Fred Thompson, Jesse Ventura and 11 others who went from the small screen to the podium

Did you know that before he hosted his eponymous chair-throwing, fist-flying talk show, Jerry Springer was the mayor of Cincinnati?

Going from politician to TV star may be an unusual path, but the opposite route is actually quite common.

Here are 13 stars who made -- or tried to make -- the leap from primetime to politics.

Al Lewis, known to many as Grandpa Munster on The Munsters, died last night at his home in New York. Lewis had suffered from years of failing health and died with his wife at his bedside.

Lewis only spent two years on television as Grandpa Munster, but he apparently carried on the persona for years. He owned a New York restaurant called Grandpa's and, a few years ago, he ran as a Green Party candidate against NY Gov. George Pataki where he tried to have the name 'Grandpa Al Lewis' on the ballot but was unsuccessful. He did get 52,000 votes in the election, however. Most recently, he hosted a weekly radio program on WBAI-FM. This morning, in place of his regularly scheduled show, the station's program director announced Lewis' death.