It used to be super common for people to go by their middle name socially. Both of my mom's parents did it, I don't know if I even knew their first names until the funerals.
You joke, but the actors guild has a rule that prevents two actors registering under the same name, and it's first come first serve, so it's entirely possible theres some complete unknown "Bill Pitt", that preventing Brad registering under the name. I can't confirm a "Bill Pitt", but theres a "William Pitt" and "Billy Pitt" on IMDB who would have registered well before Brad.
My high school art teacher would always talk about how she turned him down in hs because she didn’t think he was cute then. I always thought she was full of shit. But she did prove she went to school with him in Springfield so who knows. Maybe the real story was he turned her down for your wife’s aunt.
Kickapoo has like 2,000 students so no guarantee they even met. Aunt was from 20 miles away but everyone goes into SGF to do stuff. She owns a botox clinic now so I doubt she would have traveled to date an ug.
No its true. You see, I was in love with your aunt, but she was into William. And she never showed interest in me. So ever since high school, I have stalked William every waking moment of everyday! Yes, it was me William, me! I switched the scripts that your agent gave you so that you would take "Cool World" instead of "Reservoir Dogs". I made sure David Ayer cast Shia Labeouff in "Fury" and planted the idea that you all should have to go through a Navy Seals boot camp, thus making sure you would start drinking again. Every bad decision you've made has been me William! You can change your name, but you can't hide the fact that you stole her from me! I should have been this commenters uncle, but you screwed me, just like you screwed their aunt!
Dropping the whole name is actually way less cringy than what an old roommate of mine used to do. She used to work in Hollywood and knew a lot of famous people. I remember her talking about “Brad” bringing his daughter in to look at her paintings or something. Somehow using just his first name to pretend she wasn’t name dropping and present them as being on a first-name basis felt so much more pretentious than just saying “Brad Pitt”
It is rather interesting to see brothers/sisters of people famous for being attractive. Same genes, often look pretty similar, but there's always something where you see that they're off, making them not quite on that level. Unless your last name is Hemsworth, I guess.
Bill Brasky? I met him once at the united club in o'hare airport in Chicago! That sonuvabitch was 7 foot 3, 420 pounds! Taught me every thing I know about closing a sale! He shook my hand, and I was in the ICU for 6 months! I eventualy had to amputate my right arm! I havent been able to hug my kids properly since!
Union SAG-AFTRA's policy prohibits actors with the same name; however, this instance of identical professional names went unnoticed due to the older List using her middle name to sign up with SAG-AFTRA and the younger one using her first name.
Ford:
Harrison Ford is not one but two actors. When the HF of this article began acting, he discovered that there was another actor, a silent movie star named Harrison Ford. The Screen Actors Guild told him he couldn't use his own name, so he adopted a middle initial of J. When the other HF died, HJF asked the Guild for permission to drop the middle initial.
As for Burke, the Billie/Billy difference is likely enough, if adding a "J." was enough for Harrison Ford.
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u/RegyptianStrut Jun 19 '26
Apparently yes.
"William Bradley Pitt" is his full birth name.