Posted on 04/23/2010 2:58:40 PM PDT by sodpoodle
Just a sample - but they are funny;)
*Brolin, James, American actor - birth name: James Bruderlin *Bronson, Charles, American actor - birth name: Charles Buchinsky *Brooks, Albert, American actor - birth name: Albert Lawrence Einstein *Brooks, Donnie, American singer - birth name: John Dee Abohosh *Brooks, Mel, American film director - birth name: Melvin Kaminsky *Bruce, Lenny, American comedian - birth name: Leonard Alfred Schneider *Burns, George, American actor/comedian - birth name: Nathan Birnbaum *Burstyn, Ellen, American actress - birth name: Edna Rae Gillooly *Burton, Richard, Welsh actor - birth name: Richard Walter Jenkins, Jr.
(Excerpt) Read more at wikibin.org ...
Celebrity wannabees: lead with a lie!
A lot of Jewish performers used to do that, and Polish in the case of Bronson.
Because Jane Seymour sounds sexier than Joyce Frankenberg
I understand Albert Brooks - Albert Einstein!!!!
Mine would be Buck Naked.
We went to the Edgar Allen Poe museum in Virginia, Fredricksburg(?) or some such
and the historian told us he was the son of a stage mother. That time in history
the actors and actresses didn’t have the allure they do now.
He was living with another family, due to the lack of funds
from the mothers income. He was to enter and exit the foster
home through the rear door. I thought that was interesting.
So said the tour guide.
Strange that Jewish and other European names were discarded for the more Anglo-Saxon lineage.
So, in spite of all the self-righteous rhetoric, Hollywood did not embrace *the Melting Pot*.
It may be that they chnge their names to protect their families from weirdos that are obsessed by celebrities or from crimminals who want to blackmail them.
Alice Cooper was named Vincent Damon Furnier.
Alicia Keys was named Alicia Augello Cook.
50 Cent was named Curtis Jackson.
Axl Rose was William Bailey.
Angelina Jolie was named Angelina Jolie Voight.
Anna Nicole Smith was named Vickie Lynn Hogan.
Bob Hope was named Leslie Townes Hope.
Bob Dylan was named Robert Zimmerman.
Charlie Sheen was named Carlos Irwin Estevez.
Clay Aiken was named Clayton Holmes Grissom.
Demi Moore was named Demetria Guynes.
Doris Day was named Doris von Kappelhoff.
Elton John was named Reginald Kenneth Dwight.
Elvira was named Cassandra Peterson.
Elvis Costello was named Declan McManus.
Gene Simmons was named Chaim Witz.
That was probably Baltimore Maryland.
That used to be true for many years, but nowadays that practice is not as common as it used to be.
Interestingly, famous athletes and other celebrities born in Latin America almost by definition have to change their name or drastically shorten their birth names for easier public recognition. Perhaps the best example of this is Edison Arantes do Nascimento, better known the world over as Pelé, perhaps the most famous soccer star of all time.
JoeProBono was named Chastity Bono
One legit reason. There can’t be two actors with the same name in the Screen Actors Guild.
And hussein was called Barry Dunham Soetoro
You're too kind.
Sonny Bono was a great guy. Have to wonder how he would have handled the Chaz change.
Sad and strange.
(p.s. you are ok Joe:)
Charles Henrickson was named ... Charles Henrickson.
Public relations. The same reason Adolf Schicklgruber changed his name to Hitler, and Iosef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili changed it to Stalin.
Cause Bernard Schwartz doesn’t sound very sexy
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