Michael Keaton Is Not Really Michael Keaton

Michael Keaton turns 73 today and his highly anticipated new movie, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is about to open in theaters tomorrow!

He’s a well-known actor, having starred in dozens of films, so imagine our surprise when we learned his real name is not Michael Keaton!

In fact, it’s Michael Douglas!

When he was starting out in Hollywood in the 1970s, the Screen Actor’s Guild informed him that no two members can have the same name. There was already an actor Michael Douglas, who would go on to win an Oscar for “Wall Street,” and there was also a talk show host named Mike Douglas.

So, he looked for a different name to use!

“I was looking through – I can’t remember if it was a phone book… I must’ve gone, ‘I don’t know, let me think of something here.’ And I went ‘Oh, that sounds reasonable,'” he said to People Magazine.

So that’s how Michael Douglas became Michael Keaton!

From now on, however, he plans to use a combination of the two names. He will be known professionally as Michael Keaton Douglas.

So, happy 73rd birthday to Michael Keaton Douglas, and we can’t wait to see you back on the screen as Beetlejuice!