Michael Keaton paid homage to his old neighborhood in Robinson in his Golden Globes Award acceptance speech, so his old school district should return the favor by naming a new school after him, a school board member said.

“He paid homage to his family and the area. I thought it was a nice tribute,” Montour School Board member Darrell Young said Friday.

Young made the suggestion at Thursday's board meeting. Montour plans to combine classes from Forest Grove and Burkett elementary schools in Robinson into a $50 million school expected to open in 2017 on the district's high school campus.

Raised in the Forest Grove neighborhood in Robinson, Keaton graduated from Montour High School in 1969.

In his Jan. 11 acceptance speech for his Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for his performance in “Birdman,” Keaton noted his roots, including his birth name.

“My name is Michael John Douglas. I'm from Forest Grove, Pa. I'm the seventh child of George and Leona Douglas and I don't ever remember a time when my father didn't work two jobs, when my mother wasn't saying the rosary or going to Mass or trying to take care of seven kids in a run-down farmhouse,” he said.

Keaton, 63, has been nominated for an Academy Award for his role in “Birdman.” He could not be reached for comment.

The actor is well deserving of a namesake school, said Ralph Vituccio, who graduated from high school with Keaton and was his roommate in the mid-1970s while Keaton worked as an actor and production assistant on “Mister Rogers' Neighborhood” in Pittsburgh.

“I think they should name a school after him,” said Vituccio, an assistant teaching professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center.

Keaton was an outgoing youngster who played a lot of sports in high school, said one of his brothers, George Douglas Jr., 67, of Robinson.

He's maintained his humility and likely would consider it an honor for a school to be named after him, Douglas said.

“He's very proud of his roots. He's a product of the area where he grew up. He still has many, many friends in our area,” he said.

Montour staff members did not respond to requests for information on the district's building naming guidelines, but school board member Scott Suess said he believed only a board vote was required to pick a name. Young said a committee likely will be formed to help choose a name.

Tory N. Parrish is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-380-5662 or tparrish@tribweb.com.

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