Ever wonder where some of the movie stars from the Golden age got their names. Sure, some used their real names, like Clara Bow. But most were given “acceptable” names by their studio. Some, like Joan Crawford, were named by their fans –(MGM held a contest to name their new starlet). Many got to keep their first names but got new last names. Many got to keep their last names, but got new first names.
But a select few took their film star names from characters they portrayed. Today we picture two of those performers. The woman above is Anne Shirley, an RKO star from the 1930s and 40s.
Back in 1934 a child actress, Dawn O’Day (who’d been born Dawn Evelyn Paris), starred in a film version of the classic Anne of Green Gables, and ever after called herself the name of the character she’d played, Anne Shirley.
Shirley didn’t make many films remembered today except perhaps for director King Vidor‘s’ renowned 1937 tearjerker Stella Dallas, where she portrayed Barbara Stanwyck‘s daughter; and in 1944, Edward Dmytryk‘s hard boiled Murder, My Sweet. In that, her last film, she played the “good” girl opposite Dick Powell‘s version of Philip Marlow. Claire Trevor was her evil stepmother.
Shirley was married briefly to John Payne and their daughter, Julie Payne, became an actress.
Pictured above is Byron Barr.
You might remember him as an extra and bit player at Warner Brothers where he was often unbilled or occasionally listed as Byron Barr. But in the 1942 film The Gay Sisters costarring Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent and Geraldine Fitzgerald, he played a character called Gig Young — and guess what? The studio and Barr decided they liked that name better than the Byron Elsworth Barr monicker he was born with in 1913.
Young certainly wasn’t the first nor the last actor to do this. It probably started with Moliere’s troupe, or maybe even the Greeks. In Young’s case, he was under some name-change pressure unknown to his classical predecessors because another actor was billed at the time as Byron Barr. (The Screen Actors Guild frowns on the use of the same name by any two performers.)
The Gay Sisters not only gave him a new name but provided Young’s career a much-needed push. As a result, he happily gave up his part time job as a gas station attendant to concentrate on making movies full time. After service in the Coast Guard during World War II, Young returned to Hollywood and carved out a solid career in mostly light secondary leading roles.
Gig Young was always a fun presence, from all his light comedies to his unforgettable performance as the emcee in “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” I guess some of his personal demons were known before his tragic end which resulted in his killing his bride and himself, but it was certainly a shock to hear about at the time.
My favorite role of his–Hal Henderson, the father of the prospective bride in “Lovers and Other Strangers”–the philandering WASP who just wanted everyone to be happy and tried to be oh-so-hip. “No (generation) gap, mother, no gap!”
Never hire an ALCOHOLIC to play one…
Which is very true of GIG YOUNG and the movie BLAZING SADDLES…
Gig Young was signed to play the Waco Kid, but he suffered a physical collapse on day one of shooting. When he acknowledged that his chronic drinking problem was responsible Mel Brooks had him replaced by Gene Wilder. Young later sued Warner Bros. for breach of contract.
Four years after BLAZING SADDLES made it to the screen Gig Young shot his young wife and then turned the gun on himself. She was just 31, he 65. No-one knows why he did this. The couple had been wed just 22 days.
During the production shoot of GIANT (1956), James Dean appeared in a TV public service ad with Gig Young promoting safe driving. It was part of the Warner Brothers Presents TV show that rotated the western Cheyenne with other Warner shows, at the same time as promoting their upcoming movies…
Dean was wearing the same hat and shirt his character was wearing in GIANT. ‘People say racing is dangerous’, he said, ‘but I’d rather take my chances on the track any day than on the highway.’ As he left the studio, he added the prophetic words: ‘Drive safely, because the life you save might be mine.’ He finished principal photography on Friday, 23 September, 1955 and died in a car crash a week later. He was 24.
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