Call Me By My Other Name Trivia Quiz

Answer: Meat Loaf

Marvin Lee Aday (1947-2022) was the birth name of Meat Loaf, the world famous singer and actor from Texas, USA known for songs such as 'Bat Out of Hell', 'You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth', and the 1993 number one hit, 'I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)'. Alongside belting out these timeless tunes, Meat Loaf made memorable appearances in films widely regarded as cult classics, including playing himself in Richard O'Brien's 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' (1975) and cancer sufferer Bob Paulsen in 'Fight Club' (1999).

In 1984, Meat Loaf changed his first name from Marvin to Michael, supposedly due to the influence of an advert in which a character named Marvin was referred to disparagingly. The stage name of Meat Loaf is said to have arisen in two parts; the first at time of birth when his unusually red complexion at the time led to his father referring to him as "meat" and the second when his coach at school called him a "hunk of meat loaf" after Aday had clumsily stepped on his foot.

Answer: Tina Turner

Tina Turner (1939-2023) - the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll" - was born as Anna Mae Bullock in Brownsville, Tennessee, but she lived out her early years in the small settlement of Nutbush, situated about fifty miles away from Memphis. The world-famous artist sang about this unincorporated rural community, alongside Ike, in the 1973 record 'Nutbush City Limits' and the lyrics make reference to "Highway Number Nineteen". This relates to a State Route in Tennessee, a stretch of which (Brownsville to Nutbush) has since been renamed the Tina Turner Highway in her honour.

It was Anna Mae Bullock's husband, Ike Turner, that was behind the star's name change; the reason for the change of surname is straightforward enough, but the name Tina came about - rather peculiarly to my mind - because it rhymes with Sheena and this was the name of the title character from a comic book much loved by Ike called 'Sheena, Queen of the Jungle'.

Answer: Butch Patrick

Butch Patrick, child star of the 1960s American television show 'The Munsters', was born in Inglewood, California, in 1953 under the name Patrick Alan Lilley. Following on from his success playing the young werewolf Eddie Munster - by his own admission a performance that benefited from his naturally fang-like teeth - Butch Patrick made guest appearances on other shows such as 'I Dream of Jeannie', 'Gunsmoke' and 'Ironside'. He also provided his voice to a 1999 episode of 'The Simpsons', which contained scenes referencing Eddie Munster.

Patrick Lilley's stage name came about through a combination of his childhood nickname (Butch) and his first name.

Answer: Lauren Bacall

Betty Joan Perske (1924-2014) was the birth name of one of *the* icons of the Golden Age of Hollywood, Lauren Bacall. Born in The Bronx, NY, Bacall made her on-screen breakthrough opposite Humphrey Bogart - her future husband - in 'To Have and Have Not' (1944), a film based on a 1937 novel by Ernest Hemingway.

The director of 'To Have and Have Not' was Howard Hawks and it was he who suggested Perske change her first name to Lauren. From there, Perske chose to take a variant of her mother's maiden name - which was Bacal - to be her stage surname. The rest is Hollywood history.

Answer: Hal Linden

Hal Linden was born as Harold Lipshitz in The Bronx in the early 1930s. As an all-round entertainer, Linden found success as a musician in a big band, as a television actor on shows such as the 1970s and 80s sitcom 'Barney Miller' and as a Tony Award-winning stage performer ('The Rothschilds', 1971).

When young and aspiring to stardom, Lipshitz gave his name some thought and after a bus journey that took him through Linden, New Jersey, he came up with his enduring stage name.

Answer: Gene Wilder

"If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it". I could watch the magnificent 'Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory' (1971) over and over again, and it is in large part due to the magical performance put in by Jerome Silberman, or, as he is better known, Gene Wilder (1933-2016).

Wilder was born into a Jewish family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but in interviews he has stated that he never really practiced Judaism. Before his acting career took off, Wilder spent some time in the US military, serving as a paramedic. His stage name was inspired by his admiration of the American playwright, Thornton Wilder and his fascination with Eugene Gant, a character from 'Look Homeward, Angel', a 1929 novel by Thomas Wolfe.

Answer: Morgan Fairchild

Patsy Ann McClenny is the birth name of the American actress, Morgan Fairchild. Fairchild was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1950 and it was on the small screen that her career began to develop. Throughout the mid-1970s, Fairchild played a neurotic character called Jennifer Pace in the CBS soap opera, 'Search for Tomorrow', and from there made appearances on 'Kojak', 'Happy Days', 'Dallas', 'Magnum, P.I.' and 'Friends', amongst many other shows.

McClenny is said to have chosen the name Morgan based on her interest in the British comedy film starring Vanessa Redgrave called, 'Morgan!' (1966) or in full 'Morgan - A Suitable Case for Treatment'. The name Fairchild was later chosen by McClenny, but, from what I can gather, no particular inspiration seems to have been given for this selection.

Answer: Boris Karloff

Forever associated with the "Universal Horror" era, Boris Karloff (1887-1969) was born in Dulwich, England, but spent his childhood in Enfield, a suburb in the north of London. Karloff, who had the birth name of William Henry Pratt, married six times, with the first four marriages only lasting in the region of two to four years each. His final two marriages were more successful, with his fifth marriage (to Dorothy Stine) lasting sixteen years and his final marriage (to Evelyn Hope Helmore) lasting for over twenty years, ending due to Karloff's death in 1969.

One could fully understand if the actor, immortalised in film as Frankenstein's Monster, would have ditched the surname Pratt just on the basis of its sound and potential connotations, but it is said he adopted a stage name in order to prevent any embarrassment befalling upon his family, a number of which were not all that keen on acting as a profession.

The origins of the Boris Karloff stage name are somewhat unclear. Pratt is recorded as saying that he "plucked" the name Boris "from the cold Canadian air" (he spent a fair amount of time traveling through Canada), but biographers have had their work cut out trying to get to the bottom of "Karloff". The strongest theories link the name back in some way or other to Pratt's Indian ancestry.

Answer: Robert Blake

Throughout his career, the actor born as Michael James Gubitosi was known by a number of different stage names, including Mickey Gubitosi, Lyman P. Docker, Bobby Blake, and - most famously - Robert Blake. Professionally speaking, Blake, born in New Jersey in 1933, is arguably best remembered for playing Perry Smith, the killer at the centre of the 1967 film adaptation of Truman Capote's novel, 'In Cold Blood' (1966). Blake also won an Emmy Award for his portrayal of the title character of the detective television series, 'Baretta' (1975-1978).

Long after his career had ended, Blake was the suspect in a murder trial (he was found not guilty), as well as the subject of a related civil case brought against him by his children where he was found liable by the court. Blake subsequently declared bankruptcy, unable to pay substantial fines, legal fees and a hefty tax bill. He died in 2023.

Answer: Rita Hayworth

Having been born in the 1990s I am more familiar with Rita Hayworth (1918-1987) for her role - albeit in poster form - assisting Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) in making his bid for freedom in 'The Shawshank Redemption' (1994). This sort of cultural reference, and others like it in films such as 'The Godfather' (1972), reflects her stardom and her standing as one of the great actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Hayworth, born Margarita Carmen Cansino, starred in films such as 'Only Angels Have Wings' (1939), 'The Strawberry Blond' (1941), and 'Glinda' (1946).

Cansino's stage name consists of a first name arrived at by shortening her given name of Margarita to Rita and a surname that was borrowed from her mother's birth name, Volga Hayworth.