# Funny, you don't look Quakerish. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 5, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-you-dont-look-quakerish/512631 "2009-10-05T03:08:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-you-dont-look-quakerish/512631/1 "2009-10-05T03:08:25Z")
As a child of the Sixties I assume nearly everybody in Hollywood is probably Jewish. Especially if they are from New York City. Sure, New York has produced Irish actors (Jimmy Cagney), Italian actors (Robert De Niro), Puerto Rican actors (Erik Estrada), and Black actors (any of the Wayanses), but mostly Jews, especially funny ones (Marx Brothers). So yeah, George Segal is probably Jewish, right? I mean, everybody I know named something like Segel is. Nope, Segal was raised Quaker on Long Island, which at least explains the banjo. But Christopher Walken, with that thick accent, MUST be Jewish, right? Nope. He’s a Methodist. I mean, I _married_ the second Methodist I met, possibly because Jewish girls wouldn’t give me the time of day. Okay, Zachary Levi, TV’s “Chuck,” with a name like that, he HAS to be Jewish, right? Au contraire, mon frere. He pronounces it “LEE-veye,” like the jeans; Levi is his middle name because his agent got sick of trying to sell Zack Pugh; he’s from Lake Charles, Louisiana; and, like most everybody from Lake Charles, he’s a born-again Christian. So what celebrities have backgrounds that don’t match up with your preconceptions? ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-you-dont-look-quakerish/512631/2 "2009-10-05T03:34:50Z")
Dude, George Segal is from my old home town, and trust me, a Segal in Great Neck is as Jewish as any other Red Sea Pedestrian, hifalutin’ _goyishe_ prep school or no hifalutin’ _goyishe_ prep school. It’s funny that you have the impression that most actors from New York are Jewish… except for all the Italians, Irish, Puerto Ricans and African Americans. Heh. Oh, where is that Rabbi smilie when we need it? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-you-dont-look-quakerish/512631/3 "2009-10-05T03:55:27Z")
Well, there are LOTS of actors who’ve gotten cast regularly in ethnic roles they don’t REALLY belong in. Examples? Well, Anthony Quinn played Greeks constantly, even though he was really half Irish and half Mexican. Lou Diamond Phillips plays a lot of Mexicans, even though he’s a self-described “mutt” who’s more Filippino than anything else. Leonardo Cimino, an Italian, has played a host of stereotypical elderly Jews, in things like the TV miniseries “V.” ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-you-dont-look-quakerish/512631/4 "2009-10-05T03:56:40Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Sure, New York has produced … Italian actors (Robert De Niro) … . Actually, De Niro is only of half-Italian descent. His mother’s side is Irish. For someone who’s 100% Italian, Al Pacino would’ve been a better choice. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-you-dont-look-quakerish/512631/5 "2009-10-05T04:40:20Z")
If I weren’t a German-Irish-Norskie-Bohunk mutt I’d have something against mutts. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-you-dont-look-quakerish/512631/6 "2009-10-05T04:41:22Z")
> [@choie](#): > > Dude, George Segal is from my old home town, and trust me, a Segal in Great Neck is as Jewish as any other Red Sea Pedestrian, hifalutin’ _goyishe_ prep school or no hifalutin’ _goyishe_ prep school. So explain the banjo. QED. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![St.Anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@St.Anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Anger)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-you-dont-look-quakerish/512631/7 "2009-10-05T04:44:51Z")
Maybe a little OT, but I was shocked when I learned Mel Gibson was born in New York, and Bob Hope in London, UK. I was shocked when I learned Charlize Theron is from South Africa. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-you-dont-look-quakerish/512631/8 "2009-10-05T04:52:55Z")
> [@choie](#): > > Dude, George Segal is from my old home town, and trust me, a Segal in Great Neck is as Jewish as any other Red Sea Pedestrian, hifalutin’ _goyishe_ prep school or no hifalutin’ _goyishe_ prep school. Bwa ha ha! Right on, sister! (I’m from Port Washington) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-you-dont-look-quakerish/512631/9 "2009-10-05T04:54:05Z")
You wouldn’t be if you heard her in interviews. ETA: Referring to Charlize Theron. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-you-dont-look-quakerish/512631/10 "2009-10-05T05:13:55Z")
On topic: as a kid I always thought that Alan Alda was Jewish. I know, I know, the name is pretty obvious (especially his real name) but Hawkeye was always spouting Yiddish words and Alda just seemed so comfortable with them. (Same thing with Carol Burnett. As a child I must have had the rather bizarre impression that all comedians were Jewish.) > [@dropzone](#): > > So explain the banjo. QED. 😃 Hee. I admit the banjo is troubling. Possible theories: He’s trying to pass? His parents’ shetl was in _southern_ Russia? A jug band is as close as he could get to klezmer music? All the cool kids at his Quaker school were playing bluegrass? Otherwise I got nuttin’. > [@Green\_Bean](#): > > Bwa ha ha! Right on, sister! (I’m from Port Washington) Whoa, small world! PW’s a gorgeous area, too. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-you-dont-look-quakerish/512631/11 "2009-10-05T11:19:13Z")
I am a Quaker. I was raised Quaker. I know many, many Quakers. Not a single one of them plays the banjo. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-you-dont-look-quakerish/512631/12 "2009-10-05T12:36:27Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > As a child of the Sixties I assume nearly everybody in Hollywood is probably Jewish. Especially if they are from New York City. Sure, New York has produced Irish actors (Jimmy Cagney), Italian actors (Robert De Niro), Puerto Rican actors (Erik Estrada), and Black actors (any of the Wayanses), but mostly Jews, especially funny ones (Marx Brothers). So yeah, George Segal is probably Jewish, right? I mean, everybody I know named something like Segel is. Nope, Segal was raised Quaker on Long Island, which at least explains the banjo. > > But Christopher Walken, with that thick accent, MUST be Jewish, right? Nope. He’s a Methodist. I mean, I _married_ the second Methodist I met, possibly because Jewish girls wouldn’t give me the time of day. > > Okay, Zachary Levi, TV’s “Chuck,” with a name like that, he HAS to be Jewish, right? Au contraire, mon frere. He pronounces it “LEE-veye,” like the jeans; Levi is his middle name because his agent got sick of trying to sell Zack Pugh; he’s from Lake Charles, Louisiana; and, like most everybody from Lake Charles, he’s a born-again Christian. > > So what celebrities have backgrounds that don’t match up with your preconceptions? I have been taught on these boards that such assumptions are akin to hate messages. You might as well ask if > [@](#): > > Jews kill Christian babies for their blood to make passover matzos Or ask > [@](#): > > “Do blacks really have natural rhythm?” (truly, this was actually said to me, here on these boards about 3 years ago.) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-you-dont-look-quakerish/512631/13 "2009-10-05T12:38:34Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, there are LOTS of actors who’ve gotten cast regularly in ethnic roles they don’t REALLY belong in. > > Examples? Well, Anthony Quinn played Greeks constantly, even though he was really half Irish and half Mexican. He’s also played American Indians, Russians, Middle Eastern Types, and Other (like Quasimodo). He was the All-Purpose Ethnic, who could be anybody. **Yul Brynner** was another of these. TV’s answer to this was **Michael Ansara**. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-you-dont-look-quakerish/512631/14 "2009-10-05T12:41:31Z")
Most people don’t realize that Martin Sheen is Hispanic. He changed his last name from Estevez to Sheen so he wouldn’t be typecast in ethnic roles. His son Charlie kept the name, while he other son, Emilio Estevez, went back to his roots. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-you-dont-look-quakerish/512631/15 "2009-10-05T12:51:46Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Okay, Zachary Levi, TV’s “Chuck,” with a name like that, he HAS to be Jewish, right? Au contraire, mon frere. He pronounces it “LEE-veye,” like the jeans; Levi is his middle name because his agent got sick of trying to sell Zack Pugh; he’s from Lake Charles, Louisiana; and, like most everybody from Lake Charles, he’s a born-again Christian. Funnily enough, the spouse and I had the “He’s gotta be Jewish with a name like that” conversation just last week. Ignorance fought. Of course, before that was the “Is Adam Baldwin one of the Baldwin brothers, because he doesn’t look like them” debate (FTR, he isn’t). Obviously _Chuck_ is insufficiently engrossing to distract us from these discussions. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-you-dont-look-quakerish/512631/16 "2009-10-05T13:03:40Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > He’s also played American Indians, Russians, Middle Eastern Types, and Other (like Quasimodo). He was the All-Purpose Ethnic, who could be anybody. **Yul Brynner** was another of these. TV’s answer to this was **Michael Ansara**. Contemporary examples are Alfred Molina and John Rhys-Davies. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-you-dont-look-quakerish/512631/17 "2009-10-05T13:24:35Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > He’s also played American Indians, Russians, Middle Eastern Types, and Other (like Quasimodo). He was the All-Purpose Ethnic, who could be anybody. **Yul Brynner** was another of these. TV’s answer to this was **Michael Ansara**. Lou Diamond Phillips also played the Yul Brynner role when \*The King & I \*was revived on Broadway. Wikipedia gives details on his ancestry: “His father was an American of Scottish, Irish and Cherokee descent and his mother was a Filipina of Japanese, Chinese, and Spanish extraction.” ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-you-dont-look-quakerish/512631/18 "2009-10-05T14:32:05Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > He’s also played American Indians, Russians, Middle Eastern Types, and Other (like Quasimodo). He was the All-Purpose Ethnic, who could be anybody. **Yul Brynner** was another of these. TV’s answer to this was **Michael Ansara**. True enough- and you can’t expect a guy to wait around for Irish-Mexican roles (andy more than Lou Diamond Phillips can wait around for Scottish-Filippino-Chinese-Irish roles). But while Quinn played all kinds of ethnicities, he became Hollywood’s go-to guy for any Greek role, whether it be Zorba, the commando in “the Guns from Navarone,” an Onassis-clone in “The Greek Tycoon,” or the Greek neighbor in “Only the Lonely.” ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-you-dont-look-quakerish/512631/19 "2009-10-05T14:36:31Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > I am a Quaker. I was raised Quaker. I know many, many Quakers. > > Not a single one of them plays the banjo. For that matter, wouldn’t playing a musical instrument be frowned upon in Quaker-land? Unless, of course, it is used to glorify the Lord. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-you-dont-look-quakerish/512631/20 "2009-10-05T14:42:03Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > True enough- and you can’t expect a guy to wait around for Irish-Mexican roles (andy more than Lou Diamond Phillips can wait around for Scottish-Filippino-Chinese-Irish roles). > > But while Quinn played all kinds of ethnicities, he became Hollywood’s go-to guy for any Greek role, whether it be Zorba, the commando in “the Guns from Navarone,” an Onassis-clone in “The Greek Tycoon,” or the Greek neighbor in “Only the Lonely.” I’d like to see an unironic remake of The Killing Fields with Lou Diamond playing Haing Ngor. He plays that drama quite artfully. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-you-dont-look-quakerish/512631.md?page=2)