Vents MagaZine Music and Entertainment Magazine
Related Articles
They say, ostensibly, that actors in SAG-AFTRA can’t have the same name. Of course, on the margins, that seemingly isn’t true. I’ve heard conflicting things about the reality of names in SAG-AFTRA. What I do know is that there was an actor named Paul Rudd before the Paul Rudd you are thinking of.
I know this thanks to Moonlighting. I was watching an episode and saw the name “Paul Rudd” in the opening credits. I was intrigued to see what would have been a very-early role for him. The episode passed, and no Paul Rudd (though Dan Lauria was in the episode, and that was cool). Naturally, I checked online. It turns out that there was an actor named Paul Rudd prior to the famous one.
This Rudd only popped up on TV occasionally in small roles. He’s not a famous face, much less a famous name. Also, he evidently effectively retired from acting in 1986 to teach, and he taught at the collegiate level, so he was no slouch. Though he predates the famed Paul Rudd, he’s the one whose Wikipedia page is “Paul Ryan Rudd,” even though I assure you that is not what he was billed as.
Lastly, and most interestingly, Rudd did a lot of stage work, and in 1976 played Henry V during the New York Shakespeare Festival. Who played Katharine? None other than Meryl Streep, who many years later would play a New York theater actor who is in a play opposite an actor played by Paul Rudd in Only Murders in the Building. Full circle!
