The 89th presentation of the Academy Awards will unfold tomorrow evening. If you’re a fan of “La La Land” or “Hidden Figures” “Manchester by the Sea” or “Moonlight,” you are probably interested in the origin of the name for the gold-plated statuette awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The figurines were first conferred in 1929 but did not receive their nickname Oscar until 1931, when Margaret Herrick, executive librarian of the organization, exclaimed within earshot of newspaper reporter Sidney Skolsky that the statuette looked “just like my Uncle Oscar.”
Granting the statuette a name has enhanced the popular appeal of the entire awards ceremony. Hollywood’s star-makers capitalize on the fact that people react emotionally to names. A star’s name must have “box-office appeal” and must project the kind of image that the star is supposed to radiate.
Would W. C. Fields have been as funny if he had retained his original name — William Claude Dukenfield — or Doris Day as popular if she had kept hers — Doris von Kappelhoff? Did Marion Michael Morrison’s image become more macho when his studio changed his name to John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe more seductive when she shed her birth-certificate name, Norma Jean Mortensen? Would William Henry Pratt have been as scary if he hadn’t undergone a name transplant and become Boris Karloff, and would Roy Rogers have been such an iconic cowboy if he had kept his original moniker, Leonard Franklin Slye?
Film and TV actress Jo-Ann Pflug once was asked if Pflug was her real name or a stage name. She replied, “Pflug is a name you change from, not to.” Here is a star-studded Walk of Names of 30 names behind the names of some of the movie stars who shine the brightest in the entertainment heavens:
Woody Allen Allen Stewart Konigsberg
Fred Astaire Frederick Austerlitz
Lauren Bacall Betty Joan Perske
Anne Bancroft Maria Louise Italiano
Michael Caine Maurice J. Micklewhite
Tony Curtis Bernard Schwartz
Joan Crawford Lucille Fay LeSueur
Kirk Douglas Issur Danielovitch
Jamie Foxx Eric Marion Bishop
Great Garbo Greta Lovisa Gustafsson
Judy Garland Frances Gumm
James Garner James Baumgarner
Rita Hayworth Margarita Carmen Cansino
Judy Holiday Judith Tuvim
Rock Hudson Roy Harold Scherer
Ben Kingsley Krishna Pandit Bhanji
Sophia Loren Sofia Scicolone
Hedy Lamarr Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler
Karl Malden Milden Sekulovich
Helen Mirren Ilynea Petrovna Mironoff
Jack Palance Volodymyr Palahniuk
Joaquin Phoenix Joaquin Rafael Bottom
Natalie Portman Natalie Hershlag
Edward G. Robinson Emmanuel Goldenberg
Mickey Rooney Joe Yule, Jr.
Meg Ryan Margaret Hyra
Robert Taylor Spangler Arlington Brugh
Raquel Welch Raquel Tejada
Gene Wilder Jerome Silberman
Natalie Wood Natasha Gurdin
The actor Stewart Granger was born James Stewart, but Jimmy Stewart had shot to fame before Granger’s career, so the other James Stewart had to alter his name to Stewart Granger. Comic Albert Brooks changed his name because he was born Albert Einstein. Sally Field and Suzanne Somers both started life as Mahoney, Ethel Merman and Bob Dylan as Zimmermann and Zimmerman and Talia Shire and Nicholas Cage as Coppola. Michael Keaton came into the world as — ta da! — Michael Douglas, while Diane Keaton entered the earthly stage as Diane Hall and — ta da! — played Annie Hall in “Annie Hall.”
In the 1940 film “His Girl Friday,” Cary Grant delivered the line “The last person to say that to me was Archie Leach, just before I cut his throat.” The inside joke here is that Cary Grant’s original name was Archibald Leach.