We expect stage and TV stars to make the leap to Hollywood hot stuff.

But what about war heroes? Sports reporters? Errr…Army dogs?

We've mined the CVs of Tinseltown’s less-likely famesters and uncovered some serious surprises...

The War Hero: Audie Murphy

Previous experience:

You can’t throw a grenade in Hollywood without fragging someone who’s played a war hero. But Audie Leon Murphy was the real thing – in fact, he was the most-decorated GI in World War Two.

His 24 commendations included the Medal Of Honor, which he won for single-handedly facing down a German tank and infantry attack.

Famed or shamed?

Famed. When Universal adapted Murphy’s autobiography in 1955, he was the obvious hard man for the job. To Hell And Back was the studio’s biggest-grossing movie until the release of Jaws, 20 years later.

Murphy suffered for his success, mind – he was a gambler, a manic depressive, an insomniac, had post-traumatic stress disorder and a sleeping-pill addiction, which he cured by going cold turkey in a locked motel room.

Today, Murphy’s grave in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC is the second most-visited (after that of assassinated US pres JFK’s).

Next: The Criminal