ROBERT RALSEY DAVENPORT

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Robert Ralsey Davenport was born on April 30, 1950 in Brookline, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. He is the eldest of three children born to Harry Augustus Davenport III and Jean Ann Yeager.

Davenport received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Middlebury College, a private institution nestled in the bucolic serenity of Middlebury, located in the Champlain Valley on the western side of central Vermont. Founded in 1800, Middlebury is one of the top liberal arts colleges in the United States. It offers its undergraduate student body of just over 2,300 students a broad curriculum embracing the arts, humanities, literature, foreign languages, social sciences, and natural sciences. Middlebury is recognized as an institution with a long-standing international focus, a place where education reflects a sense of looking outward, and a realization that the traditional insularity of the United States is something of the past. His education at this top-tier liberal arts college provided him the tools necessary for his forthcoming educational pursuits.

During the Vietnam War, he proudly served as a US Naval Flight Officer, commanding a combat air crew with Patrol Squadron Forty-Four. He again served his country during the Gulf War, this time as a Captain in the U.S. Army.

As he had done with his choice of Middlebury College, Davenport again chose a graduate school ranked highly in academic excellence, this time, St. John's University School of Law in Jamaica, New York where he earned his Juris Doctor Degree. After completion of law school, he applied his legal education when working for the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. He married in Alexandria, Virginia on April 25, 1981.

To further diversify his academic experience, he again selected one of the nation’s most respected institutions of higher learning, earning his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. After Harvard Business School, Davenport relocated to Southern California where he worked at various entertainment companies in L.A., including Viacom, CBS, New World and Twentieth Century-Fox.

His work within the entertainment business obviously aroused his creative side and once again he turned to academia to learn from the best within the industry. He sought out the leading school and soon earned a Master of Fine Arts from UCLA’s famed Film School, located in Westwood, California, where he continues to reside.

Robert Davenport works as a screenwriter, and is recognized as a leading author of books related to Hollywood celebrities, including such titles as: “The Celebrity Almanac”, “The Rich and Famous Baby Name Book”, “The Celebrity Birthday Book”, and “Pets' Names of the Rich and Famous”. Thanks to his countless interviews with celebrities, plus his growing interest in genealogy, it was only natural that the combination would result in the publication of books such as, “ The Hereditary Society Blue Book” and “ Roots of the Rich and Famous”.

Mr. Davenport became known as “Genealogist to the Stars”. His pursuit of celebrity genealogical relationships has been relentless and he has unearthed myriad details that have earned him the respect of professional and amateur genealogists throughout the country and other portions of the world.

Both celebrities and assorted family connections, seek him out knowing of his mania for collecting the roots of the rich and famous, in addition to numerous extended family trees. His personal research of the history and genealogy of the Davenport family traces the ancestry and the descendants of the Rev. John Davenport, founder of New Haven, Connecticut and of Yale College. The ancestry of the Rev. John Davenport is traced back to Ormus de Davenport, who adopted the local name in Cheshire after receiving the Manor of Davenport from the Barons of Kinderton.

DAVENPORT FAMILY COAT OF ARMS

The most closely related Hollywood celebrity of Mr. Davenport is the Oscar-winning actor/director/producer, Clint Eastwood.

CLINTON EASTWOOD JR.

Their Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) is Lewis Eastwood (1746-1829) from New York. Lewis is the fifth generation of the Eastwood family in America, descendants of Richard Eastwood (1620-1691) who sailed from England in late 1641 to settle on a 400 acre land parcel in Jamestown, the first English Colony in the "New World",

Mr. Davenport and Clinton Eastwood Jr. are 5th cousins, one time removed.

Like his renowned relatives, Mr. Davenport’s wide range of talents and experience allows him to pursue a broad spectrum of vocations. For example, Robert Davenport ran for the non-partisan judicial office of ‘Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 122’ in Los Angeles, in June, 2006. Next month, who knows, perhaps a film producer.

For more information and an audio interview with Mr. Davenport: http://www.annonline.com/interviews/981029/biography.html