I was watching TV the other night.

Actually, I was watching Late Night TV.

Well, really, Late Night TV was on, but I wasn’t really paying a great deal of attention. So I missed the intro before the actor came out. But I did look up from my new book on the History of ‘sin’ in pre Prohibition Chicago, and when I saw the actor’s face I thought “I know him. He’s that actor. The one who was in Lord of the Rings. And his name is…” And then I couldn’t remember his name.

I found this annoying. But I was determined to remember the name and consequently sat there, listening to inane Movie Industry banter, whilst I concentrated – on what I don’t know – and tried to recall the name.

I refused to resort to the IMDB, because that would be cheating. See, at this point it wasn’t so much about knowing the right answer as it was about being able to remember the right answer.

One name kept coming back. Noah Berry. Except it couldn’t be him, because when I looked up that name on IMDB – somehow looking up a name I already had wasn’t cheating when looking up a movie to find the right name was – I confirmed that Mr. Berry was an established actor who succeeded in making the jump from Silents to Talkies. Noah Berry: 01/17/82 (that’s 1882) to 04/01/46.

Eventually I remembered the actor’s name. It’s Elijah Wood. Yes, Lord of the Rings, that Elijah Wood. After I remembered the name I looked him up on IMDB too. Elijah Wood: 01/28/81 (that’s 1981) to Well, now actually. Unlike Mr. Berry Elijah is still alive.
I understand that I couldn’t quite remember an actor’s name. I don’t understand why I was so convinced he owned someone else’s name. Sort of an Old Testament, biblical kind of first name mix up perhaps.

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