Separated at Birth 6: Frank Asaro and The Bearded Who

Another in the continuing series dedicated to the Separated at Birth phenomenon.

So a few days back I was watching an old episode of the show "In Search of..." called "The End of the World" for a blog I was writing on the subject.  The episode came from the fifth season of the show, way back in 1981.

One of the experts consulted on the subject of various possibilities for the end of the world in this episode was a scientist from Berkeley named Frank Asaro.  Now, I can't say that I'd ever heard of Mr. Asaro before watching this old show, but for whatever reason there was something about him that seemed very familiar to me.

Frank Asaro: Scientist

I couldn't quite place it at first, but this familiarity seemed to have something to do with the epic beard he was sporting.  The first thought was that he resembled former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop.  A case could probably be made that Frank Asaro and C. Everett Koop were indeed separated at birth.  They were supposedly born eleven years apart, but are certainly contemporaries of each other.

C. Everett Koop

Frank Asaro

But, as you've probably noticed, the title of this edition of Separated at Birth doesn't mention C. Everett Koop.  No, there seemed to be something else nagging at my mind when I saw Mr. Asaro.  I saw the "In Search of..." episode less than a week before Christmas and it felt like Frank Asaro's long-lost "relative" must have had something to do with the season at hand.  The answer was found in the old animated Christmas special "How The Grinch Stole Christmas"(1966).  This Boris Karloff-narrated show was alway a favorite of mine as a kid (and still is, as a matter of fact).

In the show, when the Whos of Whoville started singing the song "Welcome Christmas" there's a moment when a bearded Whovillian appears alongside some of his fellow citizens.  This particular Who had a very distinctive beard.  A beard not unlike...Frank Asaro's (and C. Everett Koop's too for that matter).

Now, note the resemblance between the bearded Who and Frank Asaro.  Similar Beard.  Similar hairline.  Throw some glasses and a tie on the Who and it's almost uncanny, right?

The Bearded Who

Frank Asaro

I can't say for sure that Frank Asaro and the bearded Whovillian were indeed separated at birth.  The fact that one is a human being and one is an animated character would seem to make it rather unlikely.  But then again, we have seen some rather odd pairings in earlier Separated at Birth installments: like Tim Tebow and Bigfoot, and Reese Witherspoon and Sister Bear (from The Berenstain Bears).  I suppose a less dramatic explanation could be that Mr. Asaro was simply inspired (consciously or unconsciously) by a viewing of "How The Grinch Stole Christmas".  Either that or (probably more likely) he was a fan of Abe Lincoln's style.

Abraham Lincoln

Frank Asaro

I don't know what ever became of the bearded Whoville resident in the years since he helped usher in Christmas by singing "Welcome Christmas" back in 1966.  Does anyone happen to know what the average life span is for a Who?  HIs bald head and white beard would seem to indicate that he was already an elder of the town, but I really couldn't say how old he would have been back when the special first aired, or if he'd be likely to still be alive today.

However, thanks to the internet we do have a better idea of what happened to Frank Asaro in the three-plus decades since his appearance on "In Search of...".  According to his Wikipedia page he's still "an Emeritus Senior Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory associated with the University of California at Berkeley."  And according to Berkeley's Environmental Energy Technologies Division website he's part of the Sustainable Energy Systems Group.  Here's a more recent photo of Mr. Asaro from that site:

Note that after all these years he's still rockin' his trademark beard!

...Even if it is cropped a little closer these days.

See more instances of people (and other things) that seemed to have been "Separated at Birth" below:

Separated at Birth: Kiefer Sutherland and Julia Stiles

Separated at Birth 2: Tim Tebow and Bigfoot 

Separated at Birth 3: Reese Witherspoon and Sister Bear

Separated at Birth 4: Luis Guzman and Trog

Separated at Birth 5: Lindsay Wagner and Julia Stiles