Tag Archives: Celebrity Teachers

Best-selling author Stephen King was once a high school English teacher

Posted on by

Best-selling author Stephen King was once a high school English teacher. Here he is in his classroom in Hampden Academy in Hampden, Maine, in 1978. Photo Credit: Reddit

Most people are very familiar with the popular novels and short stories of talented horror fiction writer Stephen King, but did you know he was once a high school teacher?

Stephen was born on September 21, 1947, in Portland, Maine. His father was a merchant seaman, and his mother was a kitchen worker in a facility for the developmentally handicapped. When Stephen was only two years old, his father abandoned the family, and after that his mother struggled to support herself, Stephen, and Stephen’s older brother, David.

When he was young, Stephen attended Durham Elementary School, and then Lisbon Falls High School in Lisbon Falls, Maine, where he graduated in 1966. Even as a child, Stephen displayed an interest in horror fiction. He was an avid reader of EC’s horror comics, which included the stories of Tales from the Crypt.  He began writing for his own amusement, contributing articles to Dave’s Rag, a home-based newspaper his brother published with a mimeograph machine. Later he began selling stories to his classmates based on movies he had seen, though he was forced to return his profits when his teachers discovered the enterprise. The first of Stephen’s stories to be independently published was “I Was a Teenage Grave Robber,” published in a popular fanzine in 1965.

Following Stephen’s graduation from high school in 1966, he enrolled as a student at the University of Maine, Orono, declaring a major in English. During his college years, he wrote a column for the student newspaper, The Maine Campus, entitled “Steve King’s Garbage Truck,” participated in writing workshops, and took odd jobs to help meet his living expenses, including one stint at an industrial laundry.  He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He sold his first professional short story, “The Glass Floor,” to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967.

After graduating from the University of Maine in 1970, Stephen earned his high school teaching credential, but was unable to find a teaching position right away. To earn a living, he sold short stories to men’s magazines such as Cavalier. In 1971, Stephen was hired to teach at Hampden Academy, a public high school in Hampden, Maine. He continued to contribute short stories to magazines and worked on ideas for novels. After his novel Carrie was published, Stephen left his job as a high school teacher to write full time, but he continued his career as an educator when he was hired as a professor of creative writing at the University of Maine, Orono.

Today, at age 78, Stephen King lives in Bangor, Maine. His wife, Tabitha King, is also a successful author. Stephen and Tabitha provide scholarships for local high school students and  contribute to many other local and national charities.

Learn more about this famous celebrity at his official website.

Margaret Hamilton, Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West, was once a kindergarten teacher

Posted on by
Margaret Hamilton

Margaret Hamilton, a former kindergarten teacher, frightened generations of children when she played the Wicked Witch of the West in Hollywood’s 1939 production of The Wizard of Oz. Photo credit: Public Domain

Not many people would recognize the name or photograph of actress Margaret Hamilton, but just about everyone knows the iconic movie role she played. Bedecked in green make-up and a black pointed hat, this pleasant face was the Wicked Witch of the West in MGM’s 1939 version of The Wizard of Oz.

Margaret was born December 9, 1902, in Cleveland, Ohio. She was the fourth child of Walter and Mary Jane (Adams)  Hamilton. At an early age, Margaret was determined to make a career for herself in the theater. However, her parents insisted she get a college degree, so Margaret attended Wheelock College in Boston, Massachusetts. The institution was founded by Lucy Wheelock in 1888, and was known as Miss Wheelock’s Kindergarten Training School. The school offered undergraduate and graduate programs intended to improve the quality of early childhood education. In 2018, the college became part of Boston University’s School of Education.

It’s ironic that this very sweet and loving former kindergarten teacher is best known for her frightful disposition and her villainous behaviors, not to mention for scaring the daylights out of generations of little children. When asked about her role in The Wizard of Oz, the former teacher often said her greatest fear was that her monstrous film role would give young people a false impression of her true nature. The reality is that Margaret Hamilton cared deeply about children, and she was a lifelong advocate for educational causes, devoting much of her energy and money to benefit causes that improved the lives of children and animals. She served on the Beverly Hills Board of Education from 1948 to 1951, and she also taught Sunday school during the 1950s.

This amazing Chalkboard Champion passed away of a heart attack on May 16, 1985, at the age of 83. Her ashes were scattered in Amenia, New York.

Adelaide Cumming, the iconic face of Betty Crocker, was also an English teacher

Posted on by

The image of Betty Crocker, an American icon in the 1950’s, was actually Adelaide Cumming, an English teacher who taught English as a Second Language learners. Photo credit: General Mills

Betty Crocker was an icon of America womanhood in the 1950’s, but did you know the marketing image of the famous housewife was actually that of Adelaide Hawley Cumming, an English teacher?

This remarkable educator portrayed the fictional Betty Crocker on a weekly half-hour television show called The Betty Crocker Show. She also starred in walk-on commercials on the Burns & Allen Show, where comedian George Burns would say to his wife, “I don’t know how to bake a cake, Gracie, but here is Betty Crocker to show us how.”

Adelaide was born in 1905 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. A vaudeville performer and broadcast pioneer, Adelaide majored in piano and voice at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, New York. Following her graduation from college, she taught music for two and a half years at the Alabama College School of Music in Montevallo, Alabama.

From 1937 to 1950, the talented teacher was the host of the Adelaide Hawley Program, first on NBC radio and then on CBS. At the height of her career, Adelaide was a nationally recognized figure, second only to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. According to Adelaide’s daughter, Marcia Hayes, the teacher and actress was a feminist in her private life, and was not especially fond of cooking. “I am merely the manifestation of a corporate image,” she once told autograph-seeking fans. She practiced her autograph as Betty Crocker by copying the signature from the top of the cake mix box.

When General Mills replaced her with a more updated image in 1964, Adelaide went back to school, earning a doctorate in speech education from New York University in 1967. She taught English to second-language learners in Washington state until her death at age 93 in 1998, a career as an educator that spanned nearly thirty years.

To read more about the marketing of Betty Crocker, see this article entitled Betty Crocker: A Brief Biography.

Actress Kate Capshaw was once a Special Education teacher

Posted on by
Famed actress Kate Capshaw of Indiana Jones fame is a former Special Education teacher from Texas. Photo Credit: Encyclopedia Britannica

Famed actress Kate Capshaw of Indiana Jones fame is a former Special Education teacher from Texas. Photo Credit: elcinema.com

Many talented educators have made their mark in fields other than education. This is certainly true of former teacher Kate Capshaw, a Hollywood actress who is best known for her portrayal of Willie Scott in the movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. She is famous as an actress in her own right, but she is also well-known for being married to famed director Steven Spielberg.

Kate was born on November 3, 1953, in Fort Worth, Texas, of humble origins. Her mother was a travel agent and beautician, and her father was an airline employee. When Kate was only five years old, her family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where in 1972 she graduated from Hazelwood Central High School.

After her high school graduation, Kate earned a Bachelor’s degree in History Education and a Master’s degree in Special Education, both from the University of Missouri. She accepted her first teaching position as a special education teacher at Southern Boone County High School in Ashland, Missouri. Later she transferred to Rock Bridge High School in Columbia, Missouri. During her years as an educator, she married and divorced Robert Capshaw, a school principal. The union produced one daughter.

After some years in the classroom, Kate moved to New York City to pursue a career in acting, landing her first role on the soap opera The Edge of Night. She also starred in Dreamscape in 1984, SpaceCamp in 1996, and How to Make an American Quilt in 1995. During the filming of Indiana Jones, Kate began a relationship with Spielberg, which eventually resulted in her conversion to Judaism and her marriage to the director in 1991. The couple have five children in addition to Kate’s daughter from her first marriage.

Former teacher Lin-Manuel Miranda earns high acclaim with “Hamilton”

Posted on by

Former junior high school teacher Lin-Manuel Miranda has earned high acclaim as a composer, lyricist, singer, actor, playwright, and producer. Photo credit: Gage Skidmore

Almost everyone has heard of composer, lyricist, singer, actor, playwright, and producer Lin-Manuel Miranda. He’s probably best known for creating and starring in the blockbuster Broadway musical Hamilton. But did you know that he was once a junior high school English teacher?

Lin-Manuel was born Jan. 16, 1980, in New York City, the son of Puerto Rican parents. His father, Luis Miranda, Jr., was a political consultant. His mother, Luz Towns-Miranda, was a clinical psychologist. Lin-Manuel has one sister, also named Luz. While Lin-Mnauel was growing up, his family lived in the Hispanic neighborhood of Inwood in Manhattan.

The Miranda children were raised in a musically-oriented family. Both siblings took piano lessons. The music of Broadway featured prominently in their home, but Lin-Manuel also developed an appreciation for hip-hop, including the music of the Beastie Boys, Boogie Down Productions, and Eric B. & Rakim.

During his pre-teen and teenage years, Lin-Manuel attended Hunter College’s elementary and high schools. During these years, he performed in student stage productions. Once he graduated from high school, he enrolled at Wesleyan University, where he majored in theater studies.

After college, Lin-Manuel accepted a position teaching English to seventh graders. He worked this capacity for one year. Then he became a substitute teacher at his alma mater, Hunter College High School. That’s where he was working when his musical In the Heights caught the interest of Broadway producers.

“Hunter had asked me to stay on to continue to teach part time,” the former teacher remembered. But here came a chance to follow his dreams on Broadway. He asked his father, “What should I do? Should I keep teaching or should I just kind of sub and do gigs to pay the rent, and really throw myself into writing full time?”

His father responded with a heartfelt letter. “I really want to tell you to keep the job—that’s the smart ‘parent thing’ to do—but when I was 17, I was a manager at the Sears in Puerto Rico. I basically threw it all away to go to New York, [and] I didn’t speak a lot of English. It made no sense, but it was what I needed to do,” Lin-Manuel recalled the letter said. “It makes no sense to leave your job to be a writer, but I have to tell you to do it,” the elder Miranda advised. “You have to pursue that if you want.” The former teacher’s success is, as they say, history.

Since then, Lin-Manuel has garnered three Grammy Awards, three Emmy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, and a MacArthur Fellowship. He was also honored at Kennedy Center in 2018.

To read more about the life of Lin-Manuel Miranda, follow this link to Biography.