For a 156-year-old, well-respected institution of higher learning, the University of Mississippi has had and continues to have its fair share of connections to pop culture connections.
Many of the “biggies” in business, politics, sports and entertainment either attended or graduated from Ole Miss. Among them are Nobel Prize-winning novelist William Faulkner, New York Times best-selling author John Grisham, actresses Kate Jackson (an original “Charlie’s Angel”) and Delta Burke (“Designing Women”), songwriter Jim Weatherly (“Midnight Train to Georgia”), Fox News anchor Shepherd Smith, NFL star quarterbacks Archie and Eli Manning and offensive tackle Michael Oher (“The Blind Side”). Former Miss Americas Mary Ann Mobley, Lynda Lee Mead and Susan Akin are all alumnae. Former U.S. Sen. Trent Lott and current Sens. Roger Wicker and Thad Cochran all finished law school here.
Dozens of other notables have graced our grounds with their presence. President Barack Obama, Nobel Prize-winning author Salman Rushdie, late Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, retired NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw and former CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien, just to name a few. Pop icon Katy Perry, country singer-songwriter Ronnie Dunn, actor Liam Leeson, Academy Award-nominee Woody Harrelson and Oscar winner Octavia Spencer (“The Help”) were at the now-historic football game against the University of Alabama.
Even fictional characters are graduates of Ole Miss, including Bones McCoy of the “Star Trek” TV-movie franchise, Julia Sugarbaker of “Designing Women” and Scarlett O’Connor of “Nashville.”
The campus, officially voted one of the nation’s most beautiful, is referenced in “The Blind Side,” although the movie was not actually filmed here. The 1989 film “Heart of Dixie,” set at a fictional Alabama college, was filmed partly on campus, though.
Ole Miss is prominently mentioned in the lyrics of “Moonlight Feels Right,” a 1976 pop smash by the Atlanta-based band Starbuck.
One never knows just when and where Ole Miss may “pop” up next!