The Beatles altered the musical landscape with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and not just with the music. Its kaleidoscopic color-bomb collage cover stood in stark contrast to many albums of the era. It was the first album the Fab Four released after they stopped touring and put a nail into the coffin of Beatlemania that John Lennon wanted to hammer for years. Sgt. Pepper’s cover included dozens of famous faces in addition to John, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison. Ringo worked with two of them on notable projects outside of The Beatles.
The Beatles plastered several famous faces on the cover of ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’
Aside from The Beatles themselves, the Sgt. Pepper cover doesn’t include many musicians.
After getting high with Bob Dylan in 1964, the Fab Four included the folk troubadour in the upper right portion of the cover. American singer-songwriter Dion DiMucci appears, too. The Beatles frequently covered his song “Ruby Baby” early in their career. They likely didn’t ask to play his song, and they definitely didn’t ask for permission to include him on the cover.
On a cover that features several famous faces, Marlon Brando and Mae West are two of the superstars. They never worked with The Beatles directly, but Ringo teamed up with both of them after Sgt. Pepper hit the shelves.
Ringo Starr appeared on screen with ‘Sgt. Pepper’ cover models Marlon Brando and Mae West
All The Beatles starred in their collective live-action movies — A Hard Day’s Night, Help!, and Magical Mystery Tour. Of all the Fab Four, Ringo was the one that made acting a legitimate second career.
The drummer’s first movie without the rest of The Beatles landed in 1968. The otherwise forgettable Candy saw Ringo share the screen with several stars: Marlon Brando, John Huston, John Astin, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, and boxer Sugar Ray Robinson. The film tanked, but Ringo had an incredible experience watching Brando’s brand of acting up close.
Many of Ringo’s non-Beatles movie credits came in the 1970s. As his big-screen career started slowing down, he serendipitously nabbed a role in West’s final movie. The 1977 film Sextette wasn’t a world beater by any standards. West, at that point nearing her mid-80s, played the blonde bombshell part she perfected decades earlier.
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Even though neither movie left a mark, Ringo got the chance to work with two Sgt. Pepper cover stars outside his music career. It was nearly one, though. West turned down The Beatles’ request to appear on the cover but changed her mind after all four band members sent a personal note, according to The Trivia Book of The Beatles.
One of Ringo’s final movie roles paid off with a lasting personal relationship
Ringo met Maureen Cox soon after he joined The Beatles. They kept their relationship on the down low, but given that the drummer spoke sweet words about Cox, it’s not a surprise they eventually tied the knot.
Ringo and Mo married in 1965 and had three children together. The union fell apart in 1975, but Ringo remained close even as they both moved on.
The drummer dated off and on for several years, but that ended when he met Barbara Bach on the set of Caveman. The movie was filmed in Mexico from February to April 1980, per IMDb. A year, Ringo and Bach were married in Londo. His second marriage has lasted ever since.
Ringo Starr working with two Sgt. Pepper cover models likely wasn’t in the plans when The Beatles released their landmark 1967 album. Still, when it happened, it added a little more history to a historical record.
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