Disney’s The Parent Trap is a story about twin sisters who are unaware the other exists until random chance brings them together. It turns out random chance could have brought two stars from the 1998 Parent Trap remake together decades before the pair became best friends on the Disney movie’s set. I’m in love with the story that actresses Lisa Ann Walter and Elaine Hendrix apparently had great-grandparents who lived only blocks away from each other.
Abbott Elementary star Lisa Ann Walter appears in an episode of the new YouTube ancestry show unFamiliar, and in the episode (via Us Weekly), she gets a visit from her friend Hendrix, who reveals the incredible connection the two apparently have. It seems that Walter’s maternal great-grandparents lived a block apart on Elizabeth Street in New York City, while Hendrix’s great-grandfather lived about six blocks further down the same road.
You gotta love this. It’s like a page out of The Parent Trap to discover that you and a best friend had ancestors that may have actually known each other, and almost certainly at least crossed paths with each other. The world is a pretty random place, and decisions people make to live in a certain place or take a certain job can greatly impact where life takes them. But hearing a story like this makes you feel like destiny might really be a thing.
The Parent Trap was originally released in 1961 and starred Haley Mills, as a pair of twins who had been separated by their divorced parents. When the two kids discover each other at summer camp and sing one of Disney's biggest hit songs, they switch places in an attempt to get their parents to reconcile. In 1998 the movie was remade and starred Lindsay Lohan in the role of the twins. Both movies have a lot of fans. Walter has remarked how popular The Parent Trap is with Abbott Elementary's cast and crew. The remake has become popular on TikTok, with Lindsay Lohan herself getting in on the fun.
Elaine Hendrix played Meredith, a woman engaged to marry the husband of the girls. Walter played Chessy, the housekeeper and nanny employed by the dad. While the two roles were on opposite sides in the movie it sounds like Walter and Hendrix became friends very quickly on the set of The Parent Trap, and they are still close today. Discovering this connection they had is likely to only bring them closer together.
One wonders if we might be due for another Parent Trap movie. It’s been 25 years since the last film, and we recently learned that another remake of a live-action Disney film that starred Lindsay Lohan, Freaky Friday, has a sequel in development. Perhaps we could see something similar happen with Parent Trap that would put best friends Elizabeth Hendrix and Lisa Ann Walter on screen together again.
