# What Celebs Would Be Complete Unknowns If It Was Not For Their Famous Relative? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 5, 2009, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941 "2009-09-05T04:03:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941/21 "2009-09-05T15:45:10Z")
I think Yoko Ono is on the Mount Rushmore of “celebs who would be unknowns if not for their famous relative”. Good thing this is only about the artistic pursuits - if we were talking about relatives of political figures, European royalty, etc., there are probably too many to list ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941/22 "2009-09-05T16:02:27Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > Yeah… isn’t that what the OP was asking for? People who got their fame solely due to their relationship with a famous person?. I was trying to draw a distinction between people of whom we wouldn’t even be aware were they not married to someone famous, and people who believe simply being married to someone famous entitles them to make an album or a movie. > [@Rubystreak](#): > > Aren’t we talking about people who haven’t done anything to merit their current fame? Sofia Coppola was nominated for an Oscar in directing. Surely her father didn’t make that happen for her, her crappy acting in Godfather III notwithstanding. I’m at work and a customer came in so I clicked “save” so my entire edit wouldn’t be lost. The whole sentence was “I understand her directing is respected but her acting in Godfather III was textbook nepostism.” And I do believe that before she had any credits producers and financial backers of feature films were far more likely to take a meeting with Sofia Coppola than with me. I don’t think the fact of being related to someone famous and talented precludes anyone from also being talented. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941/23 "2009-09-05T16:41:09Z")
> [@gwendee](#): > > I was trying to draw a distinction between people of whom we wouldn’t even be aware were they not married to someone famous, and people who believe simply being married to someone famous entitles them to make an album or a movie. Trudie Styler, Linda McCartney, and Yoko Ono all have been involved in either film or music. I doubt any of them would have gotten their feet in the doors of these industries if not for their husbands, and if they did, that we would have heard of them regardless. > [@](#): > > And I do believe that before she had any credits producers and financial backers of feature films were far more likely to take a meeting with Sofia Coppola than with me. I don’t think the fact of being related to someone famous and talented precludes anyone from also being talented. Maybe I’m wrong, but I thought the point of this thread was that these people wouldn’t be famous in their own right because they don’t particularly have the talent to sustain their current level of fame without the celebrity connection. I’m not sure if Sofia would have gotten the chance to show off her talent, but she definitely has it, and it’s possible she would have made it without her dad. Yoko Ono? Not likely. Would Trudie Styler be producing movies, acting, or a well-known person if not for the Sting connection? Doubtful. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941/24 "2009-09-05T17:03:43Z")
Oh dear. I’m going to chalk it up to overthinking and undersleeping. Really what I meant to post in this thread was: Eric Douglass. ---
**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:** [September 5, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941/25 "2009-09-05T18:02:20Z")
Yoko Ono probably would have been a successful artist without John (actually, she already was when they met), but clearly not a household word. Clint Howard is borderline. He did have plenty of roles in TV that had nothing to do with his brother, but Ron did give him plenty of work, too. Zeppo Marx was clearly using his brothers’ coattails and they did just fine once he quit the act. (Gummo doesn’t really qualify as a celebrity.) ---
**Author:** ![wierdaaron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eada6e/32.png) [@wierdaaron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wierdaaron)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941/26 "2009-09-05T18:22:30Z")
Frank Stallone may be acceptable, but he was singing somewhat successfully before Sly started acting. Sure, having a song in Rocky and the ensuing popularity of Sly probably made his career, but he could have made it on his own. I think you could unilatteraly include every female popstar’s sister and every male popstar’s brother. Jamie-Lynn Spears Hillary Duff’s sister Noa Cyrus Aaron Carter etc ---
**Author:** ![wierdaaron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eada6e/32.png) [@wierdaaron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wierdaaron)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941/27 "2009-09-05T18:34:50Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > Emma Roberts, Julia Roberts’ niece. I know it’s pointless but it annoys me that people like her star in movies, tv, etc because they are related to someone famous. I think Emma Roberts is Eric Roberts daughter more than she is Julia’s niece. He’s probably more responsible for her acting than Julia is. Further, she seems genuinely talented. I don’t think the kids who went to see Nacy Drew did so because “she’s Julia Roberts’ niece!” in the same way they’d go see Haylee Duff entirely because of her sister. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941/28 "2009-09-05T18:49:12Z")
> [@gwendee](#): > > And I do believe that before she had any credits producers and financial backers of feature films were far more likely to take a meeting with Sofia Coppola than with me. I don’t think the fact of being related to someone famous and talented precludes anyone from also being talented. Yeah, it’s kind of hard to distinguish between just pure talent and connections. Like, you can be a brilliant director but if no one knows who you are, it’s going to be hard to get any movie made. Nancy Sinatra also made me wonder–obviously we know who she is, but if she wasn’t related to someone famous, would she have gotten the chance to record a really good song like “These Boots Are Made For Walking”? Or would she have gotten some song that might have gone nowhere? Luck is a pretty big thing with recording artists if they aren’t singing their own songs. > [@Erdosain](#): > > I was going to say the entire Baldwin clan (sans Alec, of course) was made for this thread. Good thing this isn’t a feud or I’d have no points. I was going to say the Baldwins, too, when I first opened the threads. We’d have matched each other in the feud at least. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941/29 "2009-09-05T19:36:30Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Yeah, it’s kind of hard to distinguish between just pure talent and connections. Like, you can be a brilliant director but if no one knows who you are, it’s going to be hard to get any movie made. I agree with this. For example, I think Colin Hanks is a perfectly capable young actor, but I often wonder how easy it would have been for him to get a foot in the door if he wasn’t Tom Hank’s son. Tom Hanks had to work his ass off in mediocre roles until he earned his top spot in the ranks. Colin may have done the same, but it has no doubt been really helpful to have a major-player father. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941/30 "2009-09-05T19:54:13Z")
> [@Eats\_Crayons](#): > > Tom Hanks had to work his ass off in mediocre roles until he earned his top spot in the ranks. Colin may have done the same, but it has no doubt been really helpful to have a major-player father. Have you looked at [Colin Hanks’ career](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004988/) lately? While he’s by no means a starving actor, he has only had one starring role (Orange County) and even then, he was really playing the straight man to Jack Black. Everything else has been bit parts and ensemble movies, pretty standard fare for a run-of-the-mill young actor. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941/31 "2009-09-05T20:02:02Z")
There’s a bunch of people who meet this criteria. Oddly they are all featured in reality shows on “E” or VH1. Some examples: -Hulk Hogan’s wife and kids. -Kim Kardashian’s sisters. Heck, she is only famous because of her porn tape. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941/32 "2009-09-05T20:05:14Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > -Hulk Hogan’s wife and kids. > -Kim Kardashian’s sisters. Heck, she is only famous because of her porn tape. And to be fair because she herself was the late Robert Kardashian’s daughter. If some random girl put out a sex tape it might circulate but would she get a reality show for that? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941/33 "2009-09-05T21:57:34Z")
All of the Gabor sisters. Brian Doyle-Murray. Jerry Van Dyke. ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941/34 "2009-09-05T22:57:27Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Zeppo Marx was clearly using his brothers’ coattails and they did just fine once he quit the act. (Gummo doesn’t really qualify as a celebrity.) Hmmm… whatever you might think of Zeppo - and considering him ‘the best Marx Brothers straight man’ is really damning him with faint praise - he wasn’t riding on any coat-tails. He was there for the first five movies, and then left for a life as an inventor and businessman. He’s more like the opposite of the topic, as he left behind fame that he helped to build, for a life of obscurity. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941/35 "2009-09-06T01:40:52Z")
Lorin Dreyfuss, Richard’s brother has done a few movies and some TV. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941/36 "2009-09-06T01:47:38Z")
Every Jackson not named Michael or Janet. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941/37 "2009-09-06T02:06:52Z")
After posting this thread, I realise just how much family connections have influenced the entertainment business, and how if you are the child or sibling of a major star, your chances of getting work (even if you are virtually devoid of talent) in showbiz skyrocket. I know I know—Show Business is hardly the only persuit where “who you know” (and who knows you and yours) is often a huge head-start in getting a career going, but in many other fields (it seems to me) your connections may get your foot initially in the door, but if you cant cut it you will be eventually out on your ass. Some of these examples (see Baldwin brothers) have always been talentless hacks yet still get work; I imagine if you are an unknown who cant catch your first break, it must be a source of much discussion/venting/late night drunken murder plotting… ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941/38 "2009-09-06T02:25:29Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > All of the Gabor sisters. > Brian Doyle-Murray. > Jerry Van Dyke. Eva Gabor was a wonderful comic actress, from Gigi to Green Acres. She could absolutely have had a career all on her own. As could Jerry Van Dyke, who was nominated for four Emmys for his work on Coach. I was going to say that he is just as talented as his brother, and if the luck had gone a different way, could probably have been the more famous one (he turned down the role of Gilligan for My Mother the Car), and then I saw that his IMDB bio says that he is “just as appealing and gifted as his brother.” I have to 100% agree on the Kardashians, though. ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941/39 "2009-09-06T02:57:17Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Every Jackson not named Michael or Janet. You do realise that the Jackson Five were wildly popular and predate both Michael and Janet’s solo careers, yes? While the four members not named Michael are firmly in has-been territory, once upon a time they were quite famous in their own right. Latoya Jackson is probably the only one who qualifes, being neither a former member of the Jackson Five, nor named Michael or Janet. ---
**Author:** ![SpectBrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@SpectBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpectBrain)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941/40 "2009-09-06T03:01:36Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Hank Williams Jr (It skipped a generation). > > Are Frank Sinatra Jr. and his sister Nancy “famous?” > > Rumer Willis and Alexa Joel. Frank Jr., maybe not famous, but certainly respected. [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204271104574292660988410636.html](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204271104574292660988410636.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebs-would-be-complete-unknowns-if-it-was-not-for-their-famous-relative/508941.md?page=3)