50 Fun Facts About In the Heat of the Night

Who directed the 1967 film In the Heat of the Night?

Norman Jewison was told by Robert Kennedy while making it that the film could be very important because 'timing is everything'; it won Best Picture, though he lost Best Director.

Who plays detective Virgil Tibbs in the 1967 film In the Heat of the Night?

Sidney Poitier played Tibbs three times in five years, returning for two sequels, yet it was his co-star who took the acting Oscar for the original.

In the 1967 film In the Heat of the Night, Virgil Tibbs is a homicide detective from which city?

Philadelphia is where his own chief orders him to stay and help the local police with the case, when all Tibbs wants is to leave town.

Who won the Best Actor Oscar for playing Chief Bill Gillespie in the 1967 film In the Heat of the Night?

Rod Steiger won on the night, while his top-billed co-star, who made three films about race relations that year, was not nominated at all.

In the Heat of the Night beat which Hoffman film to Best Picture?

The Graduate went home with only the directing Oscar, while In the Heat of the Night took five awards from seven nominations, the top prize among them.

In the 1967 film In the Heat of the Night, the town of Sparta is in which state?

Mississippi, a centre of the country's conflict over civil rights in the 1960s, replaced the novel's setting.

Most of the 1967 film In the Heat of the Night was actually shot in which real town?

Sparta, Illinois stood in for the Deep South, and the story's town was renamed to match it so the crew could film the real signs and storefronts.

Why did the star of In the Heat of the Night have reservations about the shoot?

Filming south of the Mason-Dixon line worried him so much that most scenes were shot in the North, and on the brief Southern location he left his motel only when necessary.

In the 1967 film In the Heat of the Night, whose murdered body is found at the start?

Phillip Colbert, a wealthy investor from the North, was the film's invention: in the novel the victim is an orchestra conductor organising a music festival.

How does Tibbs first come to the attention of the Sparta police?

He is arrested at the train station simply for being a Black stranger with a full wallet; only at headquarters do the police learn they have picked up a homicide detective.

Which plantation owner in In the Heat of the Night slaps Tibbs and is slapped right back?

Eric Endicott's slap went unanswered in the first story outline; by the star's own account, he took the part on condition that Tibbs would hit back.

Who turns out to be the killer in the 1967 film In the Heat of the Night?

Ralph Henshaw, a diner cook, killed for cash to pay for his girlfriend's abortion, and it is the money found in her purse that finally exposes him.

In the film In the Heat of the Night, Gillespie wrongly arrests which of his officers?

Sam Wood had made a large bank deposit the day after the killing, which looked like blood money until Tibbs showed where the murder really happened.

Tibbs's famous retort about his name is echoed by which animal in The Lion King?

Pumbaa turns it into a battle cry when he is called a pig; the original, Tibbs's answer to a sneer at his first name, is number 16 on the AFI's list of movie quotes.

Who composed the score of the 1967 film In the Heat of the Night?

Quincy Jones wrote a bluesy Southern score whose title theme outlived the film: two decades later a new recording of it opened every episode of the television series.

Who performed the title song of the 1967 film In the Heat of the Night?

Ray Charles sang it over the film's opening, to words by Alan and Marilyn Bergman; the television series later used a new version sung by Bill Champlin.

Which cinematographer shot the 1967 film In the Heat of the Night?

Haskell Wexler is credited with lighting a colour film with a Black star in mind for the first time, toning down the strong lights that threw glare on dark skin.

Who wrote the screenplay of In the Heat of the Night, adapting John Ball's novel?

Stirling Silliphant took the job over from a writer-producer who left the project, having just adapted the star's previous film, and won the Oscar for it.

John Ball's 1965 book In the Heat of the Night won which honour?

The Edgar for Best First Novel honoured Ball's debut mystery, and Hollywood moved at once: a film version was announced in June 1965, the year the book came out.

In John Ball's novel In the Heat of the Night, the small town is called Wells and is in which state?

South Carolina's fictional Wells did not survive the adaptation: the film renamed the town Sparta, after the real place where it was shot, so existing signs could be used.

What was the title of the 1970 sequel starring Poitier?

Tibbs is now a lieutenant with the San Francisco police, and Quincy Jones's score went funk.

In the two film sequels to In the Heat of the Night, Tibbs works for the police of which city?

San Francisco is where the sequels make him a lieutenant, though neither film adapts any of John Ball's Tibbs novels; the writers invented new cases.

Who played Chief Bill Gillespie in the television series In the Heat of the Night?

Carroll O'Connor took the part five years after his last sitcom ended, became an executive producer, and played scenes with his own son Hugh, cast as Officer Lonnie Jamison.

Who played Virgil Tibbs in the television series In the Heat of the Night?

Howard Rollins, Oscar-nominated for Ragtime, was dropped after six seasons because of his legal troubles, though the show's star arranged guest appearances for him.

The TV series In the Heat of the Night began on NBC in 1988 and later moved to which network?

CBS took the show over in 1992 after five seasons on NBC, then ended it with a set of two-hour television movies in place of a weekly eighth season.

In the TV series In the Heat of the Night, why has Tibbs returned to Sparta in the pilot?

For his mother's funeral: the series makes Sparta his hometown, and the mayor persuades the Northern detective to stay on as the town's chief of detectives.

Which future Walking Dead star made his film debut as Harvey Oberst in In the Heat of the Night?

Scott Wilson played the wrongly suspected Harvey Oberst in his first film and a real-life killer in In Cold Blood the same year; decades later he was Hershel Greene.

Bill Champlin, who sang the TV theme of In the Heat of the Night, belonged to which band at the time?

Chicago had Bill Champlin as a singer and keyboard player from 1981 to 2009; his bluesy remake replaced the original heard over the 1967 film's opening.

From season two, the TV series In the Heat of the Night was shot mainly in which Georgia town?

Covington took over from Hammond, Louisiana after a single season, and years later doubled as Mystic Falls in The Vampire Diaries.

Which Dallas star directed several episodes of TV's In the Heat of the Night?

Larry Hagman, the J.R. Ewing of Dallas, was a close friend of the show's star and executive producer, and directed several of its later episodes.

Which actor played Bubba Skinner in the TV series In the Heat of the Night?

Alan Autry had been an NFL quarterback before he took up acting, and after the series he went into politics, serving two terms as mayor of Fresno.

Who played Virgil's wife, Althea Tibbs, in the TV series In the Heat of the Night?

Anne-Marie Johnson left after six seasons, feeling Althea had gone as far as she could, and joined the sketch comedy In Living Color.

Carl Weathers, who joined In the Heat of the Night in 1993, first found fame as which Rocky boxer?

Apollo Creed made Carl Weathers a star across four Rocky films; in Sparta he arrived at the top of the cast for 1993-94, after the original co-lead was dropped.

Who played acting chief Tom Dugan in In the Heat of the Night while its star recovered from heart surgery?

Joe Don Baker filled in for four episodes in 1989; the scripts sent Gillespie to a conference at Quantico, and Dugan was shot dead once the chief came back.

In TV's In the Heat of the Night, Denise Nicholas played which councilwoman who became Gillespie's wife?

Harriet DeLong began as a councilwoman at odds with the chief; Nicholas, noting the show had no Black writers, went on to script six episodes herself.

In TV's In the Heat of the Night, Carl Weathers arrived as Hampton Forbes to take what job?

Sparta's first black police chief, Hampton Forbes takes over when the council declines to renew Gillespie's contract, and Gillespie soon resurfaces as the county's sheriff.

Which Mission: Impossible star plays the reverend suspected of murder in the 1970 sequel to In the Heat of the Night?

Martin Landau's Reverend Logan Sharpe is campaigning in a city referendum, and when Tibbs proves his guilt he begs for the arrest to wait until the vote is over.

TV's Chief Gillespie actor had earlier won four Emmys as which sitcom character?

Archie Bunker won him four Emmys for All in the Family; a fifth came for Gillespie in 1989, the year bypass surgery kept him out of four episodes.

Which civil rights organisation named In the Heat of the Night its outstanding drama series two years running?

The NAACP gave it the Image Award for Outstanding Drama Series for 1992 and 1993, an honour the Emmys never matched: they recognised it only for acting and music.

Which actress, once blacklisted in Hollywood, plays the murdered man's widow in In the Heat of the Night?

Lee Grant lost twelve years of screen work after refusing to testify to the House Un-American Activities Committee, and later won an Oscar for Shampoo.

Which producer collected the Best Picture Oscar for the 1967 film In the Heat of the Night?

Walter Mirisch took home the Best Picture Oscar and stayed with the character, producing the third Tibbs film, The Organization, four years later.

Which Japanese director's published list of 100 favourite films includes In the Heat of the Night?

Akira Kurosawa's list was drawn up by his daughter from their talks about the films he loved, and it allows only one title per director.

Parts of In the Heat of the Night were shot around Dyersburg in which state?

Tennessee supplied the cotton fields: the director said the film's cotton-picking sequence had to be shot there.

In John Ball's original novel, Virgil Tibbs is a homicide investigator from which city?

Pasadena, California is his base in all of John Ball's novels; the film gave him a big Northern city instead, sharpening the North-South clash.

The murder victim of the 1967 film In the Heat of the Night had come to Sparta to build what?

A factory that would hire Black and white workers alike: his widow threatens to cancel it unless Tibbs is put in charge of the case.

In the 1971 third film The Organization, the group that contacts Tibbs has stolen what?

Heroin was the haul: the thieves are urban revolutionaries who hope the break-in will push the police to investigate the company, a front for drug dealing.

Which future director won an Oscar for editing In the Heat of the Night?

Hal Ashby won his only Oscar for cutting the film, then turned director: within four years he had made The Landlord and Harold and Maude.

In TV's In the Heat of the Night, Joanne St. John ran what kind of business?

A diner called the Magnolia Cafe was Joanne's; the role lasted a single season, yet it brought Lois Nettleton an Emmy nomination in 1989.

Which former network programming chief was an executive producer of TV's In the Heat of the Night?

Fred Silverman, who had run programming at all three big networks, made it through his own company, working again with a star whose first hit he had scheduled at CBS.

In the 1967 film In the Heat of the Night, the plantation owner Tibbs questions grows what in his greenhouse?

Orchids fill the greenhouse where the famous slap takes place; the crew built it on location and stocked it with a collection supplied by commercial growers.