# Obscure but interesting celebrity trivia. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 1, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392 "2015-06-01T22:16:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/201 "2015-06-28T02:34:55Z")
Paul Giamatti, the actor, is the son of the late Bart Giamatti, who was the comissioner of baseball back when Pete Rose was banned for gambling. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/202 "2015-06-28T02:55:52Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Nonsense! Why do people keep saying things like that? People write, and get published, hokey, unbelievable, bullshit plots all the time. “You can’t make this up,” and such really means, “I’d be too embarrassed to show this to my publisher.” Rule should read more popular fiction and watch more TV. Yeah, that B\*tch! ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/203 "2015-06-29T06:12:35Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > Paul Giamatti, the actor, is the son of the late Bart Giamatti, who was the comissioner of baseball back when Pete Rose was banned for gambling. And Paul has stated that he blames his father’s fatal heart attack on Rose. I’m looking for a cite for that, as I read it several years ago. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/204 "2015-06-29T21:27:12Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > And Paul has stated that he blames his father’s fatal heart attack on Rose. I’m looking for a cite for that, as I read it several years ago. Oh, is he a Yalie too? I shouldn’t be surprised… :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/205 "2015-06-29T22:10:40Z")
Paul Giamatti DID in fact, attend Yale ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/206 "2015-06-29T22:35:24Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Billie Holiday was Billy Crystal’s babysitter on more than one occasion. Little Eva was maid and babysitter for Carol King and Gerry Goffen until they had her record one of their songs, The Loco-motion. If you go to West Orange NJ one of the main roads is Pleasant Valley Way. King and Goffen lived a block off that street. It’s where they wrote Pleasant Valley Sunday for the Monkees. > [@Superdude](#): > > And Paul has stated that he blames his father’s fatal heart attack on Rose. I’m looking for a cite for that, as I read it several years ago. Not celebrity trivia but my own personal history. My father was an admirer of Bart Giamatti as commissioner of baseball. When my mother heard about his death on the radio she went outside to tell my father and found him dead in the back yard of a heart attack. So I get to think about that when I see Paul Giamatti working. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/207 "2015-06-30T15:12:20Z")
That’s fucked up, **Loach**. Unless Bart Giamatti is your father, too. Then it all makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/208 "2015-06-30T20:55:58Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > […] > So I get to think about that when I see Paul Giamatti working. You see him working? What kind of shovel does he use? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/209 "2015-06-30T21:43:43Z")
Tracey Pollan’s brother (and Michael J. Fox’s brother-in-law) Michael has had several books on food and nutrition published. [His website](http://michaelpollan.com/) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/210 "2015-06-30T22:19:58Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > You see him working? What kind of shovel does he use? That’s fucked up, **dougie\_monty** ---
**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:** [July 1, 2015, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/211 "2015-07-01T00:23:53Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > And Paul has stated that he blames his father’s fatal heart attack on Rose. Yet another reason Rose can burn in Hell for all eternity! I liked Giamatti when he headed the NL and was glad he became Commissioner. He was unlike the sleazeballs who came before and after him. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/212 "2015-07-01T01:41:13Z")
Actress Rooney Mara is the great-granddaughter of NY Giants founder Tim Mara on her father’s side AND Art Rooney Sr, the founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers on her mother’s side. (One can only imagine how she’d feel if the two teams faced off against each other in the Super Bowl) Helena Bonham Carter’s great-grandfather was H.H. Asquith, Prime Minister of the U.K from 1908 - 1916. In _Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince_, Hero Fiennes-Tiffin played Voldemorte as a kid. Fiennes-Tiffin is the nephew of Ralph Fiennes, who plays Voldemorte is the film series. Also, in the next movie, _The Deathly Hallows Part I_, Bill Weasley is played by Domhnall Gleeson, the son of Brendan Gleeson, who plays Mad-Eye Moody in the series. > [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Various sources online say that all of these people are examples of ones who grew up thinking that their mother was their older sister and were thus raised by their maternal grandparents, who pretended to be their parents: > > 1. Bobby Darin > 2. Jack Nicholson > 3. Eric Clapton > 4. Ted Bundy > 5. Paul Nurse > 6. Merle Oberon > 7. David Campbell > 8. Bayard Rustin > 9. Catherine Cookson And my friend’s father as well. Although I don’t even think he met his mother until he was an adult – he learned his parents were really his grandparents when he was a young teenager. Ouch. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/213 "2015-07-01T01:56:18Z")
Charlton Heston’s birth name was John Carter. He started using the surname Heston, that of his step-father, while still in high school. He didn’t want to explain why he had a different name than the man his mother was married to. Charlton was his mother’s maiden name. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/214 "2015-07-01T03:05:19Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Yet another reason Rose can burn in Hell for all eternity! I liked Giamatti when he headed the NL and was glad he became Commissioner. He was unlike the sleazeballs who came before and after him. When did you graduate from Yale? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/215 "2015-07-01T03:43:58Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > You see him working? What kind of shovel does he use? What is wrong with you? ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/216 "2015-07-01T04:06:31Z")
What’s wrong with ME?! _ **I’m** _ not the one ascribing a relative’s fatal heart attack to a third party. It would be interesting, rather, to look at the elder Giamatti’s medical records… ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/217 "2015-07-01T04:29:18Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > What’s wrong with ME?! **Loach** revealed that seeing Paul Giamatti reminds him of his father, because he died on the same day as Bart Giamatti, and your instinct is to make a lame-ass joke. What the hell IS wrong with you? ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/218 "2015-07-01T04:48:19Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > **Loach** revealed that seeing Paul Giamatti reminds him of his father, because he died on the same day as Bart Giamatti, and your instinct is to make a lame-ass joke. What the hell IS wrong with you? :All right:…Loach’s post did say–it didn’t seem to be all that clear to me–that his father and the senior Giamatti died on the same day. I apparently failed to notice that phrase. I am still critical of the senior Giamatti for the extra-legal way he dealt with Pete Rose (we do have a legal system in this country, you know) and the son, who blames his father’s heart attack on Rose. Hence my suggestion about seeing the medical records. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/219 "2015-07-01T06:57:30Z")
So what do you think Giamatti should have done? This was a private organization, Rose didn’t break any laws, so why should the legal system have been involved? They only did so because Rose filed a lawsuit. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2015, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392/220 "2015-07-01T07:33:35Z")
Not surprised at some of the celebrity connections to famed politicians and such. I would guess fame tends to be “incestuous”; it’s easier to make a big name for yourself if you have family networks and such to back your efforts, especially when just starting out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-but-interesting-celebrity-trivia/721392.md?page=12)