Families with more than three generations of celebrities

Cafe Society
1

I can think of a few families in which members of three generations are renowned in the same field:

Auto racing:
Mario > Michael > Marco Andretti
Lee > Richard > Kyle Petty
(I’m sure there are more, but I’m not a big NASCAR fan.)

Writing:
Robert > Nathaniel > Peter Benchley
(Nathaniel is best known for writing the book on which The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming! is based.)

Painting:
N.C. > Andrew > Jamie Wyeth

Acting:
Henry > Peter > Bridget Fonda
John > John Drew > Drew Barrymore
(I’d never heard of Drew’s dad before starting this thread.)

The only case I know of with more than three generations is also in acting:

Roy Redgrave > Michael Redgrave > Vanessa Redgrave > Joely Richardson

(I also hadn’t heard of Roy before looking up Michael on IMDB. He did a few silents back in the second decade of the 20th century, but he’s not exactly a household name.)

Do you know of any others? I suspect 3-gens are relatively common, so while I’m mildly interested in hearing about more of them, I’d be much more impressed by 4-gens or more.

My criteria:

Four or more generations in direct descent: no skipping generations or lateral jumps to cousins or nieces/nephews.

All reasonably well known: A string of five lawyers, doctors, ministers, or military officers that no one has ever heard of, or of whom only one or two have have risen to celebrity status, are not allowed.

All known for accomplishments in the same field.

Of course, if you think you have an interesting case that doesn’t quite meet my criteria, I won’t be too rigid about it.

2

I don’t suppose royalty counts? :slight_smile:

3

The Adamses spring to mind. John, John Q, Charles Francis and Henry all made it into Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations.

4

In music, the Bach family qualifies. Four generations, from JA Bach to WFE Bach.

In politics, how about the Churchills? John Spencer-Churchill (7th Duke of Marlborough), Randolph Churchill, Winston Churchill, Randolph Churchill, Christopher Soames (married Winston Churchill’s daughter Mary), and Nicholas Soames

5

There’s also the Nehru / Gandhi dynasty Motilal Nehru, Jawarharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi.

Other political dynasties are listed here.

6

Hank Williams one, two, and three
There’s at least two third generation Carradines working now.

7

Aside from actual royalty I think this is the best example. Motilal Nehru was a hugely successful lawyer and a fairly important politician. The next three were prime ministers of a large country. And Rajiv Gandhi’s son Rahul has now emerged as a pretty important politician who is quite likely to become PM some day.

8

The Douglases

Kirk Douglas –> Michael Douglas –> Cameron Douglas (still emerging, but all three of them were in It Runs In The Family together)

9

In Ohio, we have the Taft family:
Peter Rawson Taft (1785-1867, member of the Vermont legislature)
his son, Alphonso Taft, (1810-1891), U.S. secretary of war and U.S. attorney general
his sons, Charles Phelps Taft, (1843-1929), U.S. Representative
William Howard Taft, U.S. president, U.S. chief justice, U.S. secretary of war
William Howard’s son, Robert Alphonso Taft I, U.S. Senator from Ohio
his son, William Howard Taft III, ambassador to Ireland
his son, William Howard Taft IV, chief legal adviser to the U.S. Department of State
Robert Alphonso Taft I’s son, Robert Taft Jr., U.S. Senator from Ohio
his son, Robert Alphonso Taft Jr., governor of Ohio
William Howard Taft I’s son, Charles Phelps Taft II, mayor of Cincinnati
son of Charles Phelps Taft II, Peter Rawson Taft, United States Assistant Attorney General Department of Justice
son of Frederick Lovett Taft II, Kingsley Arter Taft, U.S. senator, chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court
Royal Chapin Taft, governor of Rhode Island
Ezra Taft Benson, Representative to the Utah Territorial Legislature
Ezra Taft Benson II, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
Mark Benson Madsen, Utah State Senate
Daniel Taft, Massachusetts General Court, Colonial Legislature
Emily Taft Douglas, Congresswoman, U.S. representative
Hon. Bezaleel Taft Sr., Massachusetts General Court, Legislature
Hon. Bezaleel Taft Jr., Massachusetts General Court, Legislature

I am not including people who ran for offices and were not successful. The first elected official on this list was born in 1785. If a generation is 25.2 years, this gives me 8.8 generations.

ETA: I will concede Ambassador to Ireland as it is appointed instead of elected.

10

Another example might be the Mommsen family of historians in Germany. Theodor Mommsen was a legendary historian of the Roman empire and winner of the Nobel Prize for literature. Several other members of the family were eminent historians as well including two of his great-grandsons, Hans and Wolfgang.

11

Acting: Rance Howard, Ron Howard, Bryce Dallas Howard. Rance is a reach, but with 100 film credits and over 120 TV credits, chances are you’ve seen him in something.

12

Dick Van Dyke, his son Barry, and Barry’s two sons Carey and Shane, both of whom have not only appeared in episodes of “Diagnosis Murder” but also in other TV shows.

13

Psssst. Over here.

14

There are the Barrymores. Maurice, his children Lionel, Ethel, and John, John’s son and daughter, John Drew and Diana, and John Drew’s daughter Drew.

15

The OP is looking for more than three. The thread linked to is about three generations.

16

Not celebrities, but a dynasty of their own:

Henry Ford> Edsel Ford (son)> Henry Ford II (grandson) > William Clay Ford Sr. (owner of the Lions and son of Edsel)> William Clay Ford jr. ( son of WCFsr and exec at Ford, great grandson of Henry)

17

Five if you include PDQ Bach. :smiley: :wink:

18

Thanks for all the replies.

Yes, Thudlow, I hadn’t thought of royalty, but that category is so obvious that it doesn’t have the novelty that I was seeking. And of course, members of a royal family generally have little choice about going into the family business.

I’d guess that it will be hard to beat the Taft family, who have at least six generations in direct descent in two branching lines:

P.R. > Alphonso > W.H. 1 > R.A. > W.H.3 > W.H. 4

P.R. > Alphonso > W.H. 1 > R.A. > Robert Jr. > R.A.2

and five by by another line:

P.R. > Alphonso > W.H. 1 > C.P.2 > P.R.2

I knew (but had forgotten) that there were multiple William Howards, but I had no idea how many other political Tafts there were. Thanks, Sigmagirl!

And thanks, Annie-Xmas for the link. I hadn’t seen that thread.

19

If politics counts, then I’m guessing this one qualifies: Kennedy family - Wikipedia

Thing is, if politics does count, then there are all kinds of families throughout history. Literal dynasties, as well as plenty of families in Roman, Elizabethan, Victorian and other times who had multiple generations involved in some level of politics (even if not ever ruling outright).

20

Lee > Richard > Kyle Petty>Adam Petty

Adam isn’t better known because he was killed in a race when he was 20.