169 Fun Facts About Movie Stars

Which actor turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix?

Will Smith passed on Neo after the Wachowskis' pitch and made Wild Wild West (1999) instead; he later said the effects they described made no sense to him.

Which actor was born Archibald Leach in Bristol, England, in 1904?

Cary Grant was Archie Leach until Paramount signed him and an executive there demanded a name that sounded more all-American.

Which actor is the most-nominated male performer in Oscar history, with 12 nominations?

Jack Nicholson was already a star when, in 1974, a Time magazine researcher told him the woman he knew as his older sister was really his mother.

Which future Hollywood star worked for a circus lion tamer as a teenager?

Christopher Walken worked briefly for a circus lion tamer as a teenager, and later shrugged it off: 'I got a job as a lion tamer. Who's going to turn that down?'

Which actress holds the record for the most Best Actress Oscars, with four wins?

Katharine Hepburn was branded 'box office poison' in 1938, staged her own comeback with The Philadelphia Story, and went on to win three more Best Actress Oscars.

Which actor set a Guinness record for most stunts by a living actor with CZ12?

Jackie Chan earned the record after four decades of doing his own stunts; the ones that went wrong, broken bones and all, play as outtakes over his closing credits.

Which actor was born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite in London in 1933?

Michael Caine needed a new stage name on the spot, so, phoning his agent from Leicester Square, he took it from the Odeon's billing for The Caine Mutiny.

Which actor became the youngest Best Actor Oscar winner, aged 29, for The Pianist?

Adrien Brody had seen his part in The Thin Red Line largely cut in the edit before he landed the lead in The Pianist; The Brutalist later won him a second Oscar.

Which Hollywood star flew B-24 Liberator combat missions in World War II and retired from the Air Force Reserve a brigadier general?

James Stewart had just won his Oscar when he enlisted in March 1941, months before Pearl Harbor; he went on to fly some 20 bomber missions over Europe.

Who was the first Black actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, for Lilies of the Field?

Sidney Poitier was American by chance: he arrived prematurely in Miami while his Bahamian parents were visiting, then grew up in the Bahamas.

Which star of Die Hard was born in West Germany?

Bruce Willis was born in Idar-Oberstein because his American father was stationed there as a soldier; the family moved to New Jersey in 1957.

Which Oscar-winning actor turned down a drama scholarship to enlist in the U.S. Air Force?

Morgan Freeman dreamed of being a fighter pilot, but the Air Force made him a radar technician on the ground, and he went back to acting.

Which actress took over as M, James Bond's boss, in GoldenEye (1995) and played the part in eight films?

Judi Dench was the first woman to play M, a casting reportedly modelled on Stella Rimington, who was then running the real MI5.

Which classic Hollywood actress famously said, 'I want to be alone'?

Greta Garbo says 'I want to be alone' as the ballerina Grusinskaya in Grand Hotel (1932); she later told LIFE she had only ever said 'I want to be let alone.'

Which action star ran for governor of California and won in a recall election?

Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his run on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, then won the 2003 recall that removed Governor Gray Davis.

Which actor headlined DC's Green Lantern in 2011 before finding his biggest success as Marvel's Deadpool?

Ryan Reynolds spent years pushing for Deadpool; a reluctant Fox approved it only after test footage leaked online in 2014 and fans loved it.

Which actor won consecutive Best Actor Oscars in the 1990s?

Tom Hanks won for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump; his first speech, thanking his gay high-school drama teacher, inspired the comedy In & Out.

Which nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola changed his surname to succeed on his own?

Nicolas Cage, born Nicolas Coppola, took a new name early on so he would not be judged as the director's nephew; he has cited the comic-book hero Luke Cage as an inspiration.

Truman Capote wanted which actress, not Audrey Hepburn, to play Holly Golightly?

Marilyn Monroe was Truman Capote's pick; when the part went to Audrey Hepburn instead, he complained that Paramount had 'double-crossed' him.

Which actor's real name is Carlos Irwin Estévez?

Charlie Sheen was born Carlos Irwin Estévez. His father is actor Martin Sheen (born Ramón Estévez), and his brother Emilio Estevez uses the family name.

Which actor refused the Best Actor Oscar for The Godfather via Sacheen Littlefeather?

Marlon Brando refused the 1973 Best Actor Oscar for The Godfather to protest Hollywood's treatment of Native Americans, sending activist Sacheen Littlefeather to decline on his behalf.

Which actor adopted his stage name while working as a New York nightclub bouncer?

Vin Diesel, born Mark Sinclair, took the name as a teenage club bouncer; Vin is short for Vincent, his stepfather's surname.

Which wrestler-turned-movie-star won a college football national title with the Miami Hurricanes?

Dwayne Johnson was then cut by the Calgary Stampeders after two months and flew home nearly broke, the moment his company Seven Bucks Productions is named for.

Which actor played James Bond in seven films, a record for the official series?

Roger Moore was already 45 when Live and Let Die came out, nearly three years older than the man he replaced, and did not retire from the role until he was 58.

Which actress is the daughter of Midnight Cowboy star Jon Voight?

Angelina Jolie made her screen debut at seven beside her father in Lookin' to Get Out, then legally dropped the Voight surname in 2002 after they fell out.

Which actress starred in both Thelma & Louise and A League of Their Own?

Geena Davis went on to found an institute in 2004 that lobbies Hollywood to put more women and girls on screen.

Sylvester Stallone wrote the screenplay for which film that earned him a Best Actor nomination?

Rocky starred Sylvester Stallone only because he refused to sell his script unless he played the boxer himself, though producers wanted a known star.

Which Oscar-winning actress earned a Harvard psychology degree in 2003, cutting back on acting to do it?

Natalie Portman graduated from Harvard with a psychology degree in 2003, taking only a small role in Cold Mountain that year; she said she would rather be smart than a movie star.

Which actress played Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel and then Sersi in Eternals?

Gemma Chan spent nearly four hours a day in blue make-up as the Kree sniper Minn-Erva, then returned to Marvel in a second, unrelated role as Sersi.

Which classic Hollywood star was nicknamed 'The King of Hollywood'?

Clark Gable owed his polish to acting coach Josephine Dillon, who trained his voice, paid to fix his teeth and, though 17 years older, married him.

For which film, her first major Hollywood role, did Audrey Hepburn win an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA?

Roman Holiday came just after the novelist Colette spotted the unknown Audrey Hepburn in Monte Carlo and insisted she star in Gigi on Broadway.

Which actor passed on the lead role in The Shawshank Redemption?

Kevin Costner reportedly passed because he was committed to the big-budget sea epic Waterworld; Tim Robbins played Andy Dufresne instead.

Which actor starred in both Schindler's List and Taken?

Liam Neeson got Schindler's List after Spielberg saw him in Anna Christie on Broadway; fifteen years later the Luc Besson-scripted Taken made him an action star.

Which actor gained more than 50 pounds to play the ageing boxer Jake LaMotta?

Robert De Niro shot the fight scenes lean, then Raging Bull shut down for months while he ate his way around Italy and France to play the older LaMotta.

Which actress holds the record for the most Golden Globe nominations of any performer?

Meryl Streep auditioned for King Kong early in her career; producer Dino De Laurentiis called her ugly in Italian to his son, and she let him know she had understood.

Which Spartacus star is credited with helping break the Hollywood blacklist by giving Dalton Trumbo an on-screen credit?

Kirk Douglas's company made Spartacus; Otto Preminger had just named Trumbo as the writer of Exodus, and after both 1960 films the blacklist lost its grip.

Which action star took up martial arts while stationed at Osan Air Base as a U.S. Air Force policeman?

Chuck Norris joined the U.S. Air Force in 1958 and, posted to Osan Air Base in South Korea as an Air Policeman, began studying Tang Soo Do; he later founded the style Chun Kuk Do.

Which actress was discovered while arguing with a Hollywood Boulevard bank teller?

Charlize Theron was spotted by talent agent John Crosby when a Hollywood Boulevard bank teller refused a check from her mother; he gave her his card, and she later won Best Actress for Monster.

Which actor did Guinness World Records name the highest-grossing actor of all time in 2011?

Samuel L. Jackson earned the title by sheer volume: by 2011 he had appeared in the Star Wars prequels, Jurassic Park, Pulp Fiction and Marvel's films as Nick Fury.

Which actress was born Frances Ethel Gumm in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in 1922?

Judy Garland and her sisters, billed as the Gumm Sisters, took the new surname in 1934 at comedian George Jessel's suggestion; MGM signed her the next year.

Which actress played Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs?

Jodie Foster played FBI trainee Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), winning the Best Actress Oscar for the role. Julianne Moore took over the role in the sequel Hannibal.

Which actor won Best Actor Oscars for Hannibal Lecter and, 29 years later, The Father?

Anthony Hopkins was at home in Wales, not at the ceremony, and posted his thanks the next day: 'at 83 years of age, I did not expect to get this award.'

Which actor voiced both Darth Vader and Mufasa?

James Earl Jones had a stutter so severe as a boy that he rarely spoke, until a high-school teacher got him reciting poetry aloud.

Which actress became the first Black woman to win the Best Actress Oscar, for playing a struggling widow in Monster's Ball?

Halle Berry had fought to make a TV biopic of Dorothy Dandridge, the first Black Best Actress nominee, and won the award herself soon afterwards.

Which actor studied chemical engineering at university before switching to acting?

Dolph Lundgren won a Fulbright scholarship to MIT, then gave it up for show business after falling for the singer Grace Jones, who had hired him as a bodyguard.

Which actor's 1995 arrest in a Los Angeles vice operation produced a notorious celebrity mugshot?

Hugh Grant kept his booking on The Tonight Show days later, where Jay Leno asked, 'What the hell were you thinking?' and he admitted he had done 'a bad thing'.

Who was the first actress paid a $1 million fee for a single film?

Elizabeth Taylor took $1 million and a share of the gross for Cleopatra, quipping that if someone was dumb enough to offer it, she was not dumb enough to turn it down.

Which actor played Marvel's blind hero Daredevil in 2003 and, more than a decade later, DC's Batman?

Ben Affleck, a lifelong comics fan who wrote a foreword for Kevin Smith's Guardian Devil, later called Daredevil the only film he regretted making.

Which actor stayed in character throughout My Left Foot, requiring crew to carry and feed him?

Daniel Day-Lewis stayed in his wheelchair as Christy Brown between takes on My Left Foot (1989), so crew lifted him over cables and spoon-fed him; the role won his first Best Actor Oscar.

Which actress was the first to be paid $20 million for a film, for Erin Brockovich (2000)?

Julia Roberts is served in one diner scene by the real Erin Brockovich, who has a cameo as a waitress; the role also won Roberts the Best Actress Oscar.

Which 1940s screen star co-invented a frequency-hopping guidance system for torpedoes?

Hedy Lamarr devised it with composer George Antheil to stop torpedo signals being jammed; the Navy never used it in the war, and the Inventors Hall of Fame honoured her only in 2014.

Which actor did the American Film Institute rank the greatest male screen legend in 1999?

Humphrey Bogart, who died in 1957, became a bigger legend after his death than in life, and the AFI's 1999 poll placed him first among male stars.

Which James Bond actor won his only Oscar for playing a Chicago cop in The Untouchables?

Sean Connery won the Oscar despite keeping his Scottish burr as Irish-American cop Jim Malone, a turn Empire readers later voted cinema's worst accent.

Who became the first person to win Oscars for both producing and acting in one film, Nomadland?

Frances McDormand optioned the book Nomadland herself, then recruited director Chloé Zhao after seeing her film The Rider.

Peter Finch won a posthumous Oscar as the 'mad as hell' anchorman in which film?

Network earned Peter Finch the first posthumous acting Oscar: he died in January 1977, before the ceremony, and his widow Eletha accepted the award.

Which actor won an Oscar for playing the Joker in The Dark Knight (2008)?

Heath Ledger died in January 2008, six months before The Dark Knight opened; his parents and sister accepted his Best Supporting Actor Oscar at the 2009 ceremony.

At age ten, who became the youngest person to win a competitive Oscar, for Paper Moon?

Tatum O'Neal was eight when director Peter Bogdanovich proposed casting her opposite her real father, Ryan O'Neal, as a pint-sized Depression-era con artist.

Who became the oldest acting Oscar winner at 82 for Beginners, a record since broken?

Christopher Plummer had waited until 80 for his first Oscar nomination, then won two years later for Beginners; an 83-year-old took the age record in 2021.

Who won Best Actress Oscars for La La Land and Poor Things?

Emma Stone is really Emily: when she joined the Screen Actors Guild at 16, another Emily Stone was already registered, so she picked a new first name.

Who won Best Supporting Actress for playing Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator?

Cate Blanchett later lent the statuette she won for the role to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image.

Which actress won a Best Actress Oscar and a Worst Actress Razzie on consecutive nights?

Sandra Bullock collected the Worst Actress Razzie for All About Steve in person on 6 March 2010 and won Best Actress for The Blind Side the next night.

Which child star later served as United States ambassador to Ghana and to Czechoslovakia?

Shirley Temple Black was in Prague when Soviet tanks crushed the Prague Spring in 1968; she returned as U.S. ambassador in 1989, in time to watch the Velvet Revolution end communist rule.

Which actress, fresh from a Best Actress Oscar for The Country Girl, retired at 26 to marry Monaco's Prince Rainier III?

Grace Kelly agreed in 1962 to return to the screen in Hitchcock's Marnie, then withdrew after people in Monaco objected to their princess playing a thief.

Which Western star was born Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset, Iowa?

John Wayne got the nickname Duke from the family's Airedale terrier: firefighters in Glendale who knew the dog as Duke began calling the boy by the same name.

At 21, who became the youngest Best Actress Oscar winner, for Children of a Lesser God?

Marlee Matlin, the first deaf performer to win an Oscar, signed her acceptance speech through an interpreter after her co-star William Hurt presented the award; it was her first film.

Which star co-directed Singin' in the Rain and danced its title number in a downpour?

Gene Kelly shot the rain-soaked routine while running a fever of about 103°F; his young female co-star said her feet were bleeding after a marathon day filming another number.

Which star of The Great Escape was nicknamed 'The King of Cool'?

Steve McQueen was a keen motorcycle racer, yet the famous fence jump in The Great Escape is credited to his friend and stunt double Bud Ekins.

Which actress became the first Black woman to complete the EGOT, in 2002?

Whoopi Goldberg completed the set without acting: her 2002 Tony came as a producer of Thoroughly Modern Millie and her Emmy for a documentary special, after a comedy Grammy and an Oscar for Ghost.

Who became the first Hispanic woman to win an Academy Award, for West Side Story (1961)?

Rita Moreno, stunned, managed only 'I can't believe it!' and a few more words on stage; refusing to go back to stereotyped Latina roles, she worked mainly in theatre and all but vanished from films until the late 1960s.

Who was the first performer to win an Oscar for a non-English-language role, in Two Women?

Sophia Loren stayed away from the ceremony, saying she was afraid she would faint, so Greer Garson accepted for her; Loren heard the news in Rome by telephone.

Who is the only Best Actor Oscar winner for a non-English-language performance?

Roberto Benigni had already climbed over the seats when Life Is Beautiful won Best Foreign Language Film; called back as Best Actor, he said he had used up all his English.

Who won the Best Actress Oscar for playing singer Édith Piaf in La Vie en Rose (2007)?

Marion Cotillard shaved back her hairline and shaved off her eyebrows to play Édith Piaf from the age of 20 to her death at 47, lip-syncing to Piaf's own recordings.

Who became the first Asian Best Actress Oscar winner, as laundromat owner Evelyn Wang in Everything Everywhere All at Once?

Michelle Yeoh took a lead first written for a man before the directors rewrote it for her; accepting the Oscar at 60, she told women never to let anyone say they are past their prime.

Which former child actor, Short Round in Temple of Doom, won an Oscar in 2023?

Ke Huy Quan, who also played Data in The Goonies, left acting for two decades to work as a stunt choreographer and assistant director before winning Best Supporting Actor for Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Who became the first Irish-born performer to win the Best Actor Oscar, for Oppenheimer?

Cillian Murphy won Best Actor for Oppenheimer (2023), his sixth film with Christopher Nolan but his first as the lead, after nearly two decades of supporting parts for the director.

Which actress completed the EGOT in 2023 with a Grammy for narrating her memoir?

Viola Davis announced 'I just EGOT!' as she accepted the Grammy for the audiobook of her memoir Finding Me; her Oscar and one of her two Tonys both came for Fences.

Which Black Panther actress was born in Mexico City, where her father was lecturing?

Lupita Nyong'o was born in Mexico City because her father, a Kenyan democracy campaigner, had left home to teach there; by a Kenyan custom of naming a child after events of the day, she got a Spanish name.

Which action star did the splits between two reversing trucks in a 2013 Volvo commercial?

Jean-Claude Van Damme did the split for real, in a single take at sunrise on a closed runway in Spain after three days of rehearsals; the ad was made to show how steadily the trucks steer.

Which TV actor was cast as Indiana Jones, only for his network to refuse to release him?

Tom Selleck had won the part, but CBS held him to Magnum, P.I.; a Hollywood strike then delayed the series, so he could have made Raiders of the Lost Ark after all.

Which actress, born Susan Alexandra, took a new first name at 14 from The Great Gatsby?

Sigourney Weaver has said she was bored with Susan and hated being called Susie, so she borrowed the name of a minor character in the novel, years before playing Ripley in Alien.

Which Back to the Future star revealed in 1998 that he had Parkinson's disease?

Michael J. Fox was diagnosed in 1991, aged 29, and kept it private for seven years; the foundation he launched in 2000 has since put billions of dollars into Parkinson's research.

Who co-wrote, produced, directed and starred in Citizen Kane as his first feature film?

Orson Welles was 25 when Citizen Kane opened in 1941; RKO had shelved two earlier projects of his, and William Randolph Hearst barred his newspapers from mentioning the finished film.

Which silent star, nicknamed 'America's Sweetheart', co-founded United Artists in 1919?

Mary Pickford, 'America's Sweetheart', was Canadian, born Gladys Smith in Toronto; she and three partners set up United Artists so that the people who made films, not the distributors, controlled them.

Whose 1982 exercise video became a best-selling VHS tape and helped drive sales of early VCRs?

Jane Fonda made the Workout tape to raise money for the political group she ran with her husband Tom Hayden, though she said she knew no one who owned a VCR.

At 80, who became the oldest Best Actress Oscar winner, for Driving Miss Daisy (1989)?

Jessica Tandy called the win 'a miracle' she had never expected 'in a million years'; she had created Blanche DuBois on Broadway in 1947, only to see the film role go to another actress.

Which star of From Here to Eternity began his career as a circus acrobat?

Burt Lancaster toured as a circus acrobat with partner Nick Cravat in the 1930s, used the skills in Trapeze (1956), and won Best Actor for Elmer Gantry (1960).

Which British actor was born Krishna Pandit Bhanji in Yorkshire?

Ben Kingsley took an English-sounding stage name after his father warned him he would not get far in films without one; he went on to win Best Actor for Gandhi.

Which action star competed for England as a diver at the 1990 Commonwealth Games?

Jason Statham spent 12 years on Britain's national diving squad while hawking perfume and jewellery on street corners, a past that inspired his casting as a hustler in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Who won Miss Israel in 2004, then spent two years as an IDF combat trainer?

Gal Gadot says she never expected to win, and at Miss Universe she rebelled so as not to be picked again, turning up late and without gowns; the army service came after her reign.

Which martial arts star won multiple Chinese national wushu championships before acting?

Jet Li won a run of Chinese national wushu titles in the 1970s; at eleven he toured the United States with the national team and performed for President Nixon at the White House.

Which Oscar winner co-founded a food company in 1982 that gives all profits to charity?

Paul Newman and writer A. E. Hotchner began by mixing salad dressing as a lark to give to friends, then launched Newman's Own in 1982; the actor also finished second at Le Mans in 1979.

Which actor worked his catchphrase 'Alright, alright, alright' into the end of his 2014 Best Actor speech?

Matthew McConaughey, winning for Dallas Buyers Club, told the audience that his hero was himself ten years in the future, someone he would always be chasing, before working in the line.

Which Spanish actor won an Oscar as the assassin Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men?

Javier Bardem, the first Spanish actor to win an Oscar, thanked the Coen brothers in his speech for putting 'one of the most horrible haircuts in history' on his head.

Which actor was elected mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, in 1986?

Clint Eastwood ran after a fight with the council over a building he wanted to put up; as mayor he gave his $200 monthly salary to a youth centre and scrapped a ban on selling ice-cream cones.

Which silent comedian's deadpan expression earned him the nickname 'The Great Stone Face'?

Buster Keaton smiled and laughed in his early Roscoe Arbuckle shorts; the unsmiling persona came later, alongside stunts like the falling house front in Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928).

Which star's screen persona, the Tramp, made him a worldwide icon of the silent era?

Charlie Chaplin kept the Tramp silent well into the sound era: the character's voice is heard only once, improvising a gibberish song as a singing waiter in Modern Times (1936).

Which actress won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)?

Penélope Cruz warned the audience she might be the first winner ever to faint on stage; her nomination for Volver two years earlier had been the first for a Spanish actress.

Which Australian actress won Best Actress for playing Virginia Woolf in The Hours (2002)?

Nicole Kidman wore a prosthetic nose that left her almost unrecognisable as Virginia Woolf; in tears on stage, she admitted Russell Crowe had told her not to cry if she won.

Who won an Oscar for the 1956 film of The King and I, having played King Mongkut on Broadway?

Yul Brynner shaved his head for the stage role in 1951 and kept the look for life; accepting the Oscar, he said he hoped it was not a mistake, because he would not give it back.

Which Pirates of the Caribbean star modelled his character on Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards?

Johnny Depp borrowed Richards's body language and mannerisms for Captain Jack Sparrow, and the guitarist later joined the series himself as Sparrow's father.

Which future star was working as a carpenter when George Lucas hired him to read lines with auditioning actors?

Harrison Ford was only meant to feed lines to the Star Wars hopefuls, but won the part of Han Solo himself; he had taken up carpentry to support his wife and two young sons when good roles dried up.

Which star of The Matrix and John Wick was born in Beirut, Lebanon?

Keanu Reeves was a successful ice-hockey goalkeeper at school in Toronto before acting. His mother is English, from Essex, and his father is from Hawaii.

Which actress became the second-youngest Best Actress winner at 22, for Silver Linings Playbook?

Jennifer Lawrence fell on her way up to collect the Oscar, then told the applauding crowd they were only standing because they felt bad that she fell, which was 'really embarrassing'.

Which actor won the Best Actor Oscar as rogue detective Alonzo Harris in Training Day?

Denzel Washington, long cast as upright heroes, won for a rare villain: a corrupt, murderous Los Angeles narcotics cop who spends a day leading a rookie astray.

Which actor clung to the outside of an Airbus A400M as it took off, for a 2015 spy sequel?

Tom Cruise did the Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation stunt himself, with no double; on the next film he broke an ankle in a rooftop jump, shutting down filming for weeks.

Which Australian actor was awarded a Guinness record in 2019 for the longest career as a live-action Marvel superhero?

Hugh Jackman earned the record for 16 years as Wolverine, from X-Men (2000) to Logan (2017), sharing it with a co-star; it has since been beaten by Wesley Snipes's quarter-century as Blade.

Which actor starved himself to skeletal thinness for The Machinist, then bulked up to play Batman months later?

Christian Bale lived on little more than coffee and an apple a day for the role, then regained the weight and built muscle within months for Batman Begins.

Which actor won Best Supporting Actor as stuntman Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood?

Brad Pitt had already won an Oscar as a producer of 12 Years a Slave six years earlier. Booth is the laid-back stunt double of a fading TV cowboy star.

Which actor won Best Actor as failed comedian Arthur Fleck in Joker (2019)?

Joaquin Phoenix was born Joaquin Bottom to parents who were missionaries for the Children of God sect; after leaving it the family renamed itself Phoenix, for the bird that rises from its ashes.

Which comedian, who broke out as the alien Mork on Happy Days, won an Oscar for Good Will Hunting?

Robin Williams's one-off Happy Days guest spot proved so popular that it spun off Mork & Mindy; accepting the Oscar, the famously fast-talking comic said it might be the one time he was speechless.

Which San Francisco-born martial artist played Kato in The Green Hornet before Enter the Dragon?

Bruce Lee died six days before Enter the Dragon opened in July 1973, only months after finishing it. The Green Hornet ran for a single season, from 1966 to 1967.

Which actress, the first Black Oscar winner, had to sit at a segregated table at the 1940 ceremony?

Hattie McDaniel won for playing Mammy in Gone with the Wind, but Jim Crow laws kept her away from the film's Atlanta premiere. She and her escort were placed at a table for two by the far wall.

Which British comic played the US President, an RAF officer and the title role in Dr. Strangelove?

Peter Sellers was also meant to play the bomber pilot Major Kong, but he sprained his ankle and Slim Pickens took over. His three roles were Group Captain Mandrake, President Muffley and Strangelove himself.

Which actor was nominated for two films in the same year, winning Best Actor for Scent of a Woman?

Al Pacino had lost on all six of his earlier nominations, and lost again that night for Glengarry Glen Ross, before winning; his first words on stage were 'You broke my streak.'

Which actor was nearly 30 when cast as college graduate Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate?

Dustin Hoffman was less than six years younger than Anne Bancroft, who played his seducer Mrs. Robinson. He was still short of his 30th birthday when he auditioned.

Which actor co-founded Casamigos tequila, sold in 2017 in a deal worth up to $1 billion?

George Clooney and his friend Rande Gerber first had the tequila made just for themselves and their friends, with no plan to sell it; Diageo paid $700 million up front, with $300 million more tied to sales.

Which actor won Best Actor in 2023 as a reclusive 600-pound teacher in The Whale?

Brendan Fraser spent four hours a day being fitted with prosthetics weighing up to 300 pounds; on stage he thanked his director for throwing him 'a creative lifeline' after his career had stalled.

Which actor died in a Porsche crash at 24, earning two posthumous Oscar nods?

James Dean had recorded a road-safety announcement for television while making his last film, warning about speed on the highway; he remains the only actor with two posthumous acting nominations.

Which actor got nicotine poisoning from smoking cigars as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour?

Gary Oldman also refused to play the part unless makeup artist Kazuhiro Tsuji came out of retirement to build his Churchill; both men won Oscars for the film.

Which Fast & Furious star died before finishing Furious 7, leaving his brothers to stand in for remaining scenes?

Paul Walker was killed as a passenger in a speeding Porsche in 2013. Caleb and Cody Walker doubled for him, and the film's farewell song, See You Again, was commissioned as a tribute.

Which nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola took his stage surname from a Marvel Comics superhero?

Nicolas Cage dropped the Coppola name to avoid any appearance of nepotism. He borrowed the new one from Marvel's Luke Cage and from the composer John Cage.

Which child star of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial counts Steven Spielberg, who directed it, as her godfather?

Drew Barrymore won the part of Gertie after telling Spielberg a tall story about leading a punk rock band. He later sent her a quilt with a note reading 'Cover yourself up.'

Which star danced the title number of Singin' in the Rain while sick with a 103-degree fever?

Gene Kelly spun his umbrella and splashed through the puddles with a temperature of 103 °F. The story that milk was mixed into the rain is a myth: backlighting made the drops show up.

Which wrestler turned actor was a backup defensive tackle on Miami's 1991 national championship football team?

Dwayne Johnson went undrafted by the NFL and was cut by Canada's Calgary Stampeders in his first season. With football over, he turned to wrestling and became The Rock.

Which Hollywood legend's eyes are the subject of a synth-driven song that topped the US charts for Kim Carnes?

Bette Davis was 73 when the song spent nine weeks at number one. She wrote to Carnes and the songwriters to thank them for making her 'a part of modern times'.

Which comedian shot to fame on Saturday Night Live before voicing the talkative Donkey in the Shrek films?

Eddie Murphy was credited with helping to revive the sketch show in the early 1980s. Before Donkey, he had already voiced the dragon Mushu in Disney's Mulan.

Which Oscar-winning actress made her screen debut as a child alongside her father, Jon Voight, in Lookin' to Get Out?

Angelina Jolie was born Angelina Jolie Voight, so her stage name is simply her first and middle names. Her Oscar came for playing a psychiatric patient in Girl, Interrupted.

Which Star Wars lead became the best-known voice of the Joker, starting with Batman: The Animated Series?

Mark Hamill first voiced the Joker in 1992 and kept returning to the villain across cartoons, films and video games. The part won him a BAFTA Games Award.

Which future film star was a Mickey Mouse Club castmate of Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake in the 1990s?

Ryan Gosling won his place at twelve and moved to Orlando, Florida, on a two-year contract as a Mouseketeer. Christina Aguilera and Keri Russell were in the same cast.

Which Reservoir Dogs actor, a former New York firefighter, rejoined his old engine company after 9/11?

Steve Buscemi fought fires with Engine Company 55 in Little Italy before acting. The day after the attacks he went back, working 12-hour shifts for a week digging for missing firefighters.

Which Lord of the Rings actor had once met J.R.R. Tolkien, decades before appearing in Peter Jackson's films?

Christopher Lee had dreamt for decades of playing Gandalf but accepted he was too old for it. He took Saruman instead, a part with no horse-riding and far less fighting.

Which Freaky Friday star patented a diaper with a built-in pocket for baby wipes?

Jamie Lee Curtis filed the patent in 1987 for a diaper whose moisture-proof pocket holds wipes. She refused to let it be marketed until companies sold biodegradable diapers.

Which Oscar winner, born Eric Bishop, chose an ambiguous stage name because comedy clubs called women up first?

Jamie Foxx took the surname as a nod to the comedian Redd Foxx. He first tried an open mic night in 1989 on a girlfriend's dare.

Which star nicknamed the 'King of Cool' entered motor races under the alias Harvey Mushman?

Steve McQueen raced motorcycles under the name too, yet his fabled Bullitt car chase was mostly stunt work. His own driving, shown in close-ups, makes up about 10% of it.

Which Oscar-winning actor was a Harvard roommate of future US vice president Al Gore?

Tommy Lee Jones shared rooms with Gore in Dunster House, and his first film part was a Harvard student in Love Story. In 2000 he gave the speech nominating his old roommate for president.

Which Mad Max star was born in Peekskill, New York, and moved to Sydney with his family at twelve?

Mel Gibson is American by birth, though he broke through in Australian films. His part in the war drama Gallipoli won him a Best Actor award from the Australian Film Institute.

Which 1990s adventure-film leading man capped a comeback by winning the Best Actor Oscar for The Whale?

Brendan Fraser made his name as the adventurer Rick O'Connell in The Mummy. His return in The Whale drew a six-minute standing ovation at its festival premiere before the Oscar followed.

Which star of The Hangover is a licensed physician who practised internal medicine before acting full-time?

Ken Jeong worked at a Kaiser Permanente hospital in Los Angeles until 2006. He has kept his medical licence and has helped with emergencies on set and during live performances.

Which of Hollywood's Chrises was discovered at 19 while waiting tables at a Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant in Maui?

Chris Pratt was homeless at the time, living out of a van and a tent on the beach. The actress and director Rae Dawn Chong spotted him and cast him in her short horror film.

Which big-screen Spider-Man began as a dancer, playing the lead in the West End's Billy Elliot the Musical?

Tom Holland trained for two years in ballet, tap and acrobatics for the show. The Russo brothers later cited his dancing and gymnastics background as the reason they cast him.

Which two-time Best Actress winner told the Oscar audience 'you like me' after winning for Places in the Heart?

Sally Field actually said 'you like me, right now, you like me', which the world misquotes as 'you really like me'. She later sent up the line herself in a Charles Schwab commercial.

Which actor played the monster in the 1931 film Frankenstein and later narrated TV's How the Grinch Stole Christmas?

Boris Karloff had made some 80 films before Frankenstein turned him into a horror icon. He voiced the Grinch too, though the song 'You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch' was sung by Thurl Ravenscroft.

Which actress won Best Actress Oscars for Boys Don't Cry and for playing a boxer in Million Dollar Baby?

Hilary Swank and her mother lived in their car when they first moved to Los Angeles. Being cut from the TV series Beverly Hills, 90210 freed her to audition for Boys Don't Cry.

Which silent horror star earned the nickname 'The Man of a Thousand Faces' for makeup techniques he developed himself?

Lon Chaney transformed himself for The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera. In 1997 he appeared as the Phantom on a US postage stamp, alongside his son as the Wolf Man.

Which star of Shanghai Express became the first Asian American on US coinage when her quarter entered circulation?

Anna May Wong left Hollywood for Europe in 1928, tired of being typecast and passed over for lead Asian roles in favour of non-Asian actresses. Her quarter arrived in 2022.

Which silent-era idol, dubbed the 'Latin Lover', played Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan in The Sheik?

Rudolph Valentino died suddenly at 31, and an estimated 100,000 people lined Manhattan's streets for his funeral. Windows were smashed as fans tried to get in, and an all-day riot erupted.

Which all-Black musical made Dorothy Dandridge the first African American nominated for the Best Actress Oscar?

Carmen Jones cast Dandridge as the seductive lead, yet the studio wanted an operatic sound. Although she was a recognised singer, her songs were dubbed by the mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne.

Which star of Hitchcock's The Birds was instrumental in the rise of Vietnamese-American nail salons?

Tippi Hedren was visiting refugees in California in 1975 when the women admired her manicure. She had her own nail technician teach them the trade and worked with a beauty school to find them jobs.

In Safety Last!, which silent comedian dangled from the hands of a clock high above the street?

Harold Lloyd made the film after a bomb mistaken for a prop cost him his right thumb and index finger. A special glove hid the injury on screen.

Who played Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean, modelling the pirate on guitarist Keith Richards?

Johnny Depp's performance at first confused Disney executives, who asked whether the pirate was meant to be drunk. Richards himself later turned up as Sparrow's father, Captain Teague.

Who played Tony Stark in Iron Man, the 2008 film that launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Robert Downey Jr. was cast only after director Jon Favreau faced down opposition from Marvel. Much of the dialogue was improvised, because the script was unfinished when filming began.

Who played the wizard Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and the mutant Magneto in the X-Men films?

Ian McKellen was cast as Gandalf while he was filming the first X-Men film in 1999. He later shared Magneto with Michael Fassbender, who played the character's younger self.

Who won the Best Actor Oscar for playing Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody?

Rami Malek moved to London to work with dialect and movement coaches and took piano and singing lessons. He also had to learn to speak and sing with false teeth mimicking Mercury's overbite.

Who played the magical nanny in Disney's Mary Poppins after being passed over for the film of My Fair Lady?

Julie Andrews had been Eliza Doolittle on Broadway, but studio head Jack Warner decided she lacked name recognition. Mary Poppins was her film debut, and it won her the Best Actress Oscar.

Who played Sarah Connor in James Cameron's original The Terminator and its sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day?

Linda Hamilton's identical twin sister, Leslie, doubled for her in a few Terminator 2 scenes, including the one in which the T-1000 disguises itself as Sarah Connor.

Who took the title role in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory only if he could limp, then somersault, on entering?

Gene Wilder wanted the trick so that 'no one will know if I'm lying or telling the truth'. Nobody on set knew how he would play the entrance, so the surprise at the factory gates is real.

Who played Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind after Hollywood's widely publicised search for the role?

Vivien Leigh, a British actress, had told a journalist 'I've cast myself as Scarlett O'Hara'. She won the Best Actress Oscar for the part, and a second for A Streetcar Named Desire.

Who played Atticus Finch, named the greatest film hero by the American Film Institute, in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Gregory Peck won the Best Actor Oscar as the scrupulously honest lawyer and father. Harper Lee gave him her own father's pocket watch, and he had it with him on the night he won.

Who played motel keeper Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and reprised the role in three sequels?

Anthony Perkins directed Psycho III himself. After the original, seeking to avoid being typecast as a horror actor, he moved to France and worked in European cinema.

In which Ridley Scott epic does Russell Crowe play Maximus, a general betrayed by the emperor's son Commodus?

Gladiator won five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Crowe. Its production was complicated by repeated script rewrites and by the death of Oliver Reed before filming finished.

In which comedy does Bill Murray play a TV weatherman stuck reliving the same 24 hours in Punxsutawney?

Groundhog Day was shot almost entirely in Woodstock, Illinois, not Pennsylvania. Its title has entered the English lexicon as a term for a monotonous, repetitive situation.

In which film does Patrick Swayze play Johnny Castle and declare 'Nobody puts Baby in a corner'?

Dirty Dancing also made a singer of its leading man. Swayze co-wrote and performed 'She's Like the Wind' for the soundtrack, and the song peaked at No. 3 in 1988.

In which film does Matt Damon play Mark Watney, a stranded astronaut who survives by growing potatoes?

The Martian grew real potatoes on a sound stage next to the set. Its exteriors were shot in Jordan's Wadi Rum, a desert that has stood in for Mars in several other films.

In which film does Jim Carrey play a man who slowly realises his whole life is a reality TV programme?

The Truman Show lent its name to a real syndrome. A New York psychiatrist coined the 'Truman Show delusion' after meeting patients who believed their lives were reality television.

In which romantic comedy does Meg Ryan fake an orgasm over lunch at Katz's Delicatessen in Manhattan?

When Harry Met Sally ends the scene with a nearby diner ordering 'I'll have what she's having'. The deadpan customer was played by Estelle Reiner, mother of the director, Rob Reiner.

In which film does John Travolta play Tony Manero, a young Brooklyn man who lives for weekends at the local disco?

Saturday Night Fever was based on a New York magazine article presented as factual reporting. In the mid-1990s its author, Nik Cohn, acknowledged that he had fabricated most of it.

In which film does Uma Thurman, as the Bride, cut down O-Ren Ishii's elite fighters, the Crazy 88?

Kill Bill: Volume 1 credits the Bride to 'Q & U', because Quentin Tarantino and Thurman dreamed the character up together while they were making Pulp Fiction.

In which wartime romance does Ingrid Bergman play Ilsa Lund, who asks the pianist Sam to play 'As Time Goes By'?

Casablanca never actually contains its most quoted line, 'Play it again, Sam'. The song stayed in the score only because Bergman had cut her hair for another role and could not reshoot.

In which thriller does Gene Hackman play detective 'Popeye' Doyle, racing a commandeered car beneath an elevated train?

The French Connection won Hackman the Best Actor Oscar and took Best Picture too. Its chase was filmed in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, with Doyle at the wheel of a 1971 Pontiac LeMans.