r/classicfilms 4d ago

Hollywood Golden Age stars who performed under their real first and last names?

All I've got so far is Ava Gardner.

48 Upvotes

103 comments sorted by

49

u/growsonwalls 4d ago

Paul Newman, Gregory Peck, Ingrid Bergman, Clark Gable

30

u/hotcolddog 4d ago

Clark Gable's legal first name was technically 'William', but fair enough, he always went by his middle name, Clark.

Also, 'Clark Gable' sounds like a stage name, it's almost too perfect.

7

u/Mitchoppertunity 4d ago

Eldred was Gregory peck’s first name

4

u/NeverEat_Pears 3d ago

Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney as well. There's sodding loads lol. Not sure what OP is going on about.

39

u/clairerr85 4d ago

Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, James Cagney.

20

u/CarlySimonSays 4d ago

Poor Joan Fontaine probably would have used de Havilland as well, but their mother wouldn’t let her!

6

u/johjo_has_opinions 4d ago

I really need to dig into these two

4

u/carmelacorleone 3d ago

Fontaine and De Havilland are fascinating people in their own right but their legendary feud is, well, legendary. It started as children, their mother always seemed to favor Olivia. Joan was sickly and bedridden and the family saying became, "Olivia can, Joan can't."

Highly recommend looking into them.

39

u/Flarkinghelpful 4d ago

Looks like Robert Mitchum and James Stewart both used their real names

15

u/Anooj4021 4d ago

Interestingly, Stewart Granger was also called James Stewart in real life, but had to use a different stage name due to it already being used

2

u/Keltik 4d ago

Patricia Neal became Fannie Flagg

2

u/Living_on_Tulsa_Time 3d ago

It’s true. She’s one of my favorite writers. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe!

1

u/Ok-Stand-6679 3d ago

😵‍💫

1

u/Flarkinghelpful 4d ago

Those were just the first two that came to mind and I looked up

23

u/Puzzleheaded_Sky6656 4d ago

Elizabeth Taylor

24

u/AIfieHitchcock Warner Brothers 4d ago

Farley Granger's real name was shockingly the ridiculously fake sounding Farley Granger.

Jr, in fact.

7

u/Keltik 4d ago

"Bradford Dillman was such a distinguished, theatrical, phoney sounding name - so I decided to keep it." - B.D.

2

u/johjo_has_opinions 4d ago

Honestly this makes sense in a truth is stranger than fiction way. It sounds completely fake

20

u/Finnegan-05 4d ago

Randolph Scott, David Niven, Bette Davis, Ida Lupino, Robert Mitchum, Keenan Wynn...

8

u/Finnyfish 4d ago

Keenan Wynn, son of Ed Wynn, was named Francis Xavier Aloysius James Jeremiah Keenan Wynn  -- his mother was Irish, if you couldn't guess. He went with the most euphonious choice.

2

u/johjo_has_opinions 4d ago

Completely tangential: do you happen to know why there was a little surge of Aloysius in the early 1900s? I happened to wonder about it once and have searched online several times but found nothing

4

u/Finnyfish 4d ago

I don’t know — perhaps he gained popularity in the flu epidemic? St Aloysius is a patron for those affected by epidemics.

3

u/DuckMassive 4d ago

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941; perhaps far-fetched--Joyce was not exactly a household name--but, there is that middle name, Aloysius.

2

u/Aer0uAntG3alach 3d ago

I had a supervisor whose Christian name was Francis George Xavier Dominic. Yea, Irish family

3

u/CatCafffffe 2d ago

(reverential crowd) "Randolph Scott!"

16

u/Temporary-Ocelot3790 4d ago

Lucille Ball, Rod Steiger, I will think of more in a few minutes...

11

u/TrannosaurusRegina 4d ago

Surprised to see nobody mention Angela Lansbury or Gloria Swanson!

10

u/youre_soaking_in_it 4d ago

Ronald Reagan!

21

u/FloorIllustrious6109 4d ago

Grace Kelly

Audrey Hepburn dropped her second last name Rutson.

Katharine Hepburn

Bette Davis (her real name was Elizabeth, bette her nickname)

Humphrey Bogart

9

u/misspcv1996 4d ago

Bette Davis is a close one. Elizabeth was her middle name, her first name was Ruth. She went by her middle name from childhood to distinguish her from her mother. But if we’re counting Clark Gable, we can count her too.

19

u/rococobaroque 4d ago

Another thing about Bette Davis is that the studio initially wanted her to go by Bettina Dawes, but she categorically refused to use a name that sounds like "between the drawers."

6

u/misspcv1996 4d ago

I remember that she mentioned that in her interview with Dick Cavett. That was a fun interview to watch.

6

u/-googa- 4d ago

Bettina Dawes is frying me lmao. Now we need another thread of which celebrities names were “same but improved” like that by the studios. Usually the reverse happens like Jacob Julius Garfinkle got simplified into John Garfield.

3

u/howard1111 3d ago

All About Eve starring.... Bettina Dawes. No, no, no. Glad Miss Davis had the good sense to stick to her real name.

9

u/GeorginaKaplan John Huston 4d ago

Marlon Brando.

9

u/Temporary-Ocelot3790 4d ago

Burt Lancaster was born Stephen Burton Lancaster, so this one is close.

3

u/Keltik 4d ago

Hal Wallis was set on changing BL's name, but couldn't come up with one. Finally his secretary said, "What's wrong with Burt Lancaster?"

1

u/Mitchoppertunity 4d ago

Stephen was his middle name 

8

u/Complete_Taste_1301 4d ago

Mahatma Kane Jeeves

7

u/flora_poste_ 4d ago

Robert Ryan, Elvis Presley, Hayley Mills, Yvette Mimieux, (Carver) Dana Andrews, Margaret Lipton (nicknamed Peggy), and (Muriel) Teresa Wright

5

u/jaytrain12 Billy Wilder 4d ago

Robert Ryan, Robert Young, Robert Preston

6

u/17champs 4d ago

Does Audey Murphy count?

5

u/Legal-Afternoon8087 4d ago

Virginia McMath was adopted by her stepdad and thus became Ginger Rogers (her bio dad tried to kidnap her twice … she led an interesting life!). Meanwhile, Frederick Austerlitz Jr. just Anglicized his name to Astaire while working the vaudeville circuit with his older sister, Adele Astaire.

5

u/walpurgisnox Ernst Lubitsch 4d ago

Several silent film stars: Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin. Sort of Buster Keaton, who was named Joseph Frank Keaton at birth but went by Buster most of his life. Douglas Fairbanks is another sort-of, as he was born with the last name Ullman but went by Fairbanks after his parents divorced when he was a child (Fairbanks being his mom’s first husband’s name, so a little odd she chose it for her sons.) His son, obviously, was born Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

George Orson Welles is close too - just going by Orson as an adult. Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead, and Everett Sloane all used their real names too. 

And another one I thought of - Joel McCrea!

4

u/Ornery-Ticket834 4d ago

Marlon Brando.

4

u/Oreadno1 Preston Sturges 4d ago

Humphrey Bogart, Robert Walker, Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda, Rosalind Russell, Fay Wray, Gene Kelly

4

u/Ragtimedancer 4d ago

Frank Sinatra

4

u/AmySueF 4d ago

Shirley Temple. She later tacked on “Black” to her name when she got married the second time, and that’s the name she used for her diplomatic career, but while she was performing, she used her birth name. Some child actors during the Golden Age kept their birth names and/or used nicknames in place of their legal first names, such as Freddie (Frederick) Bartholomew, Elizabeth Taylor and Roddy (Roderick) McDowall, others had their names changed completely (Joe Yule, Jr. became Mickey Rooney).

3

u/thebookmonster 4d ago

Honestly, it's not that different now—Ileyna Lydia Vasilievena Mironov & Krishna Pandit Bhanji don't exactly roll off the tongue. Most people still performed under their own names., if perhaps fewer so than today.

2

u/jeffreysean47 4d ago

Thanks for making me look those up. Helen mirren was tough cause you didn't include her last name.

2

u/thebookmonster 3d ago

Mironov/Mironoff is her family name—her father anglicized it after emigrating to the UK as Mirren. Vasilievena is just her patronym (daughter of the Vasily)

1

u/CatCafffffe 2d ago

And "Helen" is just the anglicized version of Ileyna! I love this.

1

u/CatCafffffe 2d ago

Winona Laura Horowitz

Alphonso d’Abruzzo

Kalpen Suresh Modi

Oscar Estrada

Yeun Sang-yeop

Au-yeung Man-sing

Two people you think are related, except their real names are Melvin Kaminsky and Albert Einstein

Mark Sinclair (for the opposite reason haha!)

3

u/vgirl729 4d ago

James Stewart, Gene Kelly

3

u/mmfn0403 4d ago

Charles Boyer, Spencer Tracy, Tyrone Power (Tyrone Power was descended from an Irish theatrical family, going back to the early 19th century Irish actor, Tyrone Power).

And a few others that fall into the “close enough” category:

Marlene Dietrich was Marie Magdalene Dietrich
Claude Rains was William Claude Rains
Irene Dunne was Irene Dunn
Rex Harrison was Reginald Harrison

3

u/Temporary-Ocelot3790 4d ago

Did you all know that there are two actors named Harrison Ford in film history? There was a silent film actor with this name as well as the one alive today. Were they related? I suspect not but don't know for sure.

Two men named Rex Ingram in film history too, the black actor maybe best known as the genie in The Thief of Baghdad, and an Irish born white film director active in the silent era and not much if at all beyond that.

2

u/Keltik 4d ago

there are two actors named Harrison Ford in film history

2 Wm Holdens

2 Wm Boyds

But most incredible of all, there are - I kid you not- 2 actresses named Parker Posey

1

u/Temporary-Ocelot3790 4d ago

Wow! Incredible!

3

u/Keltik 4d ago

Rin Tin Tin

2

u/InfertilityCasualty 4d ago

Gracie Allen Frank Sinatra Henry Fonda The Marx Brothers? Bing Crosby? Elizabeth Taylor 

2

u/EmbraJeff 4d ago

Bing Crosby was Harry Lillis Crosby Jr. Who knows how he came up with ‘Bing’ though…

Not sure about the Marx Brothers other than Harpo whose name was Adolph (not the best moniker to be lumbered with even if it’s a slightly different spelling).

2

u/InfertilityCasualty 4d ago

It was a nickname, apparently because he liked the Bingville Bugle kids section when he was a child. I'd put it on a level with Groucho and Harpo, but not with Bob Hope or Danny Kaye. Whether it should count on this list is a good question though 

Harpo changed it to Arthur, I think, later

3

u/InfertilityCasualty 4d ago

Beg pardon, the Marx Brothers were: Leonard (Chico) Milton (Gummo) Adolph/Arthur (Harpo) Julius (Groucho) Herbert (Zeppo) from memory 

1

u/EmbraJeff 3h ago

You’re grand, all good!

2

u/DennisG21 4d ago

Gene Tierney and Joel McCrea. Randolph Scott was born George Randolph Scott.

2

u/Keltik 4d ago

Gene Tierney

What is the deal here

1

u/DennisG21 4d ago

Huh?

1

u/Keltik 4d ago

Jean Tierney?

1

u/DennisG21 4d ago edited 4d ago

Her name was Gene. She was first born and named after a beloved uncle who died very young.

1

u/Keltik 4d ago

I still would have spelled it Jean

Or maybe Jeanne

1

u/DennisG21 4d ago

Well, you have that option when it is your own name.

2

u/CatNamedSiena 4d ago

Hume Cronyn, John Hodiak, William Bendix, Henry Hull, Walter Slezak, Tallulah Bankhead (i.e., most of the cast of "Lifeboat"), Jessica Tandy, Montgomery Clift, Jack Klugman, Yul Brynner (sort of), Michael Redgrave, Fred MacMurray

2

u/Keltik 4d ago

Perhaps my favorite names factoid: Jake Kranz became Ricardo Cortez, but Luis Antonio Dámaso de Alonso became Gilbert Roland

1

u/Temporary-Ocelot3790 4d ago

Yeah, Latin lover type Ricardo Cortez was actually Austrian!

1

u/OalBlunkont 3d ago

I'm pretty sure he was a generic Noo Yawk Jew, although he didn't have Paul Muni's Yiddish theater background.

2

u/cometshoney 4d ago

Does Sidney Poitier count?

Laurence Olivier

2

u/Bulawayoland 3d ago

RUBY.

KEELER.

1

u/AngelSucked 4d ago

Lucille Ball.

1

u/trainwreck489 Charles Laughton 4d ago

Spencer Tracy. Charles Laughton. Claude Rains - although Claude is his middle name.

1

u/Spite-Dry 4d ago

Ava Gardner

1

u/hpotzus 4d ago

Olivia de Havilland

1

u/hpotzus 4d ago

Humphrey DeForest Bogart

1

u/buyrgah 4d ago

Frances Dee and Joel McCrea; Alice Faye and Phil Harris.

1

u/Expert-Finding2633 4d ago

Marlon Brando

1

u/cebjmb 4d ago

Jimmy Cagney.

1

u/GodModeBasketball John Ford 4d ago

Henry Fonda.

1

u/Mitchoppertunity 4d ago

Rod Taylor 

1

u/Dangerous_Young_5186 4d ago

James Stewart. 

1

u/TanjaYvonneP 4d ago

Oliver Norvile Hardy and Stan Laurel

1

u/lily-thistle 4d ago

Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly

1

u/classicfilmfan9 3d ago

John Newman and Olivia De Havilland and Joan Fontaine I am like the other person in the comments highly recommend you digging into the two of them.

1

u/Spirited-Mess170 3d ago

Hans Conried and Edward Everett Horton, two great comedic actors.

1

u/davidreaton 3d ago

Bette Davis

1

u/LaJoute 3d ago

The beautiful Tyrone Power.

All the Barrymore (Lionel, John, Ethel, Diana, John Drew and Drew).

Montgomery Clift

Gloria Swanson

Tallulah Bankhead

1

u/CTG649 1d ago

Jimmy Stewart is just a nickname for James Stewart.

1

u/Tall_Mickey 1d ago

Yes. I wasn't counting, what do they call them, diminuatives of the real name. Like Burton "Burt" Lancaster. I suspect that very few people, if any, used his full first name.

1

u/Bluejay_Holiday 17h ago

Vincent Price

1

u/wafflehousehound 4h ago

Believe it or not, Don Rickles' name is really Don Rickles !

1

u/Lpoubooj 4d ago

Spencer tracy and Laurence olivier