In the US, film people turned politicans are overrepresented by California Republicans. Besides Reagan we've had: Senator George Murphy: star of such films as Broadway Rhythm (1944), Show Business (1944), This Is the Army (1943), Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940), Two Girls on Broadway (1940), Little Miss Broadway (1938), Broadway Melody of 1938, and [I kid you not] Hold That Co-ed (1938) . Shirley Temple, ambassador. Bruce Herschensohn directed documentaries, became a TV anchor, then ran for Senate against Barbara Boxer (and others). Oliver Stone was a delegate for Jerry Brown at the 1992 Democratic Convention. Screenwriter Gore Vidal rans for Senate. Fred Thompson, Fred Grandy, Ben Jones, Sonny Bono, Clint Eastwood, Ralph Waites, are some of the recent Hollywood faces seeking office. N.T. Rama Rao is one of the best known Indian film stars/political figures. Amitabh Bachan is a bigger star, but had only a short, scandalous career in parliament, I believe. Alessandra Mussolini was elected to the Italian Parliament. Andrzej Szczepkowski was elected to the Polish senate. Director Antun Vrdoljak became MP and VP of Croatia. Velimir Zivojinovic, Serbian parliament. ************************************************ Dan Streible Asst. Professor of Film Studies Dept. of Art University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 (803) 777-9158 (803) 777-0535 fax [log in to unmask] http://www.sc.edu/filmsymposium ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite