Classic Hollywood Aspies

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Movie Directors, Actors and Entertainers
Dan Aykroyd (C.M.) (b. 1952, Canadian film actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter, one of the famous Blues Brothers, an original cast member of the Saturday Night Live TV show, was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 2000, in a somewhat confusing radio interview Aykroyd claimed to have been diagnosed as a child with Asperger and Tourette syndromes, and schizophrenia was also mentioned (in those days autism was sometimes erroneously described as “childhood schizophrenia”, and this may have confused the issue), his autistic special interest is law enforcement, which may have been an influence on Aykroyd’s screenplay of The Blues Brothers, born with syndactyly (webbed toes) and heterochromia, L-H, M)
Tim Burton (b. 1958, American director of many popular films including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Edward Scissorhands, “outsiders”, loneliness and Gothic style are recurring themes in Burton’s movies, engaged to English actress Helena Bonham Carter who has identified him as possibly autistic, M)
Daryl Hannah (b. 1960, American film actress, as a child was “diagnosed as borderline autistic”, some memorable roles include the bioengineered robot Pris in the cult science fiction movie Blade Runner and the mermaid in Splash)
Andy Kaufman (1949-1984, full name Andrew Kaufman, American performance artist who was funny but didn’t call himself a comedian, from a Jewish family, at 4 years started a daily ritual of performing 4 hour long variety shows alone to an imaginary TV camera in the wall of his bedroom, a ritual that would be carried on in lunch play times at school, taken to see a child psychiatrist and psychologists, an academic and sporting failure, but at 11 was running a successful business entertaining at kids’ parties that he ran for years, his live and TV performances often involved deceiving or angering the audience and impersonations, appeared on Saturday Night Live and was involved in a staged fight on The Late Show with Dave Letterman, had many fastidious personal habits, died from kidney failure from a rare form of lung cancer, survived by an adopted-out daughter, some have speculated that he faked his own death, in the biographical film Man on the Moon Kaufman was played by Jim Carrey and his girlfriend played by Courtney Love)
Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999, American Academy Award winning film director and producer, from a Jewish family, highly influential and innovative, works include movies Dr Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining, was known to collect obsolete personal computers and carry on telephone conversations lasting a number of hours)
Orson Welles (1915-1985, American film director, theatre director, actor and radio broadcaster, was a child prodigy, Welles directed, co-wrote, produced and acted in his first feature movie Citizen Kane at the age of 26, considered by some to be the greatest film ever made, but the film was initially not a big commercial success due to the malign influence of the Hearst media empire (the film was loosely based in the life of William Randolph Hearst), Welles was given an honorary Academy Award in 1971)