Sync Family: UFOs, Exorcisms, Vampires, Werewolves, and Slashers

The generational links and syncs in the Gleason-Miller family is rather fascinating. Do actors choose their movies or do the films choose the actors?

On the 40th anniversary of the birthday of modern UFOs, June 24, 1987, Jackie Gleason, 71, the actor, who was an early advocate of flying saucer research, died. Gleason's known interest in UFOs allegedly prompted President Richard Nixon to share some information with him and to disclose some UFO data publicly.

John Herbert "Jackie" Gleason (February 26, 1916 – June 24, 1987) was an American comedian, actor, musician and writer who developed a style and characters in his career from growing up in Brooklyn, New York.

John Herbert Gleason was born in 1916 at 364 Chauncey Street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. He grew up at 328 Chauncey (an address he later used for Ralph and Alice Kramden on The Honeymooners). Named Herbert Walton Gleason, Jr., at birth, he was baptized John Herbert Gleason. His parents were Herbert Walton "Herb" Gleason, an Irish-American insurance auditor, and Mae "Maisie" (née Kelly), from Farranree, Cork, Ireland. Gleason was one of two children; his brother, Clement J., died of meningitis at age 14.

Jackie Gleason in The Hustler (1961)

Gleason's daughter with wife Genevieve Halford is Linda Mae Miller (née Gleason; born September 16, 1942), who became an actress and married actor-playwright Jason Miller. Their son, Gleason's grandson, is actor Jason Patric.

Jason Miller as Father Damien Karras in The Exorcist

Jason Miller (April 22, 1939 – May 13, 2001) was an American actor and playwright. He received the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play That Championship Season and was widely recognized for his role as Father Damien Karras in the 1973 horror film The Exorcist, a role he reprised briefly in The Exorcist III.

Corey Haim and Jason Patric in The Lost Boys (1987)

Jason Patric in The Lost Boys (1987)

Joshua John Miller (born December 26, 1974) is an American actor, screenwriter, author, and director.

Joshua John Miller in River's Edge (1986).

Miller was born in Los Angeles to actor and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Jason Miller and actress and Playboy pin-up Susan Bernard. Miller's half-brother is actor Jason Patric, and his maternal grandfather was photographer Bruno Bernard, also known as "Bernard of Hollywood". His father was of Irish and German descent, and his mother is Jewish.

Miller (on the right) is openly gay and, as of 2013, is in a relationship with fellow screenwriter M.A. Fortin (left). Miller collaborated with M.A. Fortin to write the DreamWorks TV and Fox production Howl (2011). The two also co-wrote the screenplay and executive produced the 2015 horror comedy film The Final Girls.