Adoptive Parents!

1. Dianne Wiest

One of three children (she has two brothers, Greg and Don), Dianne Wiest was born in Kansas City, Missouri, USA on 28 March 1946. Her original ambition was to be a ballerina, but she was bitten by acting bug after some stage work, most notably playing Desdemona to James Earl Jones' Othello on ...

Two adopted daughters

2. Jamie Lee Curtis

Actress | Halloween

Jamie Lee Curtis was born on November 22, 1958 in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of legendary actors Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis. She got her big break at acting in 1978 when she won the role of Laurie Strode in Halloween (1978). After that, she became famous for roles in movies like Trading...

Two adopted children, a boy and a girl, with husband Christopher Guest

3. Christopher Guest

Actor | This Is Spinal Tap

U.S.-born actor, director, writer, musician, and composer best known for his mockumentaries, poking fun at heavy metal music, small town theatre, dog shows, folk music and film-making itself, Christopher Haden-Guest was born February fifth, 1948, in New York City. His mother, Jean Pauline (Hindes),...

Two adopted children, a boy and a girl, with wife Jamie Lee Curtis

4. Walt Disney

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Flora Disney (née Call) and Elias Disney, a Canadian-born farmer and businessperson. He had Irish, German, and English ancestry. Walt moved with his parents to Kansas City at age seven, where he spent the majority of ...

Two daughters total, one adopted with wife Lillian Disney

5. Lillian Disney

Self | The Colgate Comedy Hour

Lillian Disney was born on February 15, 1899 in Spalding, Idaho, USA. She is known for The Colgate Comedy Hour (1950), The 3rd Annual Television Academy Hall of Fame Awards (1986) and Hollywood goes to a World Premiere (1964). She was married to John Louis Truyens and Walt Disney. She died on ...

Two daughters total, one adopted with husband Walt Disney

6. Glenn Miller

Soundtrack | Wild at Heart

Alton Glenn Miller was born on March 1, 1904, in Clarinda, Iowa; the son of Lewis Elmer and Mattie Lou Cavender Miller. He started his music studies when his father gave him a mandolin. He soon traded the mandolin for an old horn. In 1916 he switched to trombone. In 1923, he enrolled in the ...

Two adopted children, a boy and a girl, with wife Helen Burger

7. Gracie Allen

Actress | A Damsel in Distress

Gracie Allen was born on July 26, 1895 in San Francisco, California, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for A Damsel in Distress (1937), The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950) and The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939). She was married to George Burns. She died on August 27, 1964 in ...

Two adopted children, a boy and a girl, with husband George Burns

8. George Burns

Actor | Oh, God!

George Burns was an American actor, comedian, singer, and published author. He formed a comedy duo with his wife Gracie Allen (1895-1964), and typically played the straight man to her zany roles. Following her death, Burns started appearing as a solo performer. He once won an Academy Award for Best...

Two adopted children, a boy and a girl, with wife Gracie Allen

9. Sheryl Crow

Soundtrack | Tomorrow Never Dies

Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American musician, actress and singer from Kennett, Missouri. She is known for multi-genre songs such as "Soak Up the Sun", "Real Gone", "All I Wanna Do", "Tomorrow Never Dies", "Picture" and "My Favorite Mistake". Her songs can be heard in films such as Cars, Kangaroo ...

Two adopted sons

10. Sandra Bullock

Producer | The Proposal

Sandra Annette Bullock was born in Arlington, a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C. Her mother, Helga Bullock (née Helga Mathilde Meyer), was a German opera singer. Her father, John W. Bullock, was an American voice teacher, who was born in Alabama, of German descent. Sandra grew up on the road ...

Two adopted children, a boy and a girl

11. Charlize Theron

Producer | Monster

Charlize Theron was born in Benoni, a city in the greater Johannesburg area, in South Africa, the only child of Gerda Theron (née Maritz) and Charles Theron. She was raised on a farm outside the city. Theron is of Afrikaner (Dutch, with some French Huguenot and German) descent, and Afrikaner ...

Two adopted children, a boy and a girl

12. Hugh Jackman

Actor | Les Misérables

Hugh Michael Jackman is an Australian actor, singer, multi-instrumentalist, dancer and producer. Jackman has won international recognition for his roles in major films, notably as superhero, period, and romance characters. He is best known for his long-running role as Wolverine in the X-Men film ...

Two adopted children, a boy and a girl, with wife Deborra-Lee Furness

13. Deborra-Lee Furness

Actress | Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

Deborra-Lee Furness was born on November 30, 1955 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She is an actress and producer, known for Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010), Shame (1988) and Jindabyne (2006). She has been married to Hugh Jackman since April 11, 1996. They have two ...

Two adopted children, a boy and a girl, with husband Hugh Jackman

14. Rita Rudner

Writer | Peter's Friends

Rita Rudner was born on September 17, 1953 in Miami, Florida, USA. She is a writer and actress, known for Peter's Friends (1992), Tales from the Crypt (1989) and Love Hurts (2009). She has been married to Martin Bergman since June 24, 1988. They have one child.

One adopted daughter with husband Martin Bergman

15. Martin Bergman

Writer | Alas Smith & Jones

Martin Bergman is known for Alas Smith & Jones (1984), Peter's Friends (1992) and Thanks (2011). He has been married to Rita Rudner since June 24, 1988. They have one child.

One adopted daughter with wife Rita Rudner

16. Mia Farrow

Actress | Rosemary's Baby

Mia Farrow is the daughter of the director John Farrow and the actress and Tarzan-girl Maureen O'Sullivan. She debuted at the movies in 1959 in very small roles. She was noticed for the first time in the film Rosemary's Baby (1968) by Roman Polanski. She showed her talent also on TV and at the ...

Fourteen children total, ten adopted; three adopted daughters with ex-husband Andre Previn; two adopted children with ex Woody Allen and one child their own; five adopted children as a single woman

17. André Previn

Music_department | My Fair Lady

German-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor André George Previn (born Andreas Ludwig Priwin, in Berlin) was for eight decades a hugely influential and prolific figure in jazz, as well as classical and film music. Being Jewish, Previn's family was forced to leave Hitler's Germany in ...

Six kids total, three adopted daughters with ex-wife Mia Farrow

18. Woody Allen

Writer | Annie Hall

Woody Allen was born on November 30, 1935, as Allen Konigsberg, in The Bronx, NY, the son of Martin Konigsberg and Nettie Konigsberg. He has one younger sister, Letty Aronson. As a young boy, he became intrigued with magic tricks and playing the clarinet, two hobbies that he continues today.

Allen ...

Five kids total, two adopted children with ex Mia Farrow and one child their own; two adopted daughters with wife Soon-Yi Previn

19. Soon-Yi Previn

Self | Wild Man Blues

Soon-Yi Previn was born on October 8, 1970 in Seoul, South Korea. She is an actress, known for Wild Man Blues (1997), Le Cirque: A Table in Heaven (2007) and NBA on NBC (1990). She has been married to Woody Allen since December 22, 1997. They have two children.

Two adopted daughters with husband Woody Allen

20. Angelina Jolie

Actress | Maleficent

Angelina Jolie is an Academy Award-winning actress who rose to fame after her role in Girl, Interrupted (1999), playing the title role in the "Lara Croft" blockbuster movies, as well as Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), Wanted (2008), Salt (2010) and Maleficent (2014). Off-screen, Jolie has become ...

Six children total, three adopted (two boys and a girl), with ex-husband Brad Pitt

21. Brad Pitt

Actor | Fight Club

William Bradley "Brad" Pitt was born on December 18, 1963 in Shawnee, Oklahoma and raised in Springfield, Missouri to Jane Etta Pitt (née Hillhouse), a school counselor & William Alvin "Bill" Pitt, a truck company manager. At Kickapoo High School, Pitt was involved in sports, debating, student ...

Six children total, three adopted (two boys and a girl), with ex-wife Angelina Jolie

22. Tom Cruise

Actor | Top Gun

In 1976, if you had told fourteen-year-old Franciscan seminary student Thomas Cruise Mapother IV that one day in the not too distant future he would be Tom Cruise, one of the top 100 movie stars of all time, he would have probably grinned and told you that his ambition was to join the priesthood. ...

Two adopted children, a boy and a girl, with ex-wife Nicole Kidman

23. Nicole Kidman

Actress | Moulin Rouge!

Elegant Nicole Kidman, known as one of Hollywood's top Australian imports, was actually born in Honolulu, Hawaii, while her Australian parents were there on educational visas.

Kidman is the daughter of Janelle Ann (Glenny), a nursing instructor, and Antony David Kidman, a biochemist and clinical ...

Two adopted children, a boy and a girl, with ex-husband Tom Cruise

24. Frances McDormand

Actress | Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Frances Louise McDormand was born on June 23, 1957, in Gibson City, Illinois. She was adopted by Canadian-born parents Noreen Eloise (Nickleson), a nurse from Ontario, and Rev. Vernon Weir McDormand, a Disciples of Christ minister from Nova Scotia, who raised her in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. She ...

One adopted son with husband Joel Coen; she also has adoptive parents

25. Joel Coen

Producer | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Joel Daniel Coen is an American filmmaker who regularly collaborates with his younger brother Ethan. They made Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, True Grit, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, Inside Llewyn Davis, Hail Caesar and other projects. Joel ...

One adopted son with wife Frances McDormand

26. Helen Hayes

Actress | Airport

Known as "The First lady of the American Theater", Helen Hayes had a legendary career on stage and in films and television that spanned over eighty years. Hayes was born in Washington, D.C., to Catherine Estelle "Essie" Hayes, an actress who worked in touring companies, and Francis van Arnum Brown,...

Two children total, one adopted son with husband Charles MacArthur

27. Charles MacArthur

Writer | The Scoundrel

"Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers out there are starving!" When Patrick Dennis's fictional Auntie Mame uttered this pithy observation, she could have been speaking of Charles MacArthur. Charlie never shied away from the feast, and he certainly never went hungry. Arriving in November 1895 in...

Two children total, one adopted son with wife Helen Hayes

28. Pamela Reed

Actress | Proof of Life

Reed began her on-screen acting career appearing as a cast regular on the CBS drama series The Andros Targets (1977), and with minor roles in the films The Long Riders (1980), and Melvin and Howard (1980). Shortly after, New York Times awarded her positive reviews for her work in the poorly ...

Two children, both adopted with husband Sandy Smolan

29. Sandy Smolan

Director | The Human Face of Big Data

Mr. Smolan is an award-winning director whose work spans features, documentaries, television, commercials and VR films.

His critically acclaimed debut feature film "Rachel River," was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at The Sundance Film Festival and took awards for Best Cinematography and a ...

Two children, both adopted with wife Pamela Reed

30. Kirk Cameron

Actor | Growing Pains

Kirk Thomas Cameron was born in Panorama City, California, to Barbara Cameron (née Barbara Jeanne Bausmith), a homemaker, and Robert Cameron, a teacher. Though his parents initially did not project show business aspirations onto their children, a family friend in the business noted to Barbara that ...

Six children total, four adopted (2 boys and 2 girls) with wife Chelsea Noble

31. Chelsea Noble

Actress | Left Behind II: Tribulation Force

Chelsea Noble was born on December 4, 1964 in Buffalo, New York, USA. She is an actress, known for Left Behind II: Tribulation Force (2002), Left Behind: The Movie (2000) and Growing Pains (1985). She has been married to Kirk Cameron since July 20, 1991. They have six children.

Six children total, four adopted (2 boys and 2 girls) with husband Kirk Cameron; she also has adoptive parents

32. Alfre Woodard

Actress | Star Trek: First Contact

Alfre Woodard was born on November 8, 1952 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the youngest of three children of Constance, a homemaker, and Marion H. Woodard, an interior designer. She was named by her godmother, who claimed she saw a vision of Alfre's name written out in gold letters. A former high school ...

Two children, both adopted (a boy and a girl) with husband Roderick M. Spencer

33. Roderick M. Spencer

Producer | Juanita Returns

Co-Owner of Miss Maglashan Productions, Inc. with partner & wife, Alfre Woodard. Writer of 'You Got That Right', for Mississippi public TV. Writer of 'Juanita' starring Alfre Woodard, premiering on Netflix in March of 2019. Actor and stand-up comic in the '80s & '90s. Co-Founder of Artists for a ...

Two children, both adopted (a boy and a girl) with wife Alfre Woodard

34. Donna Mills

Actress | Knots Landing

Blonde, buoyant Donna Mills began acting in local amateur and professional productions in her home town of Chicago. Donna made her Broadway bow as a harem girl in Woody Allen's play "Don't Drink the Water," then played recurring roles on the Manhattan-based TV soap operas The Secret Storm (1954) ...

One adopted daughter

35. Perry Como

Soundtrack | The Perry Como Show

In a singing (and sometimes acting) career that spanned over six decades, the name Perry Como has come to mean that warm, smooth, easy-listening, general-audience, slow-flame romance that characterized popular music in the 1940s, '50s and '60s. It has also come to represent an overall good feeling....

Three children total, two adopted (a boy and a girl) with his wife Roselle Beline

36. Harpo Marx

Actor | A Night at the Opera

With poofy, curly red hair, a top hat and a horn, the lovable mute was the favorite of the Marx Brothers. Though chasing women was a favorite routine of his in the movies, Harpo was a devoted father and husband. He adopted the mute routine in vaudeville and carried it over to the films. Harpo was ...

Four adopted children (3 boys, 1 girl) with his wife Susan Fleming

37. Susan Fleming

Actress | Million Dollar Legs

Comely auburn-haired, blue-eyed actress and dancer, an alumnus of the Ned Wayburn Academy in New York. A Ziegfeld Girl, she danced on Broadway in the Follies and in George White's Scandals. On the strength of this, she was offered a long-term Hollywood contract with Paramount. A publicity campaign ...

Four adopted children (3 boys, 1 girl) with her husband Harpo Marx

38. Iron Eyes Cody

Actor | Sitting Bull

Iron Eyes Cody was born Espera or "Oscar" DeCorti, the son of two first-generation immigrants from Italy. In 1924 he moved to California, changed his name from "DeCorti" to "Corti" to Cody, and started working as an actor, presenting himself as a Native American. In 1936, he married Bertha Parker, ...

Two adopted boys with his first wife Bertha Parker

39. Tony Shalhoub

Actor | Monk

Anthony Marc Shalhoub was born and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin. His father, Joseph Shalhoub, who owned a grocery chain, emigrated from Lebanon to the United States as an orphan at age ten, later marrying Shalhoub's mother, Helen (Seroogy), who herself was born in Wisconsin, to Lebanese parents. ...

Two adopted daughters with wife Brooke Adams

40. Brooke Adams

Actress | Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Brooke Adams was born on February 8, 1949 in New York City, to Rosalind (Gould), an actress, and Robert Kaufmann Adams, a former CBS vice president. She was educated at the prestigious High School for the Performing Arts and the School of the American Ballet.

Starting her career on the stage, her ...

Two adopted daughters with husband Tony Shalhoub

41. Linda Darnell

Actress | Fallen Angel

Linda Darnell, one of five children of a postal clerk, grew up fast. At 11, she was modeling clothes, giving her age as 16. At 13, she was appearing on the stage with little theater groups. Her mother encouraged her to audition when Hollywood talent scouts came to Dallas. She went to California and...

One adopted daughter while married to J. Peverell Marley (IMDb shows there was one child during their marriage on his page but doesn't indicate he was the adoptive father, and no child is listed on his Wikipedia page)

42. Ray Milland

Actor | The Lost Weekend

Ray Milland became one of Paramount's most bankable and durable stars, under contract from 1934 to 1948, yet little in his early life suggested a career as a motion picture actor.

Milland was born Alfred Reginald Jones in the Welsh town of Neath, Glamorgan, to Elizabeth Annie (Truscott) and Alfred ...

Two children total, one adopted (a girl) with wife Muriel Frances Weber

43. James Cagney

Actor | Angels with Dirty Faces

One of Hollywood's preeminent male stars of all time, James Cagney was also an accomplished dancer and easily played light comedy. James Francis Cagney was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, to Carolyn (Nelson) and James Francis Cagney, Sr., who was a bartender and amateur ...

Two adopted children (1 boy, 1 girl) with wife Frances Cagney

44. Frances Cagney

Self | AFI Life Achievement Award

Frances Cagney was born on June 19, 1899 in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. She was married to James Cagney. She died on October 10, 1994 in Sharon, Connecticut, USA.

Two adopted children (1 boy, 1 girl) with husband James Cagney

45. Madonna

Soundtrack | A League of Their Own

The remarkable, hyper-ambitious Material Girl who never stops re-inventing herself, Madonna has sold over three hundred million records and CDs to adoring fans worldwide. Her film career, however, is another story. Her performances have consistently drawn scathing or laughable reviews from film ...

Six children total, four adopted (1 boy, with ex-husband Guy Ritchie; and 3 daughters)

46. Guy Ritchie

Director | Sherlock Holmes

Guy Ritchie was born in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK on September 10, 1968. After watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) as a child, Guy realized that what he wanted to do was make films. He never attended film school, saying that the work of film school graduates was boring and ...

Five children total, one adopted son with ex-wife Madonna

47. Joan Crawford

Actress | What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Joan Crawford was born Lucille Fay LeSueur on March 23, 1906, in San Antonio, Texas, to Anna Belle (Johnson) and Thomas E. LeSueur, a laundry laborer. By the time she was born, her parents had separated, and by the time she was a teenager, she'd had three stepfathers. It wasn't an easy life; ...

Four adopted children (3 girls, 1 boy (with ex-husband Phillip Terry))

48. Phillip Terry

Actor | The Lost Weekend

The only child of a San Francisco couple, actor Phillip Terry was born Frederick Henry Kormann on March 7, 1909. His father, a chemical engineer in the oil fields, moved about in his work so Phillip was sent to live with relatives in New Jersey to achieve more stable schooling.

Following high school...

One adopted son with ex-wife Joan Crawford (waived his rights as father after divorce)

49. Donovan

Soundtrack | Children of Men

Donovan Philips Leitch was born May 10, 1946, in Glasgow, Scotland. Music was always part of his home life, with both traditional Scottish/Irish songs at family and local celebrations, and popular music through radio and live performances. When Donovan was ten his family moved south to England, ...

Five children total, one adopted (son of wife Linda Lawrence)

50. Tom Selleck

Actor | Blue Bloods

Thomas William Selleck is an American actor and film producer, best known for his starring role as Hawaii-based private investigator "Thomas Magnum" on the 1980s television series, Magnum, P.I. (1980).

Selleck was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Martha (Jagger), a homemaker, and Robert Dean Selleck, a...

Two children total, one adopted son (from first marriage to Jacqueline Ray)

51. Neil Burstyn

Writer | The Monkees

Neil Burstyn was born on July 17, 1939 in New York, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for The Monkees (1965), Panic in Year Zero! (1962) and The Young Savages (1961). He was married to Ellen Burstyn. He died on November 1, 1978 in New York, New York, USA.

One adopted son (from his ex-wife Ellen Burstyn's previous marriage to Paul Roberts)

52. Ellen Burstyn

Actress | Requiem for a Dream

Ellen Burstyn was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Correine Marie (Hamel) and John Austin Gillooly. She is of Irish, French/French-Canadian, Pennsylvania Dutch (German), and Native American ancestry.. She worked a number of jobs before she became an actress. At 14, she was a short-order cook at a ...

One adopted son with ex-husband Paul Roberts (her second husband)

53. Michael Landon

Actor | Little House on the Prairie

Michael Landon was born Eugene Maurice Orowitz, on Saturday, October 31st, 1936, in Forest Hills, Queens, New York. In 1941, he and his family moved to Collingswood, New Jersey.

When Eugene was in high school, he participated -- and did very well -- in track and field, especially javelin throwing, ...

Eight children total, two adopted sons with first wife Dodie Levy-Fraser

54. Viola Davis

Actress | Fences

Viola Davis is a critically revered actress of film, television, and theater and has won rave reviews for her multitude of substantial and intriguingly diverse roles. Audiences across the United States and internationally have admired her for her work- including her celebrated, Oscar-nominated ...

One adopted daughter with husband Julius Tennon

55. Julius Tennon

Actor | The Woman King

Julius Tennon is an accomplished film, television, and theatre producer and actor with over thirty years of experience. A native of Austin, Texas, he began as both a thespian and a star linebacker. Julius was offered a full football scholarship to the University of Tulsa, where he became the very ...

Three children total, one adopted daughter with wife Viola Davis (two children with first wife)

56. Ken Berry

Actor | Mama's Family

Dancing and the military were a large part of Ken Berry's life. When he was 13 he attended a carnival at his grade school; the dancers impressed him so much that he decided that's what he wanted to do with his life. His parents were supportive, and his dad even booked Ken into variety type shows. ...

Three children total, two adopted (a boy and a girl) with ex-wife Jackie Joseph

57. Jackie Joseph

Actress | Gremlins

Jackie Joseph was born on November 7, 1933 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Gremlins (1984), Small Soldiers (1998) and The Little Shop of Horrors (1960). She has been married to David Lawrence since December 2, 2003. She was previously married to Ken Berry.

Three children total, two adopted (a boy and a girl) with first husband Ken Berry

58. Henry Fonda

Actor | 12 Angry Men

This remarkable, soft-spoken American began in films as a diffident juvenile. With passing years, he matured into a star character actor who exemplified not only integrity and strength, but an ideal of the common man fighting against social injustice and oppression. He was born in Grand Island, ...

Three children total, one adopted daughter with third wife Susan Blanchard

59. Susan Blanchard

Self | The Hollywood Greats

Susan Blanchard was born on March 8, 1928 in New York, USA. She is an actress, known for Hollywood Greats (1977) and Unauthorized Biography: Jane Fonda (1988).

Two children total, one adopted daughter with first husband Henry Fonda

60. Sam Gilman

Actor | The Missouri Breaks

Before WWII Sam Gilman was a graduate of Pratt Institute majoring in Fine Art with a minor in Theater. He worked as an Artist, Inker, and Penciller during the Comics Golden Age. He was a Penciller for the premiere issue of Marvel Comics #1. Other titles he worked were: Amazing Man, Masked Marvel, ...

One adopted son with wife Lisabeth Hush

61. Lisabeth Hush

Actress | Thoroughly Modern Millie

Lisabeth Hush was born on November 3, 1934 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), The Stone Killer (1973) and The Jesus Trip (1971). She was married to Sam Gilman. She died on February 19, 2021.

One adopted son with husband Sam Gilman

62. Dinah Shore

Soundtrack | The Dinah Shore Chevy Show

Her real name was Frances "Fanny" Rose Shore, and she was born in Winchester, Tennessee. Stricken with polio at 18 months of age, she recovered after receiving the Sister Kenny treatment. She became a cheerleader at Hume-Fogg High School in Nashville and went on to graduate from Vanderbilt ...

Two children total, one adopted son with first husband George Montgomery

63. George Montgomery

Actor | Samar

George Montgomery was boxing champion at the University of Montana where he majored in architecture and interior design. Dropping out a year later he decided to take up boxing more seriously. He moved to California where he was coached by ex-heavyweight world champion James J. Jeffries. While in ...

Two children total, one adopted son with ex-wife Dinah Shore

64. Emma Thompson

Actress | Sense and Sensibility

Emma Thompson was born on April 15, 1959 in Paddington, London, into a family of actors - father Eric Thompson and mother Phyllida Law, who has co-starred with Thompson in several films. Her sister, Sophie Thompson, is an actor as well. Her father was English-born and her mother is Scottish-born. ...

Two children total, one adopted son with husband Greg Wise

65. Greg Wise

Actor | Sense and Sensibility

He was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and is the son of distinguished architect Professor Douglass Wise. It was assumed that he would be an architect, so he studied architecture in Edinburgh. He dropped out, though, after a while, and went to Glasgow to study drama.

He did his first professional job ...

Two children total, one adopted son with wife Emma Thompson

66. Pierce Brosnan

Actor | The World Is Not Enough

Pierce Brendan Brosnan was born in Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland, to May (Smith), a nurse, and Thomas Brosnan, a carpenter. He lived in Navan, County Meath, until he moved to England, UK, at an early age (thus explaining his ability to play men from both backgrounds convincingly). His father left...

Seven children total, two adopted; he adopted his first wife's children (a boy and a girl) after the death of their father

67. Willie Garson

Actor | White Collar

Rarely at a loss for work, Willie Garson appeared in more than 300 episodes of television and more than 70 films. Best known for his long runs on television as Mozzie on White Collar (2009), Stanford Blatch on Sex and the City (1998), and Henry Coffield on NYPD Blue (1993), he also appeared as the ...

One adopted son

68. Jerry Lewis

Actor | The Nutty Professor

Jerry Lewis (born March 16, 1926 - August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team ...

Eight children total, two adopted; he adopted a son (Ronnie Lewis) with first wife Patti Lewis, and a daughter (Danielle Sara Lewis) with second wife SanDee Pitnick

69. Patti Lewis

Actress | The Wayne and Shuster Hour

Patti Lewis was born on November 20, 1921 in Cambria, Wyoming, USA. She was an actress, known for The Wayne and Shuster Hour (1957), The Colgate Comedy Hour (1950) and The Ed Sullivan Show (1948). She was married to Jerry Lewis. She died on January 15, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Six children total, one adopted; she adopted a son (Ronnie Lewis) with husband Jerry Lewis

70. SanDee Pitnick

Actress | Hardly Working

SanDee Pitnick was born on September 8, 1950 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA. She is an actress, known for Hardly Working (1980), Telethon (2014) and Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon (1966). She was previously married to Jerry Lewis and Harren Pitnick .

One adopted child (Danille Sara Lewis) with second husband Jerry Lewis

71. Meg Ryan

Actress | When Harry Met Sally...

Blonde-haired, blue-eyed with an effervescent personality, Meg Ryan was born Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra in Fairfield, Connecticut, to Susan (Duggan), an English teacher and one-time actress, and Harry Hyra, a math teacher. She is of Ruthenian, Polish, Irish, and German ancestry ("Hyra" is a ...

Two children total, one adopted daughter

72. Martin Melcher

Producer | That Touch of Mink

Martin Melcher was born on August 1, 1915 in North Adams, Massachusetts, USA. He was a producer, known for That Touch of Mink (1962), Pillow Talk (1959) and Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962). He was married to Doris Day and Patty Andrews. He died on April 20, 1968 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

One adopted child, son Terry Melcher (the only child of Doris Day from her first marriage)

73. Randolph Scott

Actor | Roberta

Handsome American leading man who developed into one of Hollywood's greatest and most popular Western stars. Born to George and Lucy Crane Scott during a visit to Virginia, Scott was raised in Charlotte, North Carolina in a wealthy family. After service with the U.S. Army in France in World War I, ...

Two adopted children with second wife Patricia Stillman

74. Patricia Stillman

Patricia Stillman was born on February 16, 1919 in San Joaquin, California, USA. She was an actress. She was married to Randolph Scott. She died on May 3, 2004 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Two adopted children with husband Randolph Scott

75. Hank Worden

Actor | The Searchers

American character actor, mainly in Westerns in comic or rustic roles. Born Norton Earl Worden in Rolfe, Iowa, during his parents' visit to a relative's home there, he was raised on a cattle ranch near Glendive, Montana. Educated at Stanford and the University of Nevada as an engineer, he trained ...

One adopted daughter with wife

76. Peter Falk

Actor | Columbo

Peter Michael Falk was born on September 16, 1927, in New York City, New York. At the age of 3, his right eye was surgically removed due to cancer. He graduated from Ossining High School, where he was president of his class. His early career choices involved becoming a certified public accountant, ...

Two adopted daughters with first wife