The talented Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery star was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and since the mid-90s, his performances in movies like Fight Club, American History X and Birdman have won him countless praise. However, this TV appearance was a little different. Finding Your Roots has aired on PBS since 2012, putting on a show that, through extensive research, has its genealogists find the ancestors of guest celebrities from diverse backgrounds.
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In Norton’s case, as reported by The Guardian, despite his relatively standard Episcopalian upbringing, researchers were able to dig up a paper trail linking the actor to his 12th great-generation of grandparents, historical figures John Rolfe and Pocahontas, who married in the 17th century and had a son named Thomas Rolfe. However, in the same episode, Norton was handed sourer news when told his third great-grandfather, John Winstead, was a slave owner. “The short answer is these things are uncomfortable […] when you read ‘slave aged eight’, you just want to die,” Norton commented.
Pocahontas was the first Native American figure celebrated on an official American stamp in 1907. Many historians credit her with saving the life of English colonist John Smith from her own tribe and overall living a pretty extraordinary life for those times. Norton reflected on the positive side of his heritage, saying it made him “realize what a small piece of the human story you are.”
Disney released its animated version of Pocahontas in 1995, with this fictionalized version of a Powhatan princess being the medium that made many people familiar with the real Pocahontas in the first place. Nevertheless, it bears saying that Disney’s Pocahontas has always been met with a lot of skepticism from history connoisseurs who derided the movie for its many inaccuracies, as there is no credible source that even suggests she ever had a relationship with Smith, among many other creative liberties assumed by the studio.
Regardless, it’s beyond discussion that Disney’s animated hit helped many become interested in learning about Pocahontas’ real life and what she represented as a tiny piece of human history, as Norton would say. As one of Disney’s strongest princesses, Pocahontas became a cultural icon to the extent that her name is the first one that comes to mind when trying to find proper analogies to describe James Cameron’s Avatar, which says a lot.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is now available on Netflix.
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Source: The Guardian
