John Northpole

born: 23 December 1892
Stari Grad, Croatia,
Yugoslavia
died: 26 February 1964
Los Angeles, California,
United States of America
(age 71)

European-born actor with an unusual surname! In 1926, as part of the US citizenship process, he legally changed his name to "John Northpole Kovacevich". He arrived in the US in 1912 and went to Fresno, CA to live with his sister and brother-in-law to work on their farm. He may have wanted a legal name change partly because of the myriad of "John Kovacevich's" who emigrated from Yugoslavia in the late 19th thru the 20th Century as indicated by the records for that name found at Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.
He "made" national news when he "set the record for Hollywood's smallest role" in Paramount's film "A Son Comes Home" when they had to pay him "scale $25" for uttering the word "ugh". That was 1936.
Real name: Giovanni Kovacevic
Height: 6'0"
Films listed on this page: complete Hal Roach filmography.

3


1927
Why Girls Love Sailors
Sailor

1928
Flying Elephants
Caveman (?)

1940
One Million B.C.
Rock person

Acknowledgements:
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/4129996:1193 (1926 Jun LA name change: naturalization 1933)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9R4X-CS6?i=15&cc=1810731 (1930 Census LA actor, motion pics)
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/13597715:1002 (1942 Apr LA WWII Draft: ht. 6'0": free lance actor)
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/4026272:5180
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/4026272:5180 (1964 Feb 26 LA death CADI)
https://www.newspapers.com/image/508767942/?terms=%22john%20northpole%22&match=1 (1936 Jul sets record)
Jim Jarvis (bio notes and research)
Jesse Brisson (identification in Why Girls Love Sailors)

This page was last updated on: 18 July 2023