# 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:** 2
### Author:  [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)
#### 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/26854/21 "2000-07-26T20:13:29Z")
Ooh, got one that actually doesn’t break any rules! Geoffrey Chaucer was the brother-in-law of John of Gaunt, son of King Edward III. I’m not sure what this makes Geoff and Ed, exactly, but I think they count as “related.”
John Donne was also a great-great-nephew of Sir Thomas More, but since they’re both writers I don’t know if that counts.
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### Author:  [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/22 "2000-07-26T20:40:32Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \*
> \*\*I wanted to say Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli, but looks like that’s out, too. \*\*
I wanted to say this one too. Then I saw the rules.
**Fretful:** Wouldn’t Ed be Geoff’s father-in-law?
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/23 "2000-07-26T21:19:50Z")
**ArchiveGuy** - Further proof of how stupid I am, as if I needed any.
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### Author:  [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/24 "2000-07-26T21:29:45Z")
Ahh. Danielle Steele (romance novelest) and Nick Triana (singer of link 80)(son who died of heroin overdose)
GOT ONE. Lesse if I can think of any others.
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### Author:  [@kawliga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kawliga)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/25 "2000-07-26T21:48:53Z")
William Saroyan and Ross Bagdassarian - aka David Seville of Witchdoctor and chipmunk fame - were cousins. The two of them co-wrote the song “Come on-a My House.”
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/26 "2000-07-26T21:56:36Z")
What about GOP VP candidate Dick Cheney and that werewolf? Oh…wait…that’s ChAney…
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### Author:  [@dwtno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwtno)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/27 "2000-07-26T22:06:10Z")
Super Dave Osborne (professional daredevil) and Albert Brooks (actor) - brothers.
Even more interesting, their real last name is Einstein, which makes Albert, “Albert Einstein.” No kidding!
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### Author:  [@Rich\_G7subs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_G7subs)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2000, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/28 "2000-07-26T22:45:00Z")
New York Mets infielder/Pinch hitter Matt Franco Is Actor Kurt Russells Nephew.
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### Author:  [@billyt123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billyt123)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2000, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/29 "2000-07-27T01:20:01Z")
Former boxer Tommy “the Duke” Morrison and John “the Duke” Wayne
I think he was a great nephew or something along those lines.
whew… that was driving me crazy
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2000, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/30 "2000-07-27T01:27:53Z")
Just saw this on tv:
Brian Knight, who played Chris on the Partridge Family is a descendent of Charles Dickens.
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### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2000, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/31 "2000-07-27T03:02:39Z")
> [@](#):
>
> But Matt, who the hell is Mrs Byrne and which dictionary is it for which she is famous?
Ahem. From [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3\_259a.html:](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_259a.html:)
“Try _Mrs. Byrne’s Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words_ by Josefa Heifetz Byrne, a landmark reference work this column has often recommended in the past. Where else could you find gems like hircine, ‘goatlike, especially in smell,’ or hircismus, ‘the condition of having stinky armpits’?”
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2000, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/32 "2000-07-27T03:46:09Z")
Thanks, Matt. I may have even used it as a reference in Linguistics class, but don’t remember because that was so long ago that the brain cells that survived my college education have been completely replaced three times over, like the ones that knew better than to create run-on sentences.
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### Author:  [@kawliga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kawliga)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2000, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/33 "2000-07-27T07:25:43Z")
I just rembered another one.
Former congressman Bob Dornan is the nephew of Jack Haley, the tin man in THE WIZARD OF OZ.
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### Author:  [@Mustapha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mustapha)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2000, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/34 "2000-07-27T12:44:13Z")
Richard Melville Hall aka Moby is Herman Melville’s great-great-nephew. (Melville Hall counts as a different surname, right?)
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2000, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/35 "2000-07-27T12:51:59Z")
Harper Lee, who wrote To Kill a Mockingbird,
and Truman Capote were cousins. Portrait
painter Robert Susan was the father of
Jaqueline Susann.
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### Author:  [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2000, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/36 "2000-07-27T14:36:28Z")
**dwtno** :
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by dwtno \*
> Super Dave Osborne (professional daredevil) and Albert Brooks (actor) - brothers.
>
> Even more interesting, their real last name is Einstein, which makes Albert, “Albert Einstein.” No kidding!
Super Dave Osborne is just a **character**. The actor normally uses his own name, Bob Einstein. But since that’s different from the name his brother Albert uses, it’s still within the rules.
How about this one? Novelist **Gore Vidal** and Vice-President/voice actor **Al Gore** are cousins. Since “Gore” switches from given name to surname, I figure it’s allowable under the rules.
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### Author:  [@irish\_bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irish_bill)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2000, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/37 "2000-07-27T15:07:13Z")
Not many people know that…
Jon Voight (actor) and Barry McGuire (singer) are brothers.
(McGuire had a hit with “Eve of Destruction” in the 60’s.)
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2000, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/38 "2000-07-27T15:20:50Z")
I finally thought of the other one I knew.
Roy Lichtenstein (1960’s painter) and
comedian Pinky Lee are brothers.
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### Author:  [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2000, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/39 "2000-07-27T15:29:26Z")
Peter Gabriel and David Arquette.
Peter was married to Davids Sister. does that count?
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### Author:  [@struuter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/struuter)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2000, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-have-no-right-to-be-related-to-each-other/26854/40 "2000-07-27T15:42:58Z")
I’ve probably got this wrong…so somebody please correct me, but weren’t fashion designer Adrian and set designer Cedric Gibbons brothers? Also, wasn’t Cedric married to Edith Head?
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