Michael Keaton would like to use his birth name, Michael Douglas, but two things stand in the way

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — Michael Keaton can’t even remember how he came about his professional name.

“I was looking through — I can’t remember if it was a phone book,” the “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” star told People about the origin of his use of Keaton. “I must’ve gone, ‘I don’t know, let me think of something here.’ And I went, ‘Oh, that sounds reasonable.’”

The now 72-year-old actor explained that while he was born “Michael Douglas,” he was unable to use that name in Hollywood given that another Oscar-winning actor and the son of Kirk Douglas, Michael Douglas, was already using it.

Mike Douglas was also spoken for by the famous talk-show host.

The Screen Actors Guild prohibits two performers from using the same name, so Keaton chose Keaton. And while he’s made quite an accomplished name for himself, the actor would like to be known professionally as “Michael Keaton Douglas.”

He planned on doing just that for his recent directorial effort “Knox Goes Away.” In the hustle of making the film, however, Keaton forgot to seal it on screen.

“I said, ‘Hey, just as a warning, my credit is going to be Michael Keaton Douglas.’ And it totally got away from me,” he explained. “And I forgot to give them enough time to put it in and create that. But that will happen.”

His latest starring project, the sequel “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” has him listed as “Michael Keaton.”

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