History OddFriendship / RealLife

* In the literary world, we have Creator/HPLovecraft the pale, neurotic and highly racist and pessimistic New Englander whose work became the famous Franchise/CthulhuMythos and the TropeMaker for CosmicHorrorStory; and Creator/RobertEHoward, the hard-drinking, manly and [[FairForItsDay relatively fair]] Texan who mainly wrote stories about westerns, swashbucklers and boxers, as well as Literature/SolomonKane and of course, Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian. They regularly shared correspondence through letters and by all accounts Howard's suicide in 1936 devastated Lovecraft.

* Creator/RonnieCorbett and the bassist of the first incarnation of Music/JethroTull, Glenn Cornick, were close friends until Cornick's death in 2014. They met when Music/JethroTull were fulfilling their last few small club commitments whilst having their first hits and Ronnie thought they were a jazz band. Although Tull was ''definitely'' not jazz, Ronnie stayed, enjoyed it, and offered the band a round of drinks during a short break. Cornick took him up on the drink, and they became friends, a friendship that was cemented by Ronnie politely asking whether he could guy Glenn's look on the early Tull albums for the comic character "Big Jim Jehoshaphat". Glenn was delighted to let Ronnie parody him in this way, and although Glenn mostly had his career in the USA after leaving Music/JethroTull, whenever Glenn was in the UK, or Ronnie was in the USA, they'd meet up for a drink and a ''Looo-ng'' chat.

* Creator/RonnieCorbett and the bassist of the first incarnation of Music/JethroTull, Glenn Cornick, were close friends until Cornick's death in 2014. They met when Music/JethroTull were fulfilling their last few small club commitments whilst having their first hits and Ronnie thought they were a jazz band. Although Tull was ''definitely'' not jazz, Ronnie stayed, enjoyed it, and offered the band a round of drinks during a short break. Cornick took him up on the drink, and they became friends, a friendship that was cemented by Ronnie politely asking whether he could guy Glenn look on the early Tull albums for the comic character "Big Jim Jehoshaphat". Glenn was delighted to let Ronnie parody him in this way, and although Glenn mostly had his career in the USA after leaving Music/JethroTull, whenever Glenn was in the UK, or Ronnie was in the USA, they'd meet up for a drink and a ''Looo-ng'' chat.

* Because of ''Film/BeyondTheValleyOfTheDolls'', Creator/RogerEbert being friends with sexploitation king Creator/RussMeyer is well-known, but many people aren't aware that his Series/SiskelAndEbert partner Gene Siskel hung out with [[Magazine/{{Playboy}} Hugh Hefner]] for a while. Hefner became a fan of Siskel's film reviews after he started at the ''Chicago Tribune'', and contacted him. With Hefner starting to explore the film business in the first part of TheSeventies, Siskel decided their friendship was in danger of becoming a conflict-of-interest and decided to go separate ways.

** Creator/HunterSThompson, who famously satirized Richard Nixon and promoted drug use and debauchery was close friends Buchanan, who later attended Thompson's funeral and eulogized his friend.

* Music/WaylonJennings and [[Creator/MuppetPerformers Caroll Spinney]] became good friends after they worked together in ''Film/SesameStreetPresentsFollowThatBird''. Jennings even talks about it a little in his autobiography.

* Former senators Russ Feingold and John [=McCain=]. One was a conservative war veteran, the other was a liberal anti-war activist best known for being the ''only'' senator from either party to oppose the Patriot Act. The pair became friends while working on a 2002 campaign finance reform bill and, despite their many differences of opinion, maintained a personal friendship and professional camaraderie for the rest of their lives, even as the partisan divide in the Senate continued to grow, with [=McCain=] allegedly even telling Feingold that if [=McCain=] won the presidential election, he intended to put Feingold up for a Cabinet position ("just not as secretary of defense"). When [=McCain=] died in 2018, Feingold served as a pallbearer and also wrote a [[https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/26/opinion/john-mccain-death-tribute.html tribute to him]] that was published in the New York Times.

* Former senators Russ Feingold and John [=McCain=]. One was a conservative war veteran, the other was a liberal anti-war activist best known for being the ''only'' senator from either party to oppose the Patriot Act. The pair became friends while working on a 2002 campaign finance reform bill and, despite their many differences of opinion, maintained a personal friendship and professional camaraderie for the rest of their lives, even as the partisan divide in the Senate continued to grow, with [=McCain=] allegedly telling Feingold he'd give him a cabinet position if he won the presidential election ("just not as secretary of defense"). When [=McCain=] died in 2018, Feingold served as a pallbearer and also wrote a [[https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/26/opinion/john-mccain-death-tribute.html tribute to him]] that was published in the New York Times.

* Creator/GrouchoMarx maintained a lengthy correspondence with poet Creator/TSEliot. Their pen-pal friendship is particularly remarkable given Eliot's extreme conservatism, his alleged dislike for "lowbrow" vulgar mass culture, and his reputation as an anti-Semite.

* Creator/JohnWayne befriended Creator/MontgomeryClift while filming ''Film/RedRiver'', bonding to a large part due to their shared enthusiasm and skill in chess. When John Wayne was asked whether Clift's homosexuality (an open secret in Hollywood) or liberal political views bothered him, Wayne said that he really didn't care about either, especially since Clift was a good chess player.

* [[Series/TheMcLaughlinGroup Pat Buchanan]], the arch-conservative political commentator, traditional Catholic, and former Nixon speechwriter never let politics get in the way of personal friendship. For instance:

** He teamed up with Creator/SalvadorDali to make an animated short film in 1945 called ''Destino''; although the project didn't go anywhere, the two remained friends for the rest of their lives.