50 Fun Facts About 80s Romantic Comedies

Which real Manhattan restaurant hosted the famous fake-orgasm lunch scene in When Harry Met Sally...?

Katz's Deli still hangs a sign above the table where Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal sat. The diner who orders after Sally's performance gets the scene's biggest laugh.

Which singer won the Best Actress Oscar for playing Brooklyn bookkeeper Loretta Castorini in Moonstruck?

Cher was named for the lead in director Norman Jewison's pitch for Moonstruck. The $15 million film went on to gross more than $120 million worldwide.

In Splash, Daryl Hannah's mermaid borrows which name from a Manhattan street sign?

Madison ranked 216th among American girls' names in 1990 and third by 2000, a rise widely credited to Splash.

In Coming to America, Eddie Murphy's Prince Akeem is heir to the throne of which fictional African nation?

Zamunda is so wealthy that Akeem has servants for everything, so he poses as a poor student in New York to find a wife who loves him for himself.

In Say Anything..., Lloyd Dobler holds a boombox over his head playing which Peter Gabriel song?

In Your Eyes replaced a Fishbone track that first scored the scene, after director Cameron Crowe decided it did not fit the mood he wanted.

Which actor plays a jobless New York actor who lands a soap role by posing as Dorothy Michaels in Tootsie?

Dustin Hoffman suggested the title Tootsie himself, as a tribute to his mother's pet name for him when he was a child.

In Pretty in Pink's original ending, booed by test audiences, Andie chose the character played by which actor?

Jon Cryer said he was shocked when test audiences rejected best friend Duckie getting the girl. The ending was changed so that Andie chose rich kid Blane instead.

Which action star voices the inner thoughts of baby Mikey in Look Who's Talking?

Bruce Willis is heard only by the audience as Mikey, in a film that grossed about $297 million worldwide.

Can't Buy Me Love, with Patrick Dempsey as a nerd who rents a girlfriend, borrows its title from which band?

The Beatles song replaced the working title Boy Rents Girl once the rights were obtained. Dempsey's character pays a cheerleader $1,000 saved from a summer of mowing lawns.

Which pop star plays the drifter a bored New Jersey housewife tracks through personal ads in Desperately Seeking Susan?

Madonna had her first major screen role as Susan, and the film's costumes drew on her own early style. Her demo Into the Groove ended up on screen too.

In Sixteen Candles, Samantha Baker's family forgets her 16th birthday because of which event the next day?

Her sister's wedding fills the house with grandparents, who take over Samantha's bedroom and bring along a foreign exchange student. It was John Hughes's first film as director.

Which actress plays a spoiled heiress who falls from her yacht and loses her memory in Overboard?

Goldie Hawn's socialite is taken in by a working-class carpenter she had mistreated, a widower raising four sons on the Oregon coast.

Steve Martin's Roxanne, about a small-town hero with an enormous nose, updates which classic French play?

Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand's 1897 play, was a story Steve Martin admired for years before he spent several more writing his own screenplay.

Which Sex and the City star plays an ancient Egyptian who comes to life as a store dummy in Mannequin?

Kim Cattrall spent six weeks posing for a sculptor before filming so that the shop-window figures would carry her likeness.

Which Australian star played an Outback bushman brought to New York by a reporter in Crocodile Dundee?

Paul Hogan thought up the story on a visit to New York, wondering how a Northern Territory bushman would cope if he arrived in town.

In Romancing the Stone, novelist Joan Wilder flies to which South American country to ransom her kidnapped sister?

Colombia is where Joan must carry a treasure map to the coastal city of Cartagena, a long way from her New York apartment and her cat, Romeo.

Which singer-songwriter won an Oscar for Let the River Run, the anthem that opens Working Girl?

Carly Simon wrote, arranged and performed the song herself, and it went on to win her a Golden Globe and a Grammy as well.

Which English actor plays the drunken millionaire who falls for a woman caught shoplifting a necktie in Arthur?

Dudley Moore's Arthur Bach is on the brink of an arranged marriage to a wealthy heiress when a working-class New Yorker catches his eye in a Manhattan store.

Which actress plays Annie Savoy, the baseball fan torn between a rookie pitcher and a veteran catcher, in Bull Durham?

Susan Sarandon's film grew out of writer-director Ron Shelton's own years as a minor league ballplayer.

Mystic Pizza, an early Julia Roberts film about three young waitresses, is set in a fishing town in which state?

Connecticut really has a Mystic Pizza: the screenwriter came across the shop while spending a summer in the area. The film also gave Matt Damon his screen debut.

The customer who gets the last laugh in the When Harry Met Sally... restaurant scene was played by whose mother?

Rob Reiner cast his mother, Estelle, as the nearby patron who places her order deadpan, and his daughter Tracy also has a role in the film he directed.

In Moonstruck, Ronny takes Loretta to the Met to watch which Puccini opera, which moves her deeply?

La bohème so appealed to screenwriter John Patrick Shanley that he wrote Ronny as a bohemian, and the director took the cast to see it before filming.

Which combat sport does underachiever Lloyd Dobler train in at a gym in Say Anything...?

Kickboxing gives the film its reunion: class valedictorian Diane Court comes to Lloyd's gym to reconcile with him after breaking things off.

In Coming to America, Prince Akeem and Semmi rent a squalid tenement in which New York City borough?

Queens is where the pair pose as poor foreign students in Jackson Heights and take entry-level jobs at McDowell's, a burger restaurant with a suspiciously familiar look.

Which Motown star won an Oscar for a ballad he wrote for Gene Wilder's comedy The Woman in Red?

Stevie Wonder composed nearly the whole soundtrack, and I Just Called to Say I Love You took the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Which actress plays a penniless soprano passed off as a male female impersonator in 1930s Paris in Victor/Victoria?

Julie Andrews was directed by her husband, Blake Edwards, who adapted the story from a 1933 German film.

In Some Kind of Wonderful, tomboy Watts, played by Mary Stuart Masterson, is devoted to which instrument?

Drums fit the name: John Hughes called his leads Keith, Watts and Amanda Jones as an in-joke about the Rolling Stones, whose drummer was Charlie Watts.

In Baby Boom, Diane Keaton's Manhattan executive quits, moves to which state and starts selling gourmet baby food?

Vermont is where she buys a farmhouse and turns the applesauce she made for baby Elizabeth, a surprise inheritance from a distant cousin, into a business.

Which actress plays Angela de Marco, a Long Island gangster's widow trailed by an FBI agent, in Married to the Mob?

Michelle Pfeiffer earned a Golden Globe nomination for Jonathan Demme's crime comedy, and Dean Stockwell an Oscar nomination as Tony, the mobster who pursues her.

In Better Off Dead, dumped teenager Lane Meyer tries to win back Beth by tackling the K-12 in which sport?

Skiing down the K-12, the highest peak in town, ends in a wipeout at the first attempt. Beth had left Lane for the captain of the school ski team.

Pretty in Pink takes its title from a song by which British band, who re-recorded it for the soundtrack?

The Psychedelic Furs song was played to John Hughes by the film's teenage star, and it inspired him to write the screenplay.

Which veteran English actor won an Oscar as Hobson, the acid-tongued valet, in the comedy Arthur?

John Gielgud turned the part down twice before accepting, nervous about the strong language the script gave Hobson.

Which actress plays driven news producer Jane Craig, caught between two newsmen, in Broadcast News?

Holly Hunter's Jane works in the Washington bureau of a TV network and abhors soft news, yet is drawn to a handsome new anchor with little news experience.

Which actor plays Randy, the Hollywood punk who wins a suburban teenager's heart, in Valley Girl?

Nicolas Cage's romance with a girl from the other side of the hills is loosely based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Which actor plays Gib, a college student crossing the country with a classmate over Christmas break, in The Sure Thing?

John Cusack was so young that the director at first refused to meet him, yet the film became his first major starring role.

Which actor plays Crash Davis, the veteran catcher sent to tutor a wild rookie pitcher, in Bull Durham?

Kevin Costner, a former high school ballplayer, was cast for his natural athleticism and hit two home runs while the cameras were rolling.

Which writer earned an Oscar nomination for the When Harry Met Sally... screenplay, basing Sally partly on herself?

Nora Ephron built Harry from an interview she conducted with the film's director, and drew Sally from herself and some of her friends.

Who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar as soap opera star Julie Nichols in Tootsie?

Jessica Lange took the film's only Oscar from ten nominations, which included Best Picture. Her character is a single mother dating the soap's director.

Which band took Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now, the theme from Mannequin, to number one in the US and UK?

Starship recorded it as a duet for vocalists Grace Slick and Mickey Thomas, and the song earned an Oscar nomination.

About Last Night..., starring Rob Lowe and Demi Moore, is based on a Chicago-set play by which playwright?

David Mamet's 1974 play carried a far blunter title, Sexual Perversity in Chicago. Tim Kazurinsky and Denise DeClue turned it into the screenplay.

In Crossing Delancey, a matchmaker introduces bookstore worker Isabelle to Sam, whose small business sells what?

Pickles put Isabelle off at first, since she idolizes the literary crowd at her bookstore. Amy Irving earned a Golden Globe nomination in the role.

In Shirley Valentine, a middle-aged English housewife finds a holiday romance with a tavern owner in which country?

The Greece scenes were shot on the island of Mykonos, and Pauline Collins had already played Shirley on stage in London's West End and on Broadway.

Gregory's Girl, about a schoolboy smitten with a girl who joins his football team, is set in which country?

Scotland's accents were a hurdle abroad: the film was re-dubbed with softer, anglicised voices for its first American release.

Which Romancing the Stone sequel reunited Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner in an African desert?

The Jewel of the Nile got both stars back largely because they were contractually obliged, and the jewel of the title turns out to be a holy man.

Which actor plays King Jaffe Joffer, Prince Akeem's imposing father, in Coming to America?

James Earl Jones's king presents Akeem with an arranged bride on his 21st birthday, which is what sends the prince abroad. Jones returned for the sequel.

Which actress plays Tess McGill, a secretary who takes over her injured boss's role, in Working Girl?

Melanie Griffith won a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination as Tess, who finds notes showing her boss plans to pass off Tess's business idea as her own.

When Harry Met Sally... reaches its happy ending at a party held on which occasion?

New Year's Eve also marks an earlier turning point in the film, when the pair first sense an attraction at a party but say nothing about it.

Which actress starred for John Hughes as Samantha in Sixteen Candles and Andie in Pretty in Pink?

Molly Ringwald's headshot hung over John Hughes's desk while he wrote Sixteen Candles in a single weekend with her in mind.

Which actor plays Allen Bauer, the New Yorker who falls in love with a mermaid, in Splash?

Tom Hanks won praise for his chemistry with Daryl Hannah, and the $11 million comedy earned over $69 million.

Which Happy Days star directed Splash, giving his father and brother small roles on screen?

Ron Howard put his father Rance and brother Clint in the film, the first released by Touchstone, a label Disney created for more grown-up fare.