The stunning Audrey Hepburn may be loved as one of the best actresses in the world but not a lot of people know that she was a junior member of the Dutch Resistance in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands. Hepburn was born in Belgium but moved with her Dutch-born mother to the Netherlands during World War II believing it was a safe place. The Nazis invaded so young Audrey acted as a courier for the Resistance. She donated the money she earned to the anti-Nazi cause.

Steve Buscemi worked for the New York City Fire Department before becoming an actor. He returned to his old fire station on September 12, 2001. After the planes hit both towers, Buscemi worked 12-hour shifts, digging through rubble to locate survivors. He refused to do interviews or take photos. He did not want distractions. The man is a hero.

Jimmy Stewart had already starred in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and You Can’t Take It With You when the US entered World War II. Stewart joined the Air Force and flew for his country. Bombing runs and fielding direct attacks from the Luftwaffe was his specialty. The Germans never knew it was an actor terrorizing them in the skies. Jimmy was awarded many medals then went back to acting.

Samuel L. Jackson served as an usher at Martin Luther King’s funeral. It was what moved the actor to become more politically active. Jackson enrolled at Morehouse College where he and a few others held the board hostage. It was a protest against their approved curriculum. One of the board members was Martin Luther King Sr. Morehouse eventually expelled Jackson.

In the documentary The Beatles: Eight Days a Week, you will see the very young and happy face of Sigourney Weaver in a shot of the audience. Weaver herself confirmed that she attended the band’s iconic Hollywood Bowl performance in 1964. Sigourney was 14 at the time.

George Takei, one of the most recognized Japanese-American actors in history, spent life in an internment camp in Arkansas until he was eight years old. George and his family lost everything. The US government incarcerated over 100,000 Americans with Japanese ancestry in internment camps during WW2. When the Takeis’ imprisonment ended, the family received “a one-way ticket to wherever in the United States [they] wanted to go to, plus $20.”

The same company that owned the Titanic, White Star Line, endured a previous major incident. The Celtic struck the Britannic on May 19, 1887. The two ships crashed in dense fog killing six people and injuring many others. Good thing both ships stayed afloat. One of the youngest survivors was 2-year-old Eleanor Roosevelt. She reportedly developed a lifelong fear of both ships and the ocean.

Sir Alec Guinness was an officer in the Royal Navy. He earned command of a craft landing infantry during the invasions of Sicily, Elbe, and Normandy in World War II. Much like Obi-Wan Kenobi who commanded his troops on different planets. He always sought the high ground.

Pat Sajak may be famous for the Wheel of Fortune, but in his youth, he spun discs in the jungles of Vietnam. Sajak joined the Vietnam War and was assigned in Saigon to serve as a DJ on the American Forces Vietnam Network. Sajak described his experience as “relatively soft duty.”

Lawrence Berra joined the Navy in 1943 before making it to the major leagues. He was 18. Berra took part in the D-Day invasion less than a year later, helping provide fire support for the invading troops from a rocket boat. He didn’t even know what a rocket boat was.

Jet Li and his family were part of the affected people rocked by the earthquake and tsunami in 2004. It killed more than 200,000 people. Li was with his family when the tsunami struck. Li and the family nanny grabbed the kids and ran toward their hotel while bystanders swam out to help rescue them as well.

Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana in 2005 forcing evacuations by the thousands, but rock-and-roll legend Antoine “Fats” Domino refused to leave. The then-77-year-old musician said he got through the last one so he’d make it through Katrina. Domino’s home was destroyed and he was rescued in a helicopter.

Sir Michael Caine was an 18-year-old soldier who was barely out of school when he fought in the Korean War. He reported for duty with the British Army and fought the Chinese in the early 1950s. Caine says there was an instance where he was almost killed.

James Doohan led his regiment through a minefield and killed two German snipers on D-Day during World War II. A fellow Canadian shot Doohan by accident in friendly fire. Four bullets entered his leg, one severed a finger, and another round in the chest. A fortunately placed cigarette case in his breast pocket stopped the round. Much like what we see in movies.

The assassination of John F. Kennedy is engraved in American history. And though Bill Paxton didn’t witness Kennedy’s death, he did see the president hours before the shooting. He was with his father and brother when they went to see Kennedy speak at a Fort Worth, TX, hotel. That was the morning of November 22, 1963. Bill was an 8-year-old kid that time. Kennedy departed for Dallas after that where the public assassination took place.