NBC America’s ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’
Date Posted: 07/04/2012
I always think that people who dig really deep into their family history – and I am not talking just a few generations here – are brave. I am not sure that I have it in me.
I also enjoy the unresolved feeling of potential. There are vague rumors in our family of Irish Horse Thieves and Welsh Miners, but until I actually find out where my family tree goes, there is nothing at all that stops me from being related to Caesar, George Mallory, Dizzy Gillespie or Harold Larwood.
But does the answer provide an even greater satisfaction than the promise of dreaming?
Luckily for me, on the latest episode of NBC’s Who Do You Think You Are?, I got to ask Edie Falco – who most of you will know as the long-suffering Carmela Soprano.
I think that everyone was expecting Edie to be related to seven generations of Sicilian Gangsters but NO! SHE’S CORNISH! And I was the lucky man to tell her that she was related to a Cornish Master Mariner and that one of her Great x3 Grandmothers was actually born at sea.
We filmed the shoot on a surprisingly balmy but squally January day at Charelstown Harbour in Cornwall and took the Earl of Pembroke out for a sail. I have never failed to get anyone, however terrified, up the rigging and I am delighted to say that Edie was determined, strong, and took it all in her stride – impressive stuff when you consider that the wind was unpredictable, gusts from the helicopter made the ship lurch with no warning and our fingers were too cold to grip properly.
Here are some photos from a stunning day.
