# Ever know anyone related to a famous person? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 17, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365 "2009-07-17T18:20:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365/21 "2009-07-17T19:48:17Z")
Illustrator Joe Servello (a “celebrity” mostly in the children’s book field) is my 2nd cousin. I have a signed and spot-illustrated copy of “Trouble In Bugland”. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365/22 "2009-07-17T19:57:40Z")
I’m related by marriage to Adm. William “Bull” Halsey of WW2 fame. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365/23 "2009-07-17T20:00:28Z")
A co-worker of mine is a second cousin of Joe Namath, but hasn’t seen him at all in decades. A decade ago, when I used to enter puzzle tournaments, I used to see a nephew of Isaac Asimov. A close friend of mine is the nephew of Robert May, the creator of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. My friend likes to tell people what a cheapskate “Uncle Bob” was. Even though Rudolph eventually made May a rich man, he usually gave his nephews and nieces Rudolph dolls and Rudolph memorabilia for Christmas- memorabilia that he, of course, received for free. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365/24 "2009-07-17T20:12:38Z")
My wife used to work for Lorraine Bracco’s brother Sal (Sopranos, Goodfellas). I met Sal several times at company holiday parties and what-not. Nice guy. A few years ago, one poster whose name escapes me, told a great story about how when he was a child he would hang around with a kid who had a little brother they would occasionally have to put up with. Well, little brother grew up and won an Oscar for _Capote_. Yup, Philip Seymour Hoffman. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365/25 "2009-07-17T20:14:15Z")
As a teenager, I knew two sons of Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine. After baseball, Carl came back to his hometown. He became president of a local bank, and now there’s a hospital’s physical rehabilitation building named after him. George Washington has no direct descendants. A local family is descended from one of George’s close relatives, though. My wife once worked for the widow of the late owner of the Indianapolis Colts, Bob Irsay. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365/26 "2009-07-17T20:16:09Z")
Many years ago, I worked with Lyle Lovett’s cousin. Yeah, that’s about all I’ve got. ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365/27 "2009-07-17T20:20:59Z")
I was acquainted with Joe Gibbs’ (Hall of Fame coach for the Redskins and owner of NASCAR’s Joe Gibbs Racing) niece. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365/28 "2009-07-17T20:24:36Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > A few years ago, _one poster whose name escapes me_, told a great story about how when he was a child he would hang around with a kid who had a little brother they would occasionally have to put up with. Well, little brother grew up and won an Oscar for _Capote_. Yup, Philip Seymour Hoffman. That was **tdn**. My ex-husband used to rent a room from a lady who owned a nice home in the historical district here. She was an aunt (?) or something of Jim Morrison. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365/29 "2009-07-17T20:30:33Z")
My great uncle ran for president on the GOP ticket. He lost, so we don’t talk about him too much… ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365/30 "2009-07-17T20:31:00Z")
I went to school with a cousin of Chuck Conners. ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365/31 "2009-07-17T20:31:16Z")
Glen Gretzky (Wayne’s brother) went to my high school. I didn’t know him though; he was a year or two older than me. So I guess that probably doesn’t count. ---
**Author:** ![Iggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Iggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggins)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365/32 "2009-07-17T20:48:48Z")
Lawrence Welk is a distant relative of mine, some sort of uncle. My Dad’s ex-girlfriend’s Uncle is [Barry Corbin](http://www.barrycorbin.com/screen/wargames.htm). They met a few times, and I have an autographed photo somewhere… ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365/33 "2009-07-17T21:03:44Z")
Cab Calloway’s grandsons went to the same high school (at the same time) as me. Bonus, their mother (Calloway’s daughter) went to that same high school with my parents. Richie Haven’s daughter and I were in a few classes together in college. I don’t have any real stories. I think Haven’s daughter was beseiged by singer songwriters on campus to give her dad their demos. There was never any “Do you know who I am???” from her. Calloway’s grandsons never made a big deal about it, and in fact I might not even have been aware of the connection if my mom hadn’t run into their mom at a school function. I used to work in Westport, Ct. Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were frequent clients at the shop. They couldn’t have been nicer, or more down to earth. They never expected any star treatment. Their daughter on the other hand… She was young then, and may have grown up to be a lovely person. It’s been years since I worked there. ---
**Author:** ![otorophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3ab097/32.png) [@otorophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otorophile)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365/34 "2009-07-17T21:04:06Z")
I’m tenuously, contrivedly, non-blood related to Orlando Bloom. I’m 3rd cousin once removed (I think, it’s something like that anyway) with a Nobel Prize for medicine winner. ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365/35 "2009-07-17T21:11:40Z")
Apparently Dido is my cousin. I’ve never met her though, and can’t stand her music. Where I used to work I had a lot of vaguely famous customers, mostly Australian soap stars trying to break into something bigger in London. Stefan Dennis might have been one of their names (it was a long time ago). And Simon le Bon. Oh, and I went to school with a couple of princesses, but not really important ones. And I taught Bill Wyman’s daughter. She was extremely young to have him as a father. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365/36 "2009-07-17T21:16:52Z")
> [@Spiff](#): > > My great uncle ran for president on the GOP ticket. > > He lost, so we don’t talk about him too much… Aw, c’mon, spill! Did he go up against Roosevelt or something? My wife’s great-uncle was a sculptor of some ability and renown; one of his better-known efforts was the Theodore Roosevelt memorial in Tenafly, NJ. I have a distant great-uncle who was a household name in fabrics back in the 19th century, but no closer (relationship-wise or time-wise) famous folks in my own family than that. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365/37 "2009-07-17T21:21:07Z")
My roomie is related to [Mcnary of Oregon](http://www.amazon.com/McNary-Oregon-Political-Steve-Neal/dp/0875951732) and she also helped [Paul Buell](http://www.historycooperative.org/cgi-bin/justtop.cgi?act=justtop&url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jwh/14.4/br_6.html) work on his more recent book about mongolian horse vetinary practice. She also oddly enough tiled his kitchen for him a few years ago. One of our exroomies Breice is a cousin to [Harold McGee](http://www.alibris.com/search/books/qwork/4834682/used/On%20Food%20and%20Cooking:%20The%20Science%20and%20Lore%20of%20the%20Kitchen) My aunt [Tulip](http://www.westportnow.com/index.php?/v2/comments/humane_society_honors_family_of_william_s_hart/) is a grand neice of William S Hart, and also somehow connected to a pre ww2 ambassador to the Netherlands, her mother was apparently the marker in a nasty custody battle, but I cant remember which ambassador it was [sort of like Gloria Vanderbuilt was the focus of a struggle] mrAru is related to [David Ogden](http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/tp&CISOPTR=41915&CISOSHOW=41880) who was one of the ones responsible for screwing over the mohicans, and oddly enough through someone else a mohican … go figure :smack: Im related to [among others] [Sir Edmund Andros](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Andros) who was according to what I have read of his diaries a right asshole and the only thing preventing me from calling him a bastard was that his parents were in fact married…the miniature portrait cameo of him we have knocking around the house makes him look rather like a constipated weasel. Spiffy dresser though =) ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365/38 "2009-07-17T21:22:51Z")
I went to high school with Christa McAuliffe’s son. I taught Jon Cryer’s half-brother for two years (college voice). A couple of my wife’s uncles went to school with several Bucks (sons/brothers of Jack/Joe). ETA: Also, Bill Kristol’s daughter studied voice with one of my colleagues, although not with me. I sang in choir with her. ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365/39 "2009-07-17T21:23:50Z")
I had a boss who is Whitney Houston’s cousin. She had all kind of pictures with her and went to her wedding. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365/40 "2009-07-17T21:28:12Z")
A high-school classmate of mine was married to Olympic figure skater Debi Thomas ('88 Calgary Games, lost to Katerina Witt) for several years. I used to take computer lessons from Cindy Crawford’s sister. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-related-to-a-famous-person/503365.md?page=3)