Celebrities you didnt realize were Jewish

I was surprised to find out that Scarlett Johansson and Lens Dunham are Jewish.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 139January 19, 2024 3:21 PM

Nothing good will come of this.

by Anonymousreply 1August 20, 2023 7:53 PM

Is he a (looks both ways and whispers) a Jew?

by Anonymousreply 2August 20, 2023 7:54 PM

Alicia Silverstone, Cary Grant

by Anonymousreply 3August 20, 2023 7:59 PM

R3 Alicia is a fake one: Her father was born to a Jewish family and her mother converted to Conservative Judaism before marriage.

by Anonymousreply 4August 20, 2023 8:00 PM

Lens is Jew, wtf?!

Scarlett is also shocking to me. She doesn't... lean into it, does she? At least not outwardly, I'm sure she's cashed in a couple of favours at the synagogue back when she decided to sue Disney. Having all that firepower behind you must surely help when you go against The Mouse.

by Anonymousreply 5August 20, 2023 8:00 PM

Dame Joan Collins, Bob Dylan

by Anonymousreply 6August 20, 2023 8:02 PM

Scarlett Johansson's father is Danish and her mother is Jewish. Scarlett identifies as Jewish. I guess it helps with getting roles.

by Anonymousreply 9August 20, 2023 8:07 PM

Y'all just making shit up.

by Anonymousreply 10August 20, 2023 8:09 PM

Fred Astaire's father Fritz's parents converted from Judaism to Catholicism in Austria before they arrived at Ellis Island. His mother's parents were Lutheran German immigrants from Prussia.

So does he count?

by Anonymousreply 11August 20, 2023 8:16 PM

Joan Blondell, sort of. Mother was not Jewish.

by Anonymousreply 12August 20, 2023 8:16 PM

To technically be Jewish, the mother must be Jewish.

by Anonymousreply 13August 20, 2023 8:19 PM

Cornel Wilde

James Caan

Hedy Lamarr

Sorry, I'm old and can't think of any more recent examples!

by Anonymousreply 14August 20, 2023 8:30 PM

Harvey Fierstein and that female who starred in the Jewess Jeans commercial

by Anonymousreply 17August 20, 2023 8:38 PM

"Downey's father was of half Lithuanian Jewish, one-quarter Hungarian Jewish, and one-quarter Irish descent, while Downey's mother had Scottish, German, and Swiss ancestry."

Sorry, the "one-drop" rule doesn't apply to Jews unless it's the Third Reich.

I think people like Adam Goldberg are interesting in that he looks stereotypically Jewish, has the name but was brought up by his nonJewish mother and sent to Catholic schools. That has to be confusing. Hardly an isolated case nowadays. He directed a movie in which he played someone Jewish. I have no idea how he identifies.

by Anonymousreply 18August 20, 2023 8:40 PM

R9 I believe that’s accurate though. Traditionally, you’re Jewish by your mother’s lineage.

by Anonymousreply 19August 20, 2023 8:42 PM

I always thought Robin Williams was secretly Jewish. Everything about him screamed Jewish.

by Anonymousreply 20August 20, 2023 8:43 PM

I take that back. Downey's father considered himself Jewish and Downey Jr acknowledges this part of his heritage.

by Anonymousreply 21August 20, 2023 8:43 PM

I am blocking the thread. R23.

by Anonymousreply 24August 20, 2023 9:26 PM

What a hateful, hateful thread.

How I long for the days when all the DL cared about were Norwegian Catholics.

by Anonymousreply 28August 20, 2023 9:35 PM

R28 what’s hateful? You’re insane.

by Anonymousreply 30August 20, 2023 9:36 PM

Cardinal Baby Doll Spellman......another Jew hidinhg......

by Anonymousreply 31August 20, 2023 9:41 PM

Why R24? Because I don't agree with you that Elizabeth Taylor was Jewish? lol

by Anonymousreply 32August 20, 2023 9:43 PM

R32, my biological mother was Jewish. I never met her. I couldn’t tell you one thing about the Jewish religion.

Only by your standards (and hitler’s) am I considered Jewish.

This thread isn’t an idle curiosity about religion (which can of course be changed by conversion).

You’re pretty much preparing for segregation or maybe a genocide by your (lack of) thinking.

by Anonymousreply 33August 20, 2023 9:55 PM

I'm shocked, but John Forsythe was a Jew.

by Anonymousreply 34August 20, 2023 9:55 PM

R33 needs to work out her mommy issues and then come back around to this.

by Anonymousreply 35August 20, 2023 9:57 PM

Elizabeth Taylor WAS Jewish. She converted in 1959 at the age of 27.

by Anonymousreply 36August 20, 2023 9:57 PM

Joan Collins wasn't really Jewish. Her father, a native of South Africa, was Jewish, and her British mother was Anglican.

by Anonymousreply 37August 20, 2023 9:58 PM

Doris Day was not Jewish, R39.

by Anonymousreply 41August 20, 2023 11:20 PM

Half Jewish is why so many have trouble with this topic. Total Jews are usually obvious. I love the Jews!

by Anonymousreply 43August 20, 2023 11:54 PM

It's unusual for a Jew to convert to Christianity Josh Groban's dad became Episcopalian for his mom.

by Anonymousreply 44August 20, 2023 11:57 PM

R32, Elizabeth Taylor was Jewish "by injection."

by Anonymousreply 45August 20, 2023 11:58 PM

No one is "Born With A Religion," your parents force it on you.

by Anonymousreply 47August 21, 2023 12:02 AM

[quote] No one is "Born With A Religion," your parents force it on you.

And diapers, too. The bastards.

by Anonymousreply 48August 21, 2023 12:26 AM

R28 you seem like a real shit-stirrer. I don’t see any of that on display here.

by Anonymousreply 49August 21, 2023 12:33 AM

[quote]I was surprised to find out that Scarlett Johansson and Lens Dunham are Jewish.

Why?

Also, this thread is offensive. F&F.

by Anonymousreply 50August 21, 2023 12:34 AM

What a fascinating thread!

by Anonymousreply 51August 21, 2023 12:36 AM

R50 are you an undergrad?

by Anonymousreply 52August 21, 2023 12:50 AM

The Three Stooges!

(except Curly Joe DeRita)

by Anonymousreply 54August 21, 2023 4:49 AM

No. The mother being Jewish enables her children to be Jewish. The father is just a nice to have.

by Anonymousreply 55August 21, 2023 4:52 AM

Norman Jewison......wait..what????

by Anonymousreply 56August 21, 2023 6:36 AM

Well....we have Jewish based upon religious convention (mother MUST be Jewish), Jewish by formal conversion (Elizabeth Taylor), significant genetic Jewish components (father is Jewish and therefore his children have "jewish haplotypes and haplogroups" identifiable in their DNA), or Jewish by wishful thinking (Madonna studying Kabbalah). I'm not Jewish, but judging by some of the responses we have seen above, I think for the purposes of identifying celebrities as Jewish, we probably ought to stick with the religious convention, since only those celebrities would be accepted by the entire Jewish world as being Jewish, even though there are so many mixed marriages in the US, where a Jewish man marries someone non-Jewish and has children with her. Otherwise, I think people making this identification have to be clear whether they are doing so by religious convention or using one of the other identifying methods above and risk being shot down.

What's clear looking at at many of these celebrities is that there is no one physical feature that could be used to identify someone positively as Jewish. Many have blue eyes, many have petite noses, skin color is all over the map, some having pale skin and red or blonde hair, others having olive skin and curly dark hair. It seems clear that many people have an image of what Jews ought to look like, (probably the more Mediterranean look, olive skin, dark hair, dark eyes, aquiline nose), and that lends itself to their being startled when they find out someone without those features is Jewish.

by Anonymousreply 57August 21, 2023 7:25 AM

Susan St. James is not Jewish. She was raised as a Roman Catholic, left the church for a while, but has since returned to the faith.

by Anonymousreply 58August 21, 2023 7:41 AM

I’m not Jewish, I was raised by an ex-catholic and an atheist. But I grew up my entire life being told that are family had Jewish roots but not in a long time and nobody knows when they stopped practicing. And then two family members did a 23andme test and we do have Ashkenazi heritage but it was NOT on the side of the family we thought it was which was a bit of a surprise. One cousin converted when she got married and is raising her two little ones and going to temple which was also a surprise because her Jewish husband is totally non-practicing and didn’t want to get married in a temple and doesn’t go with her. 🤷🏻

I was also told my entire life we were part Cherokee and I had serious doubts about that but everyone swore it. And the DNA tests came back and said we are 100% not Native American. Any tribe. And I wanted to tell everyone who ever claimed we were “I told you so” (but I didn’t).

I’m too atheist to claim any religion and too far removed from the last family member to claim any Jewish heritage and not famous at all and shouldn’t be posting it in this thread.

But I did. 😜

by Anonymousreply 59August 21, 2023 7:56 AM

I’m sure people on Datalounge are making lists for when the time comes.

Also

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 62August 21, 2023 9:15 AM

Old farts on DL care deeply about people’s religion because 60 years ago, communities were tight-knit and endlessly gossiped about anyone who didn’t go to church on Sundays…or anyone who remotely looked different. It was their alcoholic mothers’ favorite topic, and it’s all they heard in the house growing up; so it’s still viscerally important to them when evaluating a person.

Nowadays, money is the only god in most homes and most people ignore their neighbors, so it doesn’t matter in the slightest to younger people.

by Anonymousreply 63August 21, 2023 10:30 AM

Hostility to Jews has never been about religion, it’s always been about race/ethnicity.

And young people do care who is and isn’t a Jew, with far right and far left working a pincer movement to restore centuries old stereotypes and myths.

by Anonymousreply 64August 21, 2023 10:36 AM

People who are obsessed with who's a Jew or not and point it out make me suspicious.

by Anonymousreply 65August 21, 2023 10:39 AM

[quote]Old farts on DL care deeply about people’s religion because 60 years ago, communities were tight-knit

Try racism.

by Anonymousreply 66August 21, 2023 10:41 AM

[quote] To technically be Jewish, the mother must be Jewish.

Not in all traditions.

by Anonymousreply 67August 21, 2023 1:57 PM

Scene: Stanford University. 1979

A Harvard student is visiting a high school classmate. They are both Jewish.

She looks around.

“Are there any Jews here?” she asks.

“Quiet! They’ll hear you!” he replies.

by Anonymousreply 68August 21, 2023 2:01 PM

Not according to the Hitlerites…to them if you have one Jewish grandparent or any Jewish blood for that matter, your Jewish

by Anonymousreply 69August 21, 2023 2:09 PM

I like to know who a fellow celebrity tribe member is…for some strange reason I take some comfort in it. Growing up there were very few Jewish families around…….

I guess you need to be Jewish to understand what I mean.

by Anonymousreply 70August 21, 2023 2:14 PM

It was the 1977 Winter term at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. It was the second semester of my sophomore year. As I had taken the first semester off to work on a political campaign, I had to scramble to find housing. I ended up rooming with a freshman from the Upper Peninsula. One weekend when my roommate was gone, I picked up his senior yearbook, which he had left in plain view. One of his classmates signed his yearbook with, "Show those Jews at Michigan ..." I don't remember the rest, but it wasn't along the lines of, "that we Yoopers respect them." Needless to say, my old roommate & I have not kept in touch over the ensuing years.

by Anonymousreply 72August 21, 2023 2:17 PM

[quote]Scarlett Johansson's father is Danish and her mother is Jewish. Scarlett identifies as Jewish. I guess it helps with getting roles.

The rule is that if the mother is Jewish, you're Jewish; if only the father is Jewish, you're not.

by Anonymousreply 74August 21, 2023 2:28 PM

[quote] I like to know who a fellow celebrity tribe member is…for some strange reason I take some comfort in it. Growing up there were very few Jewish families around…….

A much younger Catholic friend couldn't understand how/why I knew who in sports was Jewish.

by Anonymousreply 75August 21, 2023 2:38 PM

[quote] “Quiet! They’ll hear you!” he replies.

I have another much younger Catholic friend - I, a Jew, do seem to collect them - who always whispers when talking about gays & Black people. I always ask, "Why are we whispering?"

by Anonymousreply 76August 21, 2023 2:40 PM

R32 I believe Elizabeth Taylor’s parents were Christian Scientists but I agree she could be Jewish. She has that rare creamy skin/ raven hair/light-eyed beauty similar to Hedy Lamarr.

by Anonymousreply 77August 21, 2023 2:47 PM

Elizabeth Taylor converted to Judaism when she married Eddie Fisher.

by Anonymousreply 78August 21, 2023 2:51 PM

^not exactly

Wikipedia: Taylor was raised as a Christian Scientist, and converted to Judaism in 1959.Although two of her husbands – Mike Todd and Eddie Fisher – were Jewish, Taylor stated that she did not convert because of them, and had wanted to do so "for a long time", and that there was "comfort and dignity and hope for me in this ancient religion that [has] survived for four thousand years... I feel as if I have been a Jew all my life." Walker believed that Taylor was influenced in her decision by her godfather, Victor Cazalet, and her mother, who were active supporters of Zionism during her childhood.

by Anonymousreply 79August 21, 2023 2:55 PM

Pretty much everyone in Hollywood. Brando was right.

by Anonymousreply 82August 21, 2023 3:33 PM

R74 yep similar to how they designated African-Americans during slavery.

by Anonymousreply 83August 21, 2023 3:36 PM

Even with that name, r84, you didn't realize?

by Anonymousreply 85August 21, 2023 4:50 PM

Prior to revealing it in her autobiography, Lauren Bacall.

by Anonymousreply 86August 21, 2023 4:52 PM

R84 would also be clueless about the name Leilani Lipschitz.

by Anonymousreply 88August 21, 2023 4:55 PM

Why doesn’t Roseanne Barr seem remotely Jewish. She just seems so trashy and hillbillyish.

by Anonymousreply 89August 21, 2023 5:06 PM

William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy.

by Anonymousreply 90August 21, 2023 5:28 PM

Jackie Mason?!? I was certain he was Muslim.

by Anonymousreply 92August 21, 2023 5:44 PM

Charlie Sheen

His original name is Chuck Lieboschwitz

by Anonymousreply 93August 21, 2023 6:26 PM

I was surprised to find Nancy Walker wasn't Jewish. She was a short woman with attitude and Italian-American, not Jewish.

by Anonymousreply 95August 21, 2023 7:21 PM

Nancy Walker, R95, was the Joy Behar of her generation. People assumed both were Jewish. I like the story Behar would tell of getting a telephone call on a Friday wishing her a good Shabbos. “Ma,” she exclaims, “how many times do I have to tell you I’m not Jewish?!”

by Anonymousreply 97August 21, 2023 7:39 PM

[quote] The rule is that if the mother is Jewish, you're Jewish; if only the father is Jewish, you're not.

That's a very old-fashioned idea of Jewish bloodlines, and one to which the Orthodox still subscribe.

But I don't know that most Reform Jews today would agree with you.

by Anonymousreply 98August 21, 2023 7:43 PM

Is Drake the most popular Jew alive today? Or Natalie Portman?

by Anonymousreply 99August 21, 2023 7:46 PM

Eddie Cantor, Fanny Brice.

by Anonymousreply 100August 21, 2023 7:56 PM

Kirk Douglas, Jerry Lewis.

by Anonymousreply 102August 21, 2023 8:30 PM

Sara Paxton - her mamaleh was Jewish AND Latinx. Her WASP-ish looks must come from her father.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 105August 22, 2023 4:05 AM

Hedy Lamarr grew up Jewish in Austria, and was Jewish until she had to run for her life during the late 1930s, fleeing both an abusive husband and the Nazis. She got her mother out of Austria in time, as well.

And as a naturalized American citizen, she became... retroactively Christian, in the words of one biographer. She never mentioned her Jewish heritage to anyone, not just nobody at MGM but not even her own children, as grownups they were astonished to find out their mother was a Jew. I can't find it in my heart to condemn her, I've never had to flee my country of origin, or narrowly escaped being the victim of genocide, I have no idea what I'd be capable of under those circumstances, or what the trauma would do to me later.

by Anonymousreply 106August 22, 2023 5:06 AM

R90, Leonard Nimoy based the Vulcan salute of “live long and prosper” on an Orthodox Jewish synagogue service in Boston when he was a child:

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 107August 22, 2023 7:52 AM

I forget the details, but didn't Nimoy and Shatner hate each other for a long time - refusing to speak, but then made up when Leonard was dying?

by Anonymousreply 108August 22, 2023 9:29 AM

[quote]to them if you have one Jewish grandparent or any Jewish blood for that matter, your Jewish.

Your Jewish what?

by Anonymousreply 109August 22, 2023 9:32 AM

[quote]Tom Bosely

Tom Bosley is no longer Jewish. He's dead.

He played Italian in the musical "Fiorello!" It's a tradition that continued with Bea Arthur and Estelle Getty in "The Golden Girls."

by Anonymousreply 110August 22, 2023 9:37 AM

R110, and with Peter Falk in "Columbo".

by Anonymousreply 111August 22, 2023 10:10 AM

He's not, but let's spread the rumor that Mel Gibson is secretly Jewish.

Nothing would piss him off more, or his followers.

by Anonymousreply 121August 23, 2023 3:51 AM

[quote]He's not, but let's spread the rumor that Mel Gibson is secretly Jewish.

A stupid lie, easy to expose. Mel Gibson is. famously, a rabid Catholic.

by Anonymousreply 122August 23, 2023 3:57 AM

Howard’s mother is not Jewish.

by Anonymousreply 125August 23, 2023 6:27 AM

Howards mother is absolutely Jewish. The whole half-a-Jew thing was a bit.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 126August 23, 2023 6:33 AM

Jesus, nobody knew he was Jewish.

by Anonymousreply 129January 15, 2024 11:11 PM

Carly Simon. Barbra Streisand Carole King Mama Cass Elliott Barbara Walters

by Anonymousreply 130January 15, 2024 11:11 PM

R68 nothings has changed at Stanfurd…

by Anonymousreply 131January 15, 2024 11:17 PM

You didn’t know Barbra Streisand was Jewish, R130?!

by Anonymousreply 132January 15, 2024 11:29 PM

Doris Day wasn't Jewish. She had a German surname, and she was a Christian Scientist. One of her husbands was Jewish (the one who was the father of Doris'son) became a Christian Scientist when they married.

by Anonymousreply 133January 16, 2024 2:06 AM

R75 Haaa I was just looking that up yesterday. Unfortunately we have more Jewish owners than players of any sport..

by Anonymousreply 136January 16, 2024 6:35 PM

R113...that would be so fitting...what a piece of shit he was

by Anonymousreply 139January 19, 2024 3:21 PM

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3TmqOorZ6csm%2BvzqZmraCimq6le5Jsam5pZ2V%2Fbq%2FEpZybqpmptqa%2FjLKmrmWUnrGvcaRrXHFoVW6GtXnRnpiloaqaerix0Z5ko52nnsCp