The Artist Formerly Known As ? Quiz

Answer: Frances Gumm

I'm sure she'd rather be remembered as Judy Garland! Judy Garland was born June 19, 1922 in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. She was "born in a trunk" into a family of Vaudeville artistes. She joined the family act as Baby Gumm when she was two-and-a-half, warbling 'Jingle Bells'.

The act eventually evolved into the Gumm Sisters, made up of Judy and her sisters. When a theatre audience broke into laughter when their last name was announced, George Jessel, who was appearing on the same bill, suggested that they change their name.

This was in 1934. Rumour has it that it was Judy who came up with Garland (from a then current film starring Carole Lombard), and that she chose Judy for her own first name from a then-popular song by Hoagy Carmichael. In 1935 the Garland Sisters arrived in Hollywood, Judy was signed by M-G-M, and the rest is history.

In 1954 she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in 'A Star is Born', but lost to Grace Kelly, who won for 'The Country Girl'.

Answer: Marion Morrison

I don't blame him for changing it. Who'd believe a two-fisted tough guy could be named Marion? John Wayne was born in Winterset, Iowa, in 1907. The Morrison family moved to California while Marion was still a child. He had an Airedale terrier named Little Duke, and because the boy and the dog were seldom apart, the neighbours dubbed Marion Big Duke, and the nickname stuck. While he was a student at USC (where he played football for the USC Trojans until a swimming injury ended his football career), Western star Tom Mix got Duke a summer job with the props department at his studio...and from there he drifted into acting.

A lifelong heavy smoker, Wayne eventually died from stomach cancer.

Answer: Archibald Leach

I think Cary Grant suited him much better, don't you? Cary Grant was born in Bristol, England in 1904 and arrived in Hollywood in 1931. He starred in such classics as 'Bringing Up Baby' (with Katherine Hepburn), 'His Girl Friday' (with Rosalind Russell), 'An Affair to Remember' (with Deborah Kerr) and scores of other hits.

He was nominated twice for an Academy Award but never won. However, the Academy presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1970, and he was honoured by the Kennedy Centre in 1981.

He died in 1986, debonair to the end.

Answer: Ringo Starr

Well, at least he didn't have to get all his handkerchiefs re-monogrammed! Ringo was born on July 7, 1940 (havers, he's an Old Age Pensioner!) and raised in Dingle, a working-class area of Liverpool. As a child he suffered two serious illnesses which resulted in a total of three years spent in hospital.

This seriously affected his literacy skills, which were practically non-existent at age 15! Lacking a bent for the academic, Ringo turned to music, and was a fixture on the club scene in Liverpool with a skiffle band headed by Rory Storm. On a trip to Hamburg in 1960, he met the Beatles, and when John, Paul and George decided to dump Pete Best in 1962, Ringo was their first choice to replace him. Ringo's laid back, self-deprecating style fit in well with the other three personalities.

After the Beatles broke up in 1970, Ringo found a whole new generation of fans as narrator of the children's television series 'Thomas the Tank Engine' and appearances on 'Shining Time Station'.

Answer: Derek Van Den Bogaerde

His agent probably said, "Good heavens! That will never fit on a marquee. We'll have to shorten it!" Not as well known in the U.S., Bogarde (1921-1999) was the darling of female film fans in the U.K., despite the fact that he was gay and had a partner, his manager Anthony Forwood. Bogarde is best remembered, however, for his brilliance in such films as 'Victim' (1961), in which he played a homosexual lawyer who puts his own career in jeopardy to defend a client. ('Victim' is generally regarded as one of the primary reasons why homosexuality was decriminalized in the U.K. in 1967) and others like 'Night Porter' (with Charlotte Rampling), 'The Servant' (with Sarah Miles) and 'Death in Venice'.

In addition to being a fine actor, Bogarde was also a talented artist and a gifted writer.

He was knighted for his contribution to films and acting. In his later years, Bogarde was a supporter of voluntary euthenasia and a spokesperson for that cause.

Answer: Margarita Cansino

Actually, I think her real name was much more glamorous than her screen monicker, don't you? Born in 1918, Rita was trained as a dancer and appeared with her parents in their Spanish dance troupe. Her first film was Howard Hawks' 'Only Angels Have Wings' in 1939, which shot her to immediate stardom.

Her smouldering screen persona in such films as 'Blood and Sand','Gilda', and 'Sadie Thompson' (the remake of 'Rain') made the censors somewhat uncomfortable. Married five times (most notably to Orson Welles and Prince Aly Khan), Rita was the complete antithesis of her screen image, quite reserved and shy.

She was once heard to say that "men think they're getting Gilda, and then find out it's me!" She succumbed to Alzheimer's Disease in 1987.

Answer: Frederick Austerlitz

A legend in his own time - and after it - Astaire was a very class act! Born in 1899, Fred starred in Vaudeville in a dance team with his sister Adele. The act broke up when Adele retired following her marriage to the Duke of Devonshire, and Fred headed for Hollywood.

A famous memo by a Paramount Pictures executive following Fred's screen test noted: "Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly balding. Also dances." Talk about understatement! Partnered with Ginger Rogers, Fred starred in a string of box office smash hits, and became the icon of all fashion-conscious men in the 1930s.

In the '70s, Fred turned to serious acting (rent 'On the Beach' and see how good he is in that), and he also starred with Gene Kelly in the 'That's Entertainment' series of films.

He died in 1987.

Answer: Virginia McMath

Not only could she dance as well as Fred, but, as has been pointed out, she did it "backwards and in high heels!" Ginger Rogers was born in Independence, MO, in 1911, and after her parents' marriage broke up, she moved with her mother to live with her maternal grandparents in Kansas. Following her mother's marriage to John Rogers, Ginger lived in Fort Worth, TX.

It was here at age 14 that she joined the Foy Family Vaudeville act, and eventually she wound up on Broadway in 1929, in 'Girl Crazy' (choreographed by none other than Fred Astaire). Hollywood beckoned and she was teamed with her former choreographer in ten lighthearted romantic musicals.

In 1941, Ginger Rogers won the Academy Award for her work in the title role of 'Kitty Foyle'. While she was married five times, Rogers never had any children and lived for most of her life with her mother. Fiercely right-wing and anti-Communist, Rogers was one of the handful of Hollywood stars who 'named names' during the infamous HUAC hearings headed by Sen. Joe McCarthy.

She died in 1995 of complications due to diabetes.

Answer: Michael Douglas

Obviously, Keaton had to change his name because there was already a Michael Douglas in the Screen Actors Guild. Keaton (who adopted his stage name after reading an article about actress Diane Keaton) was born in Corapolis, PA, on September 5, 1951. He studied speech at Kent State, and, after a failed attempt at stand-up comedy, worked as a cameraman for a TV cable station. Hankering after a career in front of the camera rather than behind it, he headed for Hollywood, where he found work in various television sitcoms.

His first major movie role was the fast-talking schemer Bill in 'Night Shift' with Henry Winkler.

Answer: Eric Clapp

He was born Eric Clapton but grew up with the name Eric Clapp. His mother's maiden name was Clapton; his father, Edward Fryer, left her before he was born (his grandmother's maiden name was Clapp).

Somehow, I think his brilliance would have done the trick, anyway. Clapton was born on March 30, 1945, in Ripley, UK. When he was 15 he fell in love with the blues, so he taught himself how to play guitar. He studied stained glass design at Kingston Art School, but his first job was as a postman. His nickname, Slowhand, is a reference to the speed with which he plays.
Archibald Leach is the birth name of actor Cary Grant.