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Famous people who play

From:   Carem Wiklicm
Address:   cwiklicm@ae.krakow.pl
Date:   3 December 2002
Subject:   Famous persons who play backgammon
Forum:   rec.games.backgammon
Google:   asi9tj$bdr$1@info.cyf-kr.edu.pl

Hello,

Do you know famous persons (politicians, actors, actress, sportsmen a.s.o.)
who used to play backgammon?

Thank you,
Carem

Mark Denihan  writes:

- Omar Shariff did have a bg column.
- Lucille Ball was reported to love playing.
- I think Don Adams of 'Get Smart' fame used to show at the Cavendish West
  often.
- John Huston.
- An actor I knew said he desired to get in a session with Stephen
  Spielberg, more as a career move then to make money.
- Hugh Heffner and his guests were big on bg for a while.
- An earlier post in this thread mentions a producer of James Bond movies.
  Years ago I read that a producer lost a quarter million to Sean Connery
  to keep him pacified during filming, I think that anecdote appeared in
  Maxakulli's short lived bg publication out of Vegas.

If you can find a contact for Lee Genud she might be able to help you
more with this, I believe she was part of the LA bg scene way back then,
before the 'jet-setters' bailed out.

mark

Michael Strato  writes:

The list is endless:

Izabela Skorupko, a James Bond girl
http://www.casinospl.com.pl/en/nasi_goscie/wywiady.html

---

Shiri Appleby, actress
http://shiriapplebyonline.ifrance.com/shiriapplebyonline/shiri.html

---

K Callan

Her first career break was in 1970 when she was cast in the film "Joe".
Her most memorable career event was playing the role of Cousin Liz in an
episode of "All in the Family", which was also known as the lesbian
episode.

... backgammon and movies keep her busy during leisure time. Her hobbies
are woodworking, giving parties with close friends and playing games.
K shares this important lesson as her legacy quote: "Whatever you truly
want to accomplish, you can. You just have to begin doing it".

---

Marge Champion

This talented Broadway actress and dancer... Her first career break was
performing as a live action model for "Snow White". She also performed in
Disney's "Fantasia"...

In her leisure time she enjoys walking, playing backgammon or gardening.
Abraham Lincoln is her most respected historical figure. Her legacy quote
is: "Don't frown. It causes wrinkles. Don't frown. It gives you wrinkles".

---

Robin Leach

This well known TV personality was born on August 29th (no year provided)
in London, England. He got his first big break covering the "Rich and
Famous" when he reported on the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and
Princess Diana on "CNN" and "Entertainment Tonight" which was a live three
hour broadcast ...

... his hobbies are reading and playing backgammon ...

---

Stefanie Powers

"Uncle Reader lived life in a very stylish way and from him I learned how
to play backgammon, drink brandy and smoke cigars."

http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/Aficionado/people/fg997.html

---

Actors Greg Grunberg and Kevin Bacon

"He's my hero! Kevin did it all with a smile on his face, even though I'm
such a better backgammon player than he is..."

http://www.dearsally.org/felicity/transcripts/080100_greg_checkout.html

---

Lewis Carroll is the pseudonym of the English writer and mathematician
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, most famous throughout the world for his books
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass
(1872),

Carroll was also an inventor of puzzles, games, ciphers, mnemonics for
remembering names and dates, poetical acrostics, a system for writing in
the dark, and he improved the game of backgammon.

http://www.american-buddha.com/carroll.bio.htm

---

Actor/Director Claude Earl Jones thinks Backgammon is "the most
challenging of all games" and plays online ...

---

Actor Tomas Arana of Pearl Harbor and Gladiator fame plays "a lot of
Backgammon" with fellow actors on movie sets and says he enjoys the game
as a way to share the company of friends.

---

Tobey Maguire, the wall-crawling villain-basher in Spider-Man also happens
to be one heck of a Backgammon super-hero!

Morgan Freeman, talking about Tobey Maguire:

"Competitive doesn't even describe him," says his friend and fellow
gamesman, film director Morgan J. Freeman. "He's intent on annihilating
anybody at the table. It gets even worse with backgammon, the game of
choice. We've had some 12-hour sessions of pure mental warfare."

---

Yaneth Waldman is an actress, comedian and singer who lives in Bogotá,
Colombia. In her spare time, she relieves stress and escapes from the real
world by playing Backgammon on...

---

Kylie Minogue

"I figured out a while ago that interviews are like chess, especially the
ones that are just digging at me. I'm no good at chess. I prefer a
five-minute backgammon game."

....she was playing Backgammon when she got the news from her manager that
"Can't Get You Out Of My Head" hit # 1. Elsewhere, we discovered that in
July 2001 she spent a week-long holiday playing Backgammon with her
boyfriend/model James Gooding while basking in the sun at the luxurious
Pikes Hotel in San Antonio, Ibiza. One eye witness remarked that when they
were not kissing, they were playing Connect 4 or Backgammon...

---

Lucille Ball

http://www.celebrity-pictures.net/bitem7.htm

http://members.tripod.com/TropicanaNightclub/lucytribute.html

---

Christopher Plummer

"In the midst of this rustic serenity, the Plummers savor endless games of
backgammon, Elaine's gourmet French cooking and Christopher's still-expert
renditions of Chopin on the Steinway."

---

Joaquin Phoenix

"I just stay home and swim and read scripts and play backgammon."

---

Titanic star Kate Winslet

"honeymooned in the Yorkshire Dales where they were seen playing backgammon
in the public bar of the nearest hostelry..."

---

Robert Montgomery, the television actor and producer

"... he stops in at the posh Raquet & Tennis Club (of which he, along with
the late John Drew, Fred Astaire, Arthur Little, Jr., Richard Barthelmess,
and Elliott Nugent, is one of the only six members ever accepted from the
acting profession) for a steam bath or a few games of backgammon..."

---

Deborah Ann Moore,

SPECIAL SKILLS:
Horseback Riding (Western), Swimming/Diving, Rock Climbing,
Sewing/Seamstress, Extensive Wardrobe (Homeless to Royalty), Basic ASL, Ice
Skating, Internet, Disco/Waltz/Tap, Adding Machine Speed Demon, Backgammon,
Calligraphy.

http://www.hollywoodsuccess.com/deborah_ann_moore.htm

---

Jake Jacobs

http://us.imdb.com/Name?Jacobs,+Jake+(II)

---

Actor Alan Rosenberg

He was the New York State backgammon champ in 1982.

http://us.imdb.com/Name?Rosenberg,+Alan

---

Tina Wesson, A nurse & homemaker from Tennessee

winner of "Survivor: The Australian Outback" (2001) TV Series

---

"Backgammon has always been a pastime of the aristocratic and the rich",
enthused Prince Alexis Obolensky, taking his readers on a whirlwind tour
of 5000 years of Backgammon history. Sumerian Kings; Egyptian Pharaohs;
Roman Emperors; European Monarchy; American Presidents; millionaires and
billionaires, all enjoy top billing in a star-studded cast of the history
of the game.

Nardy Pillards  writes:

President Thomas Jefferson was known to play backgammon. Kept meticulous
records of his win/lose.

Nardy

Rudy Fr  writes:

Omar Shariff, actor

I have a bg game called 'Omar'. It is an electronic handheld. You play
against the handheld, enter your moves, etc. It's about 10 plus years old.

Rudy

Mark Haley  writes:

Madonna
Ken Caminetti (sp?) - MLB
Roger Clemens - MLB
Eric Lindross - NHL
Brian May - Queen
Ted Turner
Klitschko brothers - boxing

Erik Gravgaard  writes:

How about the entire Danish Royal Family.

Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II is an avid backgammon player. In a famous TV
portrait several minutes was dedicated to a backgammon match between Qeen
Margrethe and Prince Henrik; she calling him "A lycky bastard".
 
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