health
Monday, April 17, 2000
10A
Photo by Brad Dreier, KANSAN
Photo courtesy of www.scour.net
Story by Lori O'Toole
Claim to fame
Some University students faculty and staff share their names with celebrities
When Gillian Anderson logs onto the Internet, someone else online almost always asks her if she's the real Gillian Anderson.
"I'm as real as can be," said the Wichita freshman, adding that she's often called "Scully" by people she first meets.
And despite similar features such as her red hair and 5-foot-3 height, she's not the famous X-Files actress most people associate with the name Gillian Anderson.
The Ellsworth Hall resident is not the only person at the University of Kansas who shares the name of a celebrity. The University also has its own James Taylor, Steve Martin, and others.
Anderson said the jokes about her name got redundant, but they didn't bother her.
"People think they're so witty when they make jokes about my name," Anderson said. "But I'm like, 'I've heard it before — 15 times today.'"
Although she is not a die-hard X-Files fan, she said she shares some of Scully's characteristics.
"She seems really outgoing." Anderson said. "She likes to get things done quickly."
Ronald Ragan, pharmacy practice program director, attended KU in the mid-1980s during Ronald Reagan's presidency.
Ragan, who pronounces his last name the same as the former president, said it was nearly impossible to order a pizza at 11:30 p.m. when he was in college. The pizza companies considered the order a prank call.
"I'd have to give them my number to call back and verify," he said.
"She swears that she thought Ronald Reagan would be long gone by the time I got to high school," Ragan said. "I guess that was a poor assumption."
"It's still a routine comment," he said. "It used to be that was the first thing that came out of any conversation. It still comes up in conversation, but it's not the primary focus."
Ragan said he still got grief about his name, but not as much as he used to.
Ragan's mother named him Ronald after his father's army friend.
Ragan said he was in grade school when he first became aware of Reagan, who was governor of California at the time.
He said the best part of sharing his name with a celebrity was that it helped him talk to people.
"I like people." Ragan said. "If that's what we talk about, that's all right. I'm just glad my last name wasn't Nixon."
Stephen Martin, Lawrence graduate student, said someone makes a comment about his name almost every day. Like Ragan, he said he enjoyed his name because it made it easier to talk to people.
"I work in health care and meet a lot of people." Martin said. "It brings down barriers and enables people to be more comfortable. It's a good way to break the ice."
Martin said he once wore an arrow-through-the-head headband during a presentation to a large group of nurses. He said the stunt was the closet he came to impersonating the actor and comedian, who was famous for the joke.
"The audience started laughing and it was really funny," he said.
Martin, who is 53 years old, said he could often relate to the actor because of their similar ages as well as some of the characters Martin portrayed.
"I really like Father of the Bride," Martin said. "I have two daughters who are now married, so I connected with it and laughed a lot."
Tommie Lee Jones, computing services computer operator, said he related to some of the characters depicted by the actor Tommy Lee Jones.
He said he related to the actor's character in The Park is Mine the most.
"The character spoke of earlier days and convictions of Vietnam," he said. "He portrayed a side that I think a lot of guys from that time can relate to. He did it well and he did it dynamically."
He said he didn't mind the daily comments he received about his name.
"I think it would be different if it was someone I couldn't relate to or didn't enjoy his acting." he said.
But not all people are fans of those who they share their names with.
George Forman, professor of mechanical engineering, said he was not as impressed with the person he shared his name with — George Foreman, former boxer and promoter of the "Lean, Mean, Fat Reducing Grilling Machine."
"Occasionally people point it out," he said. "I point out that we spell our names differently. There's no interest to me."
James Taylor, professor of social welfare, said he wasn't a big fan of musician James Taylor.
"The absurd thing about it is that I can't even carry a tune," he said. "When people ask, i say 'you don't even want to hear me sing.'"
One student said her famous name caused her some annoying problems.
Margaret Simpson, Lawrence graduate student, no longer has her name listed in the Lawrence phone book because of prank calls she used to get years ago from young "squeaky-voiced kids" asking how Bart Simpson was doing.
"I've never gone by Marge and I'm glad I didn't," she said. "People asked me about it a lot during the height of Simpson fever, about three to four years ago."
Her number is now listed under her husband's first name.
Fortunately for them, it's not Homer.
Simpson said she had never seen an episode of the TV cartoon show, but had seen Marge Simpson on advertisements. She said she did not consider the yellow-bodied cartoon character with towering blue hair attractive.
"I guess that's good," she said, "I don't feel like I have a lot to overcome."