According to Hollywood legend, Michael Keaton chose his stage name from a phone book when he was pursuing a career in show business in the 1970s.

He could not use his birth name, Michael Douglas, because the Screen Actors Guild prohibits its members from using another member’s stage name.

The union already had a Michael Douglas (the future Wall-Street Oscar winner) and Mike Douglas (talk show host). That’s how he became Michael Keaton.

When asked about the phone book story, Keaton tells PEOPLE he’s not entirely sure how he came up with the nickname that appears on dozens of movie posters.

“I was leafing through it – I can’t remember if it was a phone book,” says Keaton, 72, sometimes raising his famously expressive eyebrows. “I must have thought, ‘I don’t know, let me think of something here.’ And I thought, ‘Oh, that sounds reasonable.'”

And although the name “Keaton” has served him well, he would like to return to a mix of his birth name and his stage name – Michael Keaton Douglas – for professional projects.

He intended to do this in his latest directorial work, Knox leavesa dramatic thriller that was released earlier this year, but which he “forgot” about in the stress of filming.

“I said, ‘Hey, just a heads up, I’m credited as Michael Keaton Douglas.’ And it completely slipped my mind. And I forgot to give them enough time to put it in and create it. But that’s what will happen,” continues Keaton, whose name appears as Michael Keaton in his latest film. Beetlejuice Beetlejuicethe sequel to the successful comedy from 1988 Beetlejuice.

In the title story, Keaton – who also appears in the dramedy – Goodrichwill be released in October – reflects his rise from humble beginnings to film stardom.

Keaton is the youngest of seven children of civil engineer George Douglas and housewife Leona. Despite his parents’ modest means, he had a “fantastic childhood” in a suburb of Pittsburgh.

Even as a child, Keaton, who played with his brothers and watched westerns on television, knew he could captivate a crowd.

“I was always entertaining. Because when you’re the youngest, you have a built-in audience. And they were receptive,” he says. “I realized I could make people laugh and help them out of trouble or get them in trouble.”

It was only when he dropped out of Kent State University in Ohio as a young man that he began acting seriously.

He got a role in a local production of David Rabe’s black comedy Sticks and bonesand a newspaper critic took notice. “Someone said, ‘Hey, nice review.’ I had no idea what he was talking about,” Keaton recalls.

It took several years of odd jobs – including dismantling sets and lighting shows at a PBS station for $2 an hour – before Keaton had his break in the sitcom in 1979 Working stiffeners alongside Jim Belushi. The series was canceled after one season.

While many actors would have panicked, Keaton says he kept his cool: “I thought, ‘Well, if it doesn’t work out, I know I can do lots of other things.’ I always knew I could have a job, find a small apartment, get a cheap car that belonged to seven other people, and that I would be fine. That takes a lot of pressure off.”

To say that everything worked out for Keaton would be an understatement.

In the 1980s, he made a name for himself as a sought-after comedy actor, thanks to appearances in films such as Night shift to Henry Winkler and Mr. Mom with Teri Garr, before appearing in films such as Beetlejuice And Batmanwhich catapulted his career into the stratosphere.

More recently, he has received many accolades: Keaton was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of a washed-up actor trying to revive his career in The Last Man (2014). Birdmanand he won an Emmy, a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his work as a doctor dealing with the opioid crisis in the 2021 Hulu miniseries DopeSick.

And while it’s an honor to be nominated, it’s also nice to win. “It’s definitely fun,” Keaton says. “I’m not downplaying it.”

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will be in theaters on Friday, September 6th.

For more on Michael Keaton, read the new issue of PEOPLE.