Hometown Hollywood

31 Famous People That Were Adopted.

Posted on 18. Oct, 2008 by CSS in 31 Famous Adopted, Entertainment

Aristotle – Aristotle was the son of Nicomachus, physician to King Amyntas II. His parents died when he was still a very young boy and he was brought up by a guardian, Proxenus, who sent him to Plato’s academy in Athens about 367. He spent 20 years there and eventually founded his own academy.

Art Linkletter – Linkletter was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. He was abandoned by his parents as a child and adopted by an elderly couple who were itinerant evangelists. After several years they settled in San Diego, California, where he was raised in a retirement home.  He has hosted a number of popular radio and television programs, such as Art Linkletter’s House Party, The Linkletter Show and Kids Say the Darnedest Things, mostly in the 1940s-60s.

Bo Diddley – Diddley (a nickname he acquired in his high school days) was born Otha Ellas Bates in Mississippi. He was adopted, along with three cousins, by his mother’s cousin and her partner. The family were poor sharecroppers and moved to Chicago in the mid-30s. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of the blues and was highly influential on later rhythm and blues and rock musicians.

Buffy Sainte-Marie -She is part Cree and was born on the Piapot Reserve in Canada. She was adopted by a white family from Maine, USA, and raised in Maine and Massachusetts. Her family encouraged her interest in her origins and also her musical talents.

Christina Crawford -Crawford is the adopted daughter of the American movie star Joan Crawford. According to her biography of her mother, made into a movie in 1981, her childhood was bizarre, abusive and unhappy, and ended with her and her adoptive brother being cut out of their mother’s will.
As an adult she has become an advocate for women’s and children’s rights, helping to make child abuse an issue of national concern.

Daunte Culpepper -Culpepper was born to an unmarried teenager in jail for armed robbery (she is now a qualified social worker, with five other children, and they have always been in contact, although he has no interest in meeting his biological father). She gave him to one of the housemothers of the jail, a widow of 62 who had already raised 14 foster children from her own family, when he was a day old. After she was released from jail she claimed Daunte, by now four or five years old back, but he was so unhappy that she returned him to Mrs. Culpepper, whose name he later took. Culpepper played in the NFL for the Vikings, the Oakland Raiders and the Miami Dolphins before retiring prior to this 2008 NFL season.

Dave Thomas -Thomas was adopted as a baby but his adoptive mother died when he was five. His father remarried three times and Thomas had an unsettled childhood.  He did not learn he was adopted until he was 13, from his grandmother.  From the age of 12 he worked in the restaurant business. He was a high-school dropout and left home after the 10th grade. He founded the Wendy’s franchise restaurant chain in 1969.

Debbie Harry -Harry was adopted aged three months. Her family includes a born-to sister and a cousin who lived with her parents. She spent most of her twenties working at odd jobs, including spells as a secretary, a cocktail waitress and a Playboy bunny girl, and rubbing shoulders with the Andy Warhol set at a club called Max’s Kansas City. She became singer with the group Blondie (1973-81, revived in 1999), and one of the main punk rock figures. She is also an actress, with credits including Union City, Videodrome, Hairspray, Drop Dead Rock and Heavy.

D.M.C. -Darryl “D.M.C.” Matthews McDaniels (birth name Darryl Lovelace), born May 31, 1964 is one of the pioneers of hip hop culture and founding members of the legendary hip hop group Run-D.M.C. In 2000, 35-year-old D got a bombshell from the only mother he’s ever known – she told him he was adopted. The revelation left him stunned and confused.-I don’t know if you remember the VH1 show he had where they followed him on his quest to find his biological family.

Edgar Allan Poe -Poe’s actor parents died before he was three years old (his father had disappeared before he was born and his mother died in 1811) and he was fostered (never formally adopted) by a merchant named John Allan and his wife, Frances, who had been a friend of his mother. He is famous for his short stories and poems, such as “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Gold Bug,” “The Black Cat,” “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee.”

Faith Hill -Hill (full name: Audrey Faith Perry Hill) was adopted when a few days old by Ted and Edna Perry, who had two older born-two sons and wanted a daughter, and raised in Star, Mississippi. Her birth parents were unmarried, although they married later and had a son. She always has known she was adopted. She began singing in public when she was seven, but did not debut professionally until 1993, although she had her first band when she was 16 or 17. She went to Nashville when she was 19 and worked at various jobs until her big break with Take Me As I Am in 1993.

George Washington Carver - Carver was born into slavery, to a “good” owner, Moses Carver; his mother was the only slave he had ever owned, and she was well-treated. His father, from a neighboring plantation, had been killed in an accident just before his birth.  When his mother was stolen by slave raiders, George was still a baby and he and his older brother, Jim, were then raised by their owners as their own children. He was denied admission to Highland University because of his race, but accepted at Simpson College, where he studied art. He then did a degree at Iowa State College of Agriculture and was the first African-American to graduate from there. He became one of the world’s top agricultural and industrial chemists, most famous for his many inventions derived from peanuts (his research is the main reason for the importance of the peanut as a US crop), and as an educator at Tuskegee Institute.

Jesse Jackson – Jackson was born to an unmarried woman. His birth father was her next-door neighbor, but he was married with children and had very little contact with Jesse. His mother married when he was still young, and he was adopted by his step-father in 1956.

Jesus – adopted by Joseph the carpenter (Bible)- should note that it is not actually a picture of jesus below!

Jett Williams - Williams is the birth child of Hank Williams, the country and western singing star. She was born in Montgomery, Alabama, (named Antha Belle Jett) five days after he died and adopted by her grandmother, who renamed her Catherine Yvonne Stone. When she was two years old, and less than two months after the adoption was finalized, her grandmother died, and since her father’s family did not want her she went through several foster homes before being adopted again, renamed Cathy Louise Deupree. All this time she did not know who her birth family was.

Jim Palmer -Palmer was adopted when two days old by a wealthy New York manufacturer, who also adopted an older girl. His adoptive father died when he was nine. His mother and he then moved to California and she married actor Max Palmer and he had an otherwise happy and privileged childhood. He played baseball from 1965 to 1984, pitching 53 shutouts with a 2.83 ERA, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. After retiring from playing baseball he became a sports commentator and also models clothing, plays golf and gardens.

John Hancock - Hancock’s father, a Congregationalist minister, died when he was a boy of seven, leaving his mother a destitute widow with three children, and he was adopted by his uncle, Thomas Hancock, a rich Boston merchant. John grew up to become the richest man in New England. He was also a successful lawyer, again following in his uncle’s footsteps. He was the third president of the Continental Congress 1775-77, when the Declaration of Independence was adopted, and thus became the first man to sign it, and was governor of Massachusetts for nine terms, dying in office.

John Lennon – Lennon’s parents, Alfred (who was orphaned age nine and raised in an orphanage) and Julia Lennon, separated when he was three. From the age of five, after a failed attempt by his father to restart the marriage, and unwanted in the new family of his mother and step-father, he was raised by his Aunt Mimi and Uncle George, who were childless. A younger half-sister, Victoria Williams (born of a liaison between Mrs. Lennon and a soldier), was adopted by another family and raised in Norway, and she did not trace her birth family until 1996. His Uncle George died suddenly when he was 12 and Lennon’s behavior deteriorated. Lennon had a difficult time at school and was often in trouble with the headmaster; he and friends also stole from shops and threw stones at trains.  He formed a skiffle band, The Quarrymen, in 1955. In 1956 he entered Liverpool Art College (he was expelled in 1960) and discovered rock ‘n’ roll music. He met Paul McCartney in 1957, who introduced him to George Harrison. The band evolved into The Beatles (via Johnny and the Moondogs and The Silver Beetles), Ringo Starr joined the group in 1962, and the rest is musical and cultural history.

Langston Hughes -Langston Hughes’ father left his family in Missouri shortly after he was born (he was a lawyer, unable to practice his profession, and went to Mexico), and when he was eight his mother sent him to live with his grandmother in Lawrence, Kansas. After she died he was happily fostered by a childless couple until he rejoined his mother, who had remarried. He was recognized as a promising poet while still in school and was first published in 1921. He worked as a merchant seaman in 1923-24 and was widely traveled in Africa, Europe and America, and was a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance.

Lee Majors -Majors was born Harvey Lee Yeary. His father was killed in a work accident a month before he was born, and his mother died in a car accident when he was a toddler. He was adopted by his paternal aunt and uncle, who had an older biological son. Majors became an actor and his big break came in 1965 when he won a major role in The Big Valley TV series. His first major file role was in Will Penny in 1968. In 1973 he won the part of Steve Austin in The Six Million Dollar Man films and TV series. He has been married four times in all and has three more children.

Les Brown – Brown and his twin brother, born in a Miami ghetto, were adopted at six weeks of age by a single woman. He was hyperactive as a child and labeled a slow learner.
After high school he became a radio DJ, then broadcasting manager, community activist, political commentator, legislator, emcee, and award-winning motivational speaker and writer, with his own promotional company, commanding over $10,000 per speaking engagement.

Lynnette Cole -Cole was adopted aged two from an abusive family, by Larry and Gail Cole. She is Miss Tennessee and Miss USA 2000. She also works as a model and an elementary school substitute teacher, but her goal is to become a lawyer specializing in family law.

Malcolm X -Malcolm Little was born in the American South. His father, a Christian minister, was murdered by white racists in 1931. Several years later, because of their great poverty, and her mental illness, he and his siblings were taken from their mother by social workers and put into a children’s home. He was later fostered but got into trouble (he was once sent to reform school for putting a thumb tack on a teacher’s chair). Although a brilliant student he drifted into a life of petty crime. While in prison he became converted to the Nation of Islam (the Black Muslims) and when released he became one of their most effective evangelists and leaders. After a pilgrimage to Mecca he left the Nation of Islam and became a “mainstream” Muslim, but he was assassinated by members of the Nation of Islam in 1965, leaving three daughters and a widow pregnant with twins.

Melissa Gilbert -Melissa Gilbert was adopted as a new-born baby by a well-known Hollywood family. Her parents were actors and her grandfather was a television writer. Her parents divorced when she was eight and her adoptive father died when she was 11. Melissa became one of the principal actors, playing Laura Ingalls, in the long-running television series Little House on the Prairie, whose male lead, Michael Landon, became a surrogate father-figure to her. She has a large number of other acting credits to her name.

Nancy Reagan – Reagan was adopted aged six by her step-father, Loyal Davis, after her parents’ divorce and mother’s remarriage. She was a successful Hollywood actress from 1949 to 1956, but she gave up her career after she married the actor and future governor of California and president of the US in 1952.

Nelson Mandela -Mandela was born into the Thembu sub-tribe nobility of the Xhosa people in Mveso, South Africa, initially raised by his parents there and in Qunu. He was early marked for great things, and was the first in his family to attend school. Soon after his father died, when young Nelson was nine, he was taken to the larger village of Mqhekewenzi, the Thembu provincial capital, where he became the ward of the chief-regent, Jongintaba, for the next 10 years, although he continued to see his mother on visits.

Peter and Kitty Carruthers – Adoptive (not biological) brother and sister, the Carruthers were 1984 US Olympic pairs figure skating silver medalists. They became professionals after the Games and retired from regular performing in 1994. Peter is now a sports broadcasting commentator.

President Gerald Ford -Ford was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr. His parents separated a few weeks after he was born and were divorced when he was two. After his mother remarried he was adopted by his step-father, Gerald R. Ford, although his name was not legally changed until 1935. He did not know that his step-father was not his biological father until 1930, when his father walked up to him without warning and introduced himself.

President William Clinton – President Clinton’s father was killed in a car accident shortly before he was born. His mother remarried in 1950 and he was adopted by his step-father. He was governor of Arkansas, and  US president.

Sarah McLachlan – McLachlan was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to a woman named Judy James (or Kaines; sources differ) and adopted soon afterwards by an American couple living in Canada, Jack and Dorice McLachlan, who have two other adopted children. From the age of four McLachlan was a singer and played the ukulele, and studied music later at the Nova Scotia Royal Conservatory. She joined a band called October Game then she was 17 but did not become a full-time musician until after completing her education at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. She has released a number of albums, including Touch (1989), Solace (1991), Fumbling towards Ecstasy (1993), The Freedom Sessions (1995), Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff (1996), Surfacing (1997), and Mirrorball (1999). McLachlan was the founder of the group Lilith Fair.

Scott Hamilton -Hamilton was adopted at six weeks of age by two university professors, joining an older born-to daughter. Later his family adopted another son. He stopped growing when he was three or four years old, and spent four or five years going the rounds of doctors and hospitals in an attempt to diagnose his condition. Several diagnoses were made, including cystic fibrosis and Schwachman-Diamond syndrome, but none was correct, and he was put on a number of different diets to correct the problem, which was an inability of his body to absorb nutrients. When he was nine, however, the problem simply went away and he began to grow again, although he never grew to be more than 5′ 3½”  tall and 108 lb. He began skating when he was nine and became a champion at 22, winning 16 championships in a row. He won the Olympic gold medal in 1984 and the World Championships in 1981-84. He has been elected to the Figure Skating Hall of Fame and received the Jacques Favart Award, the highest award of the International Skating Union. Since 1984 he has been a professional entertaining skater and is very involved in medical charities for children. In 1997 he was diagnosed with testicular cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.

Victoria Rowell- was a foster child for most of her childhood, in Maine and Massachusetts, sometimes with Black families and sometimes with whites. She credits her foster child experiences with giving her the background of hard work and application which enabled her at 15 to convince unwilling social workers to finance her ballet training and to endure the vicissitudes of show business. She was a professional dancer and then went into acting. She works in both television (The Cosby Show, The Young and the Restless, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Herman’s Head, and Deadly Games) and films (The Distinguished Gentleman, with Eddie Murphy, Dumb and Dumber, Eve’s Bayou, Barb Wire, Secrets, Diagnosis Murder, etc.). She has endowed an arts, music, dance and sports scholarship foundation for foster children and does speaking events and lobbying for foster children’s organization

.

Tags: Aristotle, Art Linkletter, Bo Diddley, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Christina Crawford, D.M.C., Daunte Culpepper, Dave Thomas, Edgar Allen Poe, Faith Hill, George Washington Carver, Jesse Jackson, Jesus, Jett Williams, Jim Palmer, John Hancock, John Lennon, Langston Hughes, Lee Majors, Les Brown, Lynette Cole, Malcom X, Melissa Gilbert, Nancy Reagan, Nelson Mandela, Peter and Kitty Carruthers, President Gerald Ford, President William Clinton, Sarah Mclachlan, Scott Hamilton, Victoria Rowell