Holy smokes! Brad Pitt lived in Geneva?

Inquiring minds wanted to know whether it was true after Windy City Live said on its 9 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 19, show that the Academy Award nominee for best actor lived in sleepy, enchanting, Geneva, IL, from 1968 to 1972.

That did seem plausible, based on Pitt's bio.

According to Wikipedia and IMDb.com, Pitt was born in 1963, the son of Jane Etta and William Alvin Pitt, a truck company owner. He was born in Shawnee, OK, but Wikipedia says, "the family soon moved to Springfield, MO, where he lived together with his younger siblings, Doug (born 1966) and Julie Neal (born 1969). Pitt attended Kickapoo High School, where he was a member of the basketball, golf, tennis, wrestling and swimming teams."

I tried contacting Pitt's representatives by e-mail to see if he did, in fact, reside here, I e-mailed Windy City Live to confirm, and on Thursday, I contacted the best information source in the world—the Geneva Public Library—and asked for some help. Ellen Schmid, the outstanding adult reference coordinator, did some digging and found no records of the Pitts residing in Geneva during those years.

Ellen did find the answer, though, and it had been on the Geneva Patch Facebook page since Tuesday, when I first contacted WCL via Facebook. I simply missed the response. Sadly ...

"This was an incorrect fact by one of our interns," the Facebook message said. "Unfortunately ... I am just handed the clues after we pick the town and this one slipped by us."

So, as far as we know, Brad Pitt did not spend his formative years in our fair city.

One less person to have to root for Sunday, I guess, when the best actor awards are presented at the 84th Annual Academy Awards.

Best Actor Nominees

Demián Bichir for A Better Life (2011)

George Clooney for The Descendants (2011)

Jean Dujardin for The Artist (2011)

Gary Oldman for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

Brad Pitt for Moneyball (2011)

SOURCE: IMDb.com