HENRY LOUIS GATES JR.THE BLESSING' KNOWING YOUR ROOTS

THE HARVARD PROFESSOR AND GRANDFATHER OF ONE ALWAYS DREAMED OF FINDING HIS ANCESTORS. THEN HE CREATED A HIT TV SHOW TO HELP OTHER PEOPLE FIND THEIRS

- JP MANGALINDAN

Henry Louis Gates Jr. may not be as instantly recognizable as the stars who appear on his show Finding Your Roots, but that doesn't mean fans don't fuss over him. "One time a guy said, 'Excuse me, Dr. Gates. I don't like your politics, but I love your show. Can I have a selfie?"" the Harvard professor says over the phone from his Cambridge, Mass., home, of one airport encounter. "I said, 'Yes, sir. That'll be fine."

" It's a testament to the appeal of Finding Your Roots, Gates's PBS docuseries that over 10 seasons has welcomed celebrity guests and uncovered their family trees, often with surprising results. Thanks to the beloved show, Edward Norton learned that he and Julia Roberts are genetic cousins, Kerry Washington discovered she was conceived through a sperm donor, and Viola Davis found out that she's related to Anita Hill. This season, now airing, Gates, 73, reveals to Bob Odenkirk that he has ties to King Charles III and Nathan Lane.

"That's one of my favorites," says Gates, who also recently debuted Gospel, a four-hour PBS docuseries exploring Black spirituality, and an accompanying special, Gospel Live! Growing up in Piedmont, W.Va., Gates's mother, Pauline, was a master seamstress, and his father, Henry, bookended days working at a paper mill with an evening job as a part-time janitor at the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company.

"We were working-class, but we were the most prosperous Black family in our town," he recalls.