8. Michael Landon Isn’t His Real Name
PHOTO: worldlifestyle.com
“Michael Landon” is a household name, but it’s not the actor’s birth name. Michael Landon was born Eugene Maurice Orowitz. He needed a stage name, so he chose it from a phone book. Initially he chose the name Michael Lane, but rules in the Actor’s Guild kept him from using it, since there was already an actor enrolled in the guild with that name. On a second run through the book, he found the name “Alf Landon”. He meshed the two together, and Michael Landon, TV Star, was born.