Research in Progress (March 2021)
Occupational Inheritance in the Acting Profession
Occupational inheritance refers to the phenomenon where sons and daughters follow in the career paths of their parents.
This trend has been documented in the professions of engineering, medicine, military, and education.
Over the past 92 years of the Academy Awards (first given in 1929), 83 men have won the Best Actor Oscar (some more than once).
BEST ACTOR WINNERS: 83 (Last Name, A to Z)
Abraham, Murray F.: working class; father auto mechanic; mother housewife
Affleck, Casey: working-middle class; mother teacher; father janitor; child actor; brother, Ben Affleck
Arliss, George: (UK) middle class; worked in publishing office of his father, but left at age 18 to go on the stage.
Barrymore, Lionel: occup. inheritance; siblings actors
Baxter, Warner: working class, father owner of cigar stand, Columbus, Ohio
Beery, Wallace: middle class, father police officer; brother actor; son actor
Benigni, Robert: Italian; working class; mother fabric maker, father bricklayer, carpenter, and farmer
Bogart, Humphrey: upper middle; father surgeon; mother commercial illustrator
Borgnine, Ernest: working class, son of Italian immigrants; factory work
Brando, Marlon: occup. inheritance; mother actress and theater administrator; father pesticide and chemical feed manufacturer; sister actress
Bridges, Jeff: occup. inheritance; father actor, brother actor
Brody, Adrien: upper-middle; mother photographer, father, retired history professor and painter
Brynner, Yul: Middle; father mining engineer and inventor
Cage, Nicolas: upper-middle; father prof. of literature (uncle Coppola)
Cagney, James: working class; father bartender and amateur boxer
Carney, Art: middle class; father newspaper man and publicist
Colman, Ronald: (UK) middle class; father, silk merchant
Cooper, Gary: upper middle; father prominent lawyer, rancher, Montana Supreme Court justice
Crawford, Broderick: Occup. inheritance: parents, grandparents vaudeville performers
Crowe, Russell: film set caterers; father also hotel manager
Crosby, Bing: middle class; father bookkeeper
Day-Lewis, Daniel: UK; father poet laureate
De Niro, Robert: father painter
DiCaprio, Leonardo: Middle class; mother legal secretary; father underground comix writer, publisher, and distributor of comic books.
Donat, Robert: (UK): upper middle; father civil engineer of German origin
Douglas, Michael: occup. inheritance; father actor
Dreyfuss, Richard: upper-middle; attorney, restaurateur and the owner of a plastics company
Dujardin, Jean: (French) father, construction company
Duvall, Robert: mother amateur actress, father U.S. Navy rear admiral
Ferrer, Jose: upper-middle; father, attorney and author
Finch, Peter: father, Indian army officer; product of divorce
Firth, Colin (UK): upper middle; both parents academics and lecturers
Fonda, Henry: middle class; father printer
Foxx, Jamie (black): biological father, stockbroker; adopted by yard worker and nursery operator
Gable, Clark: working class; father oil-well driller
Guinness, Alec (UK): Scottish banker?
Hackman, Gene: middle class; father operated printing press for local paper
Hanks, Tom: middle class; father itinerant cook, mother hospital worker
Harrison, Rex (UK): Middle class; father cotton broker
40. Heston, Charlton: Middle class; sawmill operator
Hoffman, Dustin: Middle; father worked as prop supervisor, set decorator at Columbia, then furniture salesman.
Hoffman, Philip Seymour: Upper-middle; mother elementary school teacher, lawyer, family court judge; father worked for Zerox Corp.
Holden, William: Upper-middle; mother schoolteacher, father industrial chemist
Hopkins, Anthony (Welsh): working class, father baker
Hurt, William: Upper middle; father state department; mother publishing
Irons, Jeremy (UK): Middle class; father accountant
Jannings, Emil (German): Middle; father American businessman
Kingsley, Ben (UK): mother actress and model; father doctor
Lancaster, Burt: working class; father mailman
50. Laughton, Charles (UK) Middle; hotel keepers
Lemmon, Jack: father, president of Doughnut Corporation of America
Lukas, Paul: (Hungarian): adopted by advertising executive
McConaughey, Matthew: Middle; kindergarten teacher and published author; father ran an oil pipe supply business
McLaglen, Victor: middle; missionary and bishop
Malek, Rami: father Egyptian immigrant; travel agent, then insurance agent
March, Fredric: Middle class; mother schoolteacher from England, father worked in the wholesale hardware business.
Marvin, Lee: No Data
Milland, Ray: Middle; steel mill superintendent
Muni, Paul: Occup. Inheritance; parents actors
60. Newman, Paul: Middle; father sporting goods store
Nicholson, Jack: parents in showbusiness
Niven, David (UK): No Data
Oldman, Gary (UK): working class; father former sailor, also a welder
Olivier, Laurence (UK): upper-middle; father clergyman, then Reverent
Pacino, Al: (Son of Italian immigrants) Middle class; insurance salesman and restauranteur
Peck, Gregory: Upper middle; chemist and pharmacist
Penn, Sean: occup. inheritance; father actor
Phoenix, Joaquin: father landscape architect; mother exec secretary (TV); all his siblings are actors
Poitier, Sidney (black): Lower; parents farmers from Bahama
70.Redmayne, Eddie (UK): Upper middle; mother runs relocation business; father businessman in corporate finance
Robertson, Cliff: Upper middle; idle heir (rancher)
Rush, Geoffrey (Aussie): Middle, mother, department store sales assistant, father accountant for Royal Australian Air Force
Schell, Maximillian (Swiss): Occup. inherit; mother, actress who ran acting school; father, Swiss poet, novelist, playwright and pharmacy owner.
Scofield, Paul (UK): Upper middle; father, headmaster at the Hurstpierpoint Church of England School
Scott, George C.: Upper middle; father exec at Buick
Spacey, Kevin: Middle; mother secretary; father technical writer and data consultant.
Steiger, Rod: Occup. inherit; vaudevillian, part of traveling song-and-dance team (never knew his father)
Stewart, Jimmy: Middle; hardware store owner
Tracy, Spencer: Middle; truck salesman
80. Voight, Jon: Middle; professional golfer
Washington, Denzel (black): Middle; mother, beauty parlor owner; father, minister, employee of NYC Water Department and worked at local ddepartment store.
Wayne, John: Middle; father pharmacist
Whitaker, Forest (black): Middle; father insurance salesman, mother special education teacher
Best Actors: Occupational Inheritance
Occupational inheritance is not prevalent among male actors: Only 10 out of 83 had showbusiness origins
Lionel Barrymore, Brando, Bridges, Crawford, Michael Douglas, Muni, Nicholson, Sean Penn, Maximillian Schell, Rod Steiger
Best Actors: British (Britain, Irish, Welsh):
16 of the 83 (about 20 percent)