Top 10 Old Hollywood Actors You Didn't Know Were Nepo Babies
Nepotism isn't anything new. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re looking at Golden Age Hollywood stars, who you may not realize started on relatives’ big names.
Transcript
00:00Money isn't all, you know, Jim.
00:02Ha ha ha, not when you've got it."
00:05Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're looking at Golden Age Hollywood stars who you may
00:10not realize started on relatives' big names.
00:13That's not including family connections that are still common knowledge today, so don't
00:17expect to see many juniors.
00:19You think I don't know the difference between a wolf and a man?"
00:24Number 10.
00:25Ginger Rogers
00:26Layla E. Rogers
00:27"...Mother, now listen very, very carefully.
00:31A man is coming here, a major, he's going to ask you a lot of questions about your little
00:35daughter."
00:36"...What little daughter?"
00:37Ginger Rogers was one of the greats during and after Hollywood's vaudevillian era.
00:42Frequent collaborator Fred Astaire helped make her an icon, but her mother helped get
00:46her tap shoes through the door.
00:48After divorcing Ginger's father, Layla E. Rogers led a successful journalism career
00:53before writing and directing in Hollywood.
00:55Even after remarrying and becoming a devoted stage mom, Layla wore many hats in the film
01:00industry.
01:01Lucille Ball even credited her acting school as essential to her own career.
01:05"...Don't say anything here, I'll rinse your bag."
01:07"...Why didn't I wear the room robe?"
01:08"...Oh, did she say that?"
01:09"...Cut it out."
01:10Certainly, Layla's clout as a producer was key to her daughter's success.
01:15Layla Rogers may have only acted in The Major and The Minor alongside her daughter, but
01:20it's clear where Ginger got her versatile talent.
01:23"...I think you underestimate us, Major Kirby.
01:26Perhaps all a woman wants is to be a photograph a soldier tacks above his bunk."
01:30Number 9.
01:31The Barrymore Siblings
01:32Barrymore, Drew, and Lane families.
01:35You sure know that the Barrymore name has been a Hollywood institution since Lionel,
01:39Ethel, and John.
01:41In fact, the dynasty predates the screen.
01:43"...Give me back my friends.
01:44Turn them out.
01:45And if I do, you get the picture."
01:48The siblings were the children of Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew, both renowned
01:53stage actors.
01:54The same goes for Maurice's father, William, and Georgiana's parents, John and Louisa Lane
01:59Drew.
02:00Her lineage on the stage actually goes back to maternal grandparents Frederick Lane and
02:04Eliza Trentner.
02:06Maurice might have obscured his in-laws' even longer legacy had John not made Drew the middle
02:11name of one of his sons.
02:12John Drew then passed it to his daughter as her first name, finally giving both the Barrymores
02:18and the Drews equal recognition in modern Hollywood.
02:21"...And I miss them so much while they're gone that when they come back, I just hold
02:26on to them for five minutes each."
02:288.
02:29Jason Robards
02:30Jason Robards Sr.
02:32Claiming the triple crown of acting, Jason Robards transitioned into a new age of film
02:37and television with great renown.
02:39"...This night has opened mine eyes to a great career in store for me, my boy."
02:47His credit has actually been around since the beginning of old Hollywood.
02:50Jason Robards Sr. was an esteemed Broadway actor who maintained his leading man status
02:55going into silent film.
02:57Tragically, he faded into bit parts with The Rise of the Talkies.
03:00"...There, there, dear.
03:02Don't let it worry you."
03:04This disillusioned the idea of Hollywood for his son, whose namesake carried more weight
03:08for him in the theater.
03:09He dropped the Junior from his stage name after his father's death.
03:12The Junior Robard may be a prime example of an actor rising above nepotism, but he was
03:18openly remorseful about his father's downfall.
03:20"...I can't do the reporting for my reporters, which means I have to trust them.
03:25And I hate trusting anybody."
03:297.
03:30Buster Keaton
03:31Joe and Myra Keaton
03:32Before America fell for the name Keaton, they learned it one town at a time.
03:37Joe and Myra Keaton were a vaudeville couple billed as the Two Keatons in a traveling medicine
03:42show.
03:43Then two became three with the addition of Joe Jr., affectionately nicknamed Buster.
03:48His father taught him everything about the eccentric dance and slapstick that some audiences
03:52mistook for real onstage child abuse.
03:55The already notorious family act would end with Joe's drinking problem driving Myra away
03:59with their son.
04:00"...One of the most important things in big business is promptness.
04:04You must be reliable.
04:07I'll deliver it myself."
04:08Buster Keaton thus achieved independent stardom in silent movies, and is now regarded as one
04:13of the most influential comedic filmmakers of all time.
04:18He probably couldn't have done it without his parents' mentorship and infamy.
04:306.
04:31Tyrone Power
04:32Tyrone Power, the first and second, and Ethel Lavergne.
04:36Versatile matinee idol Tyrone Power's name actually went back three generations.
04:41His acting chops went back four.
04:43"...You must have been raised pretty religious."
04:45"...Yeah, in a county orphanage."
04:46"...Didn't you have any folks?"
04:47"...If I did, they weren't much interested."
04:49Power first entered the industry on the strong reputation of his father, whose middle and
04:53stage name was Tyrone.
04:55He has thus become retroactively recognized as Tyrone Power Sr., though the lineage was
05:00founded on the British stage by his grandfather, William Grattan Tyrone.
05:05His own son, Harold, may have never found such success in acting, but his wife Ethel
05:10Lavergne definitely did.
05:12The man most commonly recognized as Tyrone Power really does have the acting bug throughout
05:16his esteemed family tree, and the tradition kept going with his three children, including
05:21the rather inaccurately billed Tyrone Power Jr.
05:24"...Blue Anne, your eyes are emerald green."
05:315.
05:32John Huston
05:33Walter Huston.
05:34Though John Huston is best recognized as a groundbreaking writer-director, he was also
05:38a prolific character actor.
05:40"...Perhaps they've discovered the more I pound the piano, the less I pound them.
05:44They're probably right."
05:45It's only natural, given his parentage.
05:48Walter Huston was a celebrated leading actor who moved away from Broadway to Hollywood
05:52just in time for the talkies.
05:54He was nominated for two Academy Awards before winning one for The Treasure of the Sierra
05:59Madre, written and directed by his son.
06:04Walter passed away not long after that, having never lost momentum as a stage and film actor.
06:09"...You have too much to live up to.
06:11There'll never be another like me."
06:14Some may argue he has since become a relatively esoteric old Hollywood figure against John
06:19and his daughter Angelica's influence on New Hollywood.
06:22But with his other grandchildren and great-grandson Jack, Walter's on-screen talents carry on.
06:284.
06:29Elizabeth Taylor
06:30Sarah Southern.
06:31Elizabeth Taylor was a singular force of style and talent on the screen.
06:34"...Just as the Mother Nile feeds and replenishes the earth, I am the Nile."
06:43Such was the case for her mother on the stage, but Sarah Southern retired from acting after
06:47marrying Frances Lenn-Taylor.
06:49Despite initial objections to Elizabeth entering the grind of the film industry, Southern wound
06:54up the strictest of stage moms.
06:56Unfortunately, her experience in the field had less impact on her daughter's breakout
07:00than Frances' connections as a Beverly Hills art gallerist.
07:04It was a sadly quintessential story of sacrifice and superficiality behind a woman's rise in
07:09old Hollywood.
07:10"...Boy, you can go on forever and after everything is manageable.
07:14You make all sorts of excuses to yourself to hell with it.
07:17This is life."
07:18Elizabeth Taylor would help change the way starlets of her caliber were respected in
07:22drama, with her mother's often harsh support and influential talent.
07:273.
07:28Charlie Chaplin
07:29Charles and Hannah Chaplin.
07:30The name Charles Chaplin now makes one picture a cinematic pioneer, or at least his lovable
07:35tramp character.
07:36By the late 19th century, the name was big enough in London's music hall scene to make
07:41marquees in America.
07:42"...When you're courting off your sweetheart with an ardour none can shake."
07:48Singer Charles Chaplin Sr. had previously met and performed with his wife Hannah by
07:53her stage name, Lily Harley.
07:55But don't be so quick to write off their son's underdog myth.
07:58After Hannah's career and marriage both imploded, the successful Charles allowed his estranged
08:03family to fall into poverty.
08:05Young Charlie Chaplin's name ultimately held little for his comedic brilliance and experienced
08:10sense of humanist drama.
08:11"...You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness.
08:17You the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life
08:21a wonderful adventure."
08:22He made sure his many relatives and descendants could follow his prosperity in the entertainment
08:27industry.
08:282.
08:29Grace Kelly
08:30John, George, and Walter Kelly
08:32Grace Kelly went from Hollywood royalty to Monaco royalty.
08:36But the princess consort didn't have entirely humble beginnings.
08:39Her father, John B. Kelly Sr., claimed fame as the first Olympic rower ever to win three
08:44gold medals before becoming a powerful Philadelphia industrialist.
08:48He also dabbled in politics, serving as National Physical Fitness Director under FDR.
08:54Meanwhile, two of his brothers acted in vaudeville.
08:57George was also a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, while Walter's successful transition into
09:01film was cut short by a fatal car accident in 1939.
09:05"...Glad to be aboard, Captain.
09:06I was with your father in the Philippines.
09:07I'll never forget the night we were going ashore at Louisville."
09:11"...Yes, I remember quite well.
09:12I remember quite well.
09:13He told me about it."
09:14Despite this and many more tragedies, the stage was set for Grace to follow her uncles
09:19into acting.
09:20Granted, the incomparable movie star and monarch really made a name for herself.
09:25"...I'm just a girl from the country.
09:26The theater and the people in it have always been a complete mystery to me."
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09:461.
09:47Mickey Rooney – Joe Yule
09:49Mickey Rooney broke out as one of the definitive names in child acting.
09:54It's easy to assume that the boy was a natural.
09:56"...Oh, I get you, Pop.
09:59I've got to show you just like the rest of the world.
10:01I thought we could help you, but you don't want us on the stage, do you?"
10:04In fact, he was the son of Joe Yule, a sensational vaudevillian and big-screen character actor.
10:10He's probably best known for headlining the Jigs and Maggie film series.
10:15"...Oh, Maggie!"
10:18Still, Joe Jr. had to build his own career after his parents separated.
10:23Nellie Carter herself, a performer, landed her son the lead in the Mickey McGuire series.
10:28Amid a copyright suit with the source material's authors, Joe Jr.'s name was changed to his
10:34characters, then to Mickey Rooney.
10:36Whether Joe Yule can have a direct claim to his son's success, it suggests that many Nepo
10:41babies just have talent in their genes.
10:43"...You did good, didn't you?"
10:46"...You did great.
10:48You did great."
10:50What are some other old Hollywood family connections that may be obscure in today's pop culture?
10:55Take us back in the comments.
10:56"...Change out of $5."
10:57"...$5?
10:58It's the biggest bill I've seen here this afternoon."
11:02Do you agree with our picks?
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