As one-third of the nation's adults fight the riptides of hostile
siblingrelationships, some of the country's most famous brothers and
sisters surf over life's more challenging ripples with nary a wash-out.
Consider Academy Award-winning actress Shirley MacLaine and her younger
brother, actor-director Warren Beatty. Despite Beatty's efforts to keep
personal matters hush-hush, the sibs are famous for surviving Hollywood's
vicious gossip circles and have been described as being thick as thieves
by associates.
What's the secret to successful sibling sympathy?. For MacLaine,
it's simple. Sweep aside differences, and what's left behind is the
strongest bond of all: "We're blood." That might explain why MacLaine
exploded in a full-fledged tantrum when Beatty ailed to garner an Academy
Award for Reds a few years ago.
Of course, even celebrity sibs aren't perfect. Take the phone, for
example. MacLaine says she's been "on hold" for three decades. And when
they do talk? Despite having several big-sister conversations with
Beatty, MacLaine's given up expecting he'll be "forthcoming about his
emotional swirls." After all, other hen aren't either. Nonetheless, the
56-year-old sis is relieved hat her womanizing bro, 53, wed actress
Annette Bening rather ban Madonna, a former flame. Beatty, who remains as
closed as ever about personal topics, admits to reading only part of
sister Shirley's latest book, Coming to Terms, which sifts out her
feelings about the relationships of her life, including those with her
brother. He says only, I'll see it very, very differently." Gossips
attest that Beatty finds MacLaine and her metaphysical views
"embarrassing."
Will Beatty one day reveal his heartfelt views about sis, family,
relationships, and love? Probably not. MacLaine says she's not sure why
Beatty closes off, but believes that may be why he's such a good
director. Control, MacLaine says, was "his ticket to survival. Mine was
expression."
Expression didn't work for members of the fourth richest family in
America, where fraternal feuding split up the clan's fortune. After
racking up assets worth $4 billion, the Texan Bass brothers--Sid, 50,
Edward, 47, Robert, 44, and Lee, 36--split up the oil-based fortune in
1985 and went separate ways. Eight years later, they rarely work together
and are seldom seen in the same room, despite the proximity of their
offices in the family's 33-story skyscraper and their Fort Worth
homes.
When the break-up occurred, the family explained that each brother
wanted control of his own financial destiny. In truth, Sid and Bob had
had an ongoing rift ever since Bob voiced interest in assuming a larger
role in the family business--then led by Sid. Although the two were
"cordial initially" when Bob joined the company in 1974, tensions quickly
escalated, says the Basses' investment manager, Richard E. Rainwater.
"Robert wanted to have control over his assets. [...He] couldn't get at
his own money, and he should have had it."
Patriarch Perry Bass, who toiled to establish a business his sons
could run as a family, has his own opinion. "Robert never really wanted
to work with the brothers. He kept wanting to do things by
himself."
But son number three, now head of his own successful investment
firm, the Robert M. Bass Group, called his dad's dream "unrealistic." "1
have my own personality and approach," Bob says. "The press seems to want
to impose a uniformity" that "just doesn't exist."
It certainly didn't exist for long in this Texas clan of oil
wildcats, Wall Street wizards, and corporate raiders. As Bob became
increasingly prominent in community affairs, his clashes with Sid and his
father became more visible. In 1981, Bob led a lengthy public protest
against the expansion of a freeway slated to run through downtown Fort
Worth--a project vigorously supported by Sid and Perry. In 1991, even
after the hoopla over the clan's denouement had all but faded, the
intrafamily strife continued when Bob decided not to attend his parents'
fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration. And what of the other brothers?
The youngest, Lee, has joined forces with Sid, whose messy divorce has
led him to pass responsibility for the family's investments to his young
apprentice. Meanwhile, Ed, known for years by the media as the family
"eccentric," has stayed out of the fray, busily overseeing the progress
of Biosphere 2, the $150 million, 3.15-acre greenhouse in New Mexico that
is supporting eight humans sealed inside for two years.
If sibling relationships are any indication of how to live on
friendly terms with complete strangers, the eight bionauts will be taking
their cues from MacLaine and Beatty, not Ed and his battling
brothers.
PHOTO (COLOR): "He was always prettier than me, even at the age of
three," Sirley MacLaine says of her brother, Warren Beatty.
PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): Bass brother Lee
PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): Bass brother Bob
PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): Bass brother Ed
PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): Bass brother Sid
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