Meg Randall - Name Change

Name Change

In mid-June of 1948, Universal-International brought Meg aboard with what would become a three-year contract. Once again, she had no idea if she would be offered any work there either. Surprisingly, just two days later, she was cast as Helen and filming on the set of Criss Cross with Burt Lancaster, Yvonne De Carlo and Dan Duryea. This became a significant event that inevitably changed her career potential and her name.

Prior to signing with Universal-International, Meg had married a studio musician named Robert Thorpe. It was the opinion of U-I producers that neither her birth name, Gene Roberts, nor her married name Gene Thorpe (also known as Jean Thorpe), was considered a good fit for her Hollywood identity. As a new U-I player, Meg was obliged to immediately select a screen name. Since this occurred during the production of Criss Cross, she was dubbed "Miss X" early on by the studio. The name Meg McClure was first chosen and announced in a press release along with Meg's image in a Hollywood fashioned pose set against a giant "X". However, this name was short-lived. Another young newcomer had already changed her name to M'Liss McClure and attracted gossip column interest with her protests about the competing last name. Overall, it was reported that the publicity over the name change drew six thousand letters into the studio offering name suggestions. Before filming ended on the movie, a new name was chosen and Gene would forever be publicly recognized by her screen name, Meg Randall.