# Actors who have appeared in the same film/show but not as relatives **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 26, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717 "2009-08-26T00:38:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717/21 "2009-08-26T13:21:59Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Alan Alda’s father Robert appeared in an episode of **Mash** as a visiting surgeon, unrelated to Alda’s character. Robert’s son (Alan’s half-brother) Tony was also on an episode. Emilio Estafan appeared in an recent episode of 2 1/2 Men as Charlie’s best friend. Brad Pitt was on an episode of Friends against then-wife Jennifer Aniston, playing the head of the “I Hate Rachel Green” squad. It was revealed that he started the rumor that Rachel was born with a “tiny weenie.” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717/22 "2009-08-26T13:22:00Z")
Justine Bateman appeared in **Arrested Development** as a hooker unrelated to Jason Bateman’s character. Will Arnett’s wife also appeared in the show, playing his character’s wife. Not sure how that fits in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717/23 "2009-08-26T13:33:52Z")
If your surname was Van Dyke, then you’d be in Diagnosis Murder at some point. Shane Van Dyke became a semi-regular cast member as Alex Smith, alongside his dad (Barry) and grandfather (Dick). Looking on IMDb, it seems he appeared in three other episodes as three different characters before that. Also popping up in little roles were the rest of his siblings (Carey, as six characters in six episodes; Wes, as three characters in three episodes; Taryn, as two characters in three episodes). Dick’s brother and daughter also appeared but don’t count because they played his character’s brother and daughter. The series should’ve been called Diagnosis Nepotism. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717/24 "2009-08-26T14:45:17Z")
I just happened to see an episode of “Roseanne” in which she & Jackie get pulled over by a pair of cops. Trying to sweet talk their way out of a ticket, Roseanne starts telling one of the cops how much she respects the work they do, how difficult & dangerous it is, how brave he must be to be an officer. The cop cracks back (paraphrasing) “Hey, this is nothing. At the end of the day, I have to go home to my crazy wife.” The officer was being played by Rosie’s husband-of-the-moment. (Not Tom Arnold, the guy she dumped him for.) Going way back, there’s a classic in-joke on an episode of “That Girl!” Marlo Thomas is visiting a Catholic rectory and pauses at a drinking fountain. As she’s turning around, she accidentally bumps into a priest. They have this exchange… Marlo: “Oh, excuse me Father.” Priest: “That’s quite all right, my child.” Of course, the priest was being played by Danny Thomas - Marlo’s RL father. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717/25 "2009-08-26T14:49:32Z")
Not only that, **Kal** , but over the last few years Dick and Barry Van Dyke have starred in three TV movies (on the Hallmark Channel) playing a criminology professor and an unrelated private investigator. Shane was in one of them, and Shane and Carey were in the most recent. I think Shane’s character was Barry’s nephew in one movie, but not the other. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717/26 "2009-08-26T15:13:44Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Three of Charlie Sheen’s relatives have appeared on Two and a Half Men, not as relatives of his character, Charlie. > > [ul] > [li]Father Martin Sheen has appeared as the father of the neighbor, Rose.[/li][li]Brother Emilio Estevez has appeared as a friend of Charlie’s.[/li][li]Sam Sheen, Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards’s daughter, has played the daughter of Lisa (Richards).[/li][/ul] The Sheens do this a lot: Charlie & Emilio unrelated cowboys who hated each other in “Young Guns”. Charlie & Emilio unrelated garbagemen in “Men at Work”. Charlie played a private and Martin a going-round-the-bend Sergeant in “Cadence”. Martin had an “Apocalypse Now” cameo in Charlie’s “Hot Shots Part Deux”. Charlie had a cameo in Emilio’s “Loaded Weapon 1”. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717/27 "2009-08-26T15:14:33Z")
Jeanne Cagney appeared in **A Lion is in the Streets** as a character unrelated to her brother James’s. (She also twice played Cagney’s sister in other movies.) In most Marx Brothers films, Chico’s character was not Groucho’s brother. Harpo was usually not Groucho’s brother, either, though he and Chico were sometimes brothers. Zeppo was often Groucho’s secretary, not his brother (though he did play Groucho’s son in **Horsefeathers** ). ---
**Author:** ![Barrett\_Bonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@Barrett\_Bonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrett_Bonden)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717/28 "2009-08-26T15:24:06Z")
John Barrymore played The Baron in **Grand Hotel** , opposite his brother Lionel, who played Otto Kringelein. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717/29 "2009-08-26T15:27:05Z")
Moe, Curley, & Shemp Howard (aka Moses, Jerome, & Samuel Horwitz) weren’t related in many/most of the 8 billion Three Stooges shorts. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717/30 "2009-08-26T15:47:15Z")
I think the prize has to go to Jack Garner, brother of James Garner. According to IMDb, he appeared in 26 episodes of _The Rockford Files_, playing at least 19 different parts. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717/31 "2009-08-26T15:49:13Z")
You _could_ cite Ryan and Tatum O’neill in _Paper Moon_, but the audience knows all along that their characters are really father and daughter, even if “Mose” never admits it. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717/32 "2009-08-26T16:25:17Z")
Ben Stiller and his father Jerry appeared in “Zoolander” together, but not as father and son (Jon Voight played Ben’s father in that one). ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717/33 "2009-08-26T16:29:15Z")
Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson both appear in “Sleepless in Seattle,” but she plays Victor Garber’s wife, not Tom’s. Nia Vardalos’ husband, Ian Gomez, appears with her in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” but her character marries John Corbett, not Ian. Similarly, Ken Olin and Patricia Wettig, married in real life, co-starred in “Thirtysomething,” but their characters were married to other people. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717/34 "2009-08-26T16:29:40Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Moe, Curley, & Shemp Howard (aka Moses, Jerome, & Samuel Horwitz) weren’t related in many/most of the 8 billion Three Stooges shorts. Although it wasn’t specified that Moe & Curly were playing brothers, it wasn’t clear that they weren’t, and their real surname was used at least once. (“Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard!”) ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717/35 "2009-08-26T16:32:59Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > The Sheens do this a lot: > > Charlie & Emilio unrelated cowboys who hated each other in “Young Guns”. > > Charlie & Emilio unrelated garbagemen in “Men at Work”. > > Charlie played a private and Martin a going-round-the-bend Sergeant in “Cadence”. > > Martin had an “Apocalypse Now” cameo in Charlie’s “Hot Shots Part Deux”. > > Charlie had a cameo in Emilio’s “Loaded Weapon 1”. Also Charlie has a very brief cameo as Emilio’s boss who fires him near the begining of “Wisdom”. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717/36 "2009-08-26T16:57:21Z")
Both Martin Scorcese’s parents appeared in Goodfellas. His mother played Joe Pesci’s mother and his father played a gangster in the prison scenes. ---
**Author:** ![mshar253](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@mshar253](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mshar253)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717/37 "2009-08-26T19:35:07Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Ben Stiller and his father Jerry appeared in “Zoolander” together, but not as father and son (Jon Voight played Ben’s father in that one). Additionally, Christine Taylor and Ben Stiller were both in Dodgeball, and I think a few other movies. (They did play themselves – or versions of themselves – on Curb Your Enthusiasm.) ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717/38 "2009-08-26T19:56:07Z")
TV series **It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia** has two sets of married couples who play unrelated singles. Charlie Day and Mary Elizabeth Ellis play Charlie Kelly and the coffee house waitress Creator Rob McElhenney and Kaitlin Olson play Mac and Sweet Dee Reynolds A reoccurring theme in the series as that Charlie pursues the waitress who finds him disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717/39 "2009-08-26T20:29:06Z")
Charley Chase and his brother James Parrot appeared in two movies together, and did not play relatives. Walter Huston and John Huston were both in **The Treasure of Sierra Madre**. John played an American tourist and never appeared with Walter. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717/40 "2009-08-26T21:51:58Z")
I seem to recall that Eddie Van Halen appeared in an episode of Valerie Bertinelli’s sitcom “Cafe Americain” as an itinerant guitar player who bothers her (this was while they were married). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-appeared-in-the-same-film-show-but-not-as-relatives/507717.md?page=3)