Fans speculate a relationship between an English retired actor, Daniel Day-Lewis, and a British writer, C.S. Lewis, due to their shared last name. However, they aren’t related.
There is a misunderstanding that Clive Staples Lewis was the father of an award-winning actor, Daniel Day-Lewis.
Highlights
- Daniel Day-Lewis and C.S. Lewis were misunderstood to have a father-son relationship. However, they don’t share any connection.
- Clive Staples Lewis competed with Daniel’s father for the prestigious Oxford Professorship of Poetry.
- Daniel’s ancestors were from Ireland, Latvia, and Poland, whereas Clive’s were from Ireland and Wales.
Daniel is often described as one of the greatest actors in cinema history. His career spanned over four decades, and he shifted between theatre and film for most of the early 1980s.
He began acting in 1971 but took a semi-retirement in 1997 to return to his old passion of woodworking. Later, he returned to the acting industry in 2000.
Moreover, Daniel received the title of Knighthood for his service to drama in 2014 and announced his retirement in 2017.
On the other hand, C.S. Lewis was the famous author of The Chronicles of Narnia, The Screwtape Letters, and The Space Trilogy.
He was a literary scholar, and Anglican lay theologian who held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College and Magdalene College.
C.S. shared a close friendship with J. R. R. Tolkien, and they were active in the informal Oxford literary group known as the Inklings.
Daniel Day-Lewis And C.S. Lewis Doesn’t Have Any Familiar Connection
Daniel Day-Lewis and C.S. weren’t blood-related. C.S. Lewis competed with Daniel’s father for the prestigious Oxford Professorship of Poetry.
According to Griffin, Daniel’s father, Cecil Day-Lewis, won the confusing final ballot with 194 votes for him and 173 for C.S. Lewis.
67 years old Daniel Day-Lewis was born in London, England, on April 29, 1957.
His parents named him Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis, and he grew up with his television chef and food critic sister, Tamasin Day-Lewis.
His father was an Anglo-Irish poet and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, born in the Irish town of Ballintubbert, County Laois. Similarly, his mother, Jill Balcon, was a British actress.
Jill was Jewish, and her ancestors immigrated to England in the late 19th century from Latvia and Poland.
Moreover, Jill’s father, Sir Michael Balcon, was the head of Ealing Studios, and the BAFTA for Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema is presented every year in honor of Balcon’s memory.
Sadly, Daniel’s father lost his life battling pancreatic cancer in 1972 and his mother in 2009.
On the other hand, C.S. Lewis, the son of Albert James Lewis and Florence Augusta Lewis, was born in Belfast, Ireland, on November 29, 1898.
His grandfather, Richard Lewis, moved to Ireland from Wales during the mid-19th century, and his father was a solicitor.
Likewise, his mother was the granddaughter of Bishop Hugh Hamilton and John Staples.
Florence’s father, Thomas Hamilton, was a priest of the Church of Ireland who baptized Clive in St Mark’s Church.
Clive grew up with his elder brother, Warren Hamilton Lewis, who lost his life on April 9, 1973, and both brothers were buried in the same grave of Holy Trinity Church, Headington, Oxford.
Nonetheless, Clive was diagnosed with end-stage kidney failure and lost his life on November 22, 1963.
Additional Information
- Daniel Day-Lewis became intrigued by shoe-making in Florence, Italy, and apprenticed as a shoe-maker with Stefano Bemer.
- He excelled on stage at the National Youth Theatre and attended traditional training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
- C.S. Lewis was a Second Lieutenant in the British Army sent to France to fight in the First World War.
- He wrote over 30 books, translated into more than 30 languages, and sold millions of copies.
