A Bit of Fun - 10 Celebrities Who Worked In The Insurance Industry Before Making It Big

[Aaron_4SIGHT]

Who knew the path to fame could begin in insurance? At least for these 10 celebrities, it did. I suppose insurance sales is good prep for surviving Hollywood rejections.

10 Celebrities Who Worked in the Insurance Industry Before Making it Big (You'll Never Guess #9)

I knew about Evel Knievel from my days working with Combined Insurance (where he was a top agent but got there with some questionable sales tactics), but a few others surprised me.

 

[DHK]

Gene Simmons is doing insurance with HNW market.

Steve Harvey was with A.L. Williams for a bit of time.

 

[Cash]

Another one is Dabo Swinney, coach of the Clemson Tigers.

 

[Aaron_4SIGHT]

 

[GoPokes]

And here I thought Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys owner, was the only one.

 

[shawnkm]

Don't forget Roger Staubach. He sold life insurance during the off-season and before starting his real estate company.

 

[Cash]

Don't forget Roger Staubach. He sold life insurance during the off-season and before starting his real estate company.

That leads to Fran Tarkenton of Tarkenton Financial and football fame.

 

[Zoaty]

Interesting to know some of these folks have worked in the industry. I can definitely see how it can develop skills for these folks that would otherwise be likely untapped.

 

[Brian Anderson]

Here's a quote from Clooney from a recent interview regarding his insurance job:

“I was a struggling actor for ten years and I have a great understanding of what it’s like to try to make things work...I would buy suits that were too long in the leg, cut the bottoms off and hem them up with a stapler, and use the leftover fabric to make ties for work…I sold insurance door to door — cold calls, knock knock, “Hi, do you have whole life insurance? We can turn whole life into term life and you can put the rest of your money into your retirement fund!” Believe me, it’s a terrible job.”

And a little context form the GQ piece that included the quote:
Before George Clooney was an uber-famous movie star married to a stunning international human rights lawyer with an 18th century villa on Lake Como, he was just a guy trying to sell life insurance in Kentucky. Clooney himself pointed that out to a Daily Mail reporter during press interviews for his new movie Suburbicon (he's directing) this week. The subject came up when Clooney expressed a desire to not spoil the living daylight out of his twins, who were born in June.

Well, yeah, I guess door-knocking would seem like a terrible job compared to being one of the biggest movie stars on the planet


https://www.gq.com/story/george-clooney-diy-suit-tailoring-custom-ties

 

[shawnkm]

Not sure what it is about football players and insurance, but here are a few more players that went from football to selling insurance:

Lincoln Kennedy, a three-time Pro-Bowler and player in Super Bowl XXXVII
Ex-NFL quarterback Tommy Maddox, a first round draft pick in 1992
Emmett Johnson, former wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks
Dennis Havig, played in the NFL for 5 years