"You've got your mother's great compassion, and your father's steely ambition, whoever that may be."
--Bill Maher to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow. To his credit, Farrow seemed to take it in stride.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21ajfOl05PI
The kid looks like Frank Sinatra much more than Woody Allen. I thought it was firmly established that he is Ol' Blue Eyes' son.
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ReplyDeleteWell, Debra, no less than Woody Allen himself has commented on Ronan's blue eyes (which are somewhat more bluer than normal thanks to tinted contacts.) Keep in mind that Mama Mia (apologies to ABBA) also has blue eyes. Quite frankly, Ronan looks a lot like she did in Rosemary's Baby. I've looked it up and it is possible for a brown-eyed father (Allen) and blue-eyed mother to produce a blue-eyed child. Just as it's possible to be 100% Italian and have blue eyes (all this made me a bit curious about the Chairman of the Board's paternity as well) There's been no DNA testing done as far as anyone knows, and Ronan, despite being estranged from his pop ("He's my father married to my sister. That makes me his son and his brother-in-law. That is such a moral transgression.") believes Allen is his true dad. Anyway, what attracted me to Maher's comment wasn't eye color but "steely ambition", which could apply equally to Frank or Woody (two artists whose work I'm a fan of, incidentally, though the gossip over the latter has taken a toll of my affections in recent years. As Crystal Gayle once sang, don't it make my brown eyes blue?)
ReplyDeleteMystery solved!
ReplyDeleteI did some sleuthing of my own, Kirk, and have conclusively determined that Ronan Farrow is not the bio son of Frank Sinatra, nor is he Woody's. Turns out his dad is none other than Terry Lester, the actor who first played Jack Abbott on The Young And The Restless:
http://www.historyforsale.com/terry-lester-inscribed-photograph-signed/dc277077
No matter who his daddy really is or was, I admire Ronan for his journalism, his activism and his philanthropy.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend, good buddy Kirk!
It's me again, Shady. I could only respond to one part of your comment as I had to leave the computer. So here's my rsponse to the rest. Even if his parents hadn't been famous (but was nonetheless raised in upper class), Ronan might be a public figure anyway, as he has a very impressive resume. A child prodigy, he was a Rhodes scholar, won a Pulitzer (for reporting on the Weinstein scandal), and his former bosses include Richard Holbrooke, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. The Bill Maher quote that I have here is, of this writing, a mere two days old. I've looked online, and some have criticized Maher for taking a "cheap shot" at the very end of the interview. But he's a comedian, and part of a comedian's job is to say what's on everybody's mind. And Ronan himself has been very vocal on the subject over the years. Of course, he IS asked about it a lot.
DeleteGot it, good buddy. Thanks for adding to the discussion! I adored his granny Maureen O. She is one of my favorite actresses.
DeleteJane to Johnny Weismuller's Tarzan back when MGM had the movie franchise.
DeleteOh, wow, Shady, he IS a dead ringer!
ReplyDeleteSo Mia cheated on Woody, and Woody sure one-uped her...I guess.
ReplyDeleteAdam, given that she arguably has the moral high ground in the whole tawdry matter, admitting to an affair (or whatever you call cheating on your boyfriend) with her ex-husband was an odd thing for Mia to say, though not nearly as odd as Woody carrying on an affair with his son's mother's adopted daughter. Of course, it was odd of the daughter herself, Soon-Yi Previn (born in South Korea, classical/jazz pianist Andre Previn is her adopted father) to have an affair with her mother's boyfriend and brother's father. Perhaps oddest of all, once Woody and Soon-Yi got married, they STAYED married, for going on 21 years now. Go figure.
DeleteI've now added a link to the interview in the post itself
ReplyDeleteA great line. And I should hope Ronan took it in stride. He started it.
ReplyDeleteMitchell, I think all the players in that little drama have taken their turns at starting something.
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