Celebrities' Real Names

 Probably on one of the lower eschelons as far as any real importance in life, but a fun thing to gather information about, at least if you're the kind of person who likes that sort of thing. 

For better of worse, that's me. 

There was a list of these celebrity birth names at the office, 5 or 6 years ago, when I was still engaged in the world of dayjob. It was circulated by  a fellow who loved to memorize stuff and then rattle it back at you. Somehow a lot of them got lodged into my own brain. So I'm sharing them here, in just a minute. Lucky you.

I suppose something as meaningless as celebrities' birth names, and what and how they were modified could have some social relevance. The ones from the 40s and 50s do reflect attitudes after WWII, where you saw many German names 'whitebreaded'. One quick example before we get to the master list, is Fred Astaire. Frederick Austerlitz. 

Well, then again, Astaire is more euphonious than Austerlitz. Less- austere. So that's another consideration. And Ellen Burstyn sounds a hell of a lot better than Edna Gilhooley. 

Anyway, for what it's worth, here we go with all the celebrity birth names I can remember. Some you'll know, and at least a few you probably won't. I borrowed from the music field as well as the usual roster of actors and actresses. 

Kirk Douglas- Issur Danielovich Demsky
Karl Malden- Mladen Sekulovich
Danny Thomas- Muzyad Yakoob
John Forsythe- John Lincoln Freund
Joan Crawford- Lucille LeSeure
Burt Young-Gerald Tommaso DeLouise
June Allyson- Ella Geisman
Roy Rogers- Leonard Slatkin
Harry Morgan- Harry Bratsburg
Alan Alda- Alfonso D'Arbruzzio
Tammy Wynette- Wynetta Pugh
Bernadette Peters- Bernadette Lazarro
Pat Martino- Pat Azzara
Stevie Wonder- Steveland Judkins
Eric Clapton- Eric Clapp
Morgan Fairchild- Patsy McClenny
Eddie Albert- Edward Albert Heimberger
Judy Garland- Frances Gumm
Tony Randall- Leonard Rosenberg
Robert Blake- Michael Gubitosi
Gene Wilder- Jerome Silberman
Mel Brooks- Melvin Kaminsky
Woody Allen- Allen Stuart Konigsberg
Lee J. Cobb- Lee Jacob
Jane Seymour- Joyce Frankenberg
Les Paul- Lester Polfus
Sandra Dee- Cassandra Zuck
Doris Day- Doris Kappelhof
Lauren Bacall- Betty Jean Perske
Cary Grant- Archibald Leitch
Michael Caine- Maurice Mickelwhite
Winona Ryder- Laura Horowitz
Tuesday Weld- Susan Kerr
Bea Arthur- Bernice Frankel
Jerry Lewis- Joseph Levich
Suzanne Somers- Suzanne Mahoney
Elvis Costello- Declan McManus
Albert Brooks- Albert Einstein
Michael Keaton- Michael Douglas
Martin Sheen- Ramon Estevez
Ellen Burstyn- Edna Gilhooley
Mickey Rooney- Joseph Yule, Jr
William Holden- William Beedle
Jamie Farr- Jameel Farah
Michael Landon- Eugene Maurice Orowitz
Elton John- Reginald Dwight
Anne Bancroft- Anna Maria Italiano
Dean Martin- Dino Crocetti
Fred Astaire- Frederick Austerlitz
Ginger Rogers- Virginia McMath
Ted Knight- Taddeus Konopka
Shelley Winters- Shirley Schrift
Orson Bean- Dallas Frederick Burrows
Inger Stevens- Inger Stenson
Roger U Roundly- ?








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