Of all our top tens thus far, none have been blessed with such a concentration of acting, singing or performing prowess. Admittedly, Chuck Norris isn’t up there with De Niro and Pacino when it comes to method acting, but he sure can kick like a mule and his hair has to be seen to be believed – hell, we gave him the top spot on the strength of his ‘suspected’ syrup alone…
1 . CHUCK NORRIS
The former action hero may not be as well known as Sly or Arnie, but he kicks ass in the child rearing arena. A six-time World Karate Champion, Chuck is said to have fathered his four-year-old twins, Danilee and Dakota, despite having had a vasectomy a few years ago (he has three grown-up nippers), and he’s also committed to putting wayward kids back on the straight and narrow through a successful martial arts programme called the Kickstart Foundation. Verdict: admirable
2. DENZEL WASHINGTON
With an Oscar, a BA in journalism and a production company under his belt, Den’s not a man to do things by halves – as his quartet of nippers further illustrate. The youngest of the four are Olivia and Malcolm – who was named in honour of Malcolm X – though Denzel’s careful not to bring up racism awareness too much over the breakfast table: “You have to be careful not to beat them over the head so much they start looking over theirshoulders for something that may not be there,” he says. Verdict: deep
3. MICHAEL J FOX
The 44-year-old Canadian man-boy has four children with his actress wife Tracy Pollan: Samuel, Esme, and the twins, Aquinna and Schuyler, who were born in 1995. Inspired to find projects that his kids would enjoy, Fox has lent his voice to a variety of children’s flicks since the early 1990s including Atlantis The Lost Empire and Stuart Little. Verdict: selfless
4. MEL GIBSON
It’s probably safe to assume that the writer and director of The Passion Of The Christ takes the maxims of the Catholic Church very seriously,given that he and his wife have seven children. Then again, a nine-year break in baby-making from 1990-1999 might take some explaining to the priest. Gibson’s twins, Edward and, er, Christian, were born in 1982. Verdict: devout
5. NAT KING COLE
Everyone knows his daughter, Natalie, but the velvet-voiced crooner had four other children. He met his missus Maria in 1947, got married and promptly produced the rest of the brood; Carol, Kelly and the twins Timolin and Casey. After his death in 1965, Maria said, “The simple joys of living were his guidemarks to greatness and his family were his treasures – he guarded our image always.” Verdict: grounded
6. AL PACINO
Despite never having married, the gravely-voiced uber actor has a daughter named Julie Marie, and fathered twins with Beverly D’Angelo. He says of fatherhood, “The children are the best thing that ever happened to me. But I wasn’t around as much with my older one when she was young. Instinctively, I trust my reactions more than I would without having had a child before.” Verdict: grounded
7. ROBERT DE NIRO
Big Bobby D sired a pair of twins (Aaron Kendrick De Niro and Julian Henry De Niro) with an ex in 1995, and also has an adopted daughter and two further sons in his complicated family unit. De Niro started the trend for wearing coloured ribbons at the 1981 Oscars by donning a green ribbon in remembrance of several kids who were victims of an Atlanta serial killer. Verdict: inscrutable
8. PELE
A phenomenal scorer on the pitch, Pele was also pretty tasty off the field. He had three children with his first wife and bagged a brace – Joshua and Celeste – with his second, Assiria Seixas Lemeos, whom he married in 1994. He also has at least two girls born out of wedlock. Verdict: prolific
9. DONALD SUTHERLAND
Yes, Don’s the famous old man of the perhaps equally famous Kiefer, but it’s not as well known that Sutherland Jr’s a twin. He and his sister Rachel were brought up by Donald and former wife Shirley Douglas in Canada, where, thankfully, they were encouraged to develop their own identities. “My parents made a point of allowing us to be different,” he says. “They didn’t get into that cutie thing of wearing the same outfits.” Verdict: wise
10. BING CROSBY
Although once acclaimed by LIFE magazine as “incontestably the No. 1 Big Family Man of Hollywood,” not all was as it seemed in the Crosby household. His eldest, Gary, once described the place as a “house of terror all the time”, due mainly to Bing’s dictatorial approach to fathering, his mother’s alcoholism, and living with three lively brothers – including twins Phillip and Dennis. Verdict: moot
