Just thought these were kind of interesting. Basically I’m excluding siblings who became famous together, like the Wright brothers, or siblings who became famous for the same general thing, even if they did it independently (both actors, or both writers, or something like that).
Edwin Booth was a famous actor, his brother John is famous for assassinating Lincoln.
Robert Patrick was T-1000 in Terminator 2, his brother Richard is the singer of the band Filter (they did “Hey Man, Nice Shot” and “Take a Picture”).
Steven Stayner was famous in the 70s for being kidnapped for 7 years, his brother Cary more recently became notable for being a serial killer (that one’s kind of messed up, huh?)
What others?
When I was growing up in suburban Cleveland, the Browns had a cornerback named Ben Davis. A couple of years into his career, controversy started to swirl around his sister Angela.
I was recently surprised to learn that actress Tracy Pollan (wife of Michael J. Fox) is the sister of author Michael Pollan.
Actors Sean and the late Chris Penn have a brother Michael who is a musician.
That’s a bit of a cheat. John and Edwin were part of a well-known acting family. JW was a matinee idol of his day. He’s only more famous now as an assassin.
Richard (Dickie) Attenborough,, actor/director famous for the Great Escape and Jurassic Park (actor) and Gandhi (director), and David Attenborough, famous for the ‘Life’ series of documentaries and tons of other well-known documentaries and books.
Actually, John Wilkes Booth was a pretty well-known actor in his own time, who also happened to be an assasin. Edwin and J.W. Booth’s father was an actor, as was their brother.
Joan Collins is an actress, Jackie is a novelist, although it can be argued having a sister who was a celebrity gave Jackie a big headstart to her own celebrity.
Donna DeVarona is an Olympic gold medal swimmer. Her sister, Joana Kerns, is an actress best known for the sitcom Growing Pains.
Irene Curie Joliot won a Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Her younger sister, Eve, was an author, journalist and humantiarian.
Of course, you have families like the Rockefellers (Nelson and Winthrop went into politics, John went into banking and David was a venture capitalist who helped found Eastern Airlines) and the Danforths (John was a Senator, William was a university chancelor), but their backgrounds are so tangled that it’s hard to argue it wasn’t “the same general thing.”
I was looking at the Wikipedia entry on famous twins, and thought list of twins famous for different things was interesting. Also the list of famous people with a non-famous twin.
Kurt Vonnegut’s brother Bernard was a famous meteorologist who discovered the process of cloud seeding with silver iodide.
Tony Hillerman was an award winning famous mystery novelist. His brother John Hillerman (actor) was even more famously secretly Robin Masters. ASAIK John is still alive.
The Mitford sisters are a pretty mind-blowing example. They seem to have been in everything in the 20th century.
Nancy became a famous novelist; her books are still popular.
Pamela was the most retiring, but still managed to marry and divorce a rich and famous scientist.
Diana had a huge society wedding, then left her husband for Sir Oswald Mosley (founder of the British Union of Fascists). Spent much of WWII in jail with her husband, was friendly with Hitler, never renounced fascism.
Unity was good buddies with Hitler.
Jessica moved to the US, became a well-known advocate for Communism, and wrote a lot of books, including the famous American Way of Death.
Deborah married the younger son of a peer, and WWII turned him into the Duke of Devonshire. Together they turned Chatsworth into one of the best-known stately homes in England. She’s still there.
Unless you’re funnin’ here, you might want to check this one.
William Tecumseh Sherman’s brother John was a career politician who served in both Houses of Congress before his older brother ‘Cump’ was famous for his march. After both were famous he served as Sec’y of the Treasury and later of State, neither of which likely had anything to do with his brother’s fame. (Though they were full brothers they grew up in separate houses after their father died and barely knew each other until they were adults.)
Rahm Emanuel was a U.S. congressman until he took the job of Chief of Staff for President Obama. His brother Ari is a big time Hollywood talent agent and was the model for Ari Gold of Entourage. Hell, the other brother Ezekiel, the slacker of the group, has an MD from Harvard Medical School and a PhD in Political Philosophy from Harvard University. Ezekiel is Director of the Clinical Bioethics Department at the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Another from the 19th century: Reverend Henry Ward Beecher was perhaps the most famous U.S. clergyman of his day (and certainly was caught up in the most widely publicized extramarital scandal due to pissing off two famous sisters [Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee Claflin]). His sister Harriet Beecher Stowe was among if not the most successful novelist of that century up until her time.
The first pair I thought of was notorious Boston gangster (and current FBI Most Wanted) Whitey Bulger and his brother, William Bulger, former President of the Massachusetts State Senate and former president of the University of Massachusetts.
Apparently, William hasn’t been very helpful to the FBI in finding his brother.
Sacha Baron Cohen is known for his comedy work as Ali G/Borat/Bruno, while his brother Simon Baron-Cohen is known for his autism research and theories.
Ludwig Wittgenstein was a towering figure in 20th century philosophy, while his brother Paul Wittgenstein acquired fame of his own as a one-handed concert pianist.
However, in both these cases, I suppose you’d have to admit that one of the two is vastly more famous than the other.
Simon Baron Cohen is Sacha’s uncle, not his brother.