Robinson was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1893 and died January 26, 1973. He came to the States in 1910 and lived with his family on New York's Lower East Side. He started acting while attending City College, having originally intended to be a lawyer or a rabbi.
After moving to California, he became one of the biggest box office stars of the early 20th century. His memorable movies include "Little Caesar" (1931), "Kid Galahad" (1937), and "Key Largo" (1948). Robinson proved his acting chops with convincing gangster roles, since in reality he was a suave, cultured, gentle and debonair man who was almost universally liked by his peers in Hollywood.
He also spoke seven languages fluently, including German and Yiddish. Unfortunately, like many of his Jewish contemporaries in the business, Robinson felt compelled to change his name to obscure his heritage and any possible prejudice which might result because of it.
2. Cary Grant
Answer: Archibald Alexander Leach
Born in Bristol, England on January 18, 1904, Grant was already on the acting career path by age fifteen. His mother was abruptly removed from home when he was nine due to her mental problems, and at fourteen, he ran away and joined a comedy troupe. His experience with pantomime and acrobatics helped him become one of the premier comedic and romantic actors of the 20th century. Among his great film roles are "The Philadelphia Story", "North By Northwest", and "To Catch A Thief". An interviewer once told him, "You know, everybody wants to be Cary Grant". With his inimitable sardonic humor he replied, "Well, so do I".
This is an example of the most common and obvious name change reason- original name deemed too odd, too long or too unwieldy for the Hollywood publicity apparatus.
3. Joan Crawford
Answer: Lucille Fay LeSueur
Joan Crawford was born in San Antonio, Texas sometime between 1904 and 1906. She had an interesting, volatile film career and life, with many ups and downs. She started in show business as a dancer and chorus girl. Her movie career took off in the 1920s and she successfully made the transition from silent films to talkies, becoming one of Hollywood's biggest and highest paid female stars.
She was notoriously labeled "box office poison" by Theater Association President Harry Brandt in the 1930s, before making a comeback with her Oscar-winning performance in "Mildred Pierce" (1945). Joan Crawford died May 10, 1977.
A publicity agent insisted she change her last name because it sounded like "sewer".
4. John Wayne
Answer: Marion Robert Morrison
John "Duke" Wayne is the definitive Hollywood movie star, and he ruled the silver screen for three decades, cranking out almost 250 movies in the Western and adventure genres. He got his big break in the 1939 John Ford directed "Stagecoach", starring with Claire Trevor, John Carradine and Andy Devine. Without doubt, his original name just doesn't carry the macho swagger and punch so central to Wayne's movie persona.
5. Judy Garland
Answer: Frances Ethel Gumm
Judy Garland was born with her decidedly un-Hollywood name on June 10, 1922 in decidedly un-Hollywood Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Her parents were Episcopalians. As a child, she performed for years in vaudeville with her two older siblings as "The Gumm Sisters". One story says that they were on the bill with actor George Jessel in Chicago when their introduction brought guffaws from the audience.
He sent them a "garland" of flowers and suggested a name change. Judy Garland was married five times and divorced four.
She battled drugs and alcohol, as well as overbearing manipulation from studio executives, and her husbands, throughout her career. She died at 49 years of age due to complications with barbiturates.
6. Lauren Bacall
Answer: Betty Joan Perske
Lauren Bacall was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1924. She is probably the most normal person on this list. Despite bursting on the screen as a 20-year-old ingenue and star as a result of her lead role with Humphrey Bogart in "To Have And Have Not", she somehow maintained her sense and dignity.
She had a stable and loving marriage with Bogie and was there with him when he succumbed to cancer in 1957. She was still acting in film and on Broadway into her seventies. She died on August 12, 2014 at 90 years old.
7. Tony Curtis
Answer: Bernard Schwartz
Unlike some other actors, Curtis was self-motivated with regard to his name change and his life. After a hardscrabble childhood of poverty including time in an orphanage when his parents felt unable to care for him and his brother, he learned independence and self-sufficiency.
He borrowed "Anthony" from a novel and "Curtis" from a cousin named Janusch Kertiz, and started using this new name as he pursued an acting career in New York. One of his most interesting roles came in the 1958 film "The Defiant Ones".
In this movie Curtis and Sidney Poitier play a pair of convicts who escape a chain gain but are shackled together for a large part of the film. The results, as they confront their racial prejudices, are explosive, fascinating, and ultimately uplifting as they develop a grudging tolerance and eventual respect for each other.
8. Marilyn Monroe
Answer: Norma Jeane Mortenson
Dearest Marilyn, how the public was mesmerized by her fragile beauty and tragic life. The celebrity machine created her as a goddess, then leered as the pressures of stardom brought her down. She died in August 1962, from a barbiturate overdose at 36 years old. Ray Davies of The Kinks may have put it best in "Celluloid Heroes", his great ode to Hollywood stars: "She should have been made of iron or steel, but she was only made of flesh and blood".
9. Omar Sharif
Answer: Michel Demetri Shaloub
Omar Sharif was a native Egyptian, born April 10, 1932 in Alexandria. He lived an exciting and varied life, befitting his dashing image as a leading man in such epic films as "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) and "Doctor Zhivago" (1965). He was actually of Lebanese and Syrian ancestry, and was raised as a Roman Catholic.
He converted to Islam in order to marry the famous Egyptian actress Faten Hamama in 1955 and adopted the name he then used professionally. Sharif was also known as a high stakes gambler and an expert contract bridge player.
10. Natalie Wood
Answer: Natalia Zakharenko
Natalie Wood (July 20, 1938-November 29, 1981) was another shining star who died too young. She was found dead from drowning after presumably falling into the water while on a boating excursion with Christopher Walken and her husband Robert Wagner in California.
The death was ruled accidental at the time, but the case was investigated anew in 2011 when the boat captain admitted to lying to authorities in his original deposition. No new definitive evidence was uncovered. Natalie Wood was nominated for an Oscar three times: "Rebel Without A Cause" (1955); "Splendor In The Grass" (1961); "Love With The Proper Stranger" (1963).
She is perhaps best known for her role as Maria in "West Side Story" (1961).
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Pagiedamon before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
