William Castle was born in 1914 in New York. His birth name was William Schloss. Schloss is German for “castle”, and when he decided at a young age to go into show business, he changed his last name to the English translation. Even as a young boy, Castle was an entertainer, often performing daredevil stunts to entertain his friends. He seemed destined to want to scare people. At the age of 15, he found employment on Broadway building sets, and doing other tasks. He even did some acting. One of the things that helped him find work was that he told people he was the nephew of Samuel B. Goldwyn. William Castle was not going to be kept from doing what he loved, and nothing did.