During a summer break form the Professional Children's Acting School in New York City in 1961, Christopher Walken briefly worked for the Tarryl Jacobs Circus. His job? Lion tamer!

["When circus chief and head tamer Tarryl Jacobs Jr had finished his performance, Ronald, posing as Jacobs' son, would enter the cage with Sheba the lion and, cracking his whip, demand 'Up, Sheba, up!' And Sheba -- old, toothless and friendly as a dog, but a consummate professional -- would deliver a suitably hair-raising roar."]

[Walken once failed an adding and subtracting test for a holiday job at Macy's. His first job as a performer? As a 14-month-old baby, he appeared, with two cats, in a hugely popular calendar... buck naked.]