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We think of Hollywood celebrities as being privileged and blessed and with ancestors who provided much in the early days. Popular actress Susan Sarandon is proof this notion is misplaced. Her story is a familiar one of immigration, struggle, hardship and early death.

Sarandon’s maternal grandmother was a mysterious figure in Sarandon’s life. The only glimpse Sarandon had of her grandmother Anita was a curious photograph taken with her mother at the New York World’s Fair in 1939. The two stood before a funhouse mirror and the image is distorted and odd looking. Because Leonora’s father had remarried, he no longer wanted his daughter to have contact with her biological mother and the two lost contact.

Sarandon set out to find more about her elusive grandmother and learned through New York City census records that Anita had married, pregnant, at the age of 13. By then, her own mother had been dead for one year, leaving young Anita without the critical role model of a good mother.

Heartsick for this tale of tragedy in her family, Sarandon traveled to the family homeland in Tuscany to dive into details of the Rigali family history. She learned one of her ancestors produced plaster statues that were sold throughout Italy. And the excellent record keeping there traced her family name to the 1600s. Her great-grandfather emigrated to the U.S. in 1888, during a wave of immigration from Italy to the States.

Little Anita had a tough time. The first marriage when she was 13 did not work out. Neither did a second marriage in 1932.

Sarandon enlisted the help of her son to search all Anitas born on her grandmother’s birthday and learned her grandmother lived until 1984 very near where Sarandon grew up.

With so much genealogy DNA testing going on now, perhaps future generations will come to know their mysterious relatives are within close proximity.

We know her as Phoebe Buffay of the TV sitcom Friends, but in reality, Lisa Kudrow is the product of Jewish immigrant ancestors.

Lisa’s smile and wit belay a tragic family past.  Her maternal grandmother Gertrude emigrated to the U.S. in 1921 and married a man named David Kudrow.  They had three children including Lisa’s father Lee.

As was common in the early part of the 20th century, death arrived early for the Kudrow’s.  The first child was stillborn, another child was hit by a truck and yet another child died of unknown cause at the age of 18.  Only Lee and his mom were left to move on in Brooklyn.

Lee made the most of his abilities, earning a medical degree and working for decades as a family doctor.  He was also a genealogy hobbyist, plagued by some nagging mysteries.

In 1940, Lee met a mysterious figure in the family, cousin Yuri who broke the news that his and Lee’s grandmother Meri, had been killed in t he holocaust.  Lisa set out to learn more.

Armed with a fragile old photograph of her great-grandmother Meri, Lisa travelled  to Minsk, Belarus the last known home of Meri. She met with genealogist Tamara Vershitskaya who provided the startling detail that the population of Minsk prior to World War II was 50 percent Jews.  By the end of the war and the “extermination”, the percentage of Jews in Minsk had dwindled to 5.

Lisa was composed but heartbroken to learn her great grandmother was rounded up with other Jews in Minsk in March, 1942 and forced into a warehouse, naked and trembling, where they were all shot execution style.

It is only because Meri’s daughter Gertrude left for the United States before the war that Lisa was even born at all, a common conclusion among family members who receive sad news about their ancestors on their search for the family tree.

Do tune in and watch the complete episode of Lisa’s story on
“Who do You Think You Are?”

Please check out www.GenealogyDNA.com to take the simple pain free DNA test to find your ancestral information.

The latest TV show rage on NBC, “Who do you think you are?”, and is where famous personalities trace their genealogy back through the use of DNA testing.

Emmitt Smith, Dallas Cowboys legend, talks about his experience tracing his ancestral slavery background and finds answers in Deed Book 22 at the Court House where his many great grandmothers was deeded as property.

The irony is that Emmitt’s jersey number is 22! Oprah says there are no coincidences when it comes to such matters, it was meant to be.

If you would like to have your DNA tested for genealogy tracing it is easy and painless. A simple swab test from the inside of your cheek is all that is needed, no pain, no strain and no blood is needed.

Who knows? Perhaps you will tie in to someone famous and will have your own Who do you think you are TV show segment.

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