Estimated reading time: 13 minutes
We all know that no dad is perfect and yet, many of us still wonder what life would have been like having “so and so” as a father. Could Mister Rogers really be as kind in person as he was in his “neighborhood”? Were Vincent Price’s children terrified of living with him? And what about when the kids got older? Did Brian Henson enjoy working with his Muppet-making dad? Or how about John Owen Lowe – did he enjoy sharing the limelight with Rob Lowe?
Here is a collection of 10 imperfect celebrity fathers (both alive and passed on) and quotes from their children.
Robert Young
Known for: Playing the Perfect Father
Kids of his own: 4
Actor Robert Young is best known for playing Jim Anderson Sr. in Father Knows Best. He played the part for from 1954-1960, first on radio and then on TV. The show presented an idyllic family with a nearly perfect father. It was tough to live up to. In real life though, working in Hollywood is hard. Young struggled with alcoholism and depression, and it strained his marriage.
“It was very difficult,” his eldest daughter, Carol Proffitt, told Closer Weekly in 2020. “People were not open about [depression] then because they put such a stigma on it…Some people didn’t understand him, but Daddy was a very thoughtful, caring person.”
Outside of Hollywood, few people knew the struggle Robert dealt with. However, the family stuck together. Through it all, Proffitt says that Robert was a family man who wasn’t “on the Hollywood scene”. Instead, he was more family oriented. “Dad wanted to be home every Friday night for dinner and a movie,” said Proffitt.
Walt Disney
Known for: Creating Mickey Mouse and building Disneyland
Kids of his own: 2
Diane Disney has often described her father Walt as warm, playful and dedicated to his family. In fact, Diane and Sharon were there when inspiration hit Walt when deciding to build Disneyland.
Walt took the girls to Griffith Park in L.A. and while they were riding the merry-go-round, Walt began dreaming up a place where kids and their parents could have fun together.
Domestic Disney
From his animated features to his amazing attractions at his theme park, Walt Disney was an over-achiever. Even so, he made a point to be a constant in his daughters’ lives. According to an episode of American Experience, Disney drove Diane and Sharon to school every day. He would chase them around the house. Walt read bedtime stories to them. (Bet he was amazing!) Disney even built a deluxe playhouse with a working phone.
“He absolutely adored them,” says biographer Neal Gaabler. “[Walt] was a man who had a lively sense of play that he never lost from the time he was a child.”
Donny Osmond
Known for: Singing about “Puppy Love”
Kids of his own: 5
In the 1970’s Donny Osmond and four of his brothers performed as The Osmonds. Today, he is the father of five sons.
Donny’s kids say that despite being a celebrity almost his entire life, their father is well-grounded and “surprisingly ordinary”. They say he never acts like a celebrity around them. While they were growing up, Donny attended their school plays, went on family trips and just spent time with them.
“My father puts his family first, and he has unique ways of expressing it — like his orchard where each tree is dedicated to each one of his grandchildren,” Don Jr. told People. “Next to entertaining, my father’s greatest gift is to show love, and he does that in a big way.”
Rob Lowe
Known for: Playing Owen Strand in 9-1-1: Lonestar
Kids of his own: 2
Although Rob Lowe had a bad boy reputation in his youth, he straightened up. He’s been married since 1991 and is the father of Mathew Edward Lowe and John Owen Lowe. Rob’s kids say that at times it was difficult living in their father’s shadow or as John says, “growing up with a father who sort of sucks the air out of every room you’re in with him.”
Today, John is a writer and an actor. He wrote for many episodes of his dad’s TV series, 9-1-1: Lonestar where the two would occasionally bump heads. That experience inspired the comedy Netflix series, Unstable that stars Rob and John Owen who is an executive producer on the show.
“The show is about a son who wants to get out of his father’s shadow, and I am literally a son who wants to get out of my father’s shadow,” John Owen told Variety in 2023. The next year with an interview with The Hollywood Reporter he said that working with his dad in this way was “a terrible idea in regard to my mental health. Two weeks into filming the first season…I had a legitimate little mental breakdown.”
Rob’s Still a Good Guy
But both sons acknowledge the importance of their father’s involvement in their lives. John Owen told Movieguide that Rob is a “really, really strong husband, and just a fun, kind guy to be around. That’s the day-to-day example he sets.”
“On the most personal level possible, when I was struggling with addiction, he was always there for me. I credit that with being one, if not the main, reason that I’m sober and living a healthy lifestyle.”
Brother Matthew Edward echoes that. “[Whether it’s] me going off to college, or to law school, he’s always the cheerleader. He’s the first one to do absolutely anything to help you succeed.”
Billy Graham
Known for: Preaching the gospel around the world
Kids of his own: 5
At first if might seem strange to include Billy Graham in a story about celebrity dads and their children, but Graham was very much a celebrity. “My Father’s legacy is one that encompasses the world…and engulfs my own life,” wrote Anne Graham Lotz on her website on February 21, 2018, the day her father passed away. In her post “Daddy is Home”, Lotz describes what it was like growing up with Billy Graham. She said that she often felt like she was “raised by a single parent because ministry took my father away from our family—for weeks and months at a time.”
Billy did travel often, but when he was home, he was present, intentional, and deeply influential. His children describe him as a man whose life was the lesson — not his lectures.
“When I think of him, I don’t think of Billy Graham, the public figure. I think of my Daddy. The one who was always a farmer at heart. Who loved his dogs and his cat. Who followed the weather patterns almost as closely as he did world events. Who wore old blue jeans, comfortable sweaters, and a baseball cap. Who loved lukewarm coffee, sweet, iced tea, one scoop of ice cream, and a plain hamburger from McDonald’s. Who was interested in everything and everyone, from the small to the great.”
Christopher Reeve
Known for: Playing Superman
Kids of his own: 3
Look up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Christopher Reeve! The actor played the “Man of Steel” four times between 1978 and 1987. Every kid’s hero. Reeve’s kids say that Christopher was loving and playful but there were times when he was emotionally intense and demanding too. That was before the accident.
In 1995, Reeve became paralyzed after being thrown from his horse. His children shared about that time to Remind Magazine in 2024 while promoting the documentary Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story. During that time, the three were inspired by their dad’s ability to adapt to his unexpected change in his life.
“We had friends dropping by. It was a very happy, robust, loud, everything you would want from a family dinner, and that was every night,” said son Will Reeve. “And the one thing you weren’t allowed to talk about was specific medical stuff. Could be anything else.”
Vincent Price
Known for: Scaring the pants off people
Children of his own: 2
Victoria Price, the daughter of Vincent Price is not a fan of horror movies. It might have something to do when she was four. Her mother brought her to see her dad play Captain Hook in a production of Peter Pan. She couldn’t wrap her little mind around the fact that “Daddy” was talking mean and had a hook. To her, that wasn’t his character at all.
“I so remember him teaching me the names of all the constellations, and always always exhorting me to look up at the night sky,” said Victoria in a story she wrote for The Lineup years ago. “’Where’s the Big Dipper?’ he would ask. To this day, I look for the stars he taught me every night. It’s my little way of saying hello to him.”
Fun was Very Important
Vincent liked to have fun and play with his kids. Victoria says that her father was never afraid to appear silly or have fun or play the fool or laugh at himself. He taught her how to wonder.
“My dad used to say, ‘Boredom was the eighth deadly sin. Life is far too interesting to ever have an excuse to be bored!’ Our road trips were legendary. We stopped everywhere just for the pure fun of it — the biggest, widest, tallest, deepest whatever … we saw it!”
Vincent was never too busy to go to an amusement park. In the story, there is a photo of Vincent and four girls riding the Mad Hatter teacups in Disneyland. It was during one of her birthday parties.
“I mean seriously – who’s having the most fun in that teacup?!? My dad is having way more fun that all of my friends put together! I cannot see that photo without grinning. Let it be a reminder to us all – that we never become too old, too busy, too stodgy, too proud, too stuck in our ways, too serious to have as much fun as my dad did!!”
Dick Van Dyke
Known for: Dancing with Mary Poppins
Children of his own: 4
From playing a chimney sweep to a crime-solving doctor, 100-year-old Dick Van Dyke’s best role that he ever played has been fatherhood. But the early years in his career, Van Dyke struggled to make ends meet and relied too heavily on alcohol for stress relief. His work-like balance was out of whack.
“They probably got neglected at some point, because I was really working hard to get out of poverty, so to speak, but I haven’t had any complaints from anybody,” Van Dyke told People in 2025. In 1972, he checked in to a hospital for three weeks of treatment. But his son Barry only has glowing things to say about his father.
“He wanted me to have my childhood. He told me that if I still wanted to act after I graduated high school, then it would be OK,” said Barry in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
Working with Dad
Being an actor himself, Barry Van Dyke has had the pleasure of collaborating with his dad on a few different TV shows over the years. He also co-starred with his dad for Diagnosis Murder from 1993-2001.
“I’d work with him any time. [My father is] the best to work with, very creative. … He has a lot of integrity, and he’ll work no matter what, including physical discomfort,” said Barry. He set a fine example.”
Jim Henson
Known for: Creating the Muppets
Children of his own: 5
What a marvelous life it must have been living with the creator of Kermit the Frog. Despite the loud characters he made, Jim Henson’s children say that their dad was gentle, soft-spoken and considerate.
Jim’s son Brian grew up on the set with his dad. This is where he learned puppetry and special effects. While working on the film Labyrinth, Brian said that Jim Henson treated not as his son, but as his colleague. Today, he serves as the chairman of The Jim Henson Company and his sister, Lisa, is the CEO.
“You wouldn’t necessarily know that this quiet person was going to do all this…stuff creatively,” says Lisa.
“My dad’s message was that we should respect others for how they’re different from us, not how they’re similar,” says Brian. “He appreciated eccentrics and dreamers. That’s what his characters are.”
Fred Rogers
Known for: Playing Mister Rogers on PBS
Children of his own: 2
Sure, Fred Rogers was soft-spoken and kindhearted on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, but what was he like at home? Joanne Byrd, Fred’s wife of 51 years has stated that Rogers was a “thoughtful and present father” to their two sons.
“What you see is what you get, is what my mom likes to say,” John Rogers, Fred’s son said during an interview for Orlando’s Wesh 2-TV. “He’s not an act, he would not call himself a star, or anything else, he is himself. He took interest in other people, he did not like to talk about himself…People would always want to ask questions about him, and he would always turn it around and ask about you.”
In a more recent interview with Pittsburgh radio station KDKA John was asked what it was like for his family to hear people still bringing up his father’s name 22 years after his death. He replied, “So it’s the message, and I think it’s the message mainly that we are all pretty much kind and wonderful people. I mean, there are bad apples in the world, but I think most of us are. And, you know, he had that gentle demeanor, and the accepting demeanor.”
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