Pronunciation Guide

[EP Millstone]

Proper pronunciation of the following names, please:

Egon Brecher
Joseph Calleia
Cantinflas
Capucine
Eduardo Ciannelli
Lya De Putti
Lelia Goldoni
Tutte Lemkow
Lucy Liu
Paul Lukas
Antonio Margheriti
Lupita Nyong'o
Moroni Olsen
Molly Picon
Zasu Pitts
Lyda Roberti
Sōjin
Alida Valli
Michelle Yeoh

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[LawrenceA]

Joseph Kah-lee-ah
Kon-tee-flahss
Ka-poo-seen
Eduardo Chee-ah-nellee
Lucy Loo
Lupita Nee-yon-go
Michelle Yo
Ah-leeda Valli

I've always said Paul Lukas like Lucas, but I don't know that I've heard it pronounced, so it might be Loo-kash.

[Swithin]

Moroni Olsen More-owni (rhymes with more pony).

Moroni was obviously a Mormon, as anyone with that name would be.

[EP Millstone]

Thanks for your responses, Folks!

I thought that Joseph Calleia was Italian (according to the Internet Movie Database, he was actually Maltese), but I always pronounced his surname as with a Spanish twist: Ky-YAY-yuh, similar to the Spanish word for "street": calle. Thanks for the correction!

I'd always pronouced Eduardo's surname CHEE-ah-NELL-ee. But I worked with a film buff who pronounced it KY-ah-NELL-ee.

Re "The Charlie Chaplin of Mexico," I thought that his stage name was pronounced either Can-TEEN-flahss or Can-TIN-flahss.

I also suspect that Paul Lukas' surname is pronounced Loo-KASH. The surname of his fellow Hungarian Bela Lugosi is pronounced Loo-go-SEE in America. But in Bela's homeland, his surname would have been pronounced Loo-go-SHE, similar to the pronunciation of Bela's birthplace Lugos (Loo-GOASH), Hungary.

Tonight I watched the Preston Sturges comedy Easy Living, which had a name in the credits that is a mouthful: Special photographics effects . . . Farciot Edouart.

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[Arsan444]

Re "The Charlie Chaplin of Mexico," I thought that his stage name was pronounced either Can-TEEN-flahss..."

That's how I've always pronounced his name.

[Arsan444]

For years, long before the Internet, I pronounced Vivien Leigh's last name as Lay. I'm not sure where or why I learned to pronounce it that way. I wasn't until many years later when I realized that it is pronounced Lee.

[EP Millstone]

For years, long before the Internet, I pronounced Vivien Leigh's last name as Lay. I'm not sure where or why I learned to pronounce it that way. I wasn't until many years later when I realized that it is pronounced Lee.

Perhaps you thought that Leigh rhymed with sleigh? An entirely natural presumption, IMO.

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[Arsan444]

For years, long before the Internet, I pronounced Vivien Leigh's last name as Lay. I'm not sure where or why I learned to pronounce it that way. I wasn't until many years later when I realized that it is pronounced Lee.

Perhaps you thought that Leigh rhymed with sleigh? An entirely natural presumption, IMO.

It is possible, after all Leigh does look like sleigh and that mislead me, but I also think I heard someone on Tv pronounce it that way, adding to my mistake.

[Dargo]

I believe it is Zay-soo Pitts, but someone else may know for certain.

Not according to how Zasu herself is demonstrating how to pronounce her name here, KR...



(...and with a short-'a' sound, not a long-'a' sound)

[LostHorizons]

For years, long before the Internet, I pronounced Vivien Leigh's last name as Lay. I'm not sure where or why I learned to pronounce it that way. I wasn't until many years later when I realized that it is pronounced Lee.

Perhaps you thought that Leigh rhymed with sleigh? An entirely natural presumption, IMO.

It is possible, after all Leigh does look like sleigh and that mislead me, but I also think I heard someone on Tv pronounce it that way, adding to my mistake.

No, you’re not wrong. I could swear I heard a film historian or documentarian pronounce it that way as well. Exactly where I couldn’t tell you.

[Dargo]

Perhaps you thought that Leigh rhymed with sleigh? An entirely natural presumption, IMO.

It is possible, after all Leigh does look like sleigh and that mislead me, but I also think I heard someone on Tv pronounce it that way, adding to my mistake.

No, you’re not wrong. I could swear I heard a film historian or documentarian pronounce it that way as well. Exactly where I couldn’t tell you.

This all reminds me of the time I was traveling aboard a Virgin Atlantic flight from LAX-LHR. The young British female flight attendant came up to where I was seated, bent over and said, "Would you cah for some tay?"

Now, already knowing that Brits tend to have a little trouble pronouncing the letter 'r', I figured out immediately her word "cah" was actually the word "care", however I had NO idea what "tay" meant or was. And so, I asked her to repeat what it was that she was offering to me. She then said "tay" yet again.

And that's when I turned to my wife seated next to me who then told me the flight attendant wanted to know if I'd like some tea. I then turned back to the F/A and replied, "Yes, I would, thank you."

(...and as I drank my tay, ahem, my TEA, I thought back to that famous quote of G. B. Shaw's about "Two peoples separated by a common language")

[LawrenceA]

Re "The Charlie Chaplin of Mexico," I thought that his stage name was pronounced either Can-TEEN-flahss..."

That's how I've always pronounced his name.

I certainly defer to you on the proper pronunciation for this one. I think I've heard it said about 4 different ways!

[BunnyWhit]

I believe it is Zay-soo Pitts, but someone else may know for certain.

Not according to how Zasu herself is demonstrating how to pronounce her name here, KR...



(...and with a short-'a' sound, not a long-'a' sound)

I've seen this before as well, Dargo, and based on this, I've always pronounced her name Zah Soo' -- keeping both the syllabic pronunciation and emphasis as in the names Eliza and Susan.

But Pitts was on I've Got A Secret 4 September 1952, where she clearly pronounces her name Zay' Zoo.


And in the cookbook written by ZaSu Pitts, Candy Hits (1963), she writes that her name is pronounced Say' Zoo.

I think I'll call her Miss Pitts.