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To US citizens: question on celebrities

Well my cousin-n-law got me into the German/Swiss band 'Boy'. Pretty good.

For German celebs, Christoph Waltz from the Tarantino films springs to mind. But for famous Germans I'm way more familiar with the likes of Kruse, Müller, Schweinsteiger, and Götze from the German national team and of course Jürgen Klinsmann.
 
dec. said:
I was joking, when I moved to Canada 8 years ago I was surprised by the amount of people that asked me if David Hasselhoff really was that popular in Germany :D

But to be kind of on topic: Here in Canada nobody really knows German celebrities (und den Schweiger kennt erst recht keine Sau hier)
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Is he that popular in Germany?

I remember the Miami Heat/ Dallas Mavericks finals some years ago. They asked Dirk Nowitzki something about his favorite musicians and his reply was David Hasselhoff. When they played in Miami, many of the fans were sporting big Hasselhoff masks. It was a bit funny and shocking since he's not really that popular in the US (aside from his Baywatch stuff).
 
appleii.c said:
It was a bit funny and shocking since he's not really that popular in the US (aside from his Baywatch stuff).
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Don't forget Knight Rider! I think Hasselhoff is one of those actors that had his time and now he's resigned to making a joke of himself. I can't know if that's what he wants or not, but I think he's accepted that.
 
SilentPanda said:
Don't forget Knight Rider! I think Hasselhoff is one of those actors that had his time and now he's resigned to making a joke of himself. I can't know if that's what he wants or not, but I think he's accepted that.
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Ahh yes, I forgot knight rider.

Yeah, he had his time. I still like the guy. I think it's cool when an actor accepts that maybe their time has passed but they accept it. I don't think he minds being a bit of a "joke" (I say that in a funny way, not a loser way). I even saw him in a Sponge Bob Square Pants cartoon recently.
 
Poly said:
Hi guys,

I'm from Germany and here almost anybody you ask can tell you numerous american celebs names.
I want to ask if you, US citizen, know any german celebrity/talk master/commedian :)

And what is your opinion on Angela Merkel(if you even know her) :D

Would be really interesting for me to get some input on your view on Germany :)
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Wagner
Ferdinand Von Zeppelin
Von Richthofen
Hindenburg

and of course most of the World War II German celebrities... :eek:
 
Basically, the US media market is so huge that you have to work (as a viewer) to even see content from other markets. Compounding matters, most Americans only speak one language. So it's possible to see some BBC programs, either via Discovery or PBS or BBC America. And with some effort I have been able to 'import' some Aussie programs. But awareness of people from other markets are for most, limited to those participating in US shows/movies.
 
gkarris said:
Wagner
Ferdinand Von Zeppelin
Von Richthofen
Hindenburg

and of course most of the World War II German celebrities... :eek:
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I only know Blucher, because HE defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, not the English fellow who get all the credit. He's got the "never give up, never surrender" attitude that compensated for lack of talent. Lost to Napoleon four times already? Heil, fight him again. Never give up, never surrender.
 
I think you need to make the distinction between celebrities who were born in the US, and then became famous vs those who were born outside the US and likely had a successful career there (though not internationally famous) before moving to the US and becoming 'famous'.

The prime example being that a large number of 'famous Americans' are really Canadians or British. And that a large number of 'famous American movies' are made in Canada.

I would guess that a surprising number of 'famous Americans' were born in Germany. Not a huge number, likely... but probably more than we think. Do they count in your survey?
 
snberk103 said:
I would guess that a surprising number of 'famous Americans' were born in Germany. Not a huge number, likely... but probably more than we think. Do they count in your survey?
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Yeah you can name these, too!

gkarris said:
Wagner
Ferdinand Von Zeppelin
Von Richthofen
Hindenburg

and of course most of the World War II German celebrities... :eek:
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Yeah....celebrities... :D I see what you did there ;)
 
snberk103 said:
....
The prime example being that a large number of 'famous Americans' are really ... British. ...
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I know it's bad form to quote myself, but ... I just saw the perfect example tonight. Just got back from watching the film The Butler - a quintessentially American film - that starred at least 2 British actors. I haven't run through the credits to check to see who else needed a work permit so there may be more - this is just the ones I recognized while watching. One stands out like a sore thumb. The other one may surprise people. I only caught it because I recently saw this actor in a British TV show, though had to check when I got home to be sure.

Like most Hollywood films, it would have been better if they had ended it about 12 minutes earlier. In this case they went one President too far.
 
This is a bit off topic, but since it's my thread i don't mind :D

I visited Florida last year and when we drove back to Miami Airport our navigation system led us through some pretty dubious streets...so we stopped at a gas station, fueled our car and wanted to ask the cashier how to get to the airport.
WOW and this woman didn't even speak english, she only spoke spanish! :eek: I thought 'wtf' and all of a sudden a man and his wife came in. The cashier asked them something(probably if they speak english) and they weren't able to answer my question in english either.
This scared the hell out of me...

Probably a bit racist, but i was not able to imagine that someone living in the US and actually WORKING there is not able to speak english. I always thought that you HAVE to be able to speak english to actually get the permission to work in the US.
 
Poly said:
This is a bit off topic, but since it's my thread i don't mind :D

I visited Florida last year and when we drove back to Miami Airport our navigation system led us through some pretty dubious streets...so we stopped at a gas station, fueled our car and wanted to ask the cashier how to get to the airport.
WOW and this woman didn't even speak english, she only spoke spanish! :eek: I thought 'wtf' and all of a sudden a man and his wife came in. The cashier asked them something(probably if they speak english) and they weren't able to answer my question in english either.
This scared the hell out of me...

Probably a bit racist, but i was not able to imagine that someone living in the US and actually WORKING there is not able to speak english. I always thought that you HAVE to be able to speak english to actually get the permission to work in the US.
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What you think is logical, but not necessarily true.

Here in Chicago, I know exactly where I can go to find businesses that employ people who don't speak English. Personally, I couldn't imagine living a life that saw me chained to my little enclave because I didn't speak the main language of the country. You could bet that I would learn German as quickly as possible if I moved there for work.
 
Poly said:
This is a bit off topic, but since it's my thread i don't mind :D

I visited Florida last year and when we drove back to Miami Airport our navigation system led us through some pretty dubious streets...so we stopped at a gas station, fueled our car and wanted to ask the cashier how to get to the airport.
WOW and this woman didn't even speak english, she only spoke spanish! :eek: I thought 'wtf' and all of a sudden a man and his wife came in. The cashier asked them something(probably if they speak english) and they weren't able to answer my question in english either.
This scared the hell out of me...
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Miami is the gateway or crossroads of Latin America. But I agree that that the first visit can be surprising. We had to travel to the Bahamas frequently for a while and Miami seemed to be more of a foreign country than Nassau, etc. but actually, I thought that was rather nice. Many cities in the US have ethnic neighborhoods, Baltimore was a big one for that but things are more diluted now. Big German population early on, Polish, Lithuanian, Ukranian, Italian neighborhoods. Now there is a Little Korea area.

Regarding your initial question: Marlene Dietrich, Romy Schneider, Hildegard Knef, Einstein, Henry Kissinger. And about Angela Merkel, well, I enjoy pronouncing her first name (my brother has a German friend with the same name); and after Berlusconi made rude remarks about her I fervently wished she'd unleash a karma payback on his head.
 
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