100 Fun Facts About 1960s Movies

Who plays the shy motel proprietor Norman Bates in Hitchcock's Psycho (1960)?

The film was shot cheaply in black and white by the crew of Hitchcock's TV show and grossed about $50 million on a budget under $1 million.

Which 1960 Billy Wilder comedy about a clerk lending his flat to bosses won Best Picture?

Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine starred; the 1968 Broadway musical Promises, Promises was based on it.

Who replaced the original director of Spartacus (1960) after Kirk Douglas removed him?

It was the only Kubrick film where he lacked complete artistic control; Douglas also broke the blacklist by crediting screenwriter Dalton Trumbo.

Which 1961 musical won 10 of its 11 Oscar nominations, a record for a musical?

Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins co-directed; Robbins also got a special award for the choreography.

Who wrote 'Moon River' with Henry Mancini for Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)?

Marilyn Monroe was among those considered for Holly Golightly before Audrey Hepburn got the role.

Which actor made his debut as James Bond in Dr. No (1962)?

Fleming originally wrote Dr. No as a TV outline to promote Jamaican tourism, which is why Bond is sent to Jamaica.

Who played T. E. Lawrence in David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962)?

The film won seven Oscars including Best Picture; Freddie Young shot it in Super Panavision 70.

Gregory Peck won his Best Actor Oscar for playing which lawyer in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)?

The American Film Institute named the character the greatest movie hero of the 20th century.

Elizabeth Taylor signed on to Cleopatra (1963) for what record-setting salary?

Production began at Pinewood in 1960, shut down with ten minutes of usable footage, and restarted in Rome under a new director.

Which 1963 Best Picture winner starred Albert Finney as Henry Fielding's roguish foundling?

Tony Richardson directed it from a John Osborne script; it took four Oscars from ten nominations.

Hitchcock's The Birds (1963) is set in which northern California town?

It introduced Tippi Hedren, and its screenwriter Evan Hunter was told to invent new characters around Daphne du Maurier's title and premise.

Who became the first Black actor to win the Best Actor Oscar, for Lilies of the Field (1963)?

He plays a handyman who builds a chapel for a group of East German nuns in the Arizona desert.

Steve McQueen's motorcycle jump is the famous stunt from which 1963 POW film?

It won McQueen Best Actor at the Moscow International Film Festival, of all places.

Ray Harryhausen's fight between the hero and seven skeleton warriors comes from which 1963 film?

It flopped on release but is now regarded as a classic; Bernard Herrmann wrote the score.

In Dr. Strangelove (1964), how many different characters does Peter Sellers play?

The President, the title scientist and an RAF exchange officer; George C. Scott's general and Slim Pickens's bomb-riding pilot round out the madness.

Goldfinger (1964) turned which car into the biggest-selling toy of the year via Corgi?

It was the first Bond film to take over $100 million, on a budget equal to the first two films combined.

Mary Poppins (1964) was the feature-film debut of which actress, who won the Best Actress Oscar for it?

Warner Bros. had passed her over for the film of My Fair Lady, her own stage role, in favour of Audrey Hepburn.

Who played Eliza Doolittle in the 1964 film of My Fair Lady?

Rex Harrison reprised his stage Higgins and won Best Actor; the film took eight Oscars.

Clint Eastwood's first leading role was in which 1964 spaghetti western?

He was paid $15,000; the film was an unofficial remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo, and Toho sued successfully.

Who directed the Beatles' 1964 film A Hard Day's Night?

It follows a fictional 36 hours in the band's life and is credited with inspiring the Monkees' TV show and the music video.

Which 1965 film overtook Gone with the Wind as the highest-grossing film ever?

It broke box-office records in 29 countries after opening to mixed reviews.

Because Pasternak's novel was banned in the USSR, where was Doctor Zhivago (1965) mostly filmed?

Omar Sharif and Julie Christie starred; critics grumbled about the three-hour length but it won five Oscars.

Thunderball (1965) was the first Bond film shot in which widescreen format?

About a quarter of the film is underwater, and it was Terence Young's third and last Bond.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) starred which real-life married pair as George and Martha?

All four credited cast members were nominated, a first, and it was nominated in every category it was eligible for.

Who played Sir Thomas More in the 1966 Best Picture winner A Man for All Seasons?

He'd created the role in the West End; Robert Shaw played Henry VIII and John Hurt had one of his earliest screen parts.

In The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), who plays 'the Ugly'?

The Italian title actually orders them good, ugly, bad; the film was shot mostly in Spain's Tabernas Desert.

Which duo recorded the soundtrack for The Graduate (1967), including 'Mrs. Robinson'?

It was the top-grossing film of 1967 in North America, and Mike Nichols won Best Director.

Who played Clyde Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde (1967), and also produced the film?

Faye Dunaway was Bonnie; Estelle Parsons won the film's only acting Oscar, for Best Supporting Actress.

Which 1967 Best Picture winner gave us the line 'They call me Mister Tibbs!'?

Rod Steiger won Best Actor as the Mississippi police chief; the title song was sung by Ray Charles.

Which actor, who died 17 days after filming ended, made his ninth and final film with Katharine Hepburn in 1967?

Hepburn said she never watched the finished film because it would be too painful.

Cool Hand Luke (1967) stars Paul Newman as a nonconformist convict in a prison camp in which state?

It was actually filmed in California's San Joaquin Delta, on a set copied from a real Gainesville road prison.

The Jungle Book (1967) was the last animated feature personally produced by whom?

He died during production; the Sherman Brothers wrote five songs and Terry Gilkyson's 'The Bare Necessities' survived the rewrite.

The Dirty Dozen (1967) was inspired by a real WWII demolition unit with what nickname?

Lee Marvin led the convicts; the film grossed $45 million on a $5 million budget.

Who voices the computer HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)?

Rain was the narrator of a documentary called Universe that Kubrick admired; the film premiered on 2 April 1968.

What do the astronauts find at the end of Planet of the Apes (1968), revealing where they really are?

Rod Serling co-wrote the script, and the desert scenes were shot around Lake Powell.

Who plays the newlywed Rosemary in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (1968)?

Ruth Gordon won Best Supporting Actress as the sinister neighbour; Charles Grodin made his film debut.

Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968) was shot mainly in which state?

The crew rented a condemned farmhouse in Evans City so they could destroy it during filming; the film calls its monsters 'ghouls', never zombies.

Bullitt (1968), with its famous car chase, is set in which city?

Steve McQueen's own company produced it, and Lalo Schifrin wrote the jazz score.

Barbra Streisand's Best Actress Oscar for Funny Girl (1968) was unusual for what reason?

Hepburn won for The Lion in Winter; it remains the only tie in the category's history.

Which musical based on Charles Dickens won Best Picture for 1968?

Carol Reed directed it at Shepperton; his nephew Oliver Reed played Bill Sikes.

Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau played Felix and Oscar in which 1968 Neil Simon comedy?

It was the third-highest-grossing film of the year and spawned the Tony Randall–Jack Klugman sitcom.

Jane Fonda played a space traveller hunting Dr. Durand Durand in which 1968 film?

Her then-husband Roger Vadim directed it; the villain's name later inspired the band Duran Duran.

Who wrote the screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)?

Paul Newman and Robert Redford flee to Bolivia; the AFI later ranked it the 7th greatest western.

Midnight Cowboy (1969) is the only Best Picture winner to have carried which rating?

Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman play the two hustlers Joe Buck and 'Ratso' Rizzo.

Easy Rider (1969) earned about $60M worldwide on a budget of roughly how much?

Real drugs were used in the marijuana scenes, and Jack Nicholson picked up a supporting-actor nomination.

In which Italian city does Michael Caine's gang steal the gold in The Italian Job (1969)?

It was Noël Coward's last film, and Quincy Jones wrote the score including 'The Self-Preservation Society'.

Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch (1969) follows an ageing outlaw gang in what year?

Its slow-motion, quick-cut violence was revolutionary; it was shot in Mexico, notably at the Hacienda Ciénaga del Carmen.

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) was released in the middle of which real-world Cold War standoff?

Angela Lansbury, only three years older than Laurence Harvey, played his monstrous mother and won a Golden Globe.

Who played jewel thief 'The Phantom' opposite Peter Sellers in The Pink Panther (1963)?

The Pink Panther of the title is a diamond, not the cartoon cat, who only appeared in the credits.

Which 1962 Kubrick film cast 14-year-old Sue Lyon opposite James Mason?

Peter Sellers played Quilty; Nabokov's novel had been considered unfilmable.

How much did Psycho (1960) cost to make, roughly?

It earned about $50 million worldwide, not counting rentals, and got Hitchcock a Best Director nomination.

Which 1960 John Sturges Western is an Old West remake of a 1954 Akira Kurosawa film?

Kurosawa's Seven Samurai had itself first been released in the United States under the title The Magnificent Seven.

In The Hustler (1961), Jackie Gleason plays which legendary pool player?

Paul Newman's Fast Eddie challenges him; the film is credited with sparking a resurgence in pool's popularity.

Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) presents a fictionalized version of which 1947 Nuremberg proceeding?

Spencer Tracy's tribunal tries four defendants instead of the real trial's sixteen; the story began as a 1959 Playhouse 90 episode.

Which D-Day assault had The Longest Day (1962) cast member Richard Todd actually taken part in?

Many cast members were veterans, and the real Pegasus Bridge commander John Howard served as a consultant on the film.

Lee Marvin won the Best Actor Oscar for a dual role in which 1965 Western comedy?

Nat King Cole made his final film appearance in it, singing the theme as a wandering minstrel with Stubby Kaye.

Which Academy Award did Mel Brooks win for his directorial debut, The Producers (1967)?

The film's Hitler-musical premise made it controversial on release, but it later ranked eleventh on AFI's 100 Laughs list.

John Wayne won his only competitive Oscar for playing which marshal in True Grit (1969)?

Historians believe the character was based on real Deputy U.S. Marshal Henry "Heck" Thomas.

Which two future directors did Leone recruit to devise the plot of Once Upon a Time in the West?

Charles Bronson got the lead only after Clint Eastwood turned it down; the U.S. cut lost 25 minutes and flopped.

Who composed the score for Zorba the Greek (1964)?

Anthony Quinn's Zorba and Alan Bates's Basil end the film dancing together on a Cretan beach to that music.

Who plays both twins in The Parent Trap (1961)?

Her double-tracked single 'Let's Get Together', credited to 'Hayley Mills and Hayley Mills', reached number 8 on the US charts.

Who played Blanche opposite Bette Davis in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)?

The much-publicised feud between its two stars was a big part of the film's success, and it revived both their careers.

Who played the vengeful ex-convict Max Cady in the original Cape Fear (1962)?

He turned the part down at first, relenting only after Gregory Peck and the director sent him flowers and a case of bourbon.

What is unusual about every line of dialogue in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)?

Even the most casual conversation is delivered as recitative, which makes the film closer to an opera than a conventional musical.

The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965) adapts a novel by which author?

The author had wanted Trevor Howard or Peter Finch as Leamas, and Burt Lancaster was rejected for being unable to manage a British accent.

In the Beatles' Help! (1965), a cult pursues which band member over a sacrificial ring?

A fan had posted him the ring; the chase takes the band from the Alps to the Bahamas with a pair of mad scientists also in pursuit.

What racing number does Herbie the Volkswagen Beetle wear in The Love Bug (1968)?

Producer Bill Walsh picked it as a tribute to Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale, whose jersey number it was.

They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) is set at what gruelling Depression-era event?

The couples shuffle for weeks in a shabby ballroom on the Santa Monica Pier, with periodic 'derbies' to eliminate the slowest pairs.

Who played Tracy, the woman Bond marries in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)?

Brigitte Bardot had been approached first, but signed on to Shalako instead, so the producers turned to the star of The Avengers.

Inherit the Wind (1960) is a fictionalized account of which real 1925 court case?

The teacher had been convicted of teaching evolution in Tennessee; the film used the story as a veiled attack on McCarthyism.

Who co-starred with Elvis Presley in Viva Las Vegas (1964)?

The pair began an affair during the shoot, which gossip columnists covered so closely that it reportedly forced a showdown with Priscilla Beaulieu.

Born Free (1966) follows Joy and George Adamson raising which orphaned animal in Kenya?

The Adamsons were played by Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers, themselves a married couple, who later founded the Born Free Foundation.

Which copying process let One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) skip hand-inking its cels?

Ub Iwerks had rigged a Xerox camera to transfer the animators' pencil drawings straight onto cels, which is why the film has such a sketchy line.

In The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), who really fired the fatal shot?

John Wayne's rancher fires from the shadows at the same instant as James Stewart's lawyer, then lets the tenderfoot take the credit and the career.

How the West Was Won (1962) was one of only two dramas shot in which three-strip process?

Three cameras filmed simultaneously for a curved triple-panel screen, and John Ford grumbled about having to dress such enormous sets.

Who won an Oscar at 16 for playing Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker (1962)?

She was the youngest competitive Oscar winner at the time; Anne Bancroft took Best Actress as the teacher Annie Sullivan.

What does the title of Fellini's 8½ (1963) refer to?

The working title was La bella confusione, 'The Beautiful Confusion', which describes the blocked director at its centre rather well.

Clouseau's manservant Cato, who ambushes him at home, first appears in which 1964 film?

Blake Edwards based the character on his own karate teacher, Ed Parker; Commissioner Dreyfus also debuts in the same film.

In Wait Until Dark (1967), criminals hunt a blind woman’s doll stuffed with what?

The doll had been handed off to her photographer husband at the airport by a drug mule trying to shake a man following her.

Which children's author wrote the screenplay for You Only Live Twice (1967)?

A close friend of Ian Fleming, he had never completed a screenplay before and was handed a six-week deadline for the first draft.

Which Oscar-winning song came from The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)?

Michel Legrand wrote it with the Bergmans; Noel Harrison sang it after Andy Williams turned the job down.

Roger Corman's The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) shot its interiors in how many days?

Corman reused sets left standing from A Bucket of Blood before they were torn down; a young Jack Nicholson plays a pain-loving dental patient.

In Where Eagles Dare (1968), the Schloss Adler fortress can be reached only by what?

The commandos' mission to free a captured American general turns out to be a cover for flushing out double agents inside MI6.

The Misfits (1961) was the last completed film for Marilyn Monroe and which leading man?

He died three months before the premiere and she a year after its release; Arthur Miller, then her husband, wrote the script.

Zulu (1964) depicts which 1879 battle between a small British garrison and the Zulu army?

Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded for the defence; the film gave Michael Caine his first major role as Lieutenant Bromhead.

Which British director’s career was wrecked by the reception of Peeping Tom (1960)?

The story of a killer who films his victims' dying faces was reviled by critics in 1960 and championed by Martin Scorsese two decades later.

Who plays Catherine, the woman at the centre of the love triangle in Jules and Jim (1962)?

She won that year's Étoile de Cristal for best actress; the story spans the years before, during and after the First World War.

Who won Best Actress as the housekeeper Alma in Hud (1963), opposite Paul Newman?

Melvyn Douglas also won, as the upright father, and James Wong Howe took the black-and-white cinematography award.

Who played shoe-blade villain Rosa Klebb in From Russia with Love (1963)?

Terence Young cast the Austrian cabaret singer, Kurt Weill's widow, after hearing one of her recordings.

Which 1964 Lumet nuclear thriller was held back so Dr. Strangelove could open first?

A plagiarism suit over the two near-identical plots ended with Columbia distributing both films, nine months apart.

Who directed The Battle of Algiers (1966)?

He co-wrote the score with Ennio Morricone; the newsreel look was so convincing that US prints carried a notice that “not one foot” of newsreel was used.

Which band, with Jeff Beck smashing a guitar, plays a club scene in Blow-Up (1966)?

The song is 'Stroll On', a rewritten 'Train Kept A-Rollin''; the Ricky-Tick club was rebuilt at Elstree for the three-day shoot.

Steve McQueen’s only Oscar nomination came for which 1966 film set on a Yangtze gunboat?

Set on a gunboat on the Yangtze in 1926, it was the fourth-highest-grossing film of the year and earned Richard Attenborough a Golden Globe.

Swiss Family Robinson (1960) was filmed on which Caribbean island?

Cast and crew spent six months on the island after a scouting tip from someone in Trinidad; Ken Annakin directed.

Stunt pilot Paul Mantz was killed filming which 1965 film about a crashed cargo plane?

The rebuilt ‘Phoenix’ aircraft buckled during a touch-and-go landing for the cameras on 8 July 1965, killing him and injuring a stuntman.

In Breathless (1960), Jean Seberg's Patricia sells which newspaper on the Champs-Élysées?

Godard's jump-cut debut made Jean-Paul Belmondo a star as the small-time hood who models himself on Humphrey Bogart.

How many credited directors worked on the 1967 Bond spoof Casino Royale?

Each handled a different segment, with stunt coordinator Richard Talmadge co-directing the chaotic finale, and the budget spiralled as a result.

Which 1969 Costa-Gavras film was up for both Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Film?

It won the foreign-language prize; only Grand Illusion had previously earned a Best Picture nomination for a non-English film.

Why did Charade (1963) fall into the US public domain the moment it was released?

The on-screen notice omitted the word 'Copyright' or a © symbol, which US law then required; the music, registered separately, stayed protected.

In The Time Machine (1960), the traveller stops beside a sphinx in which far-future year?

Rod Taylor's inventor finds the gentle Eloi living above ground and the Morlocks below; the film won the Oscar for special effects.