Jimmy Carter, Our Pop Culture President
Former president Jimmy Carter, who died Sunday at age 100, was the rare politician who seemed unconcerned with fame. After leaving the White House in 1981, Carter and wife Rosalynn (who died last year at age 96) spent their days away from mogulsâ private jets or film studios, but that didnât keep famous folks from sidling up to him. Paradoxically, Carter was the man some of the most selfie-stalked stars of stage and screen wanted a photo next to.
New York, NY – 2007: (L-R) George Clooney, former president Jimmy Carter backstage on the ABC tv series ‘Good Morning America’. (Photo by Ida Mae Astute /American Broadcasting Companies via Getty Images)
Walt Disney Television Photo Archives/Getty Images
Former US president Jimmy Carter (L) looks on as his wife Rossalyn (2L, back to camera) speaks to US actor Brad Pitt (R) who arrived to help build a house as part of the 23rd Jimmy Carter Work Project (JCWP) in Patan Village, in Lonavala district some 100 kilometers (63 miles) south east of Mumbai, 30 October 2006. Pitt joined thousands of volunteers from around the world who have teamed up with the former US president and the JCWP as they construct 100 houses in one week in partnership with families in a village in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.
STRDEL/Getty Images
New York Yankees vs. Atlanta Braves World Series game 3. Jane Fonda sings National Anthem with Former president Jimmy Carter next to her before the start of game.
New York Daily News Archive/Getty Images
Itâs also worth noting that when you see that big cartoon peach at the end credits of a movie or TV show, youâre also seeing Jimmy Carterâs legacy. Writing for Vanity Fair in 2023, Carter biographer Douglas G. Brinkley detailed how, during his stint as Georgia governor from 1971-1975, Carter laid the groundwork for the stateâs rise as film and TV location of choice.
Former US president Jimmy Carter (L) smiling broadly and standing next to Country and Western singer Willie Nelson (R) at concert during Plains, Georgia’s 100th anniversary.
Thomas S England/Getty Images
President Jimmy Carter (2L) in reception line about to greet singer / actress Eartha Kitt at the White House in Washington, D.C.
Diana Walker/Getty Images
Tenor Luciano Pavarotti (right), Grand Marshal, with President Jimmy Carter during Columbus Day Parade in New York City on October 13, 1980.
Newsday LLC/Getty Images
âI think the last year I was governor, we had 26 films made in Georgia,â Carter told Brinkley. âWe really went all out. I went to Hollywood and met with the producers. I went to New York and met with [banker] David Rockefeller. He hosted a luncheon so I could make my pitch to all the producers [he knew in the film business].â
Former president Jimmy Carter, co-chairman of the Heal Our Children/Heal The World initiative with Singer/Songwriter TLC, Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas, Rosalynn Carter, Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, Jimmy Carter and Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes backstage at The Omni Coliseum in Atlanta Georgia. May 5, 1993
Rick Diamond/Getty Images
Jimmy Carter and James Brown attend Former Governor of Georgia Jimmy Carter’s fundraiser for his 1976 Presidential run at Royal Coach Inn Atlanta Georgia February 14, 1976 (Photo By Rick Diamond/Getty Images)
Rick Diamond/Getty Images
(Original Caption) President and Mrs. Carter chat with singers Johnny Cash and his wife June Carter, during a visit the couple paid to the White House. With them is the singer’s son, John Carter Cash. Earlier Cash sang at Flag Day ceremonies at the Capitol.
Bettmann
âWe would do anything that was legal,â Carter said. âSometimes, we would stretch the law to make it easy for them to make the films. Burt Reynolds came down here several times and made Deliverance in Georgia during that time, and made The Longest Yard and Smokey and the Bandit, and different things.â
Singer Bono of U2, former president Jimmy Carter and co-founder of WAFF Nile Rodgers attend We Are Family Foundation 2016 Celebration Gala on April 29, 2016 in New York, New York. (Photo by Shahar Azran/Getty Images)
Shahar Azran/Getty Images
Former president Jimmy Carter, Actor Kirk Douglas and Anne Douglas attend Carter’s surprise 70th. birthday party at The Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta Georgia October, 1994
Rick Diamond/Getty Images
Singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake, ASCAP President and Chairman of the Board Paul Williams, former president Jimmy Carter, and singer Trisha Yearwood attend the 53rd annual ASCAP Country Music awards at the Omni Hotel on November 2, 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
When Brinkley asked Carter what the appeal of Georgia was for Hollywood, his response was swift. âWe would do anything for them,â he said. âFor instance, when [producers] wanted to make The Longest Yard, we turned over the Regional State Prison. And they wanted a football field. They wanted a fence put up, and we got Coca-Cola to put up old-fashioned advertisements around the football field. They wanted a 1932 gray pickup truck, a Ford, and we put an ad in the papers in Georgia and located a gray 1932 pickup truck. They wanted a place for Burt Reynolds to stay, so we talked to the prison warden, who said, âYou can have my house,â and the warden moved into a motel. They bought new furniture, and Burt Reynolds stayed in the wardenâs house.â
Democratic presidential nominee Jimmy Carter explains to newsmen why the party hosted by actor Warren Beatty was closed to the press. Three reporters were finally allowed into the gathering on a “pool” basis but news photographers and TV cameramen were denied entry to the Beverly Hills mansion “because some of the guests were assured there would be no cameras.”
Bettmann
Former president Jimmy Carter, co-chairman of the Heal Our Children/Heal The World initiative with Michael Jackson, invites Michael Jackson to visit Atlanta to boost the Atlanta Projects Immunization Drive in Atlanta Georgia on May 5, 1993
Rick Diamond/Getty Images
THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO — Episode 3269 — Pictured: (l-r) Former president Jimmy Carter and actor Edward Norton during an interview on December 11, 2006
NBC/Getty Images
âBy the way, when the movie was over,â Carter told Brinkley, âthe warden auctioned off the chairs and beds and so forth that Reynolds had used and made a big profit like that.â For that same film, Carter said, âThey needed a cheering section of gay Black prisoners. And this is a very sensitive thing for Georgia back then in the early â70s when I was governor. I greenlighted it. I told the director of the prison system, it was Mike McDougall, to go ahead and approve the gay cheering section. So thatâs the kind of thing. If they wanted to burn down a building or set some woods on fireâwhatever they wanted, we would do.â
THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO — Episode 625 — Pictured: (l-r) Former president Jimmy Carter, actor David Hyde Pierce on February 8, 1995
NBC/Getty Images
THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO — Episode 1054 — Pictured: (l-r) Actor William Hurt, former president Jimmy Carter on December 17, 1996.
NBC/Getty Images
President Jimmy Carter greets actress Bette Davis at the White House.
Wally McNamee/Getty Images
The Twisted Love Story of a 95-Year-Old Diamond Heiress and a Much Younger Genderfluid Reality Star
Bobby Berk Explains Why Heâs Really Leaving Queer Eye
Karen Read Tells Her Story: A Murder Trial in Massachusetts
The High Price of Being New York Societyâs It Girl