George Segal Keeps Jewish Surname

George Segal became one of the first American film actors in Hollywood to rise to full leading man status without changing his clearly Jewish surname. At a time when many Jewish performers altered their names to sound less ethnic, he kept “Segal” on the marquee and still built a mainstream star career. That shift helped pave the way for later Jewish artists like Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand to keep their own names while becoming major Hollywood stars.

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