# Are you related to or have you met anyone famous **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 6, 2022, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544 "2022-03-06T01:12:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2022, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/121 "2022-03-22T17:51:32Z")
I am a distant cousin of [Joe Schwarcz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Schwarcz?wprov=sfti1), McGill professor and Canadian media personality. ---
**Author:** ![SpacemanSpiff\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@SpacemanSpiff\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpacemanSpiff_II)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2022, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/122 "2022-03-22T18:34:24Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > The whole episode amazes me about how liars with media connections can deny things until no one remembers what the fuss was about. Anyone can deny anything, but not necessarily be successful in getting anyone else to believe them. (OJ Simpson, Jussie Smollett.) In Stone’s case he was not successful, and was forced out of the Dole campaign over the scandal. Currently, he concedes that the allegations were true. The fact that he’s around the shady outskirts of politics has more to do with the company he currently keeps, and the fact that most scandals seem to have expiration dates beginning from exposure date. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2022, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/123 "2022-03-22T18:42:36Z")
In the mid 1980s I had some drinks with the then-crown prince of the Netherlands. He was a naval cadet at Koninklijk Instituut voor de Marine (KIM) in Den Helder. I was in Den Helder with the NATO squadron in a Canadian ship and bumped into him at a local bar. Maybe 15 years later, at Schwartz’ in Montreal, my wife and I were sitting at the counter when Mordecai Richler walked in to get some take-out. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2022, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/124 "2022-03-22T19:57:32Z")
> [@velomont](#): > > In the mid 1980s I had some drinks with the then-crown prince of the Netherlands. He was a naval cadet at Koninklijk Instituut voor de Marine (KIM) in Den Helder. I was in Den Helder with the NATO squadron in a Canadian ship and bumped into him at a local bar. Did he drink Pilsner? He was known as Prins Pilsje back then. A nickname that has always made him sympathetic to me. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2022, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/125 "2022-03-22T20:08:18Z")
Good question but I don’t recall. At the time I was really enjoying Amstel and he was busy chatting up the bar-maid. I ran into him there again a few nights later. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2022, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/126 "2022-03-23T13:08:44Z")
I was in a class with and worked on a paper with [this guy.](https://www.binghamton.edu/anthropology/faculty/profile.html?id=clipo). To be honest, he and I and a friend of his - who’d been in a different class with me and invited me into this group - did the research and he pretty much wrote the paper. Or he and his friend did. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2022, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/127 "2022-03-23T18:36:55Z")
> [@velomont](#): > > In the mid 1980s I had some drinks with the then-crown prince of the Netherlands. He was a naval cadet at Koninklijk Instituut voor de Marine (KIM) in Den Helder. I was in Den Helder with the NATO squadron in a Canadian ship and bumped into him at a local bar. That reminds me, a princess of Thailand was in my class at MIT. I sat next to her at a buttery we had with the girls’ dorm (McCormick) next door. I got her to write her complicated name on a card. She eventually married an American and renounced her position in the succession. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2022, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/128 "2022-03-23T19:10:16Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I sat next to her at a buttery we had with the girls’ dorm (McCormick) next door. What the dickens is a buttery? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2022, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/129 "2022-03-23T19:17:22Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > What the dickens is a buttery? Hmm. It was used in college as a get together with coffee and doughnuts. Looking it up as a noun, I see the definition is a pantry, with one example a pantry in a college with food sold to students. It must be a New England thing, since I’ve never heard of it in any other place I’ve lived. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2022, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/130 "2022-03-23T20:14:59Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > What the dickens is a buttery? Thanks, I was wondering this too. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2022, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/131 "2022-03-23T21:39:54Z")
> [@eenerms](#): > > Talked to Ron Paul, Angela Davis, Tom Waits, Xene, ( from X) That’s a supergroup, right there. Chatted with Jon Hendricks, Annie Ross, Roy Haynes (at local small jazz clubs). Met Robert Parish when he was having his car serviced at the same dealership. Used to run into Kevin McHale at McDonald’s, he took his kids there a lot. Saw Keith Richards at an airport somewhere in France, can’t remember where, and didn’t really meet him. Oh, and Swamp Dogg, can’t forget him, shook his hand and had a chat. Just remembered, I was in a conversational French class with Howard Zinn at B.U. He was preparing for a trip overseas. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2022, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/132 "2022-03-23T21:47:38Z")
I once shook hands with Canadian PM Pierre Trudeau (father of the current one). ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2022, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/133 "2022-03-23T21:52:55Z")
I once was involved in a long conversation with Jonathan Winters. I was with my family when we met him by chance in a restaurant in L.A. He was delightful, telling us hilarious stories from his life. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/134 "2022-03-24T08:15:12Z")
I went to high school with [this guy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_A._Samuels). Marty was the student body president, as well as our class president. He was a multi-talented kid who just naturally rose to the top in everything he did. A truly nice, likable guy, and already a great public speaker. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/135 "2022-03-24T09:21:29Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > I once shook hands with Canadian PM Pierre Trudeau (father of the current one). My ex-wife once shook hands with then-Canadian PM Jean Chretien. She was walking by the national war memorial in Ottawa, and his car pulled up, and he got out, and she couldn’t resist: “Mr. Chretien! Good morning!” He shook her hand, and said “Good morning,” and then they both went about their business. If we can include times we were extras on movie sets, then I’ll throw out Gary Busey. He was a principal on a Spielberg miniseries that I was an extra in; and one day, he plopped down beside me at lunch, with his Chinet plate of macaroni and cheese, the same as we all got from the craft services truck. He could have gone behind the rope with his fellow principals and had a nice chef-prepared buffet, but as he said to us, “I wanna talk with real guys.” So he did. And the conversation continued, about women, sports, and cars; and Busey joined right in. And he was sitting right beside me, so close that he elbowed me after making a point on a topic, and said, “You know what I mean?” A few years later, Kevin Costner was kind enough to open a door for me. Numerous times, as the shot required a number of takes. We did chat a bit, between takes. A very nice gentleman. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/136 "2022-03-24T19:05:37Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > It was used in college as a get together with coffee and doughnuts. Looking it up as a noun, I see the definition is a pantry The pantry meaning was the only one I was familiar with…but especially a cold pantry to preserve dairy products. Never knew the kafe klatsch meaning. Cool. > [@suranyi](#): > > I once shook hands with Canadian PM Pierre Trudeau (father of the current one). I once shook hands with a man who shook hands with Paul Newman. My brother had an extra ticket to the Long Beach Grand Prix, and we had pit passes. So, we saw a bunch of racers – I only recognized Mario Andretti – until we saw Paul Newman walking by. My brother said hi and shook his hand (I think Paul offered his hand first), and I shook my brother’s hand, so I could make my claim in the first sentence. Paul Newman was a wee man. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2022, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/137 "2022-03-24T23:09:44Z")
I met Billie Jean King and Dominique Dawes when they were part of a fitness program at our school. They even came out and hung out with the kids during recess. ---
**Author:** ![gnarator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gnarator/32/8266_2.png) [@gnarator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarator)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2022, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/138 "2022-03-31T17:12:41Z")
My father-in-law was a well-known scholar and university administrator, rising to be chancellor of a large public university. Occasionally we would see him interviewed on PBS programs about his area of expertise. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/139 "2022-04-01T07:14:26Z")
I met Maya Angelou when she was the keynote speaker at an LGBTQ choral music festival. A wonderful, fascinating woman. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/140 "2022-04-01T17:31:46Z")
> [@KRC](#): > > If you trace your ancestry back 5 or 6 generations you may find you are related somehow to just about everyone. I’m supposedly related to both Robert E Lee and Abe Lincoln and a few other civil war generals and US presidents. Yeah…my mom linked up our family tree (goes back to the 1600s England) with an online ancestry site, run by the Mormons (which, I hear, are really good at this sort of thing) and found we’re related to pretty much all royalty of Europe. But, that wasn’t much of a surprise, based on my already believing what KRC said about everybody being connected if you go back far enough. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544.md?page=8)