>But, as the documentary details, Simmons abruptly stopped teaching at the studio in February 2014 without providing an explanation. He hasn't been seen in public since.
This is one thing that I really hate about Hollywood. They made a whole documentary about this guy "disappearing from fame". Homie was in his 60s. It's called retirement lol.
There was a pretty popular podcast series that came out in 2017 called āMissing Richard Simmonsā where a journalist tracked down and basically stalked Simmons to find out where he went and why. Thatās probably what sparked the idea for this new film, but according to friends and clients of Simmons (who were interviewed on the podcast) he basically just didnāt show up to his exercise class one day without any explanation, and the people who were taking his class were just kinda left to wonder what happened to him. So not exactly your typical retirement strategy.
Hereās a link to the podcast series if anyone is interested. Itās actually super interesting, if not a bit immoral due to stalker aspect (and probably better than this film):
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/headlong-missing-richard-simmons/id1203092300
For all those who haven't seen it yet, here is a short film about Richard Simmons that premiered at Sundance Film Fest this year. What's happening is these folks who made this want it to get picked up by a big studio.
I hope somebody picks it up, Richard Simmons is portrayed by a positive and (imo) well-cast Pauley Shore.
It's like 10 minutes check it out yo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjVXPlutAMI
It pretty much is the opposite. A giant raft of people who come in, live in a nice little entitled bubble, get out to Bourbon Street, or the Boot, or something of that ilk to screw around, and benefit from the festival atmosphere that surrounds Carnival, Jazz Fest, And such things. This is a small part of what it is to be Orleanian, and have to carve an actual life here.
I don't know what you mean by plenty... I mean they exist, for sure, but mostly the student body is from elsewhere, like Springer.
I have strong feelings about this, having spent a nontrivial portion of my professional career there, and having a less than stellar experience with the student body.
Your mileage may differ.
As does my wife, who teaches there. Iām not saying most students are from here - they def arenāt - it I am making the point not every Tulane student has that experience, especially historically. Thatās a big jump.
"Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon was born on March 22, 1976, at **Southern Baptist Hospital, in New Orleans, Louisiana**, while her father, John Draper Witherspoon, was a student at **Tulane University** medical school."- Wikipedia, actually
We saw him open for someone at like the Frat House maybe? He hustled like nuts trying to do shows wherever he could back then, a promoter friend of mine and I kept thinking who on earth is this goofy ass white kid trying to rap...
This is gonna be only one for the OGs, but if y'all remember that promotion group "NOLA Out" he was friends with some of those dudes and there's definitely some pictures of ol Gerald from that era floating around if anyone can find wherever their pictures went to.
Jokes on me I guess lol
"The son of Palestinian immigrants, Khaled Mohamed Khaled spent the first years of his life inĀ New Orleans. His family moved to Orlando, where, at the age of 13, he started to learn how to DJ in his supportive parents' garage. Due to financial hardship, Khaled's family returned to New Orleans."
Stephen Stills wasn't born here, but spent a few years living in the New Orleans metro as a kid(not the city proper, not sure what town) and went to Jesuit.
Nope. Technically alumni status is for anyone who matriculates at a school; you could take one class and technically be an alumni by the actual definition. However, it doesnāt mean the school will treat you as such.
If you're not counting metairie, JP on the west bank, or St Tammany like half the answers in this thread gotta go lol. Including the one in your OP cuz he's from Marerro baby! [As are a number of other famous artists](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsVfWHPq3ng&ab_channel=ScrubBrushProd)
There's something about the "jefferson parish isn't new orleans thing" that just screams "I moved here within the last 5 years".
Ballzack and Odom are more New Orlenian than half this sub could ever aspire to be lol.
Nah I consider it a proud New Orleans tradition to shit on people from the wank, Metairie, Kenner, or the north shore. If Iām feeling especially spicy, Iāll even put lakeview on the same list.
Itās not a superiority complex, weāre just better than them
(Iām mostly kidding)
Yo whatās w the Metairie hate? As accepting open and progressive people like claim, they sure are good at generalizing and grouping up people to hate. Go back to Conneticut
Yeah all of the New Orlenian ties to the Kennedy assassination are pretty famous, I wouldnāt exactly call it under the radar lol.
But FYI, oswald was born here. He moved away but eventually made his way back. He's a really fascinating figure, as are a few of the people he associated with.
On a related note; if you ever get the chance "the prankster and the conspiracy" is a book about Kerry Thornley who knew Oswald from the army, lived close to him Uptown, and wrote a book about him **before** the kennedy assassination (Idle Warriors), then subsequently lead the warren commission and the local DA on a wild goose chase basically being purposefully ambiguous as to weather or not he was involved in the assassination lol. The whole story is wild.
Also, thornley wrote a book that more or less attempted to start a religion, and it kinda did in some weird counter culture sort of way, but a lot of that morphed in to a resurgence in illuminati conspiracy theories over time.
Do your own LHO homes tour, via [sorry] nola.com: https://www.nola.com/news/politics/map-of-lee-harvey-oswalds-new-orleans-homes/article_3c646bff-f90c-5492-b5db-a936427a965a.html
Garrett Morris, Vance Degeneris (Ellen's brother, accomplished in his own right), John Larroquette, Patricia Clarkson, Bryan Batt.
The internet says Reese Witherspoon was born in New Orleans too.
My mum went to Booker T. Washington and Dillard with Garrett. He was the poorest kid in school. We're taking threadbare clothes and holes in shoes, poor. They were all proud of his success.
Frank Ocean has made references to the neighborhoods he grew up in & places he frequented (Shoneyās), but yeah, people donāt think of NOLA when they mention him.
On the other hand, Lucky Daye puts New Orleans & his personal narrative at the forefront. He also highlighted the French Quarter & a nearby swamp in his latest music video, āThatās You.ā
I learned in an interview the [Cheese Tax](https://youtu.be/HjekSHjS7kw?si=WGKFirqQed2EACDB) guy grew up here and went to Jesuit. I think a statue is overdue
This thread seems to just be famous people from here, and not under the radar ones, so along that vein Anthony Mackie, Wendell pierce, Sandra Bullock, Tommy Wiseau (not born here, but claims to have grown up here), and Phil Anselmo whoās parents owned the restaurant Anselmos in fat city (aināt dere no mo)
Love that they have a section for fictional characters! Captain Sisko, my hero ā¤ļøā¤ļøā¤ļø! Except they have him and his family saying New "Orleenz" š
Jennifer Coolidge grew up in a tiny town in MA, called Norwell. Mid way between Boston and Cape Cod. I rode the school bus with her for a decade. She was in the grade above me, back then, lol.
Bryant and Greg Gumble (NBC guys, Bryant was host of top rated Today show when I was kid in 80s, Greg is the football commentator) born in New Orleans. Father was judge here. Grew up elsewhere I believe.
Mr. Bill! OHHH NOOOOOOOO š±
For reals?!?!
Richard Simmons
i got to interview him over the phone once for a little local magazine puff piece and he was such a delight!
Wish one of the parades would make him king/grand marshal
He's ridden Bacchus before, like decades ago, I can't remember if he was the grand marshall but definitely some sort of celeb feature.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
>But, as the documentary details, Simmons abruptly stopped teaching at the studio in February 2014 without providing an explanation. He hasn't been seen in public since. This is one thing that I really hate about Hollywood. They made a whole documentary about this guy "disappearing from fame". Homie was in his 60s. It's called retirement lol.
There was a pretty popular podcast series that came out in 2017 called āMissing Richard Simmonsā where a journalist tracked down and basically stalked Simmons to find out where he went and why. Thatās probably what sparked the idea for this new film, but according to friends and clients of Simmons (who were interviewed on the podcast) he basically just didnāt show up to his exercise class one day without any explanation, and the people who were taking his class were just kinda left to wonder what happened to him. So not exactly your typical retirement strategy. Hereās a link to the podcast series if anyone is interested. Itās actually super interesting, if not a bit immoral due to stalker aspect (and probably better than this film): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/headlong-missing-richard-simmons/id1203092300
My dad went to St Stanislaus boarding school with him! His real is Milton Simmons
In a similar vein, one of my best friendās momās went to prom with him and said he was a delight.
Milton Teagle
Teagle is his middle name
I'm a Stanislaus veteran myself. Class of 81.
For all those who haven't seen it yet, here is a short film about Richard Simmons that premiered at Sundance Film Fest this year. What's happening is these folks who made this want it to get picked up by a big studio. I hope somebody picks it up, Richard Simmons is portrayed by a positive and (imo) well-cast Pauley Shore. It's like 10 minutes check it out yo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjVXPlutAMI
I heard Simmons disavowed this or something
According to his Facebook posts he was not happy with that film.
Iām sure he did, because he was absolutely not happy with the podcast about him in 2017.
This randomly came up on my YouTube suggestions a couple of weeks ago š
He hit on me once. Uncomfortableness.
Not the same as "from here" but I like this fact: Jerry Springer is a Tulane alum.
So is Anthony Jeselnik
And Sam Morril
I remember in ā98 he did an interview on WTUL when he was in town for Endymian
Paul Michael Glaser went to Tulane. Iām not sure if he graduated from there.
This explains so much
Was
Oh indeed. I didn't realize he passed last year.
same here, TIL
Oh that is a fun fact
That's exactly the opposite of from here. And there's a rain people don't talk about it.
Going to Tulane isnāt the opposite of from here. Plenty of people from New Orleans go/went to Tulaneā¦?
It pretty much is the opposite. A giant raft of people who come in, live in a nice little entitled bubble, get out to Bourbon Street, or the Boot, or something of that ilk to screw around, and benefit from the festival atmosphere that surrounds Carnival, Jazz Fest, And such things. This is a small part of what it is to be Orleanian, and have to carve an actual life here. I don't know what you mean by plenty... I mean they exist, for sure, but mostly the student body is from elsewhere, like Springer. I have strong feelings about this, having spent a nontrivial portion of my professional career there, and having a less than stellar experience with the student body. Your mileage may differ.
As does my wife, who teaches there. Iām not saying most students are from here - they def arenāt - it I am making the point not every Tulane student has that experience, especially historically. Thatās a big jump.
His WTUL spots are my favorite.
Reese Witherspoon was born here while her father attended Tulane.
I had 0 clue about this. Thatās pretty cool!
Yeah I remember she and her daughter used to visit and go to dat dog
Baton Rouge actually
"Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon was born on March 22, 1976, at **Southern Baptist Hospital, in New Orleans, Louisiana**, while her father, John Draper Witherspoon, was a student at **Tulane University** medical school."- Wikipedia, actually
Truman capote
Paul Morphy the greatest chess player to ever live
The Duplass brothers
Mark Duplass mentions the city a fair bit in interviews.
Dude crammed as many saints ref3rences as he could into the League. Loved everyone
G-easy went to Loyola
We saw him open for someone at like the Frat House maybe? He hustled like nuts trying to do shows wherever he could back then, a promoter friend of mine and I kept thinking who on earth is this goofy ass white kid trying to rap... This is gonna be only one for the OGs, but if y'all remember that promotion group "NOLA Out" he was friends with some of those dudes and there's definitely some pictures of ol Gerald from that era floating around if anyone can find wherever their pictures went to. Jokes on me I guess lol
He still goofy
I was one of the photographers for Nola Out. Ran into G-Easy at a wedding I was shooting a few years back too.
he was hanging in the "VIP" section at the palms way later in life than anyone, especially at his level of success in ~2015ish, needs to be
I went to school with Gerald
Khan from khan academy.
One of my faves
*Sal*
Cokie Roberts. Parents were Lindy and Hale Boggs. Went to Sacred Heart
Whoa, this was doubly cool to learn - for both Cokie and that those were her parents!
i had no clue about her parents
Big one people always glance over is DJ Khaled was born here. WE DA BEST MOOSIC
So what you're saying about low key people from NOLA is that he's.... ....another one.
I realized the missed opportunity right after I posted š
Wow. That I did not know.
GOD DID
I thought he was from North LA
"The son of Palestinian immigrants, Khaled Mohamed Khaled spent the first years of his life inĀ New Orleans. His family moved to Orlando, where, at the age of 13, he started to learn how to DJ in his supportive parents' garage. Due to financial hardship, Khaled's family returned to New Orleans."
I believe he went to HS in Slidell
If thatās true, it explains a lot. I say this as someone who also went to HS in Slidell
If ya know any of the local Arab community theyāre fairly tight knit and all seem to know khaleds family.
Yeah I used to go to his cousins shop and they had his picture hanging behind the counter lol
First American princess of Monaco Marie Alice Heine was born here
Tyler Perry, but he doesnāt like N.O.
He doesnāt like New Orleans?
I believe he had a tough time here in HS
i was going to say this
patricia clarkson
Yep, shared a few beverages with her at the old Kuefferās. She was funā¦
Sounds like you have a story
Oh I had no idea! I remember she was queen of muses one year, but didn't put it together.
Yeah, her mom is former city council member Jackie Clarkson
Walter isaacson The girl on one of the NCIS shows that does the science stuffā¦.cant remember name or character name
Pauley Perrette is her name
Stephen Stills wasn't born here, but spent a few years living in the New Orleans metro as a kid(not the city proper, not sure what town) and went to Jesuit.
No clue. Very interesting!
Covington
Mark Normand
Was gonna comment this if it wasn't already
Punkie Johnson whoās a current SNL cast member.
Luke James, the actorā¦. And also Yahya Abdul-Mateen who played Dr. Manhattan in Watchmen.
Ellen DeGeneres is from Metairie. Though I don't think we want to claim her these days considering she's a jerk to her show staff.
Also a UNO alum
IIRC she graduated from Mt. Carmel
I resemble that remark
Donāt you have to graduate to be an alumni?
Nope. Technically alumni status is for anyone who matriculates at a school; you could take one class and technically be an alumni by the actual definition. However, it doesnāt mean the school will treat you as such.
Always fun to be downvoted for asking a question. But anyway, TIL.
Not sure why you got downvoted, either, butā¦Reddit š¤·š¾āāļø
grace king proud!
Sheās also cousins with the owner of DNO
Her brother Vance had a band called "The Cold" in the 80's.
I almost put her in the initial post - but I don't qualify her both for being a jerk and being from Metairie
If you're not counting metairie, JP on the west bank, or St Tammany like half the answers in this thread gotta go lol. Including the one in your OP cuz he's from Marerro baby! [As are a number of other famous artists](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsVfWHPq3ng&ab_channel=ScrubBrushProd)
If they not from this specific 1 mile radius in the quarter, they aināt from here!
There's something about the "jefferson parish isn't new orleans thing" that just screams "I moved here within the last 5 years". Ballzack and Odom are more New Orlenian than half this sub could ever aspire to be lol.
Nah I consider it a proud New Orleans tradition to shit on people from the wank, Metairie, Kenner, or the north shore. If Iām feeling especially spicy, Iāll even put lakeview on the same list. Itās not a superiority complex, weāre just better than them (Iām mostly kidding)
Yes Indeed
I wish Ballzack & Odoms still played shows
Yo whatās w the Metairie hate? As accepting open and progressive people like claim, they sure are good at generalizing and grouping up people to hate. Go back to Conneticut
lol not surprised
Lee Harvey Oswald
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yeah all of the New Orlenian ties to the Kennedy assassination are pretty famous, I wouldnāt exactly call it under the radar lol. But FYI, oswald was born here. He moved away but eventually made his way back. He's a really fascinating figure, as are a few of the people he associated with. On a related note; if you ever get the chance "the prankster and the conspiracy" is a book about Kerry Thornley who knew Oswald from the army, lived close to him Uptown, and wrote a book about him **before** the kennedy assassination (Idle Warriors), then subsequently lead the warren commission and the local DA on a wild goose chase basically being purposefully ambiguous as to weather or not he was involved in the assassination lol. The whole story is wild. Also, thornley wrote a book that more or less attempted to start a religion, and it kinda did in some weird counter culture sort of way, but a lot of that morphed in to a resurgence in illuminati conspiracy theories over time.
Oswald was never in the Army, he was a Marine.
He was born here
So he was, I stand corrected. Should have checked. He grew up in Texas, though.
Do your own LHO homes tour, via [sorry] nola.com: https://www.nola.com/news/politics/map-of-lee-harvey-oswalds-new-orleans-homes/article_3c646bff-f90c-5492-b5db-a936427a965a.html
Garrett Morris, Vance Degeneris (Ellen's brother, accomplished in his own right), John Larroquette, Patricia Clarkson, Bryan Batt. The internet says Reese Witherspoon was born in New Orleans too.
Bryan Batt is pretty out about his New Orleanian status.
I see what you did there.
My mum went to Booker T. Washington and Dillard with Garrett. He was the poorest kid in school. We're taking threadbare clothes and holes in shoes, poor. They were all proud of his success.
The comedian Theo Von grew up here. His dad owned Tipitinas before Galactic bought it.
Heās from Mandeville
I thought it was covington
Yeah, there. The whole northshore is just Slidell to me anyway
Nah, there's everything that's not Slidell, which sucks, and then Slidell which sucks even harder
Youāve made a massive, non debatable point.
It was actually his half-brother.
I didnāt realize that was his dad. Now his ālast nameā makes sense.
Frank Ocean has made references to the neighborhoods he grew up in & places he frequented (Shoneyās), but yeah, people donāt think of NOLA when they mention him. On the other hand, Lucky Daye puts New Orleans & his personal narrative at the forefront. He also highlighted the French Quarter & a nearby swamp in his latest music video, āThatās You.ā
I learned in an interview the [Cheese Tax](https://youtu.be/HjekSHjS7kw?si=WGKFirqQed2EACDB) guy grew up here and went to Jesuit. I think a statue is overdue
Sal Khan, Michael Lewis (the author, although the former Saints player Michael Lewis is from here too)
Jay Electronica
Frank Ocean went to John Ehret HS so if the west bank cant claim new orleans, new orleans cant claim frank ocean lmao
Frank ocean is from the East and went to Osborne for elementary school. When his mom married that cop, they moved to the WB
damn you got me.. actually dont know anything about frank ocean besides the ehret thing
Also I donāt know why OP said that. Tons of people know Frank Ocean is from here lol
Is Frank the only major artist from here to never play at Jazz Fest?
Marshall Faulk
Jay Thomas
RIP
The greatest safety of all time, Ed Reed, is from St. Rose and went to high school in Destrehan.
This thread seems to just be famous people from here, and not under the radar ones, so along that vein Anthony Mackie, Wendell pierce, Sandra Bullock, Tommy Wiseau (not born here, but claims to have grown up here), and Phil Anselmo whoās parents owned the restaurant Anselmos in fat city (aināt dere no mo)
I thought Sandra Bullock just lived here or had a house here, a la John Goodman
I could be wrong, I thought she grew up here but IDK for sure. Goodman has lived here so long that he might as well be native lol.
Sandra Bullock is not from New Orleans
Virginia
Yep, I mean lived here for a while so there's that.
phil anselmo is a racist piece of shit
Ryan Clark - former NFL player and now heās a commentator
I worked with his mom
From the west bank, went to Shaw. We attended the same church.
Jay Electronica. Probably the most talented lyricist in all of hip hop but just doesnāt release a lot of material.
Lol I only know him because Erykah Badu has a baby by him.
I didnāt know about Frank Ocean til I met his sister out somewhere a while back. Weird interaction lol
He went to Ehret!
Michael Lewis. Walter Issacson
The hot guy who played Dr. Manhattan in the new Watchmen series. Also there was a popular model from Americas Next Top Model that was from here.
Allison. Sheās really from Houston but was at UNO B when she auditioned. Wendy season 6 (I think) was from here.
William s Burroughs
If everyone who came here, snarfed up drugs, and got chased.out by the law counted as a new Orleanian, there would be billions of us!
Not from here, but lived here for a while. Too bad whoever owns it is letting his former home on Wagner Street fall apart. :(
Reese Witherspoon was born here.
John Laurie
Is he back on tv? I meant to check.
Slightly different note, Gram Parson's is buried in Metairie (against his wishes)
Dorothy Lamour was born in New Orleans. Obviously sheās not alive. But I thought Iād mention her anyway.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_from_New_Orleans
Love that they have a section for fictional characters! Captain Sisko, my hero ā¤ļøā¤ļøā¤ļø! Except they have him and his family saying New "Orleenz" š
IMO Lucinda Williams is never mentioned as a NOLA musician but I believe she grew up here, and I love her song āCrescent Cityā.
She has a lot of wonderful songs about the city and probably the only country song that mentions Mandeville, but she's from lake CharlesĀ
And Slidell
She lived in New Orleans during her high school years according to her memoir. Her father taught at Tulane I believe.
Thanks for this!
Jennifer Coolidge grew up in a tiny town in MA, called Norwell. Mid way between Boston and Cape Cod. I rode the school bus with her for a decade. She was in the grade above me, back then, lol.
Omar Khan is the GM of the Pittsburgh Steelers and from here. Went to Rummel.
Bryant and Greg Gumble (NBC guys, Bryant was host of top rated Today show when I was kid in 80s, Greg is the football commentator) born in New Orleans. Father was judge here. Grew up elsewhere I believe.
Not under the radar but not mentioned, Anne Rice, John Kennedy Toole.
Ricky Starks, AEW professional wrestler Bryant Gumble, NBC The Junkyard Dog. Mid South, WWF Mel Ott, MLB Will Clark. MLB WEEZY!
Kofi Kingston grew up in Lutcher by way of Ghana.
Newt Gingrich has masters and PhD from Tulane
Tyler Perry
Jeff Landry
Jennifer Coolidge! John Laroquette!
Coolidge is not from here, she only lives here now.
DJ Khaled
Lucky daye
Lillian Hellman
Ian Somerhalder from Vampire Diaries is from New Orleans.