Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier was an English actor best known for stage and film. He won Academy Award, Golden Globe, Emmy, and BAFTA. When World War II started, Olivier wanted to join the Royal Air Force, but he was already obligated to other parties. Olivier served for two years as a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm but was never called into battle.
Gene Wilder
Drafted into the Army in 1956, Jerome Silberman (Wilder’s real name) trained for service in the medical corps. He was working as a paramedic at Valley Forge Army Hospital in Pennsylvania when he began taking acting classes. After his honorable discharge in 1958, Jerome Silberman changed his name to Gene Wilder and went on to star in a number of comedies, notably teaming up with director Mel Brooks in “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein.”
Sidney Poitier
You may know him as the first black actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. Sidney Poitier moved to the US at age 16 from the Bahamas. He lived in New York City and desperately wanted to escape the bitter winters of the northeast. He lied about his age so he could enlist in the United States Army where he served as a medical attendant in a mental hospital. Still a kid, he soon grew tired of that role, but instead of just admitting his age, he decided to try and get discharged by faking insanity. With the threat of shock treatment, he came clean. After talking to a psychiatrist for several weeks, he was eventually granted release from the Army.