Article Discussion: Interfaith Celebrities: The 2011 Oscars

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[Laura]

I thought you would want to know that Gabriel Byrne and Ellen Barkin had a son and a daughter together, not two sons.

[Nate Bloom, Author]

Laura is correct. Ellen Barkin and her former husband, Gabriel Byrne, have a son (born in 1989) and a daughter (born in 1993). Not two sons as I stated.

As any journalist can attest to---when you rely on your memory for very minor details like this--and I relied on my memory in this instance--you are setting yourself up to make a factual mistake (albeit a minor one).

Thank you for the correction.

[Intreatment]

Ellen and Gabriel's daughter was born in 1992. Ellen did not divorce her second husband of her free will. He divorced her.

[Nate Bloom, Author]

Re birth date--I hit the wrong key on my keyboard by accident. 1992 is the correct date.

Re Barkin---Yes, Perelman filed for divorce first. Certainly the marriage was very troubled. The following NY Magazine article will provide the blow-by-blows for those very interested. It is an almost exahustive account.  You can decide if my basic, very short description of the Meadvoy, Duff, Byrne, Barkin, and Perelman--"intersection" was very close to the mark--even if Perelman did, in fact, file first for divorce.

I think it was "close to the mark."

http://nymag.com/relationships/features/16463/

[Unregistered]

Gabriel Byrne has a son and a daughter, not two sons.  If he has agreed that his children should be raised in the Jewish faith it's probably because he no longer has one.  He's an athiest.

[David Lenhart]

At least two other jewish or interfaith nominees are forgotten in this column. Producer David Hoberman (movie "The Fighter") - for his jewish background see http://www.jewishjournal.com/articles/item/underdog_fighter_overcame_odds_for_oscar_noms_20110218/  - and the interfaith actress Helen Bonham-Carter (movie "The King´s Speech").

[Nate Bloom, Author]

The author responds---Mr. Lenhart uses the term "forgotten"--like the author (myself)--knew about the background of both of these persons and chose to forget them in writing this piece. This is incorrect.  David Hoberman was interviewed by the Los Angeles Jewish Journal after this article was written--after it was posted. I simply cannot do an incredible amount of research on the over 100 producers of the ten best picture nominees. The Los Angeles Jewish Journal, the source on Hoberman, has a lot more resources than I do--and I dare say their list of Jewish Oscar nominees is shorter than mine. Mea culpa, if you will, I missed a producer.

As for Helena Bonham-Carter--I am aware of her background. I covered it in this column. It really isn't an interfaith background--except in a very qualified sense. Her maternal grandmother was born Jewish, but became a Catholic. Her maternal grandfather had a Jewish father, but was raised in his mother's Catholic faith. Helena's father's family is British "WASP."  In an already quite long article--I didn't feel like laying at this background--and more--at length. We all make value judgments--and my decision was to not include Helena Bonham-Carter as a Jewish or interfaith nominee because the last persons in her family tree to identify as Jewish, wihout qualification, were her maternal great-grandmother and her maternal great-grandfather.