True, and he should be better remembered than he is.
Not at all true. He had Snuff Garrett which was even better than having Lee Hazelwood. And the Playboys had seven straight top ten hits (and four more in the Top 40). That’s more than the Byrds and most other famous groups. The only reason he didn’t have more was that he got drafted. He’s not an important name but he was extremely successful and not because of his father.
I have long assumed that actors, as a rule, are very nice and patient people, simply because the job looks so amazingly boring. Someone who knows that up front is at an advantage.
If your dream is to be an actor or a rock star, your parents will likely say something like “We’ll be supportive if it looks like you have talent and take this seriously, but you really need a backup plan, like law school or an MBA program, in case it doesn’t.” But if your parents actually are entertainment industry insiders, there’s a much better chance you’ll be raised in an environment where the arts are taken a lot more seriously and a career in them is seen as a realistic, attainable goal. In this light, nepotism is actually a good thing.
Now, I can go along with Sofia being cast as Michael Corlone’s nephew and godson for the Christening scene in “Godfather”. Even with the blatant nepotism. She looked like an infant boy. But on the other hand, she didn’t look at all like she’d be the younger daughter in “Peggy Sue Got Married”. I thought that was poor casting.
And I’m pretty sure Rita Wilson got cast in “That Thing You Do” and “From The Earth To The Moon” due to some casting couch negotiations with the director and/or producer. :mad:
No one is successful because of his parents. He gets the opportunity to be successful because of the parents. Say a casting director is looking for a certain type of kid, and the child of an actor walks in for the actor’s audition, or comes to the set. If the kid is close to what is wanted, bingo. And the director knows she’ll not have to deal with unrealistic parents. I’ve seen this happen.
Emma Roberts probably got the starring role in Nickelodeon’s Unfabulous because she was Julia’s niece (and Eric’s daughter). The other roles could have come from producers, or at least casting directors, seeing her in that. Do you think Jane Fonda got very many parts just because she was Henry’s daughter? (Peter, on the other hand…)
Jamie Lynn Spears (Britney’s sister) also got a starring role on a Nickelodeon show (Zoey 101). How many movies has she been in recently? Having the name does not always work. On the other hand, both Kenan Thompson and Nick Cannon also got their starts on Nick, without family help.
My theory is, the kids see the parent(s) act and want to get in on it, especially if the parents can afford to send the kids to decent acting coaches and drama schools.
I’m on both sides of this argument as I can fully understand and agree with both. But if I had to go with one side I would agree with the OP. I have to say it does sometimes piss me off but what also annoys me is that every Tom, Dick and Harry in Hollywood’s daughter nowadays goes on to become a model. Has anyone noticed that? Not just movie stars but music artists, read an article about their daughter and she is now a fashion model.
I’m fairly young and I don’t know if this happened decades ago, but it seems to happen a lot with celeb daughters, unless she is very below average in looks.
Getting your foot in the door and some exposure is the first and biggest hurdle. And many unfortunately never get that because they were born into the “wrong” family. As others pointed out there countless examples of those offspring who in the end did not amount to shiat despite family connections because they just sucked. Same with offspring of music artists.
We should make a thread of those who never made it big despite being born into the industry.