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Gosh, it's been awhile since I've watched GIANT. Knew it was mostly set in Texas but wasn't sure exactly what part.

It takes place across the state of Texas, really. There is some travelling and there are three generations.  Whether or not it was filmed vs. set, of course, are two different things. 

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two hundred thirty-eighth category

 

Known for multi-ethnic portrayals

Akim Tamiroff..He was Russian Armenian, but played all ethnic types in movies.

J. Carrol Naish..American of Irish descent. Played everything on screen except, ironically, Irish characters. Roles included characters that were Southern European, Eastern European, Latin American, Native American, Middle Eastern, South Asian, East Asian, Southeast Asian, Pacific Islander—even African American. He was called Hollywood's one-man U.N.

Khigh Dhiegh..often played Chinese characters in movies and TV. He was half Anglo and half Egyptian.

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Warner Oland (Swedish?) as Charlie Chan and even Fu Manchu

Vito Scotti = Mexican, Russian and Japanese characters

Albert Finney = Belgian and American and French

Peter Sellers = too many to list but French Clouseau, Italian Vanucci and even Indian Bakshi

 

 

 

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Warner Oland (Swedish?) as Charlie Chan and even Fu Manchu

Vito Scotti = Mexican, Russian and Japanese characters

Albert Finney = Belgian and American and French

Peter Sellers = too many to list but French Clouseau, Italian Vanucci and even Indian Bakshi

Peter Sellers is an excellent one. Another that comes to mind is Nehemiah Persoff.

 

It's sorta tough to come up with female examples. Maybe Gale Sondergaard would qualify..?

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Dorothy Lamour - In "The Road" movies Miss Lamour was usually cast as an exotic woman; she was cast as an exotic South Seas woman in "The Hurricane" co-starring Jon Hall

 

Luise Rainer - Miss Rainer was known for her varied ethnic characters such as Anna Held in "The Great Ziegfeld", O-Lan in "The Good Earth", Russian spy in "The Emperor's Candlesticks", "Frou Frou" in "The Toy Wife" set in New Orleans, the French student Louise Mauban in "Dramatic School"

 

Maria Montez - Miss Montez was cast in exotic roles usually as princesses in Egypt, Sudan, etc.

 

Rita Moreno - Miss Moreno usually was cast in Mexican and Exotic roles such as Tuptim in "The King And I" before being cast as Puerto Rican in "West Side Story"

 

Chico Marx - Chico was usually cast as an Italian in The Marx Bros. movies

 

Paul Muni - Mr. Muni began his career in the Yiddish theatre playing parts much older than himself and in films he played every type of ethnic role - Mexican, Italian, Chinese, French, German, Hungarian, and his last film role was that of Sam Abelman in "The Last Angry Man" which he had created on stage.

 

Lee J. Cobb - all ethnic roles Russian, Chinese, Siamese, Italian, Irish

 

Joseph Wiseman - another actor who played many ethnic roles and will probably be remembered for his portrayal of "Dr. No" in the James Bond film of the same name.

 

David Opatashu - marvelous character actor who was always cast in ethnic roles

 

Turhan Bey - Austrian born actor who was cast predominantly in Asian roles

 

Anthony Quinn - An incredible actor who had an amazing career in which he was cast in every type of ethnic role imaginable

 

Alec Guinness - played everything including a Japanese businessman in "A Majority of One"

 

 

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Egyptian actor Omar Sharif played a variety of ethnic characters - likely because he could speak 9 languages fluently.

That's a good point to make in this discussion-- if the actor or actress was multilingual, it probably upped the chances of getting cast in ethnic roles.

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We haven't mentioned Edward G. Robinson yet.

 

Some different ethnic characters he played in movies:

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The German entrepreneur Paul Reuter in A DISPATCH FROM REUTERS.

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Norwegian-American farmer Martinius Jacobson in OUR VINES HAVE TENDER GRAPES.

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Italian-American gangsters, such as Johnny Rocco in KEY LARGO and Gino Monetti in HOUSE OF STRANGERS.

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We also haven't yet mentioned Eli Wallach an actor who remained active well into his nineties (he died at age 98) and whose career was filled with ethnic characters, some of which have become so famous, such as Calvera in "The Magnificent Seven", "**** in "The Misfits", "Tuco" ("The Ugly) in "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", and his explosive debut as "Silva Vacarro" in the film "Baby Doll" directed by Elia Kazan. Mr. Wallach was the ultimate chameleon who could effortlessly change into varied ethnic characters and make you believe he "really was" the character he is portraying.

 

Yvonne De Carlo - throughout her film career Miss De Carlo portrayed ethnic roles such as Sephora, wife of Moses, Salome, and Nita, an exotic young woman in "The Captain's Paradise, and one of her best leading roles in "Band of Angels" the daughter of a plantation owner, whose mother had been one of her father's slaves.

 

Actors who continually played ethnic roles were Oscar Homolka, Peter Lorre (the Japanese, Mr. Moto among so many others), Thomas Gomez, Michael Ansara and Michael Pate consistently portrayed native American roles.

 

And of course, Sidney Toler, as "Charlie Chan".

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We also haven't yet mentioned Eli Wallach an actor who remained active well into his nineties (he died at age 98) and whose career was filled with ethnic characters, some of which have become so famous, such as Calvera in "The Magnificent Seven", "**** in "The Misfits", "Tuco" ("The Ugly) in "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", and his explosive debut as "Silva Vacarro" in the film "Baby Doll" directed by Elia Kazan. Mr. Wallach was the ultimate chameleon who could effortlessly change into varied ethnic characters and make you believe he "really was" the character he is portraying.

 

Yvonne De Carlo - throughout her film career Miss De Carlo portrayed ethnic roles such as Sephora, wife of Moses, Salome, and Nita, an exotic young woman in "The Captain's Paradise, and one of her best leading roles in "Band of Angels" the daughter of a plantation owner, whose mother had been one of her father's slaves.

 

Actors who continually played ethnic roles were Oscar Homolka, Peter Lorre (the Japanese, Mr. Moto among so many others), Thomas Gomez, Michael Ansara and Michael Pate consistently portrayed native American roles.

 

And of course, Sidney Toler, as "Charlie Chan".

Great post. Agree about Eli Wallach. Speaking of Yvonne De Carlo, I think it was her performance in BAND OF ANGELS that convinced me how versatile she was as an actress. Totally convincing. Other gals would have seemed miscast, but not her. I really believed she was a woman of mixed heritage in that movie. 

 

As for actors taking on native American roles, we can add Charles Bronson to the list.

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two hundred thirty-ninth category

 

Different first names

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John Wayne’s given first name was Marion.

Don Knotts was Jesse Donald Knotts.

Robert Redford is Charles Robert Redford.

Lauren Bacall was named Betty Joan.

Joan Crawford started life as Lucille.

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Gregory Peck's given first name was Eldred

 

John Garfield's given first name was Jacob

 

Montgomery Clift's given first name was Edward

 

Robert Taylor's given first name was Spangler

 

Bette Davis's given first name was Ruth

 

Stewart Granger's given first name was James

 

Barbara Stanwyck's given first name was Ruby

 

Van Johnson's given first name was Charles

 

Jean Arthur's given first name was Gladys

 

Dana Andrews given first name was Carver

 

Fredric March's given first name was Ernest

 

Teresa Wright's given first name was Muriel

 

Barry Fitzgerald's given first name was William

 

Rex Harrison's given first name was Reginald

 

Shelley Winters given first name was Shirley

 

Orson Welles given first name was George

 

Edward G. Robinson's given first name was Emmanuel

 

Groucho, Harpo, & Chico Marx's given first names were Julius, Adolph, & Leonard, respectively

 

Lon Chaney's given first name was Leonidas

 

Eve Arden's given first name was Eunice

 

Dirk Bogarde's given first name was Derek

 

Gene Kelly's given first name was Eugene

 

Buster Keaton's given first name was Joseph

 

Robert Donat's given first name was Friedrich

 

Glenn Ford's given first name was Gwyllyn

 

Claude Rains given first name was William

 

Jane Wyman's given first name was Sarah

 

Meryl Streep's given first name was Mary Louise

 

Hugh Laurie's given first name was James

 

Danny Kaye's given first name was David

 

Billie Burke's given first name was Mary

 

Hedy Lamarr's given first name was Hedwig

 

Marlene Dietrich's given first name was Marie Magdalene

 

 

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Different names:

1. Natalie Wood's birth name was Natalia.

 

2. Cary Grant was born with the name Archibald.

 

3. Clint Walker's first name by birth was Norman.

 

4. Judy Garland was born Frances.

 

5. Bing Crosby was born with the name Harry.

 

6. Raquel Welch's birth name is Jo. (Raquel is her middle name).

 

7. Cyd Charisse's birth name was Tula. (Fun fact: Cyd was her little brother's way of saying sister, but couldn't!).

 

8. Mia Farrow's birth name is Maria.

 

9. June Allyson's first name by birth was Ella/Eleanor.

 

10. Tony Martin's (Cyd Charisse's husband) first name by birth was Alvin.

 

11. Janet Leigh's birth name was Jeanette.

 

12. Tony Curtis was born with the name Bernard.

 

13. Diana Rigg's birth name was Enid. 

 

14. Rock Hudson was born with the name Leroy/Roy.

 

15. Julie Andrews was born with the name Julia.

 

16. Marilyn Monroe's birth name was Norma.

 

17. Brad Pitt's first name by birth is William.

 

18. Julie Harris was born with the name Julia. (Interesting, just like Julie Andrews).

 

19. Ginger Rogers' birth name was Virginia.

 

20. Clark Gable's birth name was William. (Clark was his middle name).

 

 

 

 

Shortened names (still slightly different):

1. Desi (Arnaz) was short for Desiderio.

 

2. Clint (Eastwood) is short for Clinton.

 

3. Demi (Moore) is short for Demetria.

 

4. Sal (Mineo) was short for Salvatore.

 

5. Fred (Astaire) was short for Frederick.

 

6. Roddy (McDowall) was short for Roderick.

 

7. Frank (Sinatra) was short for Francis.

 

8. Kim (Basinger) is short for Kimilia.

 

 

 

 

Spelling changes in name:

1. Vivien Leigh was originally Vivian. 

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7. Cyd Charisse's birth name was Tula. (Fun fact: Cyd was her little brother's way of saying sister, but couldn't!).

 

Definitely a fun fact. My sister had a hard time saying 'grandpa' when she little. My grandfather was called 'bumpa.' The things kids come up with..!

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Jerry Lewis = Joseph

Mickey Rooney = Joseph

Milton Berle = Mendel

George Burns = Nathan

Irving Berlin = Israel

Woody Allen = Allen

Sid Caesar = Issac

Neil Simon = Marvin

Ruby Keeler = Ethel

Bob Hope = Leslie

Jane Russell = Ernestine

Jean Harlow = Harlean

 

One thing that kills me is that Marlon Brando is his real name. Does that sound made up or what?!

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Definitely a fun fact. My sister had a hard time saying 'grandpa' when she little. My grandfather was called 'bumpa.' The things kids come up with..!

 

Pretty much just like Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation!!!!  :)

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Nancy Davis.....Birth name was Ann Frances Robbins  

 

Jane Powell ....Birth name was Suzanne Bruce

 

Kim Novak..... Birth name was Marilyn Pauline Novak

 

Jack Palance .....Birth name was Walter Palanuik

 

Gene Kelly .....Birth name was Eugene Curran Kelly

 

Mickey Rooney .....Birth name was Joe Yule, Jr.

 

Barbara Stanwyck .....Birth name was Ruby Stevens

 

Cyd Charisse .....Birth name was Tula Ellice Finklea

 

William Holden.....Birth name was William Franklin Beedle

 

Charlton Heston.....Birth name was Charles Carter

 

Betty Grable ..... Birth name was Elizabeth Ruth Grable

 

Ann Miller .....Birth name was Lucille Ann Collier

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