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Donald Hackett

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Donald Hackett was the father of Joe and Brian Hackett. He was played by Granville Ames in This Old House and Don Murray in Burnin' Down the House (Part 2).

Bio[]

Not much is known about Donald Hackett's past or where he hails from, but since many of his family members seem to live in the Boston area, he may be a native to that region. However, both his sons were born and raised on Nantucket (Joe Blows (Part 1)).

In the 1970s, Donald and Mae moved with their two sons from their apartment to a house on 427 Madaket Way (This Old House). After years of a troubled marriage, Mae announced to him she was leaving and ran out on the family. Her absence affected each member of the family in different ways. While Joe was hit hard by her absence right away, often staring out the window for long times in anticipation of her return, Brian seemed to be somehow accepting of this turn of events. Don had taken a turn for the worse, at a later point engaging in strange activities. He first claimed to be a waffle and asked people to pour syrup on him, but ended this one month later. He was then seen at the supermarket trying to give out free samples while not being an employee. However, as Don had gained a reputation for being a practical joker, those incidents may have been chalked up to pranks. The condition seemed to get more severe as a ladies' group hosted a chili cookoff contest, and Don had attempted to participate, only that he had shown up to the cookoff stark naked. This was of such gravity that the police needed to get involved, and Don was arrested for indecency. It was unknown if he was convicted or the charges were dropped, but it cemented the public's belief that something was wrong with him. Joe later says that a sanitarium had taken action by getting his father committed, or as Joe recalled "the white coats lured Dad into their van by waving a Chunky at him". The mental breakdown would cause rifts between Joe and Don even after his father's passing. It was unknown how Brian felt about his father's institutionalization, though he remarked in his later years it was a problem.

Donald Hackett died in spring 1990 just prior to Brian's return to Nantucket. In his will, he left a box to his sons that he stipulated could only be opened if both were present, forcing them to reunite after their six-year estrangement. The box contained a key which opened up the lockbox to another key, then another, which had Joe and Brian go to Boston then back to Nantucket airport where they ended up finding a suitcase full of spring snakes and a photograph of them as children, encouraging them to always value their kinship.

A few years later, Joe and Brian found another key in the case, implying there was more to the search. After several more stops, including one to a lamp post in New York City, the brothers finally found their inheritance, hidden in an upstairs storage locker in the terminal at Tom Nevers Field.

Trivia[]

  • In Legacy, Joe reveals that Donald's last words were "Sit on my lap, Eydie" because he thought Joe was Eydie Gormé. Eydie Gormé (August 16, 1928 – August 10, 2013) was a Jewish American singer who had hits on the pop and Latin pop charts and performed on both Broadway and in Las Vegas.

Episode(s)[]

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