Ten People Who Should Have Never Been Famous

A recent survey discovered that kids today think the most important goal in life is to be famous (by the way, the number two and three responses were 'good looks' and 'being rich'). But childhood dreams aside, there are some famous people the world could do without. To call them celebrities would be a misnomer; these are the ones who are famous for being famous. But then the question remains, how do you get famous if you're not a celebrity? The second and third responses on the survey may have a bit to do with it.

People Who Should Have Never Been Famous

10. Pia Zadora
With movie credits like Voyage of the Rock Aliens and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, television credits like a single episode of Beavis and Butt-Head and her self-titled debut album, 1982's Pia, Pia Zadora proved she could do it all... badly. Yet for a while the tabloids and news media couldn't get enough of her. Now this may be in small part due to her multimillionaire husband. But I prefer to think that her talent speaks for itself.

9. Brooke Shields
A little more understandable than Pia Zadora, but still a bit of a mystery. She made two big movies - Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon, and of course there was the Calvin Klein ad, but aside from that, she fell into the famous for being famous arena. At one time she got more press coverage than the president. And oddly enough, when she had a decent hit, Suddenly Susan, she seemed to receive less press. It's as though she'd booked a certain amount of screen time, and once she was on screen, the press didn't need to keep putting her out there in the public eye.

8. David Gest
At least he's not famous for being famous - he's famous for marrying someone famous. That's nothing new, but at least Tom Arnold married Roseanne Barr while she was still on top. If you want to understand this guy's fame, he recently published his autobiography entitled, Simply The Gest. Feel free to read it if you like. I won't. He already occupies too many of my brain cells already.

7. Zsa Zsa Gabor
Another oldie but goodie. She wasn't in any memorable films. Her sister was in Green Acres, so that counts for something. She was married nine times, one of which to Conrad Hilton, great-grandfather to another person on this list. But other than that, she was another one of those household names that somehow became a household name.

6. Kevin Federline
There seems to be a pattern developing. Marry someone famous and you too, can be famous. K-fed, aside from his nomination at the Teen Choice Awards for Male Red Carpet fashion Icon (sadly he didn't win the coveted prize), has very few claims to fame, but then after a Teen Choice Nomination, where else is there to go but down?

5. Simon Cowell
Okay, so he's legitimately famous, biggest show on TV and all that. But this high school drop out is just a little too big for his britches. It also helps to have a record executive for a dad to kick start the old career. Too bad dad never taught him that if you can't say something nice, you shouldn't say anything at all.

4. Monica Lewinsky
You know you're famous when spellcheck doesn't put a red squiggly under your name. We all know why she's famous. It's a good reason to become famous, but still, it's one I could do without. After the scandal she used her newfound notoriety to launch an online handbag business. She closed shop on that in 2004. In 2006, she earned her master's in Social Psychology with her thesis entitled "In Seach of the Impartial Juror: An Exploration of the Third Person Effect and Pre-trial Publicity". Not sure what that will do for her on the fame meter, but then you never know.

3. Kato Kaelin
Anyone whose nickname comes from a character played by Bruce Lee can't be all bad, but how the ultimate houseguest who would never leave became a household name is media at its worst. Kaelin's fifteen minutes of fame was about 14 minutes and 59 seconds too long.

2. Paris Hilton
Finally, we have a "real" celebrity. After all, she's not someone who got to be famous because of simply being related to rich and famous people. She earned it on her own. Hilton became so famous for being famous that the Associated Press conducted an experiment in February, 2007 by trying to go a whole week without reporting a story on her. The experiment began on February 19 and ended with Hilton's arrest for driving with a suspended license. In an interesting side note, the ban ignoring Hilton made news. You can read the story HERE.

1. Most of the cast of "Match Game"
Seems rather anti-climactic after Paris, but if you've ever seen this show (I used to love it when I was a kid), you were hard pressed to find anybody truly famous. Of course, Richard Dawson would go on to become the host of Family Feud, but prior to this, his biggest claim to fame was a continuing bit part on Hogan's Heroes. Occasionally they had guest stars who had acted within the last five years, but talk about your B-list celebrities - Match Game was full of them. The show was still fun, but when your big name talent includes Joann Pflug, Nipsey Russel and Elaine Joyce, well... you get the picture.

Sources: USA Today, Wikipedia, http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2083906.ece