31. Kirk Douglas ended up in the navy after getting rejected by the Air Force
Born Issur Danielovitch, the future star caught the acting bug in kindergarten, when he recited a poem, and reveled in the audience’s applause. Unable to afford college, he talked a dean into letting him attend St. Lawrence University’s drama program, in exchange for working on campus as a janitor and gardener. After graduation, he got into stage acting, and had barely started getting himself established in the theater, when WWII broke out. He tried to join the Army Air Forces, but when the airmen turned him down, he joined the Navy in late 1941.