Daily Dirt for July 11, 2021

by Steve Eighinger
Another day, another three thoughts. This, my friends, is Vol. 3:

1. Earlier this month, did you happen to see Joey “Jaws” Chestnut defend his world hot-dog eating title? The ESPN-televised event saw The Man down 76 dogs — and buns —  in 10 minutes. For those wondering, that represented 20,520 calories.

2. In case you didn’t know, the following personalities were not born with the names they are known by:

A. Jamie Foxx: His real name is actually Eric Marlon Bishop. Foxx said he took his “stage name” in tribute to comedian Redd Foxx.

B. Sigourney Weaver: Her real first name is Susan. She decided to go by Sigourney at age 14 because she liked the name of a minor character in “The Great Gatsby.”

C. Andrew Lincoln: The longtime star of “The Walking Dead” was born Andrew Clutterbuck. He felt his actual last name was “goofy sounding.” I think he made a wise choice.

3. Some celebrity marriages you may have missed over the years, notably because of their length — or lack thereof:

A. Cher and Greg Allman, 9 days: Did either one of them actually even unpack? This marriage made big headlines back in 1975.

B. Dennis Hopper and Michelle Phillips, 8 days: Wow. Two of my favorite talents. Not only did they never unpack, they never made it through their 1970 honeymoon. I wonder if Dennis ever became a fan of “Knots Landing?”

C. Britney Spears and Jason Alexander, 55 hours: Yes, you read that right — 55 hours. That was back in 2004.