My maternal grandfather William (b1880) was born at Vilnius, Lithuania and came to the US soon after with his mother and two older sisters to join his father. They settled in the Wilkes-Barre, PA area where the father worked in the coal mines.

My maternal grandmother Anna (b1889) was born at Kaunas, Lithuania. She came to the US about 1905 with her brother Charles to join her other brother Simon who came previously. They settled in the Wilkes-Barre, PA area where Simon worked in the coal mines.

On the occasion of my parents' 50th wedding anniversary in 1986 I began researching my roots and created a family tree. I was able to go back only a few generations from people's memory. I also began to look for references to Lithuania/Lithuanians in movies and TV. (Not an easy task - there are not a lot of dominant Lithianian stereotypes, heroes, villians, etc.)

Here is my list of Lithuania/Lithuanians in movies and TV.

Movies

"Auntie Mame" ('58)

Maime (Rosalind Russel) gets custody of her 10-year-old nephew. When he arrived, there was a WILD party going on and she referred to some crazed clergyman as a "Lithuanian Bishop"

"Defection of Simas Kudirka, The" (TV'78)

Alan Arkin in the title role is a Lithuanina on a Russian ship who tried to defect to a U.S. Coast Guard ship off Cape Cod. Although the U.S. captian is sympathetic, because of a political decision he has to return the defector to the Russians where he is severly beaten.

"Dolina Issy" ('83)

The film evokes a childhood in rural Lithuania between the wars. A country boy, Tomaszek, lives on a rich estate, situated on the Polish border.

"Free Country" ('78)

Joseph (Rob Reiner)and Anna (Judith Kahan) Bresner are Lithuanian immigrants who come to New York City to live in 1909 struggling to survive in a new country, new culture and new language.

"Hunt for Red October, The" ('90)

Capt. Marko Ramius (Sean Connery) of the USSR submarine Red October said that he was from Vilnius.

"Man on the Moon" ('99)

Danny DeVito asks Andy Kaufman (Jim Carey) if he is a Lithuanian. Kaufman responds that he is a Caspian.

"Mighty Joe Young" ('98)

The mean poacher was a 'Lithuanian or Russian".

"Music Man, The" ('62)

The mayor says of the town deliquint, "His father is one of those wild lithuanians south of town".

"Once Around" ('91)

Renata Bella (Holly Hunter) the quiet daughter of a protective father (Danny Aiello), marries Sam Sharpe (Richard Dreyfuss) , a loud, boasting and obnoxious salesman, of Lithuanina descent, who rubs her father the wrong way for many years.

"Swinger, The" ('66)

Ann-Margaret poises as a swinger to impress a girlie magazine editor (Tony Franciosa). At one of the magazine's beauty contests, the first contestant is from Lithuania.

"Waxwork" ('88)

When the main character was late for high school class, he was given an assignment to write a paper on 'Lithuanian dictators'.

TV

"Third Rock from the Sun"

The episode where Dick goes to a family reunion meant for another Disk Solomon. When a 'relative' talks about his parents, Dr. Albright asks wasn't his mother from Lithuania and married his father over oppositon from his family.

Books

"The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair text

This realistically written, muckraking novel recounts the fate of a family of freshly-arrived Lithuanian immigrants in the Chicago stockyards at the turn of the 20th century.

Songs

"Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)" by Cole Porter Lyrics

"Birds do it, bees do it
Even educated fleas do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love

In Spain, the best upper sets do it
Lithuanians and Letts do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love"

Lithuanian resources
Famous Lithuanians

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