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.
I wanted to say this one too. Then I saw the rules.
Fretful: Wouldn’t Ed be Geoff’s father-in-law?
ArchiveGuy - Further proof of how stupid I am, as if I needed any.
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.
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.”
What about GOP VP candidate Dick Cheney and that werewolf? Oh…wait…that’s ChAney…
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!
New York Mets infielder/Pinch hitter Matt Franco Is Actor Kurt Russells Nephew.
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
Just saw this on tv:
Brian Knight, who played Chris on the Partridge Family is a descendent of Charles Dickens.
Ahem. From 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’?”
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.
I just rembered another one.
Former congressman Bob Dornan is the nephew of Jack Haley, the tin man in THE WIZARD OF OZ.
Richard Melville Hall aka Moby is Herman Melville’s great-great-nephew. (Melville Hall counts as a different surname, right?)
Harper Lee, who wrote To Kill a Mockingbird,
and Truman Capote were cousins. Portrait
painter Robert Susan was the father of
Jaqueline Susann.
dwtno:
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.
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.)
I finally thought of the other one I knew.
Roy Lichtenstein (1960’s painter) and
comedian Pinky Lee are brothers.
Peter Gabriel and David Arquette.
Peter was married to Davids Sister. does that count?
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?