Jew of the Cassavetes acting trio. James
His fiancee, Helen Hunt, once rk.Ild
out a beat, she named [the Jewish]
Caan never denied it. Bette Midler
me her mother is Jewish, so I asked
Natalie in "War and Remembrance."
can't escape it, but giving her daughter
Hank if they planned a Jewish wed
"That's the one that is closest to me,
a Jewish upbringing is not a priority.
ding. Having no knowledge of Helen.
I *just can't get rid of her," she answered.
Natalie Portman is a Jew so proud
religion, he didn't know what I was
For what reason, I asked.
her heritage and Israeli passport,
of
talking about.
"First of all, my father's side of the
that
after a performance of Anne Frank
Matthew
co-star
Godzilla
Azaria's
family is Jewish," she answered, "even
on
Broadway,
she visited Prime
has
a
Jewish
mother.
When
Broderick
though my father does not practice
Minister Netanyahu and his wife at
were
mar
Sarah
Jessica
Parker
he
and
the religion. The family name is
their New York hotel suite.
ried last year in a temple, I assumed it
Frankenberg, Polish Jewish. My grand-
Kyra Sedgwick is proudly Jewish,
was
a
Jewish
wedding.
He
looked
at
father escaped from the Polish
me, bewildered. "My
pogroms when he was 12 years old
I
Buddhist sister married
and, self-made, became very well
us," he told me. Ten years
known in England. We lost a lot of
ago Sarah had bragged
Polish family during the Holocaust."
about her liberal Jewish
But then she added, "My mother,
background.
who is not Jewish, was interned in a
Hollywood may be
concentration camp for 3 1/2 years
known
as a Jewish town,
under the Japanese. I talked to her a
but
Jewish
actors rarely
great deal about what it was like being
talk
about
their
religion.
in a concentration camp. I really
Some, like Richard
developed a deep understanding of
Dreyfuss, Kirk Douglas
who my mother is and who I am
and Harvey Keitel, have,
today. I think I'm very much my
as they have gotten older,
mother's daughter. I'm a survivor."
acknowledged it. But few
Steven Spielberg and Kate
volunteer that information.
Capshaw were married in an
Winona Ryder does, if
Orthodox Jewish ceremony. Capshaw
Paul Newman: It's been a long time since "Exodus.
she
can
relate
it
to
her
work.
is a convert and devoted to Judaism.
even if she is married to the only actor
The question is, is she, or isn't she?
On the other hand, Spielberg's first
in Hollywood who — so the story goes
seemed
For years, Mandy Patinkin
wife, Amy Irving, although nominally
—
could never play a Jew: Kevin Bacon.
prouder of his Irish Catholic wife's
half Jewish (on her father's side), in an
Judd
Nelson speaks lovingly of his
ethnicity. Now that he's sung
interview once confused the festival of
Jewish
intellectual
upbringing, and
on
Broadway,
he
has
a
Mamaloshen
Purim with Yom Kippur.
never denies it. Neither do
Tim
Roth
different
story.
So much for Jewish observance in
Dyan Cannon, Linda Lavin, Judd
Two other Broadway greats, Alan
the film capital.
Hirsch or Rob Morrow.
Arkin and Eli Wallach, are so assimi-
So which Jews are most proud of
Debra Winger admitted that pro-
lated, you'd hardly know they were
their identity?
Robert Evans and Michael
ducers
Jews. That's what sometimes happens
Barbra, of course.
both Jewish, thought her "too
Eisner,
when you marry out of the faith.
And Roseanne.
Jewish"
to play the lead opposite John
and
his
Irish
Although Jerry Stiller
Ellen Barkin never apologized for
Travolta
in Urban Cowboy. Her gentile
made
sure
Anne
Meara,
Catholic wife,
being Jewish, even though she married
director,
the late Jim Bridges, had to
had
a
bar
mitz-
Ben
Stiller
their son
a gentile (Gabriel Byrne is the father
convince them otherwise.
vah, he recently told me that was the
of her children). The one actor who
Jeff Goldblum (currently the voice
last
time
he
had
anything
to
do
with
surprised everyone by revealing his
of Aaron in The Prince of Egypt) has to
Judaism.
Sephardic Jewish background was
be reminded of it; Kevin Kline
Peter Falk was always the nominal
Hank Azaria.

disowns it; Jamie Lee Curtis never was
(her father is Tony Curtis, also known
as Bernie Schwartz); and for Julianna
Margulies, it's irrelevant. But then
there's Sigourney Weaver, who says she
once seriously considered converting.
"When I got to college, I found
myself in a group of great women and
they all happened to be Jewish. They
were just such wonderful people. And
then I started to go out with only
Jewish men.
"It just happened. It
wasn't like a plan of
mine. So I thought,
because I love these guys
so much, it would be
great if I went to a kib-
butz in Israel, where
they're all spiritually
from, and because they're
so funny, we would be
laughing all the time."
She got over it.
Gwyneth Paltrow
(whose mother is Blythe
Danner) years ago told
me she would never
change her name — out of
love and respect for her grandfather.
At 12, she became a bat mitzvah.
Many of the most successful stars
are so generically Jewish, you don't
have to ask: Sandra Bernhard, Howie
Mandel, Billy Crystal, Martin
Landau, Robert Wuhi, Mayim Bialik,
Jerry Seinfeld, Fran Drescher, Albert
Brooks, Gary Shandling, Madeline
Kahn, David Schwimmer, Adam
Sandler and Mel Brooks.
Less obvious are Scott Wolf and
Lisa Kudrow.
Television, which was once consid-
ered anathema for Jewish comedians,
has become a haven for Jewish actors.
Some have Jewish names and occa-

a

Victor Borge: Needs arithmetic
lessons.

1/1
1999

68 Detroit Jewish News

Meryl Streep: Jewish roots?

Daniel Day-Letvi.: From a
distinguished Anglo-Jewish
family.

Sigou7-ney
Weaver:
Jewish
wannabe.

