# are you related to anyone famous? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 12, 2006, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358 "2006-06-12T00:42:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358/81 "2006-06-13T02:04:48Z")
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_. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358/82 "2006-06-13T02:05:41Z")
I’m a close relation of baseball great [Brooks Robinson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks_Robinson) ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358/83 "2006-06-13T02:28:18Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358/84 "2006-06-13T03:38:46Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > 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): > [@digitallyobsessed.com](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358/85 "2006-06-13T05:01:08Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358/86 "2006-06-13T06:00:31Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![mrald](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@mrald](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrald)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358/87 "2006-06-13T13:11:47Z")
> [@The Chao Goes Mu](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358/88 "2006-06-13T13:48:45Z")
> [@mrald](#): > > 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? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358/89 "2006-06-13T14:37:23Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358/90 "2006-06-13T14:45:56Z")
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) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358/91 "2006-06-13T14:53:46Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358/92 "2006-06-13T15:29:23Z")
> [@VunderBob](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358/93 "2006-06-13T16:33:23Z")
Is \*\*Winston Churchill \*\*famous enough (I assume no link is necessary)? 😃 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. [sub]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.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358/94 "2006-06-13T16:34:41Z")
> [@](#): > > And if you were **to seeing** the Murray family “to see” In Soviet Russia, grammar sucks at _you_! ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358/95 "2006-06-13T16:41:39Z")
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. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358/96 "2006-06-13T16:49:25Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358/97 "2006-06-13T16:58:04Z")
I’m related to a guy on the England football team. (Though we’ve never met.) ---
**Author:** ![Cemetery\_Savior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Cemetery\_Savior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cemetery_Savior)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358/98 "2006-06-13T17:01:33Z")
Through my Grandmother’s side, I’m a great x many grandson of George Mason: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358/99 "2006-06-13T17:53:02Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358/100 "2006-06-13T18:18:17Z")
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’.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-anyone-famous/360358.md?page=6)