Hey, Where's Your Brother?

A tragedy of two sets of two brothers, separated by more than 100 years, begins with a family of English-American actors who became the pre-eminent theatrical dynasty in the early 19th century of the United States. In his relatively short life of 59 years, Edwin Booth (born 1833) established himself as America’s foremost Shakespearean actor but was destined to be most widely remembered as the older brother of the man who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.

John Wilkes Booth, Edwin Booth and Junius Brutus Booth  Jr. in "Julius Caesar"

John Wilkes Booth’s passionate stage presence was noteworthy for intense, almost acrobatic physicality. An expert swordsman, he was known to accidentally slash himself with his own blade. Edwin Booth, whose performances were comparatively less bombastic, preferred a naturalistic approach with a quiet, mannered delivery, particularly in his acclaimed interpretation of Hamlet (below).

In one of history’s grand ironies, shortly before John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln, Edwin Booth yanked the President’s son, Robert Todd Lincoln, to safety when the latter fell from a railway platform in front of an oncoming train. At the time, Edwin Booth didn’t know the identity of the young man, although Robert immediately recognized the popular actor. It was only months later that Booth received a letter informing him of just whom he had rescued. It has been said that the knowledge of saving the life of Abraham Lincoln’s son (the only one of Lincoln’s four sons to live to adulthood) gave comfort to Edwin, who had prohibited even the mention of John’s name in his household.

Born in 1946, Leo Anthony Gallagher Jr., calling himself simply Gallagher, became a popular prop comedian in the 1980s, famous for smashing watermelons with a sledgehammer, a puzzling crowd-pleaser that required front-row audience members to shroud themselves with plastic tarps. In the early 1990s, Gallagher’s younger brother, Ron Gallager, unemployed and living with his parents, asked for permission to perform shows using his older sibling’s trademark Sledge-O-Matic routine. Subsequently, Ron toured as Gallagher Too or Gallagher Two and promoted his act that offered no clue to audiences that they weren’t seeing the original Gallahger.

Leo Gallagher on the left, Ron Gallagher on the right

Leo Gallagher tried to stop his brother by requesting he cease using the Sledge-O-Matic. The kid brother refused, and in August 2000, the elder Gallagher sued for trademark violations and false advertising. The courts ultimately sided with Leo Gallagher, granting an injunction preventing Ron from performing any act that impersonated his brother. The injunction also prohibited Ron from intentionally attempting to bear any likeness to his brother.

The punchline is that during the trial, the family actually sided with Ron, who maintained he was a "walking advertisement" for his brother, and Leo was estranged from his family. While Leo’s stardom faded into the head-scratching mists of curiosity, Ron began a modest comedy career performing his own material.

In motion pictures, families of performing siblings have been entertaining audiences for decades, from the Marx Brothers and the Howard brothers - Samuel (Shemp), Moses (Moe) and Jerome (Curly) - better known as the Three Stooges, to the Carradines (David, Keith, Robert), the Baldwin boys (Alec, Daniel, William, Stephen), Randy and Dennis Quaid, and Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez, not to mention Shirley MacLaine and brother Warren Beatty, and Jane and Peter Fonda.

Perhaps not as familiar are a number of actors whose lesser-known brothers have attempted to establish themselves in the business of show.

Watching a chestnut of a boxing melodrama from 1934 called "Palooka," featuring Jimmy Durante as a slippery fight promoter named Knobby, we would swear that the antagonistic drunken champ, Mac McSwatt, was played by James Cagney. In fact, the actor was William Cagney (left). A spitting image of older brother James (right), William acted in a handful of movies, mainly in the 1930s, before he moved behind the camera as a producer of several films starring his sibling, including "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942). In the 1950 crime film noir "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye," William (who also produced) appeared as James’ brother.

Fans of the "Dirty Harry" franchise who recall overweight Detective DiGiorgio ("Too much linguini!") in the first three films might be surprised to learn that the actor portraying him was the younger brother of Robert Mitchum, John Mitchum. John Mitchum, who also appeared in the Clint Eastwood westerns "High Plains Drifter" and "The Outlaw Josey Wales," as well as "Paint Your Wagon," had small roles in a number of Robert’s films, including "El Dorado" and "The Way West." In the 1989 made-for-television movie "Jake Spanner, Private Eye," he played Robert’s brother. Off-screen, the younger Mitchum penned "America, Why I Love Her," which became a hit spoken recording by John Wayne, who was often mistakenly believed to be the author of the popular piece.

Amidst the 007 craze of the mid-1960s, Italian producer Dario Sabatello attempted to cash in on Bond mania with "Operation Double 007" (1967), also known as "Secret Agent 00" and, appropriately, "Operation Kid Brother," since it starred Sean Connery’s younger brother, Neil Connery, as a spy named Connery (yet another alternate title for the production was "OK Connery")
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The producer hedged his bet by casting actors from Sean’s 007 movies, namely Bernard Lee (M), Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny), Daniela Bianchi (Bond girl Tatiana in "From Russia with Love") and Adolfo Celi (Largo in "Thunderball").

Reportedly, Lois Maxwell said that Sean Connery was at first displeased that she, along with Bernard Lee, had a hand in exploiting his brother, but he later thanked her for supporting Neil.

The Connery brothers, Sean and Neil

Producer Sabatello had planned to feature Neil Connery (whose voice was dubbed by an American actor in "Operation Kid Brother") in a series of spaghetti westerns, but Neil would appear in only one more picture, a 1969 British science-fiction thriller called "The Body Stealers," starring George Sanders, before returning to his livelihood in the plastering business in Glasgow, Scotland.

As a trivial side note, George Sanders, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as sardonic theater critic Addison DeWitt in "All About Eve" (1950), had an older brother, actor Tom Conway, whom George strongly resembled, right down to their distinctive baritone speaking voice. In the early 1940s, Sanders portrayed hardboiled adventurer "The Falcon" in a series of B-movies, and when he tired of the role, his brother Tom took over for ten more films. Sanders was the family name, and allegedly, the two brothers had tossed a coin to decide who would change their name to avoid confusion in their acting careers.

Michael Douglas and Eric Douglas

Born in 1958, Eric Douglas was the youngest son of Kirk Douglas. The half-brother of Michael Douglas, Eric’s first feature film role was as the son of Kirk’s character in the 1971 western "A Gunfight," costarring Johnny Cash. His acting career included parts in "The Golden Child" (1986), starring Eddie Murphy, and "Delta Force 3" (1991), with Mike Norris (Chuck Norris’ son), but much of his adulthood was publicized in tabloid headlines for disorderly conduct, drunken driving, assaults and drug abuse, stemming from a two-decade addiction to cocaine and prescriptions.

In interviews, Eric Douglas would relate a lonely childhood, calling himself "one kid, one housekeeper and one dog living next to another kid with one housekeeper and one dog." From the father’s point of view, Kirk told the Chicago Tribune, "That relationship gets very difficult because he’s too much like me. He’s hyperactive. I sometimes say to him, ‘Loving and hating you is like loving and hating myself.’" "We’re both perfectionists," Eric said, "energetic, passionate, intense, we make things happen. It makes us difficult to be around."

In 1994, Kirk admitted that Eric had "inherited all my worst qualities." By then Eric had given up acting and turned to standup comedy, basing much of his self-deprecating material on his notoriety as the black sheep of the Douglas family. He was no stranger to being booed off the stage. During a storied gig at The Comedy Store in London, he declared, "Do you know who I am? I’m Kirk Douglas’ son!" Someone in the seats stood and shouted, "I’m Kirk Douglas’ son!" This was repeated throughout the audience, echoing the iconic "I’m Spartacus!" scene in the Kirk Douglas film, until Eric angrily stomped off the stage.

Even sister-in-law Catherine Zeta-Jones, who wanted him banned from her wedding to Michael Douglas, heckled him after he told a New York audience that because Michael is Jewish and she is Scottish, they are the world’s cheapest couple. She retorted, "I’m Welsh!"

Eric once said, "I would just like my parents to see me happy and healthy and productive - before it’s too late." Once mocked for his diminutive stature, an almost unrecognizable Eric Douglas had ballooned to nearly 300 pounds at the time of his death in 2004 from the combined effects of tranquilizers, painkillers and alcohol. An acting teacher of his, Helena Kaut-Howson, noted, "He was doomed by the fact that he was expected to develop in a certain way."

A few years before his death, he wrote a free-verse poem: "I start the day in a happy mood, feeling positive about life, but I see a hole in front of me. I know I should avoid it, but I know I will fall into it. And I do." Writing for The Guardian, Aida Edemarian commented, "And so Eric Douglas died as he had lived: disappointing people because he was not one of his more famous, more successful family members."

Lorin Dreyfuss and David Landsberg in "Dutch Treat"

Lorin Dreyfuss, older brother of Richard Dreyfuss, has been writing, producing and acting in films for over 30 years. In 1979, he co-produced and co-wrote "Skatetown, U.S.A." ("The Rock and Roller Disco Movie of the Year!"), featuring the screen debut of Patrick Swayze. Along with David Landsberg (a popular sitcom performer in the 1970s and 1980s), Lorin co-wrote and costarred in "Detective School Dropouts" (1986) and "Dutch Treat" (1987), two low-budget comedies that have, despite their obscurity, remained cult favorites. Besides appearing in small roles in his brother’s films "Moon Over Parador," "Let It Ride" and "My Life in Ruins," Lorin has redubbed dialogue for Richard because of the uncanny similarity of their voices.

Jim Hanks is the younger brother of Tom Hanks. Shortly after Jim was born in 1961, the parents divorced, and Jim went to live with his mother, while siblings Tom, Larry and Sandra remained with their father. Jim began his acting career with commercial voice work and parts in B-movies, landing his first starring role in 1993’s "Buford’s Beach Bunnies" (made by the director of "A Polish Vampire in Burbank"), a low-budget comedy for which Jim had auditioned using the name "Jim Matthews," hoping to land his first lead on his own merit. It was only after papers were signed that he revealed his relationship to Tom.

Jim acted as a body double for Tom in scenes in "Forrest Gump." According to some accounts, Tom supposedly based some of his character’s quirkier mannerisms on his kid brother’s performance in "Buford’s Beach Bunnies." Jim Hanks also supplied the voice of Tom’s "Toy Story" character, Woody, in a number of video games. In an episode of the popular TV sitcom "Scrubs," Jim portrayed a doctor named Turner, paired with a character called Dr. Hooch, as a reference to Tom’s 1989 comedy "Turner and Hooch."

Jim Hanks

"Moving Violations," a 1985 comedy cued up the slobs-vs.-snobs success of "National Lampoon’s Animal House" and "Caddyshack," pitting a ragtag classroom of adult traffic school misfits against perverted cops and crooked courts, was directed by Neal Israel, who co-wrote the screenplay with Pat Proft. Israel and Proft worked together on the original "Police Academy" and "Bachelor Party," starring Tom Hanks and Whitesnake music video vixen and future "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew" train-wreck Tawny Kitaen. (Pat Proft, a native son of Columbia Heights, Minnesota, contributed to the scripts for the 1982 TV series "Police Squad!" as well as the screenplays for "The Naked Gun" and "Hot Shots" films.)

Every ‘80s anti-authority comedy needed the presence of the cocky, irreverent rebel, and after that role in "Moving Violations" -an incorrigible, rascally landscaper - was denied Michael J. Fox, whom the studio deemed too young (and who went to star in the blockbuster comedy "Back to the Future" that same year), unproven newcomer John Murray, younger brother of Bill Murray, got the part.

When "Moving Violations" was first released, one had the impression that Bill Murray probably could have sued his kid brother for plagiarism, since the performance is so derivative of the elder Murray’s mannerisms and delivery (specifically recalling Bill’s presence in "Stripes," which came out a couple of years earlier). As a matter of fact, "Moving Violations" achieved cult status for its cast of, at the time, lesser known siblings of established actors, including Jennifer Tilly (in her second film), whose younger sister, Meg Tilly, had already made a name for herself in "The Big Chill," and James Keach, younger brother of "The New Mike Hammer" TV series star Stacy Keach. (Memorable as the teary-eyed motorcycle cop in "National Lampoon’s Vacation," James Keach found success as a director and producer, co-producing the 2005 Johnny Cash biopic "Walk the Line.") As well, somewhere in the cast of "Moving Violations" is Dedee Pfeiffer, younger sister of Michele Pfeiffer.

Sure, it has nothing to do with siblings, but we like looking at Sally Kellerman  in this getup from "Moving Violations"

The cast also features Sally Kellerman, who will forever be endeared as the original "Hot Lips" O’Houlihan in the feature film "MASH," as a kinky judge, and Fred Willard as an auto mechanic called "Doc" and Wendie Jo Sperber as a hypochondriac; the mistaken-identity relationship between the latter two is inspired hilarity. Sperber, best known for her comedic roles in "1941," "Bachelor Party," "Back to the Future" and "Used Cars" and on the sitcom "Bosom Buddies," sadly succumbed to breast cancer in 2005 at the age of 47. Fred Willard, who had solid roots in improvisational comedy with Second City and Ace Trucking Company, was probably best known as Martin Mull’s phenomenally clueless sidekick in the various incarnations of the talk show parody "Fernwood 2Night" before he became a regular cast member of Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries, including "Best in Show" and "A Mighty Wind."


Mention should also be made of "The Wild Wild West" star Robert Conrad having fun in an unbilled role as the police commissioner. The no-nonsense actor had previously turned down a role in Neal Israel’s "Police Academy," which he later regretted. According to the director, Conrad was thrilled to be asked to be in "Moving Violations." Incidentally, "Moving Violations" is the feature film debut of Don Cheadle, as a fast-food window server with one line, repeated several times to humorous effect.

Time has been kind to "Moving Violations," which is nostalgically viewed now, in an era of fart-and-wiener joke-filled comedies as gentle, benign silliness. "The movie is cheesy," director Israel later noted, "but come on, it’s hysterical. That’s exactly my point."

John Murray and Jennifer Tilly

Neal Israel thought the only reason John Murray didn’t go on to a film career was "because he’s too similar to his brother…That’s not his fault." Four years after "Moving Violations," John turned up in a substantial role as, appropriately, Bill Murray’s brother in "Scrooged."

Joel Murray, John Cusack, Tom Villard and Bobcat Goldthwait in "One Crazy Summer"

An even younger Murray sibling, Joel Murray, first came to our attention playing John Cusack’s wisecracking buddy in the 1986 cult comedy "One Crazy Summer," which costarred Bobcat Goldthwait, whose 1992 cult favorite "Shakes the Clown" also featured Joel Murray. Joel continued his acting career with roles in the TV series "Grand," "Love & War," "Dharma & Greg," "Still Standing" and "Shameless." He has portrayed copywriter Freddy Rumsen on a number of episodes of "Mad Men."

John Slattery, Jon Hamm and Joel Murray in "Mad Men"

Four Murray brothers, Bill, John, Joel and Brian Doyle-Murray (who started using the hyphenated name - Doyle is his grandmother’s maiden name - to differentiate himself from another actor with the same name), all wider of girth, grayer of hair but no less drier of wit, were the featured duffers in Comedy Central’s four-episode mockumentary "The Sweet Spot," staging family rivalry on links from Palm Springs, California, to Jamaica, with the emphasis more on droll sketches than actual golfing.

John Murray, Bill Murray, Joel Murray and Brian Doyle-Murray

("The Sweet Spot" director Peter Bonerz was familiar to TV viewers as smarmy dentist Jerry Robinson on the 1970s series "The Bob Newhart Show.")

Not unlike the Murrays, the late Chris Farley came from a close-knit family who didn’t hesitate sharing each other’s successes. Brothers John Farley and Kevin Farley (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Chris) popped up in Chris’ comedies "Tommy Boy," "Black Sheep" and "Beverly Hills Ninja." John Farley (above, left) had a role in the last film Chris starred in, 1998’s "Almost Heroes," while Kevin Farley (below) appeared in the Norm MacDonald-Artie Lange comedy "Dirty Work," which featured an unbilled cameo by Chris. After Chris’ death, Kevin and John, who sometimes tour comedy clubs together, continued to appear in movies featuring Chris’ former "Saturday Night Live" cohorts Adam Sandler, David Spade and Rob Schneider.

It was no secret that Chris Farley idolized and emulated John Belushi. Like Belushi, he got his start with Chicago’s Second City, and just like his idol, Farley died of a speedball overdose at the same age, 33.

Which brings us to the exception in our tale of "lesser-known" siblings. Like his older brother John Belushi, who had joined The Second City in 1971 before his breakout success on NBC’s "Saturday Night Live" in 1975, Jim Belushi worked in Chicago’s storied improvisational comedy troupe from 1977 to 1980 before he himself landed a spot in the cast of "Saturday Night Live" in 1983.

In the 2002 book Live from New York by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller, Jim Belushi recalled, "John would have been happy that I made it onto ‘Saturday Night Live,’ but he actually wanted me to be a dramatic actor. When I started at Second City, I called him and said, ‘I got in at Second City.’ There was a long pause on the phone. He goes, ‘Uh, shouldn’t you be at Goodman Theater or something, be more like a dramatic actor?’ I said, ‘I’m really enjoying this here.’ He said, ‘You’re a better actor than me, don’t you think you should be, like, doing drama?’ I said, ‘I can probably do both, John.’ He goes, ‘Okay.’ That was it."

Jim Belushi joined "Saturday Night Live" one year after John’s death, and, perhaps intimidated by comparisons to his brother, quickly earned a reputation as an aggressive and volatile presence, daring to confront the preferential attention producers then doted on rising stars Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo.

After Jim Belushi’s two-year tenure on "Saturday Night Live" ended, he proved himself as a film actor capable of establishing his own identity in action pictures ("Red Heat"), drama ("Salvador") and romantic comedy ("About Last Night…"). For eight seasons, starting in 2001, Belushi starred in the popular sitcom "According to Jim."

Although Jim was not in the 1998 film "Blues Brothers 2000," it seemed inevitable that he would hook up with his late brothers comedy-musical partner, Dan Aykroyd, for touring revivals of The Blues Brothers, performing as Zee Blues. Jim Belushi and Dan Aykroyd collaborated on the 2003 album, "Have Love, Will  Travel."

Before leaving the moviehouse, we wanted to acknowledge one of our favorite, if possibly most obscure, brother acts. It’s a little known tidbit of trivia that Conrad Bain, who portrayed the beloved Phillip Drummond on the 1970s-1980s sitcom "Diff’rent Strokes," has an identical twin brother, Bonar Bain. The two appeared together on an episode of "Maude," but the cherished gem in television cult-dom is Bonar’s 1981 appearance on SCTV as Conrad’s evil twin, "Conrad Bain."

Conrad and Bonar Bain