It's no secret that Old Hollywood stars were usually typecast, but it turns out that sometimes, their entire image was carefully crafted, too. As Racked explains, studios' publicity departments "went to great lengths" to create backstories for their future A-listers. According to FSR, Joan Crawford, born Lucille LeSueur, came from a "rough upbringing," yet MGM made sure to completely hide her past, even telling the press that she came from an upper-class family. In fact, they released a public contest to pick her name. "Tiring of the social life of a debutante," the ad in "Movie Weekly" read, "she left home to become an actress" (via The Best of Everything).
Backstories and lies continued well into an actor's career, as well. Per Timeline, when Judy Garland became pregnant, MGM didn't want to ruin her "innocent" image, so they ordered her to "take more speed" after her weight gain, while her publicists dished to the tabloids that "she ate like a truck driver."
If anything, at least the actors were self-aware of the inevitable truth that they were typecast. Per Independent, "Gilda" lead Rita Hayworth couldn't ever shake off her "femme fatale" image, causing her to groan, "Every man I knew went to bed with Gilda and woke up with me." Cary Grant, on the other hand, who was born Archibald Alexander Leach, once deplored, "Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant" (via The Telegraph).
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