D is for Doppelgänger

Fandango

I’m sure each of you has experienced someone you know, or maybe even someone you just met, who looks at you and says, “Did anyone ever tell you that you look just like…?” And then they name some celebrity, politician, or otherwise famous — or infamous — person. Dead or alive.

This is a phenomenon known as doppelgänger. Doppelgänger is a German word derived from two words, “doppel,” meaning double, and “gänger,” meaning walker or goer. Literally “double-goer,” a doppelgänger is a look-alike or double of a another person.

Do you remember the 80s TV sitcom, “Family Ties”? That’s the show that gave Michael J. Fox his start.

DAA7E7EF-38D3-4214-B51A-7EA2BA8B2BE7Fox played the conservative Republican son, Alex Keating, of two liberal, ex-hippie parents, Elyse and Steven Keating, played by Meredith Baxter-Birney, and Michael Gross, respectively. “You know, you look just like the father on that show “Family Ties,’” people would tell me. “Hey, you could be Steven Keating’s double,” they’d say.

For as long as that show was on the air, which was seven years, not a week would go by without someone remarking how much I looked like the father on “Family Ties.”

I didn’t see it, but even my wife and kids agreed that there seemed to be, well, a family resemblance. I think it may have been my longish, salt and pepper hair, receding hairline, and dark (at the time) beard. You know how all men with beards look alike, right?

And so, as I was thinking of what to use for my D word for today’s A to Z Challenge, I thought about what must have been my striking resemblance to Michael Gross, the actor who played Steven Keating. I even remember someone using the word doppelgänger.

I, however, never did see the resemblance. What do you think? (Michael Gross is the guy on the left.)

Anyway, my doppelgänger, at least back in the 80s, was Michael Gross. Surely you have, at some point in your life, been told you look like someone else. Who is it that you resemble?

Come back tomorrow for my letter E post.

48 thoughts on “D is for Doppelgänger”

  1. newepicauthor April 4, 2018 / 6:54 am

    I do not see any resemblance at all, except for maybe the smile. Here in Florida there are a lot of Ernest Hemingway look a likes, I see them all the time.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply
    • Fandango April 4, 2018 / 7:24 am

      Thanks. I enjoyed the post I linked to as well as your original doppelgänger post. We all have them, they’re everywhere.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  3. Esme upon the Cloud April 4, 2018 / 7:43 am

    It’s uncanny. The giant black holes for eyes that seem to lead to an inevitable endless void of hell especially.

    – Esme much quicker at catching on than most folks laughing upon the Cloud

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  5. Angel April 4, 2018 / 9:04 am

    hahahahahhaha! Well played, Fandango. ;D

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  6. She April 4, 2018 / 9:36 am

    A friend told me they saw my doppelganger, but she turned the corner as I turned my head. Nice post!

    Like

    Reply
  8. Karyn April 4, 2018 / 12:49 pm

    I have NEVER had anyone say that I look like someone else. 😦

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  9. ghostmmnc April 4, 2018 / 12:58 pm

    I’ve always been interested in the doppelganger effect. People used to say I looked like Cher, which I thought was pretty accurate. Now, I think Angelica Huston, the actress is more me. haha! I’ve even been told to my face by a stranger, that I was their friend named so & so. They kept insisting. It was so weird. I’ve seen many people who look just like some celebrity, here in our town, and I know it wasn’t. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  10. Suze April 4, 2018 / 1:25 pm

    i look like Dame Edna……….lol

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  11. newepicauthor April 4, 2018 / 3:16 pm

    I have been told that I look like Uncle Fester from the Addams Family and even more so when I put a light bulb in my mouth.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  12. Sight11 April 4, 2018 / 6:50 pm

    So post a real photo and I might be able to help you with that.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  13. J-Dub April 4, 2018 / 6:53 pm

    I was hoping you’d let us do a real compare and contrast! Good one Mr. Gross’ doppelganger 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  15. Varad April 6, 2018 / 7:51 pm

    What are you saying! Michael Gross is the spitting image of …. can’t do it! Well played, Sir 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  17. Donna Smith April 7, 2018 / 10:23 am

    No Doppelganger for me… except I’ve been told my humor/voice/affect was of Phoebe – LIsa Kudrow… is that a humorganger…doppelditz…but, yeah, I have that.

    Mainely Write
    AtoZ

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    • Fandango April 7, 2018 / 10:45 am

      Having the humor/voice/affect of Phoebe is a good thing!

      Like

      Reply
      • Marleen December 3, 2018 / 9:14 am

        When one of my sons asked me which gal in Friends I liked best, I answered Phoebe. He was surprised, at first, but he remembered. Years later he said he could see why. He most likes to be funny of all my sons.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply
        • Marleen December 3, 2018 / 10:43 am

          He was very young (my fourth son) when he first asked me. He developed more of an understanding of her humor with maturity.

          I have been compared to three people by strangers. The first was Anne Margaret, which surprised me. I was maybe twenty years old at the time. The second was Michelle Pfifer, which surprised me too. I was middle aged then. About five years ago, someone in a store said I looked like the star in Bones (which I’d never seen, so I didn’t know).

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply
  18. Simply Infatuated April 7, 2018 / 4:42 pm

    No one has ever told me that I look like someone specific. I just get the vague, “Haven’t I seen you before” reaction.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  19. Leigh Lei April 10, 2018 / 3:48 am

    i have an experience seeing a doppel ganger of my friend, so I believe it’s true. But I’m just curious to see your photo then, for us to judge if he is really your doppel ganger. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • Fandango April 10, 2018 / 6:38 am

      What? you didn’t like my picture in the side-by-side? Tsk-tsk!

      Like

      Reply
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  23. crushedcaramel December 3, 2018 / 4:44 am

    I vaguely remember that show…
    ….I must have been a very young kiddo though.

    That’s how I will see you now though.

    Great post.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  24. Sadje December 3, 2018 / 5:14 am

    Yes, a marked resemblance, at least in the pictures!😛

    Like

    Reply
  25. Sadje December 3, 2018 / 5:14 am

    Yes, a marked resemblance, at least in the pictures!😛

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  26. Melanie B Cee December 3, 2018 / 7:52 am

    I USED to look vaguely like Melanie Griffiths before she had her lips turned into flotation devices. And from the scanty clues you’ve shared about your appearance, I bet you do look like Michael Gross. Well that’s the face I assigned to you in my head. Good call as it turns out. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
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  29. Stine Writing April 10, 2021 / 4:34 pm

    Hahahaha! As I was reading this I was thinking “I wonder if Fandango is really putting his picture up to see the resemblance! You sure did but I can’t see it…

    Liked by 1 person

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