"Famous Wargamers and Toy Soldier collectors" Topic

Looking at TMP today I saw the article about Spike Milligan's toy soldier collection. Which celebrities do you know of that wargamed or collected toy soldiers, or did RPGs? (Must be famous in other fields, not wargaming!)

There were previous threads here TMP link and here TMP link which I've just scavenged…

UK
Spike Milligan – comedian, author – toy soldiers
Winston Churchill – Prime Minister – toy soldiers
H.G. Wells – author – early wargames
Robert Louis Stevenson – author – early wargamer
Jerome K Jerome – author – early wargamer
Peter Cushing – actor – wargamer
Christopher Lee – actor – toy soldier collector
Edward Woodward – actor – wargamer (or was that just one of his screen characters?)
Derek Guyler – actor – wargamer
Douglas Hague – Conservative politician – was a wargamer, or so I've heard
Bryan May – guitarist – wargamer
Boris Johnson – Conservative politician – wargamer

USA
Robin Williams – actor, comedian – Warhammer, apparently did all the voices ;-)
Will Wheaton – actor – gamer
Jack Black – actor, comedian – Warhammer
Billy Crystal – actor, comedian – Warhammer (with Robin Williams)
Richard Pryor -comedian, actor – wargamer with Peter Shulman
Jason Mewes – actor – Warhammer
Vin Diesel – actor – D&D
Charlton Heston – actor – wargamer
Curt Schilling – baseball player – wargamer
Mario Cumo – politican – gamer
Steve Carrell – actor – wargamer

Canada
Mike Myers – actor, comedian – WWII models

New Zealand
Peter Jackson – director- collector, gamer?

Australia
Dermott Brereton – Aussie rules footballer – napoleonics collector

Tibet
Dalai Lama – Buddhist leader – toy soldiers when young

Cory Wells of Three Dog Night played board wargames, mostly air games, though he did play ASL and many others on occasion.

I thought Myers was one of Her Majesty's subjects (Canadian?).

Edward Woodward was seriously into war games. He was mate of Peter Gilder. He introduced a TV show called battleground in 1978 featuring six war games including Edgehill and Gettysburg, and you can tell he didn't do it just for the money.
youtu.be/po1pVjSOW2Q

I heard Williams got Bill Murray and Kirsten Dunst into WH. I've also heard somewhere that Will Smith has been seen shopping in WH stores (but who knows who for).

Good stuff Timbo. I never knew about Spike who I met twice but I'm delighted to find out, likewise pleased to hear about Richard Prior who came up the hard way and was very funny.

Cheers oli, just edited to add a Canadian section,

Very glad to see Woodward wasn't just my fuzzy remembering of Callan.

I have heard that Jonathan Winters, comedian, U.S.A., collected painted 54mm toy soldiers.

Interesting list! Some I had no idea.
Imagine a game with Robin Williams, Jack Black and Billy Crystal, you'd never stop laughing!i

Malcome Forbes owned a toy soldier museum.

I want to say I read somewhere that Tom Selleck was a collector, but it has been too many years for me to say for certain.

Stephen Colbert and Amderson Cooper both played Dungeons and Dragons in their youth. They talked about it when Cooper appeared on Colbert's show a week or two ago.

Cool, keep em coming!

Robin Williams was also a big video game player. He came up to our Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter booth and E3 and demanded to play. The guys thought he was kidding, but he turned out to be pretty good.

I've recorded Wil Wheaton for various versions of Ghost Recon, as well.

I worked for Curt Schilling at 38 Studios, and we talked Avalon Hill and SL a bit--he was quite involved with AH when he was younger.

So yeah, I can definitely vouch for these three being gamers.

Boris Johnson??? As if our image wasn't bad enough…..

Boris….Heck. The little street cred I had has now totally dissipated, whilst my missus laughs her ass off.

Yes and you just know he always borrowed someone else's figures to play while maintaining he was working on an army that never materialised.

As far as I know Boris and Hague are 'rumoured' can anyone confirm/deny?

Conrad Black, Canadian newspaper tycoon.

db

Believe Michael Moorcock is an old school toy soldier collector.

Matt Damon and Ban Affleck played RPGs – D & D, Ben played the Elf. Matt once said if he woke up with a body next to him, he would call Ben to help dispose it- true friendship. 😜
I suspect Spielberg and Lucas had a few evenings rolling d20s.

Where would Douglas Fairbanks fit ? US or UK
collector figures

Walter Cronkheit, board wargames

Former Minnesota Vikings running back Robert Smith (American football) is a civil war buff and gamer.

I can confirm that Jonathan Winters collecte Britains toy soldiers. They were selling off parts of his collection at this weekends OTSN toy soldier show in the Chicago area. I own a set of his French Foreign Legion figures .

Tom Berenger. Gamer. Historicals.

I believe George H Bush collected soldiers as well as Princess Margaret from the U.K. It was in a Britains Collectors Journal that also mentioned Mr. Forbes.

American game show host Bob Barker (The Price is Right) collects military miniatures. When I was in high school in the mid-70s, my mother -- who was always a big booster of my hobby -- cut an article for the local paper about him as a collector and put it on my bulletin board. The article, as I recall, centered on his 54mm Napoleonic collection.

Paddy Considine, UK actor (Hot Fuzz etc) plays Lord of the Rings with his kids

Andy Partridge of the band XTC is an avid historical miniatures painter, collector, and gamer. I remember seeing an article about this long ago showing him with his Marlburian armies. When the group did a radio station live taping in Austin back in 1987 I went and gave him the business card of a local game store, just in case he wanted to nip in and shop before pushing on.

Jim Dunnam is an active historical miniatures gamer who served in the Texas state legislature as a representative from the Waco district from 1997 until 2011, and has also organized events in the Austin and San Antonio areas.

Andy Partridge also sculpted Irregular's 42mm toy soldier-style Marlburian range, and I believe they made their 10mm Marlburians at his insistence.

Edward Woodward often gets mentioned when this subject comes up. Back in the seventies there was a local publication called TV Guide. I still remember my surprise when reading in an issue of that magazine a profile of Woodward, which included a complete list of his hobbies, that wargaming wasn't cited. I seem to recall that sailing got a mention. But then why should we be surprised? What are the chances that an actor who plays a character with an obscure niche hobby would share that obscure niche hobby (unless some casting agents prioritise actors' pastimes when casting)?

Veteran Aussie stand-up comedian Richard Stubbs still plays at one the Melbourne clubs.

ALP politician Kim Beazley was/is an ACW buff, and according to rumour might also be a wargamer.

You mean MORE famous the citizens of TMP. Compared to the elite TMPers group many of the ones listed are pikers.

Child-actor, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, from the 80s movies The Chocolate War and Weird Science among others, plays historical miniatures and is still quite active in the hobby.

Scottish singer /actor Fish (ex Marillion) had a load of 25mm Napoleonics.

I seem to recall Iron Maiden front man, Bruce Dickinson, is an historical gamer.