SUBSCRIBE

10 !ings You
Might Not Know
About Jon Hamm
BY NANCY CURTIS MARCH 22, 2012

3:32 PM

Expand

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF JOHN BURROUGHS SCHOOL

​ Much to the delight of Mad Men fans

worldwide, the show will be making a
triumphant return to AMC this Sunday for
its !fth season after a long 17-month
hiatus. Most St. Louisans know that the
leading man of the series, Jon Hamm, is
from St. Louis (we, of course, included him
in SLM's January cover feature "My
Hometown"), but here are some things you
might not know about the handsome celeb:

​ 1. Hamm, a John Burroughs School

graduate, was an athlete in high school,
playing on the football, baseball, and swim
teams.

​ 2. He played Judas in the 1988 John

Burroughs School production of Godspell,
in which he wore a Sgt. Pepper-inspired
coat and his signature look at the time: a
backwards baseball hat.

​ 3. He also tried his hand at dancing in the

chorus of the school's production of
Carousel. “I’ve been in the theater forever,
and he is one of the !ve nicest guys I have
ever worked with. Although he can’t tap
dance,” his former drama teacher Wayne
Salomon told SLM.

​ 4. After graduating from high school,

Hamm !rst went to the University of Texas,
but transferred to the University of
Missouri to be closer to home after his
father's death.

​ 5. Hamm is a Mizzou alum and a big

supporter of the university. In 2010, he
appeared in a Mizzou commercial, ending
it with a dramatic, "Z-O-U, Forever." He was
also pictured with SNL star Jason Sudeikis,
a KU alum, earlier this year in Mizzou gear
after the basketball team lost to KU.

​ 6. He was a day-care teacher in college.

"Kids don’t let you bullshit. "ey stay on
top of you. So that was at least one good
way to maintain focus," he told us in 2007.

​ 7. After graduating from Mizzou, Hamm

returned to John Burroughs School for a
year, interning in the drama department,
where he taught another St. Louis celeb,
!e O"ce's Ellie Kemper. "When he taught
theater, we had a few weeks of improv, and
he taught that portion," recalled Kemper. "I
remember him saying this thing that I
think is sort of the key to improv and
maybe all of acting, which is just listen and
then react. It’s so simple, but it gives you
over to the scene, so you’re serving the
whole scene and not just doing what you
need to do. He was the person to say that.
And he’s very handsome."

​ 8. During nights after college, he worked

as a waiter at Cardwell's and acted in small
productions.

​ 9. He knows St. Louis well. In an interview

right before the show's premier in 2007, he
told us ""ere isn’t a place in St. Louis that
you could drop me where I’d get lost." He
lived in Florissant until about age 4, Creve
Coeur from 4 to 10, Normandy from 10 to
18, and then, after college, he lived in U.
City.

​ 10. He molded his interpretation of Don

Draper after his father, who was a business
executive in St. Louis during the time Mad
Men takes place, he explained during an
interview on NPR's Fresh Air in 2008.
"While I was literally just looking through
family photos, I could see this man, who
was a sort of the master of his domain, and
the sort of ease with which he moved
through this world—St. Louis is obviously a
much smaller pond than Madison Avenue
in New York City—but that kind of largess
and ease was a big part of what informed
my interpretation of Don," he explained.

SLM Daily March 2012

BY NANCY CURTIS MARCH 22, 2012

3:32 PM

Read about the people and

policies transforming St. Louis
in The Big Think newsletter.

Email*

SIGN UP

Or, check out all of our newsletters.

0 Comments Sort by Newest

Add a comment...

Facebook Comments Plugin

CONNECT WITH US

facebook
twitterinstagram
Youtube
Pinterest
LinkedIn
RS

P.O. BOX 191606

St. Louis, MO 63119
314-918-3000

Contact Us

SUBSCRIBE

Company Info
About Us
Employment
Awards
Privacy Policy

Advertise
Media Kits
Advertising Billing

Publications
St. Louis Magazine
Design STL
St. Louis Family
Newsletters
Custom Publishing
Renew
Digital subscriptions
Manage my account
Purchase back issues
Reprints

Copyright 2021 SLM Media Group. All rights reserved.

Built with Metro Publisher™