In a city like London, you have to study and train for around 3 years before getting a driver’s license. While in many cities, it is considered as ordinary labour. But do you know, there were some famous people who at one point in time in their lives drove taxis. Read on to know more.
David Mamet
Mamet often denounced the notion that real writers are trained in the big Ivy League institutions. He believed that life’s experiences and close observation are the real training ground and compared great writers like Ernest Hemingway, Jack London or Nelson Algren with cab drivers. Mamet worked as a cab driver in Chicago as the on-the-job training for his career as a writer.
Larry David
As part of many off jobs, Larry also worked as a limousine driver besides working with the parachutes and being a bra salesman. At that time, he was living next to Kenny Kramer, who later inspired Seinfeld’s Michael Richard.
Jimmy Smits
Despite having a Masters in Dramatic Arts from Cornell, in the early 1980s, the struggling aspiring New York Theater artist drove cabs at night while pursuing acting in off-Broadway plays in the daytime. His cabbie stint lasted for few months before he got a chance at Steven Bochco’s LA Law.
Danny Glover
In 1999, the Lethal Weapon movie actor leveraged his former San Francisco cab driver stint to run an awareness campaign about African Americans being passed over for white passengers by the cab drivers. Later, Operation Refusal was launched by Rudolph Giuliani that suspended the licenses of cab drivers that favoured white passengers.
Philip Glass
Before penning film scores of Notes and The Truman Show, Glass made his living in New York City as a cab driver. He so much loved the independence of being a cabbie that until he was completely able to make a living from his music, he kept on driving a cab. He penned his most recognized opera, Einstein on the Beach, while working as a part-time taxi driver. Commercially, Glass is the most successful classic composer!
Paul Stanley
While he was working as a part-timer cab driver, one of the most frequents stops on his route was Madison Square Garden. He would take his customers to see events such as Elvis concerts, Knicks games and many more. This was much before Kiss star became the legend of rock-n-roll and rock music.
Now you know about some great cab drivers of yesteryears.
