# Which (unrelated) actors could plausibly play close relatives? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 16, 2002, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-unrelated-actors-could-plausibly-play-close-relatives/137020 "2002-11-16T13:56:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2003, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-unrelated-actors-could-plausibly-play-close-relatives/137020/101 "2003-03-03T14:08:01Z")
Danny Bonaduce and Bill Mumy could play brothers (as they are now, not as kids). As kids, Ron Howard and Billy Mumy could be brothers. Anthony Hopkins and Richard Burton could play relatives. ---
**Author:** ![Sparrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Sparrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparrow)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2003, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-unrelated-actors-could-plausibly-play-close-relatives/137020/102 "2003-03-03T14:24:47Z")
David Duchovny and (a younger) Richard Gere. Also from the X-files: Bruce Harwood (Lone Gunmen Byers) looks exactly like Jonathan Frakes (Riker) from Star Trek TNG. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-unrelated-actors-could-plausibly-play-close-relatives/137020/103 "2003-03-03T15:08:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bean\_shadow \* > \*\*Anthony Hopkins and Richard Burton could play relatives. \*\* Oops. Should have put “could _have_ played relatives”, as Burton died in 1984. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2003, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-unrelated-actors-could-plausibly-play-close-relatives/137020/104 "2003-03-03T15:22:51Z")
Kinda obscure, but Sean Bean (Boromir in FOTR) and Iain Glen (Hamlet in the film “Rosencratz and Guildenstern Are Dead”) could be brothers. Vanessa Richardson and Natasha McElhone look sufficiently alike that they convincingly played the same character at different ages in “Mrs. Dalloway”. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2003, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-unrelated-actors-could-plausibly-play-close-relatives/137020/105 "2003-03-03T15:34:44Z")
Luke Wilson and Christian Bale. ---
**Author:** ![FairyDust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@FairyDust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyDust)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-unrelated-actors-could-plausibly-play-close-relatives/137020/106 "2003-03-04T04:43:06Z")
I think Teri Hatcher and Alyssa Milano could play sisters. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-unrelated-actors-could-plausibly-play-close-relatives/137020/107 "2003-03-04T05:25:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Another really bad job of casting: John Wayne and Dean Martin as brothers in THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER. I think they explained that one by making all the “son’s” have different fathers. ---
**Author:** ![RawkStah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@RawkStah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RawkStah)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-unrelated-actors-could-plausibly-play-close-relatives/137020/108 "2003-03-04T05:27:57Z")
The dude who played Faramir in LOTR:TTT (too lazy to search for his name) and Thom Yorke from Radiohead. They both have some sort of crazy eyelid thing going on. Gotta agree with everyone who said Bruce Campbell and Nicholas Brendan. (I can’t decide if a Buffy/Evil Dead crossover would be hella cool or suck major ass. Maybe a one-shot “Elseworlds” type thing…) Christian Bale and Tom Cruise. Robert De Niro and Alec Baldwin as father and son ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-unrelated-actors-could-plausibly-play-close-relatives/137020/109 "2003-03-04T07:48:11Z")
[Ed Norton](http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Movies/9810/29/amer.history.x/link.edward.norton.jpg) and [Kevin Spacey](http://image.pathfinder.com/people/images/photo/celebsnaps/021111/poptleary.jpg) could convincingly play immediate family. Not sure exactly _what_ relationship would work, since the age difference is too small for a credible father/son thing, but big enough to be unusual for siblings. Ah, hell… I just checked the IMDB and it turns out that I was born the same year as Norton & my oldest sister was born the same year as Spacey. So I guess they could play brothers with no trouble. I just rewatched _Fight Club_ today, and kept thinking, ‘Damn, Edward Norton looks a lot like Kevin Spacey.’ (And that was before the ‘negotiations’ with the uptight boss reminded me of _American Beauty_…) ---
**Author:** ![Ohquitit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@Ohquitit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ohquitit)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-unrelated-actors-could-plausibly-play-close-relatives/137020/110 "2003-03-04T07:58:11Z")
Hey xanadu, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt DID do a movie together, though not as relatives - Ocean’s Eleven ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-unrelated-actors-could-plausibly-play-close-relatives/137020/111 "2003-03-04T08:08:35Z")
Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-unrelated-actors-could-plausibly-play-close-relatives/137020/112 "2003-03-05T02:53:31Z")
The late James Coco, the late Robert Middleton, and Michael Constantine. ---
**Author:** ![xanadu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c4cdca/32.png) [@xanadu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xanadu)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-unrelated-actors-could-plausibly-play-close-relatives/137020/113 "2003-03-05T04:36:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ohquitit \* > \*\*Hey xanadu, > > Matt Damon and Brad Pitt DID do a movie together, though > not as relatives - Ocean’s Eleven \*\* Hmmmm… things to do tonight: 1. Rent Ocean’s Eleven 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-unrelated-actors-could-plausibly-play-close-relatives/137020.md?page=5)