are you related to anyone famous?

[Minotaurus]

actors, politicans, sport etc..

I was just wondering

(celebs that are famous worldwide or in your country)

[dnooman]

Not that I know of. But, my mom was best friend's with Bill Murray's sister and therefore knew him quite well while growing up. Also, my dad's roommate in prep school was Rick Flair the professional wrestler.

[panache45]

Not related, but my mother once dated Jerry Siegel, who invented Superman.

[Alice The Goon]

I'm not related to anybody famous, but I know several people that are related to somebody famous: Belinda Carlisle's cousin is my son's babysitter, Sandra Day O'Connor's sister and Rod Serling's brother were clients at an office I used to work at, and Caroline Rhea's father is a client at the place I work at now and a retired OBGYN.

[dnooman]

Oh yeah, my sister used to be best friend's with both Pat Boone's grandaughter and some hot chick from Road Rules . Pat Boone's grandaughter had a show on TechTV. She's pretty hot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Corbin) now. So's her friend (http://www.reelmanagement.com/pages/headshots/veronicaportillo.jpg) from Road rules.

I went to middle school with an actor (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0420110/) who's not exactly a household name.

Did you say related to? I guess not.

[Barking Dog]

Don't know if it's true, but my grandma once said that we're related to Samuel Clemens. He'd be a great uncle of mine, of some degree or another. That is, if it's true. Kind of a family legend, really.

[dnooman]

Oh yeah, my mom was once proposed to by "presidential candidate" and comedian Pat Paulsen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Paulsen).

[Rhiannon8404]

My cousin was marred to Dennis Rodman. Actually second cousin, our grandmothers were sisters. She called herself Anicka Rodman, but she was born Annie Bakes. They were married less than a year, but had been together before that for several years. They have a daughter together.

[ASAKMOTSD]

I went to high school with one of the guys that did the special effects for Terminator 2, The Matrix series, one of the Batman movies, etc.

[Least Original User Name Ever]

I'm supposedly descended from Alexander Hamilton.

How's THAT for famous, baby?!?!

[dnooman]

My mom seems to have some serious connections. One of her best friends as a youth was the mother of Jill Carroll (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Carroll) famous for being a kidnapped journalist for the Christian Science Monitor in Iraq. Her mom is really nice and has a great sense of humor.

On a sadder note, one of the few people to die in the U.S. from the West Nile Virus was related to me.

[Rigamarole]

If I was, I wouldn't tell you, paparazzo. :p

[kaylasdad99]

My wife's late aunt was once married to Alan Jay Lerner.

(I understand several other women were as well, at various times in history).

And the aunt in question once wandered into Groucho Marx's stateroom looking for her sister.

[dnooman]

I'm supposedly descended from Alexander Hamilton.

How's THAT for famous, baby?!?!
The guy that makes those blenders? Nice.

[drm]

They aren't exceptionally famous but my great great great Uncle donated a boatload of money a while ago and that is how Duke University got it's name (his last name being duke and all). To be honest with you though, it might have been his daughter who donated the money. My grandpa knows all the details as it was his grandpa's brother.

That's about as famous as it gets for me.

[Seven]

My uncle is Deary Weaver who was in The Hollywood Argyles (http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=4272) - recorded the song Ally Oop.

My half-uncle (my mothers half brother) was George Miller (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Miller_(comedian)). My mother didn't learn this until after he died. In fact, they still don't talk about George. My grandfather's first relationship ended poorly and George turned into a battle of custody. My grandmother (my mothers mother) told her she had a half brother but he died in the Vietnam war. Even today she says George Wade Dornberger (AKA George Miller) is different from George Wade Dornberger who died in Vietnam. It's bullshit though.

Another person they don't talk about is General Walter Dornberger (http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/fire22.htm) who worked with Werner von Braun and was one of the forces behind the V2 missle. As far as my family is concerned that branch of my family tree has been pruned.

My wife is related to Pierre Trudeau (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Trudeau).

[Hilarity N. Suze]

I am related (cousin) to two famous people, a musician and a novelist, and (niece)two much-less-famous people, a musician and a short story writer.

My husband's first wife is moderately famous. More famous than me, anyway!

Also: I have a pair of jeans that used to belong to a movie star. I was interviewing her when her dachsund puppy, a real cutie, came over, sniffed the cuff of my pants rather thoroughly, and then peed on me. She gave me a pair of her jeans--they are great. Newmans. (No relation to the food empire, I don't think.) She offered shoes too but my feet are inordinately small, so I just wiped my sandals off, but I took the jeans. When I put them on I looked six inches taller and 20 lbs. slimmer, and felt like a movie star. She wanted to send my pants to the hotel's cleaning dept. (that was the point of giving me the jeans I think) but I said never mind and just rinsed them out. I offered to send the Newmans back to her but she insisted I keep them. Probably just didn't want to give me her address.

All in all I think the jeans are my closest link to fame. Sad, innit.

[David Simmons]

Hiram Cronk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiram_Cronk), last surviving veteran of the War of 1812 was my mother's great-great-....(however many) uncle.

Jack Teagarden (http://www.redhotjazz.com/tea.html) was a distant cousin of my mother.

As to my father's relatives he always used the old joke. He didn't want to look too closely for fear he would find someone hanging from a tree limb.

[Astroboy14]

If I understand our fuzzy geneology correctly, I'm distantly related to Walter Reed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Reed) on my mother's side. That's the best I got...

[Sublight]

No, but my family is.

[matt_mcl]

I've met a number of famous people - largely New Democratic politicians - but I'm not related to anyone in particular.

However, there's a family tradition that we might be related to Ulysses S. Grant. Whoooooooooooooooooooooooee.

Also our fifth cousin's (don't laugh, we're close) mother-in-law was a lady in waiting to the Queen of the Netherlands. That's about it for us.

[mrald]

Jesse James (the outlaw, not the car guy) is my great uncle/cousin or whatever. I forget the connection but it is on my father's side, and pretty close. woopie

[dnooman]

I am related (cousin) to two famous people, a musician and a novelist, and (niece)two much-less-famous people, a musician and a short story writer.

My husband's first wife is moderately famous. More famous than me, anyway!

Also: I have a pair of jeans that used to belong to a movie star. I was interviewing her when her dachsund puppy, a real cutie, came over, sniffed the cuff of my pants rather thoroughly, and then peed on me. She gave me a pair of her jeans--they are great. Newmans. (No relation to the food empire, I don't think.) She offered shoes too but my feet are inordinately small, so I just wiped my sandals off, but I took the jeans. When I put them on I looked six inches taller and 20 lbs. slimmer, and felt like a movie star. She wanted to send my pants to the hotel's cleaning dept. (that was the point of giving me the jeans I think) but I said never mind and just rinsed them out. I offered to send the Newmans back to her but she insisted I keep them. Probably just didn't want to give me her address.

All in all I think the jeans are my closest link to fame. Sad, innit.

No names, huh? Wow. Deep.

Did you know that what's-his-face married that chick? Seriously. They're wiccans as well. Wait, you're not Phyllis Diller are you?

[dnooman]

Jesse James (the outlaw, not the car guy) is my great uncle/cousin or whatever. I forget the connection but it is on my father's side, and pretty close. woopie
The motorcycle guy claims to be related to the outlaw.

Funny how Hitler's kin tend to downplay their relation to him. I hear that Jesse James was quite the philanthropist. He gave money to women, and they gave him , uhhh, stuff. He never shot anyone BTW, his gun(s) did all that. So, step off bitch!

[E. Thorp]

My paternal grandfather's brother was married to Jimmy Stewart's sister, which makes Jimmy ... well, nothing to me personally, but my mom's cousins talk about "Uncle Jim."

[Fern Forest]

My uncle's probably the most well known person in my family tree not counting people like 15th cousins once removed and such. He's Helios Creed. He was in the band Chrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrome_%28band%29).

I'll be seeing him next week.

[ParentalAdvisory]

Not related, but my mom went to an arts class with Tom Morellos mom a couple years back (Rage Against the Machine).

[Hilarity N. Suze]

No names, huh? Wow. Deep.

Did you know that what's-his-face married that chick? Seriously. They're wiccans as well. Wait, you're not Phyllis Diller are you?

Well, I'm understandably hesitant to name someone I have an actual connection to, this being an anonymous message board and all. I can say that I am not Phyllis Diller (if that were the case my husband's ex-wife would not be more famous). Obviously, his ex-wife and I have the same last name, and it's not a usual one.

But I suppose I can say that I got into Robin Wright's pants.

[dnooman]

Well, I'm understandably hesitant to name someone I have an actual connection to, this being an anonymous message board and all. I can say that I am not Phyllis Diller (if that were the case my husband's ex-wife would not be more famous). Obviously, his ex-wife and I have the same last name, and it's not a usual one.

But I suppose I can say that I got into Robin Wright's pants.
I'm joking with you, as I'm sure you know.

The thread title is "are you related to anyone famous?"

If I posted "no", I'd be wasting bandwidth.

If I posted "yes", I'd be expected to describe what the hell I was talking about.


Show me a person with a secret they won't share, and I'll show you someone that several people want to punch in the face. At this time, I have no axe to grind.

[dnooman]

Wait, on preview, in the context of the post before mine, that seems rather callous. Not my intention.

[ambushed]

I'm related to someone who is both justifiably famous (2-time Cy Young winner) and justifiably infamous: My relation (I'm not revealing more) even has his own Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denny_McLain) What that page leaves out is his smaller-time fame as a organist (he released at least one album to moderate success).

I don't understand kinship relations well enough to know this, but I'm possibly related by marriage (to the same person as above) to the great Hall-of-Famer and baseball announcer Lou Boudreau (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Boudreau)

[ambushed]

I went to middle school with an actor (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0420110/) who's not exactly a household name.

I can match that! I worked at McDonald's with another little-known actor (who got a huge part early in his career), John Hammond (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0358713/)

[Catfood Purrito]

My great aunt is Jane Elliott (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Elliott), an anti-racism activist type person who came up with this whole thing where she divides a group up by eye color and has one group treat the other group as inferior, and it's supposed to teach you what it feels like to be oppressed. She's been on various talk shows and had a couple documentaries filmed about her. We watched one of them in one of my college classes, which completely weirded me out. Especially the whole, "oh, she's such a great person, she's done so much, blah blah blah," when I know what she's REALLY like. Heh.

[dnooman]

I can match that! I worked at McDonald's with another little-known actor (who got a huge part early in his career), John Hammond (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0358713/)
Which part was "huge"?

Poor guy hasn't worked in the biz for 15 years. Guess he's done with it. Good for him.

[Malacandra]

John Entwistle (http://www.johnentwistle.com/) was my wife's uncle. And it sure doesn't seem like four years since he died. (Not that I could claim to have known him - I met him once, and as it was his son's wedding he had slightly bigger fish to fry than saying hi to his niece's husband. I enjoyed the free champagne though.)

[mrald]

The motorcycle guy claims to be related to the outlaw.

Funny how Hitler's kin tend to downplay their relation to him. I hear that Jesse James was quite the philanthropist. He gave money to women, and they gave him , uhhh, stuff. He never shot anyone BTW, his gun(s) did all that. So, step off bitch!


Excuse me, I was simply trying to be to the point. Jesse James does cars (http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/aviation/1559477.html) too thank you very much. Doesn't a person have to pull the trigger to shoot someone anyway?

BTW, I said nothing about shooting. :rolleyes:

[dnooman]

Excuse me, I was simply trying to be to the point. Jesse James does cars (http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/aviation/1559477.html) too thank you very much. Doesn't a person have to pull the trigger to shoot someone anyway?

BTW, I said nothing about shooting. :rolleyes:
I'm very sorry. I meant that to be tongue-in-cheek, but forgot the winky smiley. Without the smarmy, sarcastic tone I intended, it does come off as quite mean. No offense intended. Sorry if I offended you.

[Dr. Rieux]

According to vague family "history" I'm related to--but not descended from--President James Buchanan.

[DMark]

The Wright Brothers...my grandmother had a picture of her standing with them at Kitty Hawk, but the photo somehow got lost over the years, although I remember seeing it as a kid. Considering I have a fear of flying, I obviously did not inherit any of those adventurous genes.

[Malacandra]

The Wright Brothers...my grandmother had a picture of her standing with them at Kitty Hawk, but the photo somehow got lost over the years, although I remember seeing it as a kid. Considering I have a fear of flying, I obviously did not inherit any of those adventurous genes.

A recent Dope thread has the cure (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=374005) for this. Apparently you go up in an open-cockpit stunt biplane and your instructor does an aileron roll...

[mrald]

I'm very sorry. I meant that to be tongue-in-cheek, but forgot the winky smiley. Without the smarmy, sarcastic tone I intended, it does come off as quite mean. No offense intended. Sorry if I offended you.

I'l let it slide this time ;) Ive been up for over 32 hours, I tend to get testy without sleep. :p

[Nava]

Not to anybody world-famous, no. But some of my relatives show up in Spanish newspapers somewhat regularly. One of my great-uncles has been dead for more than 10 years but other medical professionals still speak of him to me in awe - even ones who never met him in person.

[VunderBob]

NFL quarterback Jeff Hostetler is a very distant cousin of mine.

[The Chao Goes Mu]

Jesse James (the outlaw, not the car guy) is my great uncle/cousin or whatever. I forget the connection but it is on my father's side, and pretty close. woopie


Will I be seeing you at the next family reunion? I too, am related to Jesse James on my father's side.

When I was in 3rd grade we had to do our family trees for a project. My classmates didn't let go of my Jesse James connection for the rest of the school year.

[Happy Clam]

I'm supposedly descended from Alexander Hamilton.

How's THAT for famous, baby?!?!
Well, according to my mother our family is related to the Windsor dynasty through the Drummonds, a famous family of Scottish bankers. Don't know if it's true (which would make me something like a Cousin 24 times removed of the Queen), but I think that might count.

Any amateur geneolagists willing to trace the Drummonds?

[jayjay]

Not really famous, but nationally know in some circles...my mother's cousin is Joe Servello, a fairly prolific illustrator (http://www.alibris.com/search/books/author/Servello,%20Joe).

[RealityChuck]

They made a movie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073279/) about a distant relative of mine: Louis "Lepke" Buchalter. (http://www.gambino.com/bio/lepke.htm) I believe my grandmother's sister married one of his brothers.

[Lissa]

My great uncle (father's uncle) owns a large chain of resturants which bear his name.

Apparently, one of my great-great grandmothers (might be another great in there) held the Guiness Book of World Records title for having the most grandchildren.

Woo Hoo! Two claims to fame!

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

Ahem.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bostaph

Also, Samuel Bostaph

http://www.udallas.edu/economics/faculty.cfm

who was nominated for the Nobel in Economics.

Finally, my family was once quite wealthy, owning a steel foundry in Pittsburg, a coal mine, & quite a bit more.
Alas, the dough is kaput. :(

[bic910]

Not that I know of. But, my mom was best friend's with Bill Murray's sister and therefore knew him quite well while growing up. Also, my dad's roommate in prep school was Rick Flair the professional wrestler.
Funny, a relative of mine is acquainted with Bill Murray's sister. The details of how they wound up meeting escape me. She's a nun, isn't she?

Supposedly, I'm somehow related to one of the cast members of Howdy Doody (Bob Smith, I think... never seen an episode).

Finally, I used to work for a relative of Wesley Clarke.

So yeah, I pretty much got nuthin'

[Kalhoun]

My son is related to Bart Starr and my grandfather used to deal poker for John Dillinger. Other than that, I got nuthin'.

[Omega Glory]

Otis Redding was my cousin.

[Revenant Threshold]

Alfred Hitchcock was something like my great- great- uncle (well, uncle a couple of times removed both backwards and sideways).

[David Simmons]

Finally, my family was once quite wealthy, owning a steel foundry in Pittsburg, a coal mine, & quite a bit more.
Alas, the dough is kaput. :(Ain't it awful? My great grandfather (my father's maternal grandfather) had a lot of money. He was going to go out to Iowa where he already owned 240 acres and buy up a whole passel more land. He went down to the Binghamton, NY RR station, bought a ticket to Cherokee, IA., sat down on a bench to wait, had a heart attack and died. I'm not sure how the money was dissipated, but it was.

[Annie-Xmas]

My maternal great-grandmother was a niece of President William Howard Taft.

I'm a direct descendant of Bathsheba Spooner, the last woman to be hanged in Massachusetts.

[Grossbottom]

Tatum O'Neil is some sort of cousin on my mother's side. I heard she's making a comeback on TV or something.

[Sean Factotum]

NFL quarterback Jeff Hostetler is a very distant cousin of mine.
I was wondering about that one.

I'm supposedly related to Frank Gorshin (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0331319/), although I've never seen any documention proving it.

[betenoir]

There's talk that I'm distantly related to the Pope (the last one, not the now one). However since my whole family's been atheists for generations we're not particularly impressed with that.

One the other side (the distaff side) we (the family, about a hundred years ago, so I wasn't there) changed our name so as not to be associated with a certain uncle who was an embezzler. I guess that's a kind of fame.

[Ruffian]

Again, no relatives here...but my dentist of 15+ years is the father of Amanda Bynes, and I graduated with her brother.

It was a trip watching Amanda grow up. They had a wall in the office that had her pics all over it. She liked to get her pic taken with celebrities, so it was covered with images of her standing next to everyone from Phil Hartman to Dustin Hoffman to her costar Frankie Muniz. Then she got the Amanda Show, then the movies, and away she went.

And took my awesome dentist with her!! He retired last year so he could travel with her to her various film locations. BOO!

And a little interesting comment he told me at the last visit: "*sigh* Laura, never let your kids get into show business."

[if6was9]

My aunt (dad's sister) was married to Sam Snead's brother. But technically I'm not related...

[Sunspace]

I've met a number of famous people - largely New Democratic politicians - but I'm not related to anyone in particular...My mom worked for Ed Broadbent back in the seventies and got to know him fairly well... I remember one summer we went to Ottawa on holiday and had dinner with him and his wife. This is where I discovered a) French onion soup, and b) Asterix books.

I still read Asterix books.

My great grandfather was Richard Humphrey (http://www.cricketarchive.com/Surrey/Players/30/30471/30471.html), cricketer (http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Articles/0/888.html). The first linked page mentions that he died on the 24th of February 1906, in Westminster. Grandma said that they found him floating face-down in the Thames. He had been robbed for his pocket watch. The second linked page does not menion my grandfather among his childern--Grampa was born after the 1881 census.

[Kizarvexius]

Ahem.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bostaph

Also, Samuel Bostaph

http://www.udallas.edu/economics/faculty.cfm

who was nominated for the Nobel in Economics.

Finally, my family was once quite wealthy, owning a steel foundry in Pittsburg, a coal mine, & quite a bit more.
Alas, the dough is kaput. :(

Sam Bostaph was nominated for the Nobel Prize? Damn, I didn't know that. He teaches at my alma mater, and my roommate took his Econ 1301 class. Verrrry interesting!


As for me, I am almost directly descended from the first mayor of El Paso, Ben Dowell. This turns out to have been a fantastic coincidence because our residence in that city was due entirely to my father's being stationed at Fort Bliss, and we didn't discover our relationship to the aforementioned mayor until after we'd been living there for some 15 years.

I'm probably also distantly related to another of El Paso's most celebrated citizens, John Wesley Hardin (the gunfighter).

[JustAnotherGeek]

There's a very strong suspicion in the family that we are direct (male) decendants of Willem Barentsz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_Barentsz) (Dutch Navigator for whom the Barents Sea and Region are named).

Unforetunately, the family research stops a couple of generations before it gets back to him. It's something I would like to try to figure out once and for all. Unforetunately, I don't speak a lick of Dutch. The research goes back 1 or 2 generations before the family came to the New World. I suspect that I will need to travel to Nijmegen to go any further. (If my schedule works out, that might take place as early as summer of '07.)

(And, yes, I find it really ironic that I am now studying oceanography...)

[Kythereia]

I've not been very clear on the details--still trying to do research--but apparently, on my father's side, I'm descended from an early Governor-General of Canada and, depending on his title, might be able to affix a title to my own name.

Probably not. But it makes me a little glowy inside. :)

My grandparents used to live a few blocks away from Donovan Bailey...

[Clothahump]

Col. William Fairfax Gray was a land agent and was in Texas in 1835-1836. He was present at the Convention of 1836 at Washington-On-The-Brazos, where Texas declared its independance from Mexico. He kept a detailed diary of the events of the time, including the convention activites and the questioning of Travis' servant, Joe, which provided the details of the actual fall of the Alamo.

Gray came back to Texas later and settled in Houston. He was a lawyer, and was the first clerk of the Texas Supreme Court. His son, Peter, was an influential attorney and politician in Texas as well; Gray County, Texas, is named after Peter W. Gray.

William Fairfax Gray is my great-great-grandfather.

[Sunspace]

I've not been very clear on the details--still trying to do research--but apparently, on my father's side, I'm descended from an early Governor-General of Canada and, depending on his title, might be able to affix a title to my own name.

Probably not. But it makes me a little glowy inside. :) I thought the only hereditary title (with postnominal letters) in Canada was U.E. for United Empire Loyalist? Or do you mean an overseas title?

[Faruiza]

Well, let's see...My dad did some research on our tree about 20 years ago. He said that he ran into Lady Rebecca (A.K.A. Pocahontas) but I don't remember how. *shrug*

My stepmother up until she died of lung cancer this last year had me removedly related to Cher. She's her second cousin.

That's it. Nobody famous knows they're related to ME. That's the unfortunate part. :D

[madhatter56]

I know this because my cousin tells me...so take it with a grain of salt...hah

I believe that someone in my family was married to a relative of the person who started the a horrible lawsuit that involved a company whose name starts with a "McD" and ends in "onalds" involving a warm, caffinated beverage.

[Brynda]

Not such a horrible lawsuit. Especially if you think you are related, you might want to know more:

http://www.corpreform.com/2003/10/the_truth_about.html

Sorry, it is a pet peeve of mine that everyone thinks they know about this suit, and in reality, they don't.



As to the OP, I got nuttin. Most boring family tree imaginable.

[Dante]

Dave Thomas (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0858686/) went to high school with my dad, and was best man at my parent's wedding. I grew up calling him uncle Dave, but we're not related, and I haven't seen him in years.

[Minotaurus]

interesting to read this

I have no relatives that are famous

... but I have a friend that had a distant relative who where childhood friend of former actor and president Ronald Reagan

[YaWanna]

My dad told me he thinks (but hasn't found proof) that we're related on his mother's side to actor Richard Karn (of Home Improvement fame) - same last name & apparently grew up in the same area, I guess.

[cuauhtemoc]

My late great-uncle (maternal grandmother's brother) played in Benny Goodman's band, so his social circle included lots of famous musicians from the big-band era. There's also a family story I've never been able to confirm that he dated Tina Louise - Ginger from Gilligan's Island. Not as impressive as if it had been Maryann, but still.

[D_Odds]

A CBS newsradio anchor shares my last name (and my father's first name). It's a very southern European name. We are related, but not very close.

My cousin was on the President's Fitness Advisory Council (or whatever it was properly called) back during Reagan / Bush I years.

[Viridiana]

My grandfather was the mayor of his hometown in Okinawa, does that count? Also, my piano teacher (hey, I was very close to her) was a Miss Texas, I think. But a really long time ago.

[Hilarity N. Suze]

I have a friend who is Henry Fonda's niece. In high school she took a Spanish class (okay, maybe it was French, I can't remember) where there were a bunch of statements written in Spanish to which the student was supposed to respond if they were true or false. One of them was (translated), "I am Jane Fonda's cousin." Since she was, she marked it as true. Of course then in order to get credit for answering the question correctly, she had to bring in documentation.

[Kythereia]

I thought the only hereditary title (with postnominal letters) in Canada was U.E. for United Empire Loyalist? Or do you mean an overseas title?

Oh, definitely overseas--British. It all depends if he was a duke, an earl, a lord, or a knight, and this is what I'm really hoping to find out.

[Anastasaeon]

I'm a descendant of Grace O'Malley. Yeah, another one. We're all over the damned place. I didn't even know she was "famous" until recently, when our family found out. My father thinks it's hilarious; my mother had been hoping for an archbishop.

I once asked my father if his side was descended from anyone well known in any way (the family "Caligula" joke aside), and he immediately said: "There are a lot of gumballs in my family."
Me: "Gumballs? Did someone invent the gumball machine in our family?"
Him: "Nope. Just descended from them."
Me: ".... are we related to Tom Servo?"
Him: "Distantly."

:smack:

I love my Dad.

[Loopydude]

No. It's astonishing. My family is living proof that the whole "six degrees of separation" theory is a crock of shit. I am related to nobody you've ever heard of. My ancestors first came to New France in the 1630s, and for these past 370-odd years have made it their mission to do nothing that would draw attention to themselves in any way. It's amazing they even had the sack to come here in the first place. Not even a notorious criminal! God, what an ordinary lot.

[AuntiePam]

This a stretch, but it's all I got. My mom's sister married a man whose brother is half of that couple with all the kids -- the Yours Mine and Ours movies were based on them.

And it's possible that my stepdad was infamous in England. When he came to the U.S., he changed all his names, first, middle and last. Perfectly ordinary names, but he changed them. I'm sure he was running from something. (No, I never liked him.)

[pinkfreud]

My great-aunt, Mary McDougal Axelson, was a screenwriter and playwright in the 1930s and 1940s. Her big hit was a movie called A Child Is Born.

My cousin, Dale Pelton, is an art director who worked on the original Battlestar Galactica pilot, on The Goonies, and (to his eternal embarrassment, I suspect) on Return of the Living Dead, Part II.

My cousin, Elizabeth Patterson, was a character actress whose lengthy career included the recurring role of Mrs. Trumbull, the babysitter for Little Ricky on I Love Lucy.

[dalej42]

I'm a close relation of baseball great Brooks Robinson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks_Robinson)

[Khampelf]

If you take it about 4 generations back, my mother's family tree intersects with that of the Kennedy Family. According to what my Grandmother once told me, anyway. At the time, I was very impressed to be a distant cousin to JFK.

[ambushed]

Which part was "huge"?He played the lead -- by far the biggest and most important character -- in the 1982 miniseries The Blue and the Gray (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083387/). The entire story revolved around his character, John Geyser. Here's an excerpt from an extensive review (http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/showreview.php3?ID=1854): In the early 1860s, tensions between the federal government and the Southern states have risen to an unstoppable pace, and a civil war is inevitable. Young John Geyser (John Hammond) faces the terrible choice of fighting against his family or betraying his personal beliefs. When he decides to become a war correspondent and refuses to join his family in battle, they label him a traitor and ostracize him. Yet John cannot abandon his Virginia heritage and become a full-fledged citizen of the North. His work as a sketch artist takes him through the highs and lows of this bloody chapter in our country's history. Through John's eyes, the Civil War comes to life in The Blue & the Gray—a sweeping miniseries that presents numerous engaging stories about the effects of this bitter conflict.

...

John Hammond never received another role of this magnitude again in his career, and it is unfortunate because he totally embodies this character. John Geyser's farm-boy innocence and straightforward kindness never appear corny or far-fetched, and this mostly stems from Hammond's excellent acting.

[dangermom]

My step-great-grandfather's cousin was Two-Gun Nan, a sharpshooter cowgirl type in one of the Wild West shows (can't remember if it was Buffalo Bill or the other one). She was the first woman to cross the continental US alone (on horseback, in 1910). That's pretty much it.

[TJdude825]

My grandmother told me that we're related to Einstein. No idea if that's true, and I'm inclined to think it's not. But there it is.

[mrald]

Will I be seeing you at the next family reunion? I too, am related to Jesse James on my father's side.

When I was in 3rd grade we had to do our family trees for a project. My classmates didn't let go of my Jesse James connection for the rest of the school year.

Wow! My family doesn't have reunions though, maybe we should start one.


I have never met anyone I was related too before, my family is tiny, at least I always thought so... Same here about the school thing, they called me outlaw for the entire sixth grade year.

[The Chao Goes Mu]

Wow! My family doesn't have reunions though, maybe we should start one.


I have never met anyone I was related too before, my family is tiny, at least I always thought so... Same here about the school thing, they called me outlaw for the entire sixth grade year.


Yeah! The "Outlaw Family Reunion" We could play "Pin the Bullet on the Back of the Innocent Woman!" We could play "Great Train Robbery!" We could fight about who gets to be Jesse, Frank, and Quantrill. This is gonna be fun.

Where should we have it?

[Spectre of Pithecanthropus]

Not related, but my mother went to high school with Jeffrey Hunter, who played Capt. Christopher Pike in the first Star Trek pilot episode.

There does exist an extensive genealogy on my father's family, so I'm starting to notice that I'm related to all sorts of people who have glommed onto it in the course of researching their own genealogies. If I google the name of the original ancestor who immigrated from Holland in the 1600s, I'll find links to the genealogies of families I never heard of. I haven't found anyone who's truly famous, though I did once see in one of these genealogies that I'm a fifth cousin once or twice removed of Grace Hopper, the inventor of COBOL.

[The Chao Goes Mu]

Not related but my Grandma used to babysit Danny Thomas' siblings and my Uncle, (her oldest child) used to play with Jamie Farr as they he lived next door. (Toledo, OH)
My Mom remembers a little about Farr but not much since she was so young.

Oh and my other Grandma learned how to play guitar from Mose Rager and she knew Merle Travis. (Muhlenberg County, KY)

[Chefguy]

God help me: George Bush is a distant cousin through one of my family lines. So are many other presidents, but this one is just more than I can bear.

[thirdname]

NFL quarterback Jeff Hostetler is a very distant cousin of mine.
Cool, I remember that name from Tecmo Bowl on the NES.

A great-aunt of mine is married to a man descended from Francis Scott Key. That's about it I think.

[Nutty Bunny]

Is Winston Churchill famous enough (I assume no link is necessary)? :D

I'm related to him on my maternal grandmother's side. And if you were to seeing the Murray family, you would definitely see a resemblance.

Oh yeah, and Richard Grieco (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001298) on my dad's side. Whatever. I tend not to believe that, since my dad's family is almost entirely of Irish descent.

[Nutty Bunny]

And if you were to seeing the Murray family

"to see"

In Soviet Russia, grammar sucks at you!

[Sage Rat]

Yes. Within a fairly large circle my parents are/were fairly famous. But at present they are onto the stage of just lying about and playing golf for the next several decades to come. :cool:

[Lightray]

We're descended from "Evil Senator Stoneman" from Birth of a Nation (http://imdb.com/title/tt0004972/). In fact, that became my nickname for a few weeks in highschool, after we had to watch the movie. I guess since he was the villain in a pro-KKK film it's something to be proud of... In actuality, he was one of Sherman's generals who became a US Senator known for being a carpetbagger.

I think we're also supposed to be related to Will Stoneman from Iron Will (http://imdb.com/title/tt0110157/), but there's no one left on that side of the family who knows enough of our geneology to verify or refute that. Nonetheless, I suspect my brother slyly named my Number One Nephew to get him that "Iron Will" nickname.

[AngelicGemma]

I'm related to a guy on the England football team. (Though we've never met.)

[Cemetery Savior]

Through my Grandmother's side, I'm a great x many grandson of George Mason:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason

When I was first told, I didn't care. I then read about him, and cared slightly. I then doubted.

My Grandmother wrote to George Mson University as I was applying to colleges. This sounds stupid, but I was offered free tuition if i would have adopted "Mason" as my surname (aswas my Grandmother's).

Go figure.


-Cem

[DMark]

The Wright Brothers...my grandmother had a picture of her standing with them at Kitty Hawk, but the photo somehow got lost over the years, although I remember seeing it as a kid. Considering I have a fear of flying, I obviously did not inherit any of those adventurous genes.

Actually, I just remembered the photo was of my great-grandfather standing with the Wright brothers, not my grandmother...hadn't thought of that picture in years, and wish it hadn't been lost - would be a fun thing to have now.

[Count Blucher]

Went to school with a famous scientologist thespian. (Never thought he was gay)

My father had regular meetings with Nixon, Ford, and Carter because of his job.

As a kid, I used to ride my bike to play video games at the student center of a local college. If memory serves, 'galaxians' was playing too loudly and a long-haired jerk playing pool decided to play tough-guy and chase me out with a pool-cue. He looked an awful lot like Bruce Willis, but with long scraggly hair. I learned later that in fact he did attend there at the time. (I often wondered what would I do if we saw each other & he remembered me. These days I'm a tad bigger, better skilled, and yes, he'd need the pool cue just to call it a 'fair fight'.)

[Aangelica]

A great-aunt of mine is married to a man descended from Francis Scott Key. That's about it I think.

Howdy, cousin.

My dad is somehow related to Francis Scott Key, in a roundabout southern sort of fashion.

[Ceejaytee]

This will only mean something to older Mets fans. My aunt's father was the Shea Stadium Sign Man (http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=65433&page=7) (about 1/3 of the way down, between the screaming Beatles fans and the Pope). He is a graphic artist and made signs that he held up in the stands at Shea for more than 15 years. He's a really nice guy. Just saw him last Christmas. He quit his unofficial job as Sign Man after problems with the Mets' front office, which didn't like his signs when the team was playing badly. From a NY Newsday article (not available on-line) from 1993:

If only Karl Ehrhardt hadn't signed off. If only he still were the people's representative at Shea Stadium, what a banner year this could have been for the most celebrated card-carrying critic-at-large in Mets' history.

Even now - to quote his old repertoire - he could be exhorting the majors' most dangerous bullpen, "YOU GOTTA RELIEVE;" identifying the guy who made the most recent miscue, "SUPER STIFF;" and introducing any member of the '93 Mets, "MR. EXCITEMENT." He could opine on the general ambience: "WHAT FOOLS WE MET FANS BE."

He had a million of 'em. Or at least 1,300, on dark green placards in white lettering. For 16 years, until a blowup with management in 1981, Ehrhardt was the Sign Man, holding the cue cards while the Mets were pursuing destiny.

He used to carry about 60 at a time to his seat in box 72 E, behind the visiting dugout, then would hold them up at carefully chosen moments. As Ed Kranepool, a favorite target and later a friend, trudged to the batter's box, up went the sign, "MISSION IMPOSSIBLE." The Sign Man was a Flushing fixture.

[mrald]

Yeah! The "Outlaw Family Reunion" We could play "Pin the Bullet on the Back of the Innocent Woman!" We could play "Great Train Robbery!" We could fight about who gets to be Jesse, Frank, and Quantrill. This is gonna be fun.

Where should we have it?

Somewhere far aways from the sherif' an his boys.

I don't have to really shoot anyone right?

Some of Jesse James' money is supposed to still be in a bank somewhere if I was told right but who knows

[The Long Road]

My family tree includes Eddie Cicotte of Black Sox fame. I hate baseball and corruption so Eddie and I would not have had too much to talk about at any family reunions. Well, ok, if I had been born before he died that is.

[Mr. Goob]

--snip--

But I suppose I can say that I got into Robin Wright's pants.


Damn I wish I could say that.

My cousin is a colorist for DC and Marvel comics. Thus my very uncommon surname is in a couple of books every month.

[SandyHook]

Got a couple of country singers in my line.

Keith Whitley's father and my father were first cousins. I actually played with the Whitley youngn's when I was a nipper.

Ricky Skaggs and I are third cousins. When we lived back east I worked for a bit with his father.

President Andrew Jackson is a relative. His mother's brother is one of my many times removed grandfathers.

I have a cousin in Ashland, KY who is gu-gillionaire coal miner/owner.

Another cousin teaches at NCState and is the world's leading expert on drainage.

I know Ed Begley's (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000893/) sister.

Once shook hands with Jimmy Carter.

[Yeticus Rex]

Mom says we're related to Alexander Hamilton.

[The Chao Goes Mu]

Somewhere far aways from the sherif' an his boys.

I don't have to really shoot anyone right?

Some of Jesse James' money is supposed to still be in a bank somewhere if I was told right but who knows

No. No shooting, I would hope as decendents of that coward that we would have cleaned up the gene pool by now. ;) (Although, a water balloon fight could be fun)

I remember as a youth hearing that he had stashed some money in a cave in Wyoming, kind of deep into it where you had to swim through a tunnel and hold your breath for two minutes, pop out the other side and that he stashed it into a crevice in the cave wall. I spent the summer of '85 at the library doing research on it, and practicing holding my breath for two minutes (I did it!) and then planning to run away for a few weeks to go look for it. I saved allowance money for a bus ticket out there and to pay for a motel.

The plan died on the vine when I found out that no motel would rent to a 12 year old. :(

Meh, someone probably already got to the money anyway.