# Famous people who have no right to be related to each other
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [July 26, 2000, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854 "2000-07-26T01:06:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/1 "2000-07-26T01:06:58Z")
The rules are simple:[ul]1.The people must not have the same name. (Martin and Charlie Sheen are out).
2.The people must both be famous (Your uncle Louie and cousin Jack are out.)
3.Their fame must stem from activity in completely different fields of endeavor. (Martin Sheen and Emilio Estavez are out).[/ul]
I’ll start the ball rolling. Singer Olivia Newton-John (the grammy award winner) is the granddaughter of physicist Max Born (the Nobel prize winner).
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### Author:  [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/2 "2000-07-26T02:12:03Z")
How about Monkee Mike Nesmith and his famous white-out inventing mother?
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### Author:  [@Jois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jois)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/3 "2000-07-26T02:33:56Z")
Nesmuth and Mom… Hum, but do they have the same last name? Don’t ya just hate it when _The Phage_ is bored?
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### Author:  [@Jois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jois)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/4 "2000-07-26T02:51:22Z")
Not completely different fields BUT depth:
Francis Ford Coppola - Director
Nicholas Cage (Coppola) - actor
Talia Rose Coppola Shire - actor
I’ll leave out Sofia Coppola, something familiar about the last name and I don’t know what she’s doing now.
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### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/5 "2000-07-26T03:17:39Z")
Mrs. Byrne of dictionary fame was the daughter of Jascha Heifetz the violinist.
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/6 "2000-07-26T03:57:13Z")
I knew I could come up with some if I tried. This is the sort of crap that usually clogs my brain. I wish Eve were around. She could kick some serious ass with this.
Shirley MacLaine and Warren Beatty (Brother & Sister)
James Arness and Peter Graves (Brothers)
Olivia DeHaviland and Susan Hayward (Sisters)
Maureen O’Hara and Mia Farrow (Mom & Daughter)
Angelina Jolie & Jon Voight (Daughter & Father)
Michael Korda & Merle Oberon (Nephew & Aunt, for a while)
But Matt, who the hell is Mrs Byrne and which dictionary is it for which she is famous?
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/7 "2000-07-26T04:00:30Z")
Oh s\*\*t. I didn’t see the different professions rule. That knocks out almost all of my list, leaving only Korda and Oberon, who were only related by a short-lived, showbiz marriage.
Back to the ol’ drawing board.
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### Author:  [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/8 "2000-07-26T04:38:56Z")
Here’s sort-of one:
Henry Ward Beecher: Abolitionist preacher
Harriet Beecher Stowe: Author of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”
They were brother and sister. Granted, they sort of have the same name, and were both devout abolitionists, but HBS’s fame was really a result of her writing.
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### Author:  [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/9 "2000-07-26T04:56:37Z")
Jois, Sofia Coppola directed “The Virgin Suicides.”
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### Author:  [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/10 "2000-07-26T05:57:27Z")
Got one…
Gypsy Rose Lee: Stripper
June Havoc: Hollywood/Broadway actress, dancer
They were sisters.
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### Author:  [@seriousart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seriousart)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/11 "2000-07-26T06:03:21Z")
Jerry Lee Lewis and Billy Graham(?) -It was some evangelical preacher…
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### Author:  [@Shadowfox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadowfox)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/12 "2000-07-26T06:34:07Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by bibliophage \*
> \*\*The rules are simple:[ul]1.The people must not have the same name. (Martin and Charlie Sheen are out).
> 2.The people must both be famous (Your uncle Louie and cousin Jack are out.)
> 3.Their fame must stem from activity in completely different fields of endeavor. (Martin Sheen and Emilio Estavez are out).[/ul]
> \*\*
Well, I was going to list Jackie Collins (romance novelist) and Joan Collins (actress), but that would be in violation of rule number one.
My next suggestion was going to Warren Beatty and Shirley McClaine, but that would be violating rule number three.
This is a little tougher than I thought. I will have to get back to you about this.
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### Author:  [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/13 "2000-07-26T06:39:52Z")
err, **seriousart** , I believe that’s Jerry Lee Lewis and Jimmy Swaggart. Cousins.
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### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/14 "2000-07-26T06:59:14Z")
I wanted to say Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli, but looks like that’s out, too.
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### Author:  [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/15 "2000-07-26T07:43:41Z")
Olivia de Havilland’s actress sister is **not** Susan Hayward, but Joan Fontaine. Also, Mia Farrow’s mother is **not** Maureen O’Hara, but Maureen O’Sullivan.
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### Author:  [@Nanook\_of\_the\_North\_Shore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanook_of_the_North_Shore)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/16 "2000-07-26T08:12:19Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Jois \*
> \*\*Not completely different fields BUT depth:
>
> Francis Ford Coppola - Director
> Nicholas Cage (Coppola) - actor
> Talia Rose Coppola Shire - actor
>
> I’ll leave out Sofia Coppola, something familiar about the last name and I don’t know what she’s doing now.
>
> \*\*
You forgot one. Mark Coppola, aka “the Cope”, a two-bit radio DJ who’s only claim to fame is the family name.
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### Author:  [@aseymayo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aseymayo)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/17 "2000-07-26T08:25:28Z")
Boy, you sure don’t make it easy. But the mention of **Eve** made me think of the movie _All About Eve_, with Anne Baxter in the role of Eve Harrington. Anne was the granddaughter of Frank Lloyd Wright.
And how about Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.? He was the son of…
…opera singer Alma Gluck! (Ha! And you thought I was going to violate Rule #1.)
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### Author:  [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/18 "2000-07-26T13:02:55Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Bill H. \*
> \*\*err, **seriousart** , I believe that’s Jerry Lee Lewis and Jimmy Swaggart. Cousins. \*\*
Yes, as well as cousin Mickey Gilley. But that kinof goes against the OP condition #3. After all, all three are/were in the business of making music. Of course, we can give credit for them representing different musical genres.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/19 "2000-07-26T19:01:36Z")
Here’s a good one:
Sir Winston Churchill and the late Princess Diana of Wales
If I’m not mistaken, he’s at least a distant cousin, and I read somewhere he was an uncle…
Hmnmmm…
Camillia Parker Bowles is the great-granddaughter of Mrs. Alice Keppel. WHAT? you say?
Alice Keppel was the mistress of King Edward VII, and Camillia, as we all know, is the mistress of Prince Charles, Edward’s great-great grandson!
The mayor of Palm Beach in Florida, Paul Ilyinski, is the great-grandson of Tsar Alexander II.
Um…(I can only think of royalty ones…)
Oh, here’s one that’s against the rules, but it’s interesting, nevertheless:
Ewan McGregor’s uncle is Denis Lawson, who played Wedge in the original Star Wars Trilogy…Ewan plays Obi Wan in the newer ones…
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### Author:  [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/20 "2000-07-26T20:13:08Z")
OK, how about Maria Shriver and [insert your favorite Kennedy here], cousins.
And then there is Del Curry, basketball player and his sister Jackie Lynch, radio personality.
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