Post by iluvtexas on Mar 6, 2009 11:19:26 GMT -5
Life in Your Brother’s Shadow Exploring the phenomenon of the lesser showbiz brother
Seattle Weekly By Mike Seely March 03, 2009 at 7:41pm
It's not unusual for siblings to enter similar lines of work. They share the same genes, after all. But when siblings enter a field in the public eye—be it sports, politics, or entertainment—how one compares to the other(s) becomes, well, quite public.
Luke and Owen Wilson, acting brethren who have achieved similarly lofty stature in their mutually chosen realm, are the exception (as are Peyton and Eli Manning).
How their brother Andrew compares to them is the rule. While Andrew has scored parts in some significant films—Fever Pitch and Bottle Rocket come to mind—his roles have not risen beyond character-actor status.
More often than not, the phenomenon of the lesser brother takes hold at some point, and rarely loses its grip. John and Patrick McEnroe, Sylvester and Frank Stallone, Cal and Billy Ripken, Jeff and Beau Bridges, Dennis and Randy Quaid, Greg and Mike Maddux, John and Teddy Kennedy, Mark and Donnie Wahlberg, di*k and Jerry Van gay, Jose and Ozzie Canseco, Dominique and Gerald Wilkins, Sean and Chris Penn, Matt and Tim Hasselbeck, Bill and Brian Doyle Murray, Rob and Chad Lowe, Carson and Jordan Palmer, Matt and Kevin Dillon, Super Mario and Luigi—that one brother has surpassed the other in all these pairings couldn't be clearer. (This phenomenon is not gender-specific; the same model could be applied to female showbiz sibs, with the Knowles sisters as Exhibit A).
But special scorn is reserved for the brother who resorts to mimicry, which brings us to the sad story of Leo and Ron Gallagher.
Leo Gallagher is better known simply as Gallagher, the fruit-smashing comedian who first rose to prominence when he took a sledgehammer to a watermelon at a Los Angeles–area club in 1976. According to Leo, Ron, who claims to have had a hand in conceiving the fruit-smashing shtick, came to his older brother in 1990 and asked if he could do an imitation show. Leo gave Ron his blessing. According to Ron, it was Leo who persuaded him to launch his own, very similar, act.
In a May 2000 People article, Jeff Macke, an Ohio club owner who booked both brothers, said: "Ron's show doesn't compare to what his brother does. Ron does the old material. Leo has new props; he's always changing." Nevertheless, both Gallaghers kept robust touring schedules, and even performed together at Madison Square Garden in 1993. But when Ron played Detroit's 2,000-seat Fisher Theatre, Leo viewed it as a violation of their pact, whereby Ron would stick to smaller venues. Leo then successfully sued his brother for copyright infringement, fracturing the careers and relationships of both men. (Through a publicist, Leo Gallagher, who still tours, declined to be interviewed for this story.)
If Jimi Hendrix were alive today, Leon Hendrix would risk being branded with the Scarlet R. But because Jimi died in his prime, Leon could end up more like a poor man's Jim Belushi.
Like Jimi, John Belushi died of a drug overdose at the pinnacle of his fame. But unlike Leon, who didn't pursue the guitar until long after his brother's death, Jim Belushi was already a working actor when John died. When shortly afterward Jim joined the cast of Saturday Night Live, the show that had made his older brother an icon, the move smacked of morbid opportunism. What's more, it quickly became evident that Jim was nowhere near the performer his brother had been, and his movie career failed to take off.
But Jim was not without gifts of his own, and has since become one of television's most durable sitcom stars. And at the end of the day, whatever his failings, he's still the closest thing people are going to get to one of the greatest comic talents ever to walk the earth.
So it goes with Leon. "It was hard at first, but people like me now," he says. "I can play. I'm not fantastic, but I get by. And I write good sh*t." All in all, while he cops to some psychological discomfort at entering in a realm his brother once dominated, Leon says that following in Jimi's footsteps has been "fun."
Ben Savage, the younger brother of Fred (The Wonder Years) Savage who first made a name for himself in the schoolhouse sitcom Boy Meets World, concurs. "I don't think having siblings in the same line of work is an impediment," says the 28-year-old Savage, who, like Fred, has failed to equal his adolescent stardom as an adult. "If anything, it motivates you to work hard. It's like The Godfather—this is the business we've chosen. It's not necessarily competitive."
"If someone in your family has been there before you, great," he adds. "It can give you a foot in the door. The Baldwins are doing OK. The Simpson girls are doing great. Everyone just finds what works for them. I think if you can bring entertainment to the table that people enjoy, people aren't going to say there's only room for one."
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***Here is another article from Forbes about siblings in Hollywood since I posted the first article here I am now adding this latest one here too but it only mentions Luke and Owen....
Don't they know Andrew is in Hollywood too???
********************
Forbes
The Star Economy
Hollywood's Hottest Star Siblings
03.24.09
These power couples turned sibling rivalry into tandem success.
Hollywood's Hottest Star Siblings Star siblings are more than a modern marketing ploy of Hollywood agents and Disney executives--they're one of the oldest traditions in entertainment. Before there were the Spears sisters, the Lohans or the brothers Jonas, there was Shirley MacLaine and Warren Beatty, Ethel and Lionel Barrymore and Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave.
Circumstance, as much as anything else, leads to show business families. As siblings of performers tag along to auditions, performances or recordings, they get an understanding of the entertainment industry, as well as connections and access. As a result, many rise through the ranks together.
"It all depends if a person is born into a family that encourages that kernel of talent," says Cooper Lawrence, author of The Cult of Celebrity. "For so many celebrity families, that's the culture they live in."
To compile our list, we ranked brother and sister combos on the number of projects and media presence of each sibling for the last five years. Movie credits, music albums and TV seasons were all weighted the same. Directing, producing and writing credits were also included.
At the top: Luke and Owen Wilson. Both Wilson brothers have become famous for their endearing off-kilter humor first seen on the big screen in 1996 with Bottle Rocket, written by Owen and director Wes Andersen. Owen also co-wrote The Royal Tenenbaums with Andersen, earning both an Oscar nomination for screenwriting.
No. 2: Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal. The Gyllenhaals were born with Hollywood blood, the children of a director and screenwriter. Maggie first appeared on film in her father's movies, while Jake was only 10 years old when he filmed a role in City Slickers. Since appearing together in the cult hit Donnie Darko, the duo have both enjoyed commercial and critical success.
Others on the list: Penelope and Monica Cruz, Jessica and Ashlee Simpson, Ben and Casey Affleck, and Ralph and Joseph Fiennes.
Though we considered familial pairings like the Wachowski brothers and the Coen brothers who have nurtured hyper-collaborative careers behind the camera, the only director to make the list was Ron Howard. Howard's rise from Opie on The Andy Griffith Show to an Oscar-winning director and producer is well known. Lesser known may be his relation to character actor and younger brother Clint. Clint has had parts in many of his brother's films and has developed a full-bodied career playing awkward characters that precludes the shadow of his redheaded brother.
It's logical to assume that gaining career traction is easier with a recognizable last name, but it's not entirely accurate. The public may welcome famous families with open arms--ready to be filled with tabloid tales of family drama and intrigue--but agents and managers may be more skeptical.
"It works against you," says Lawrence. "If you're the second sibling, you've got to be really talented to break through. You're never seen as the underdog."
Seattle Weekly By Mike Seely March 03, 2009 at 7:41pm
It's not unusual for siblings to enter similar lines of work. They share the same genes, after all. But when siblings enter a field in the public eye—be it sports, politics, or entertainment—how one compares to the other(s) becomes, well, quite public.
Luke and Owen Wilson, acting brethren who have achieved similarly lofty stature in their mutually chosen realm, are the exception (as are Peyton and Eli Manning).
How their brother Andrew compares to them is the rule. While Andrew has scored parts in some significant films—Fever Pitch and Bottle Rocket come to mind—his roles have not risen beyond character-actor status.
More often than not, the phenomenon of the lesser brother takes hold at some point, and rarely loses its grip. John and Patrick McEnroe, Sylvester and Frank Stallone, Cal and Billy Ripken, Jeff and Beau Bridges, Dennis and Randy Quaid, Greg and Mike Maddux, John and Teddy Kennedy, Mark and Donnie Wahlberg, di*k and Jerry Van gay, Jose and Ozzie Canseco, Dominique and Gerald Wilkins, Sean and Chris Penn, Matt and Tim Hasselbeck, Bill and Brian Doyle Murray, Rob and Chad Lowe, Carson and Jordan Palmer, Matt and Kevin Dillon, Super Mario and Luigi—that one brother has surpassed the other in all these pairings couldn't be clearer. (This phenomenon is not gender-specific; the same model could be applied to female showbiz sibs, with the Knowles sisters as Exhibit A).
But special scorn is reserved for the brother who resorts to mimicry, which brings us to the sad story of Leo and Ron Gallagher.
Leo Gallagher is better known simply as Gallagher, the fruit-smashing comedian who first rose to prominence when he took a sledgehammer to a watermelon at a Los Angeles–area club in 1976. According to Leo, Ron, who claims to have had a hand in conceiving the fruit-smashing shtick, came to his older brother in 1990 and asked if he could do an imitation show. Leo gave Ron his blessing. According to Ron, it was Leo who persuaded him to launch his own, very similar, act.
In a May 2000 People article, Jeff Macke, an Ohio club owner who booked both brothers, said: "Ron's show doesn't compare to what his brother does. Ron does the old material. Leo has new props; he's always changing." Nevertheless, both Gallaghers kept robust touring schedules, and even performed together at Madison Square Garden in 1993. But when Ron played Detroit's 2,000-seat Fisher Theatre, Leo viewed it as a violation of their pact, whereby Ron would stick to smaller venues. Leo then successfully sued his brother for copyright infringement, fracturing the careers and relationships of both men. (Through a publicist, Leo Gallagher, who still tours, declined to be interviewed for this story.)
If Jimi Hendrix were alive today, Leon Hendrix would risk being branded with the Scarlet R. But because Jimi died in his prime, Leon could end up more like a poor man's Jim Belushi.
Like Jimi, John Belushi died of a drug overdose at the pinnacle of his fame. But unlike Leon, who didn't pursue the guitar until long after his brother's death, Jim Belushi was already a working actor when John died. When shortly afterward Jim joined the cast of Saturday Night Live, the show that had made his older brother an icon, the move smacked of morbid opportunism. What's more, it quickly became evident that Jim was nowhere near the performer his brother had been, and his movie career failed to take off.
But Jim was not without gifts of his own, and has since become one of television's most durable sitcom stars. And at the end of the day, whatever his failings, he's still the closest thing people are going to get to one of the greatest comic talents ever to walk the earth.
So it goes with Leon. "It was hard at first, but people like me now," he says. "I can play. I'm not fantastic, but I get by. And I write good sh*t." All in all, while he cops to some psychological discomfort at entering in a realm his brother once dominated, Leon says that following in Jimi's footsteps has been "fun."
Ben Savage, the younger brother of Fred (The Wonder Years) Savage who first made a name for himself in the schoolhouse sitcom Boy Meets World, concurs. "I don't think having siblings in the same line of work is an impediment," says the 28-year-old Savage, who, like Fred, has failed to equal his adolescent stardom as an adult. "If anything, it motivates you to work hard. It's like The Godfather—this is the business we've chosen. It's not necessarily competitive."
"If someone in your family has been there before you, great," he adds. "It can give you a foot in the door. The Baldwins are doing OK. The Simpson girls are doing great. Everyone just finds what works for them. I think if you can bring entertainment to the table that people enjoy, people aren't going to say there's only room for one."
********************
***Here is another article from Forbes about siblings in Hollywood since I posted the first article here I am now adding this latest one here too but it only mentions Luke and Owen....
Don't they know Andrew is in Hollywood too???
********************
Forbes
The Star Economy
Hollywood's Hottest Star Siblings
03.24.09
These power couples turned sibling rivalry into tandem success.
Hollywood's Hottest Star Siblings Star siblings are more than a modern marketing ploy of Hollywood agents and Disney executives--they're one of the oldest traditions in entertainment. Before there were the Spears sisters, the Lohans or the brothers Jonas, there was Shirley MacLaine and Warren Beatty, Ethel and Lionel Barrymore and Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave.
Circumstance, as much as anything else, leads to show business families. As siblings of performers tag along to auditions, performances or recordings, they get an understanding of the entertainment industry, as well as connections and access. As a result, many rise through the ranks together.
"It all depends if a person is born into a family that encourages that kernel of talent," says Cooper Lawrence, author of The Cult of Celebrity. "For so many celebrity families, that's the culture they live in."
To compile our list, we ranked brother and sister combos on the number of projects and media presence of each sibling for the last five years. Movie credits, music albums and TV seasons were all weighted the same. Directing, producing and writing credits were also included.
At the top: Luke and Owen Wilson. Both Wilson brothers have become famous for their endearing off-kilter humor first seen on the big screen in 1996 with Bottle Rocket, written by Owen and director Wes Andersen. Owen also co-wrote The Royal Tenenbaums with Andersen, earning both an Oscar nomination for screenwriting.
No. 2: Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal. The Gyllenhaals were born with Hollywood blood, the children of a director and screenwriter. Maggie first appeared on film in her father's movies, while Jake was only 10 years old when he filmed a role in City Slickers. Since appearing together in the cult hit Donnie Darko, the duo have both enjoyed commercial and critical success.
Others on the list: Penelope and Monica Cruz, Jessica and Ashlee Simpson, Ben and Casey Affleck, and Ralph and Joseph Fiennes.
Though we considered familial pairings like the Wachowski brothers and the Coen brothers who have nurtured hyper-collaborative careers behind the camera, the only director to make the list was Ron Howard. Howard's rise from Opie on The Andy Griffith Show to an Oscar-winning director and producer is well known. Lesser known may be his relation to character actor and younger brother Clint. Clint has had parts in many of his brother's films and has developed a full-bodied career playing awkward characters that precludes the shadow of his redheaded brother.
It's logical to assume that gaining career traction is easier with a recognizable last name, but it's not entirely accurate. The public may welcome famous families with open arms--ready to be filled with tabloid tales of family drama and intrigue--but agents and managers may be more skeptical.
"It works against you," says Lawrence. "If you're the second sibling, you've got to be really talented to break through. You're never seen as the underdog."