Joan Crawford was gestate Lucille LeSueur , but her studio apartment thought her last name sound too much like " sewer . " So , her stagecoach name was decided via a magazine contest .
These days, plenty of famous people use stage names. Some of them want to choose a name that’s more striking or unique, but for decades, others have been pressured to make the switch. For example,The Handmaid’s TalestarYvonne Strahovski— whose real name is Yvonne Strzechowski — toldColliderin 2020, “If it was now, I probably wouldn’t have done it. It was part of, I guess, the culture back then. This old Hollywood thinking to anglicize your name a bit more or make it less complicated or less of a mouthful.”
As Yvonne noted, this trend was very popular in Hollywood’s Golden Age. So, here are 17 interesting stories behind Old Hollywood stage names:
1.Rita Hayworth’s real name was Margarita Carmen Cansino. According toScreen Rant, under her initial contract with Fox, she went by Rita Casino. However, when she signed a new contract with Columbia Pictures, they made her conform to an “All-American” image, which involved going blonde and ditching her Spanish-sounding name.
Hayworth was her mamma ’s last name before matrimony .
2.Rita Morenowas born Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano. According toPBS, when she arrived in Hollywood to begin her seven-year contract with MGM, Bill Grady, a casting agent, told her that changing her name would be necessary.
She named herself after Rita Hayworth . She also acquire her stepdad ’s last name .
3.Marilyn Monroewas born Norma Jeane Mortenson. According to an autographed photo procured byTIME, when she signed with 20th Century Studios, Ben Lyon, one of the studio execs and an actor, gave her the idea of changing to her now-famous stage name.
On the signed photo , she wrote , " Dear Ben , You retrieve me , named me , and believe in me when no one else did . My thanks and love forever . Marilyn . "
When they were coming up with her stage name , the actorreportedlysuggested Monroe because it was a name from her mama ’s side of the family unit . The executive director suggested Marilyn after hisHer Majesty , Lovecostar Marilyn Miller .
4.Joan Fontaine’s real name was Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland. She told theHollywood Reporterthat her sister, Olivia de Havilland, became an actor first, so their motherforbadeJoan from signing to Warner Bros. because it was “Olivia’s studio.” She also said that she wasn’t allowed to use her real name because “two de Havillands on the marquee would be too many.”
So , Joan used her stepdad ’s last name .
5.Judy Garland’s birth name was Frances Ethel Gumm. PerRefinery29, as a child, she performed with her sisters, and when she was 12, they renamed themselves the Garland sisters.
One prevailing theory is that she choose the name Judy after the song " Judy " by Hoagy Carmichael .
6.Merle Oberon’s birth name was Estelle Merle O’Brien Thompson. According toBritannica, early in her career, she adopted her stage name at the suggestion of director/producer Alexander Korda, who cast her in her breakout role as Anne Boleyn inThe Private Life of Henry VIII.
so as to get work as an thespian , she also hid her Singhalese and Māori inheritance . Likewise , according to BBC , Tasmania was publicly listed as her birthplace instead of India , where she was actually born .
7.Mickey Rooneywas born Joseph Yule Jr. In 1940, he told Adelaide’sthe Mailthat, as a child actor, he booked the role of Mickey McGuire in a series of short comedies, and he took on the character’s name as his stage name. However, when his contract ended, he wasn’t allowed to use the stage name anymore, so he changed his professional surname.
8.Mary Pickford’s real name was Gladys Louise Smith. According toPBS, she took up a stage name at the behest of theatrical producer David Belasco, who thought she needed a moniker with more star power.
Hating her factual mediate name , she lied and said it was Marie . So , Marie was changed to Mary . Pickford was one of her momma ’s family names .
9.Michael Caine was born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite. Initially, he chose the stage name Michael Scott (perTIME). However, when he moved to London, his agent told him to choose a new name, so he took inspiration from a billboard advertising the movieThe Caine Mutiny(perYahoo).
He legallychangedhis name to Michael Caine in 2016 because of issues he had at airport security when guards would recognise him by his leg name before see a different name on his passport .
10.John Wayne’s real name was Marion Robert Morrison. According toFar Out Magazine, director Raoul Walsh “discovered” the actor while he was working as a stagehand on the Fox studio lot and wanted to cast him in a leading role. However, the director didn’t think he had a name worthy of a movie star.
So , Raoul and studio White House Winfield Sheehan teamed up to come up with a new name for the actor . They took inhalation from American Revolution general Anthony Wayne .
11.Debbie Reynolds’s real name was Mary Frances Reynolds. However, when she signed a contract with Warner Bros., the studio decided her first name sounded a bit too old-timey (per theLA Times).
Shereportedlysaid , " I did n’t want to be called Debbie , but that ’s the name Jack Warner give me . "
12.Joan Crawford was born Lucille Fay LeSueur. According to theGuardian, after she signed a contract with MGM, the studio heads decided her surname sounded too much like “sewer.” So, her stage name was decided via a magazine competition.
The actor disliked it because , as she told theNew York Times , it sound too similar to " crawfish . "
13.Barbara Stanwyck’s real name was Ruby Catherine Stevens. According toBritannica, one prevailing theory is that, when she was cast as a cabaret dancer inThe Nooseon Broadway, someone — either impresario David Belasco or the show’s producer — suggested the name change.
14.Rock Hudson was born Roy Harold Scherer Jr. He adopted a stage name at the suggestion of his agent, Henry Willson (perHarper’s Bazaar).
His first name was inspired by the Rock of Gibraltar , a promontory in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar in southwest Europe . His last name come from the Hudson River in New York .
15.Lauren Bacall’s real name was Betty Joan Perske. According toReuters, after her parents' divorce, sheadopteda slightly altered version of her mom’s last name, Bacal. The name “Lauren” came from director Howard Hawks.
16.Fred Astaire’s birth name was Frederick Austerlitz. He and his older sister, Adele, started using the last name Astaire when they began their vaudeville careers as children (per theOmaha World-Herald).
One theory is that their shared stage name was borrow from their relatives in Alsace - Lorraine , a former German Empire dominion that ’s in modern - day France .
17.And finally, Cary Grant’s birth name was Archibald Alec Leach. When he signed with Paramount Pictures, the studio decided he needed to change his name to something more befitting a leading man (perBritannica).
Nine class by and by , he lawfully alter his name to Cary Grant .
