14 Hollywood Names That Were Invented by the Studios

In 1930, at the Fox Film Corporation, a director and a studio chief chose the Hollywood stage name a twenty-three-year-old prop boy would carry for the rest of his life — without him in the room. Up to that point, his name had been Marion Robert Morrison. This film traces fourteen of these studio-built names back through the published record, to find out exactly who made the decision, and why — a talent agent, a magazine contest, a director, or, in a few cases, the actor alone, before any studio had a say. Where a story here is only rumour, this film says so. Chapter 5 corrects the most repeated version of how one of these names actually got discovered. CHAPTERS 00:00 Opening 01:38 The general who wasn't Italian 02:53 The name that made an audience laugh 04:14 Something that sounded like Gary Cooper 05:26 Thirty-five dollars a week 06:47 The wrong soda fountain 07:55 A rock and a river 08:46 The contest 09:59 The one who got there first 11:23 The name he liked the ring of 12:43 Seventeen, and somebody else's name 13:49 A spelling, borrowed from a novel 15:09 What Columbia decided to erase 16:23 A fanciful letter 17:26 The one she bought back 18:27 Closing SOURCES https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Ga... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cary_Grant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_...) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lana_Tu... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Hu... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Cr... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_Do... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Ha... IMAGE CREDITS Archival photographs in this film are in the public domain or used under Creative Commons licences. The full list of image credits is in the pinned comment below. Which studio-invented name surprised you the most — or is there a star whose real name this list left off? Leave it in the comments. SUBSCRIBE and tap the bell — a new vintage Hollywood documentary every Thursday. #OldHollywood #ClassicHollywood #HollywoodHistory #HollywoodStageNames #RealNamesOfHollywoodStars