Let's hear it for siblings, fictional and otherwise! Today is National Siblings Day so I dedicate this to my sister and brothers even though they're not movie people and won't read this. But let's look at beautiful photos of three of our favorite sets of screen siblings. Starting with the most successful of all...
Shirley MacLaine and Warren Beatty and more after the jump...
Shirley Maclaine & Warren Beatty in 1966
again in 1979... just a few years before their Oscar wins.
and now in their lifetime achievement years
MacLaine is 3 years older and both were born and raised in Virginia. Their parents were not in the industry though Shirley was named after Shirley Temple which is probably true of 1000s of baby girls born in the early 1930s! MacLaine & Beatty aren't photographed all that often together and their careers aren't all that intertwined either so it's always a "oh they're maybe not the tightest siblings but they're totally fine!" relief when you see them together.
Most sets of real life actor siblings are imbalanced fame-wise but Shirley & Warren both enjoyed indisputably legendary A list careers. There are a couple of fun like sister/ like brother similarities in their careers: an early break on Broadway, she via a storied Paramount signing/understudy discovery in The Pajama Game (1954) when the star fell ill and he in a Tony nominated supporting role in A Loss of Roses (1959); enormously successful Golden Globe honored 'Most Promising Newcomer' debuts under renowned auteurs in Alfred Hitchcock's The Trouble With Harry (1955) and Elia Kazan's Splendor in the Grass (1961) respectively; sexual scandals (open marriage for her, legendary bachelor promiscuity for him); and 'genius but difficult to work with' reputations. They also both refused to be "only" actors and were Oscar nominated both inside and outside of acting. She's also a writer and documentarian and he writes, produces, and directs.
One distinct dissimilarity: she's a workaholic and he hardly works! Curiously they both altered their last name for fame. Their birth surname is Beaty with only 1 "t" and Shirley took their mother's maiden name for her career but changed that spelling, too (It was "Maclean")
Maggie & Jake Gyllenhaal
They were just little babies in the late 90s/early 00s
At the Oscars and isn't it a crying shame that they've both only been nominated once?
Trying out new unfortunate looks
with their awesome screenwriter mom Naomi Foner (Running on Empty)
at their dad's remarriage
Like Shirley & Warren, Maggie is exactly three years older and their parents only had two children together. The main difference is that they're super duper close siblings and born into a showbiz family. They spend a lot of time together (photo documentation is everywhere --and we here at TFE can even vouch from firsthand experience that they are sometimes together even if only one of them is announced at a screening or industry part or whatnot!) and they occassionally act together though it's been awhile. Why hasn't some writer/director written them a great co-starring gig? There are too few movies about siblings. And as You Can Count On Me (2000) proved so many years ago, it's such a rich untapped subject for drama.
Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac
a prestardom photo of the Dorléac sisters
at Cannes in 1965
Françoise Dorléac was 1 year older than Catherine and kept the family name for showbiz. Their film careers began in 1960 and both were quickly stars at home. Catherine Deneuve became an international sensation via Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) -- one of the all time great films, do not miss it. Dorléac was on the brink of doing the same when they co-starred together in Demy's musical followup The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) but she died in a solo car accident just a few months after the film's French debut at the age of 25.
River & Joaquin (then "Leaf") Phoenix
(Unfortunately Deneuve is not the only screen legend who lost a sibling way too early in life. Joaquin Phoenix is a revered thespian now but his older brother River was the one everyone expected to become a cinematic legend before his tragic death at just 23.)
But that's a terribly unhappy note to end up. Not what I intended. Oops. So, let's lighten the mood again. Tell us who your favorite real life screen siblings are and why.
Those are just the first three pairs that came to my mind above though there are abundant acting families in movie and TV history like the Barrymores, the Arquettes, the Redgraves, the Fondas, the Cusacks, the Tilly sisters and the Fiennes or Baldwin brothers. Younger current moment examples are the Fanning sisters (Dakota & Elle), Mara sisters (Rooney & Kate), Affleck brothers (Ben & Casey) and the Hemsworth boys (Chris, Liam, and Luke).
Related Post: Best Sister Acts in Hollywood History