Actors’ Real Names Used in Scripts

[Notan]

In one of the game threads, a trivia topic came up that might be of intrigue or interest to some.

 

In the movie Patton (1970), Karl Malden, in the role of General Omar Bradley, says the line, “Hand me that helmet, Sekulovich.” Karl Malden’s real name was Mladen George Sekulovich. As is noted on Malden’s Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia....iki/Karl_Malden), this was not unusual for movies in which Malden had a role. It even occurred in On the Waterfront (1954), where Malden’s real first and last names, Mladen Sekulovich, were used in the script.

 

As DownGoesFrazier mentioned, in the movie His Girl Friday (1940), Cary Grant says, "Listen the last man that said that to me was Archie Leach just a week before he cut his throat." Of course, Cary Grant’s real name was Archie Leach.

 

Do you know of any other instances of this?

[Kid Dabb]

Do the names have to be spoken aloud, or at all? I'm aware of a scene with the character in the foreground and the background contains a marquee with his real name on it. Or is that stretching this a bit too far ?   ;8-^0

[Notan]

Do the names have to be spoken aloud, or at all? I'm aware of a scene with the character in the foreground and the background contains a marquee with his real name on it. Or is that stretching this a bit too far ?   ;8-^0

 

Hi, KD.

 

I wasn’t aware of instances like that, or I would have made the title more inclusive. Please, do tell us about it.

 

I thought this might make an interesting trivia thread.

[Kid Dabb]

Hi, KD.

 

I wasn’t aware of instances like that, or I would have made the title more inclusive. Please, do tell us about it.

 

I thought this might make an interesting trivia thread.

Thank you, Notan.

 

Here's Sammy Davis, Jr. (in character) near the end of Ocean's 11 (1960). The whole gang walked past the marquee just ahead of Sammy, but Sammy was the only one framed in the same scene with his name.

[DownGoesFrazier]

Of course, also in HIS GIRL FRIDAY, the Cary Grant character , Walter Burns, gives a description of the Ralph Bellamy character, by saying, "He looks like the actor Ralph Bellamy.

[LiamCasey]

Troy Donahue, whose real name was Merle Johnson, played a character named Merle Johnson in The Godfather: Part II.

[GIPPER]

delete

[LonesomePolecat]

I can't think of any other movies with the actors' REAL name (HIS GIRL FRIDAY was the only one I could think of), but I can think of a bunch where they mention names of real actors. I mean cases such as THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH when our main character talks about the blonde in the shower and says, "Maybe it's Marilyn Monroe!" Does stuff like that count?

[GIPPER]

I was thinking the same thing as Lonesome, that's why I deletes the one I put.