Trivia / Ringo Starr

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• Breakthrough Hit: "It Don't Come Easy", from the spring of 1971. Although it wasn't his first single release – that honor goes to "Beaucoups of Blues" a year earlier, shortly after the breakup of The Beatles – this was his first legitimate hit. Ringo was the last Beatle to taste individual success, but for a time in the 1970s, he was more consistently successful than Paul McCartney.
• Creator's Favorite Episode: Of his Beatles drumwork, he's proudest of "Rain". His other favorite is "Yer Blues", which he stated he liked because it was recorded like they used to do it in the old days.
• Fake American: Hearing him sing about leaving Louisian' and recalling "sweet magnolia breath carried over the marsh by a breeze from the Gulf" in his Scouse accent in "Beaucoups of Blues" carries a bit of Narm Charm.
• No Export for You: His 1983 album Old Wave didn't receive an American release until 1994.
• The Original Darrin: He provided Thomas' vocals for the BBC Children in Need 2009 Medley, over two decades after quitting narration duties for Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends.
• Playing Against Type
  • In the Spaghetti Western Blindman, Starr played the possessive and dangerous Mexican bandit Candy. Being a character who beat women and would kill anybody who crossed him, it was a far cry from the Nice Guy roles Ringo usually played.
  • He played the child molester Uncle Ernie in the London Symphony Orchestra performance of Tommy.
• The Red Stapler: When he joined the Beatles, he bought a new drum kit from Ludwig Drums. He was so pleased to get such a fancy American brand that he had the brand's logo on the bass drum to show off. When the Beatles hit the big time with Starr using that kit, that publicity quickly made Ludwig the top drum manufacturer for 20 years.
• Typecasting: Tended to get cast as characters reminiscent of his Real Life persona, starting with A Hard Day's Night (in which he played an exaggerated version of himself). He once noted that he really wanted to play a villain just to shake things up. (As noted above, he finally did so in Blindman.)
• What Could Have Been: He was considered to play Rufus in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure before George Carlin was cast. Amusingly, Carlin ended up replacing Ringo as Mr. Conductor on Shining Time Station.

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