10 Hollywood Stars Who Served in World War II

 

10 Hollywood Stars Who Served in World War II

By: a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads - Art and Other Odd Adventures

When the United States entered World War II,  Hollywood actors were uniquely positioned to support the war effort. Their familiar faces could sell war bonds, promote enlistment, entertain troops, and strengthen morale on the home front. Many celebrities performed these important duties, but others stepped away from successful careers to become sailors, soldiers, Marines, and airmen. Others would not find stardom until years after returning home.

Their assignments were not merely ceremonial. They crossed hostile seas, flew combat missions, cleared mines, transported wounded Marines, endured enemy attacks, and fought on dangerous battlefields. Some were already famous when they enlisted. 

Here are ten Hollywood stars whose military service was every bit as remarkable as their Hollywood careers.

1. Captain Douglas Fairbanks Jr. — United States Navy

Captain Douglas Fairbanks Jr. was already an established Hollywood actor when he joined the United States Naval Reserve in 1941.

Fairbanks became much more than a famous face in uniform. He helped develop the Navy's Beach Jumper program. This specialized deception force used small boats, sound effects, radio signals, and other techniques to convince enemy forces that major amphibious landings were underway. These elaborate diversions drew attention away from actual Allied operations.

Fairbanks served throughout the war and received numerous decorations, including the Silver Star and Legion of Merit. He remained in the Naval Reserve after returning to Hollywood and eventually retired with the rank of captain.

His creativity had made him a star, but during World War II, that same imagination became a weapon.

2. Lieutenant Henry Fonda — United States Navy

By 1942, Lieutenant Henry Fonda was one of Hollywood's most respected leading men. Rather than remain safely in California making war films, he voluntarily enlisted in the United States Navy.

Fonda reportedly explained that he did not want to participate in a fake war from inside a film studio. He wanted to serve.

He first served aboard the destroyer USS Satterlee, escorting convoys across the Atlantic, and later aboard the seaplane tender USS Curtiss in the Pacific Theater. During three years of naval service, Fonda earned the Bronze Star Medal and shared in a Navy Presidential Unit Citation.

After the war, he returned to acting and eventually became known for such films as The Grapes of Wrath, 12 Angry Men, and On Golden Pond. The quiet integrity he brought to the screen was also evident in his decision to exchange Hollywood privilege for active military duty.

3. Sergeant Charlton Heston — United States Army Air Forces

Before he portrayed Moses, Judah Ben-Hur, and some of cinema's most commanding heroes, Sergeant Charlton Heston served as an enlisted aircrewman during World War II.

Heston joined the United States Army Air Forces in 1944 and trained as a radio operator and aerial gunner. Assigned to the 77th Bombardment Squadron, he served aboard B-25 Mitchell bombers stationed in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.

The Aleutian campaign is often overshadowed by the larger battles of Europe and the Pacific, but the assignment was punishing. Aircrews operated in bitter cold, dense fog, violent winds, and some of the most unpredictable flying conditions of the war.

Heston returned home after his service and built one of Hollywood's most recognizable careers. Long before he commanded armies on screen, however, he had served as one member of a wartime bomber crew.

4. Major Tyrone Power — United States Marine Corps

Tyrone Power was one of Hollywood's biggest stars when he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1942.

Already an experienced civilian pilot, Power trained to fly military transport aircraft. He served with Marine transport squadrons in the Pacific, carrying supplies into combat areas and evacuating wounded Marines during the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Transport pilots rarely received the attention given to fighter aces, but their work was essential. They landed on rough or newly constructed airfields, delivered desperately needed equipment and ammunition, and carried injured men away from the fighting.

Power continued serving in the Marine Corps Reserve after the war and eventually attained the rank of major. His image may have been built through swashbuckling films and romantic adventures, but his real wartime service required courage without a script.

5. Corporal James Arness — United States Army

Before becoming Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke, Corporal James Arness was an Army rifleman fighting in Italy.

Arness originally hoped to become a naval aviator, but at six feet, seven inches tall, he exceeded the Navy's height restrictions. He was instead drafted into the United States Army and assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division.

On January 22, 1944, Arness participated in the amphibious landing at Anzio. As one of the tallest men in his unit, he was reportedly among the first ordered off the landing craft to test the depth of the water.

During the battle, Arness was struck in the right leg by machine-gun fire. The severe injury required several operations and left him with chronic pain for the remainder of his life. He was medically discharged in 1945.

Years before he became an icon of the American West, James Arness had already faced enemy fire on an Italian beachhead.

6. Brigadier General James Stewart — United States Army Air Forces

Few Hollywood military careers were as extensive as that of Brigadier General James Stewart.

Stewart was already an Academy Award-winning actor and licensed civilian pilot when he entered the Army in 1941. Initially assigned to training and recruitment duties, he repeatedly requested a combat assignment rather than remain safely in the United States.

His persistence eventually took him to England with the Eighth Air Force. Flying B-24 Liberator bombers, Stewart completed more than twenty combat missions over occupied Europe and later served as a squadron commander. In March 1944, he helped lead a major bombing mission against Berlin.

His wartime decorations included two Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Air Medal with oak leaf clusters, and the French Croix de Guerre.

Stewart remained in the Air Force Reserve after World War II, ultimately retiring as a brigadier general following twenty-seven years of military service.

7. Flight Officer Jackie Coogan — United States Army Air Forces

Flight Officer Jackie Coogan had been famous nearly his entire life. As the child star of Charlie Chaplin's The Kid, he became one of the earliest internationally recognized young actors in film history.

In 1941, Coogan enlisted in the United States Army. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he transferred to the Army Air Forces to put his civilian flying experience to use.

Coogan trained as a glider pilot and volunteered for the 1st Air Commando Group. During the Burma Campaign, he flew British Chindit special-operations troops behind Japanese lines.

Combat gliders were engineless aircraft designed to land troops and supplies in places conventional aircraft could not reach. Their pilots faced enemy fire, hazardous terrain, unpredictable winds, and few opportunities to correct a bad approach.

Later generations knew Coogan best as Uncle Fester on The Addams Family. During World War II, however, he flew one of the conflict's most dangerous kinds of aircraft.

8. Radioman First Class Jason Robards Jr. — United States Navy

Before becoming one of America's most distinguished stage and screen actors, Radioman First Class Jason Robards Jr. survived two devastating attacks at sea.

Robards enlisted in the United States Navy shortly after graduating from high school in 1940. He served as a radioman aboard the heavy cruiser USS Northampton and was at sea in the Pacific when Pearl Harbor was attacked.

In November 1942, the Northampton was sunk during the Battle of Tassafaronga. Robards survived by clinging to wreckage in dark, oil-covered water until he was rescued.

He later served aboard USS Nashville. In December 1944, a kamikaze aircraft struck the ship, killing 133 sailors and wounding nearly 200 more. Robards survived once again.

While still in the Navy, he began reading Eugene O'Neill’s plays and participating in military entertainment programs. Those experiences helped lead him toward the acting career he pursued after the war.

9. Soundman First Class Clarence "Lee" Van Cleef — United States Navy

Before he became one of the most recognizable faces in the Western genre, Soundman First Class Clarence Leroy Van Cleef Jr. served aboard a United States Navy minesweeper.

Van Cleef enlisted in October 1942 after graduating early from high school. Trained in sonar operations, he was assigned to USS Incredible, which conducted dangerous mine-clearing missions in the Caribbean, Mediterranean, and Black Sea.

Minesweepers operated ahead of larger naval formations, searching for and removing explosive obstacles that threatened Allied ships. Their crews worked under the constant risk that a single missed mine could destroy their vessel.

Van Cleef was honorably discharged in 1946. Only after returning home did he begin performing under the name Lee Van Cleef, eventually appearing in High Noon, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Before Hollywood made him a legendary gunslinger, the Navy trained him to search the sea for hidden danger.

10. Staff Sergeant Beatrice "Bea" Arthur — United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve

Long before she became Maude Findlay or Dorothy Zbornak, Staff Sergeant Beatrice "Bea" Arthur was one of the first women to enlist in the United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve.

Arthur enlisted in early 1943. During her wartime service, she performed clerical work. She served as a military truck driver, a role that freed additional Marines for combat assignments overseas and helped keep the expanding wartime Marine Corps functioning.

She proved to be a capable Marine and rose to the rank of staff sergeant before receiving an honorable discharge in 1945.

Arthur later became famous for playing outspoken, independent women whose strength changed the possibilities for female characters on American television. Yet decades before she became a cultural icon, she had already stepped into a groundbreaking role as one of the women who helped expand the meaning of service in the Marine Corps.

More Than Famous Faces in Uniform

They piloted bombers and gliders, crossed submarine-threatened waters, cleared naval mines, transported troops, carried wounded Marines, endured kamikaze attacks, and fought from contested beachheads. Several were already wealthy and famous enough that they might have found safer ways to contribute. Instead, they accepted military discipline, difficult assignments, and the same dangers faced by thousands of less-famous Americans.

Their later careers made their names familiar. Their service made those names worthy of remembrance.

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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life

She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.

You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.

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