50 Fun Facts About Pirate Movies

Which rock guitarist inspired Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow and later played the pirate's father?

Keith Richards became Depp's model after the actor decided pirates were the rock stars of their day. Richards then joined the series as Captain Teague, keeper of the pirate code.

Pirates of the Caribbean began as a ride that opened in 1967 at which theme park?

Disneyland opened the ride three months after Walt Disney died, and it was the last attraction whose building he personally oversaw. The first film followed 36 years later.

In The Princess Bride, which farmhand returns as the masked Dread Pirate Roberts to save Buttercup?

Westley reveals that Dread Pirate Roberts is an inherited title, not one man. At the end of the film he offers the name to the swordsman Inigo Montoya.

Which actor played the title pirate opposite Robin Williams in Steven Spielberg's 1991 film Hook?

Dustin Hoffman played Captain James Hook, with Bob Hoskins as his first mate Smee. The film imagines Peter Pan grown up into a workaholic lawyer who has forgotten Neverland.

Which animal that swallowed a ticking clock stalks Captain Hook after eating his hand in Peter Pan?

A crocodile got a taste for Hook when Peter Pan fed it the captain's severed hand, and it has pursued him ever since. The ticking is what warns Hook that it is near.

Which actor plays the kidnapped cargo-ship captain in Paul Greengrass's thriller Captain Phillips?

Tom Hanks plays Richard Phillips, the real merchant mariner taken hostage when pirates boarded the Maersk Alabama in 2009. First-time actor Barkhad Abdi earned an Oscar nomination as their leader.

In The Goonies, which legendary pirate's long-lost treasure do the children follow a map to find?

One-Eyed Willy is a 17th-century pirate whose map the children find in an attic in Astoria, Oregon. They hope his fortune will save their homes from foreclosure.

Which Scottish author wrote Treasure Island, the pirate novel later filmed with the Muppets?

Robert Louis Stevenson gave pirate films much of their furniture in Treasure Island: maps marked with an X, tropical islands and a one-legged seaman with a parrot on his shoulder.

Which giant sea monster does Davy Jones send to drag Jack Sparrow and the Black Pearl to the depths?

The Kraken hunts Sparrow in the second Pirates of the Caribbean film over an unpaid debt: Davy Jones had once raised the Black Pearl from the seabed for him.

Which actress plays governor's daughter Elizabeth Swann in the Pirates of the Caribbean films?

Keira Knightley's Elizabeth begins as a damsel in distress and ends the third film elected Pirate King. Knightley was disappointed that her character carried no sword in the first one.

Which 1995 pirate film starring Geena Davis became one of the biggest box-office bombs in history?

Cutthroat Island was once listed by Guinness World Records as the biggest box-office bomb of all time. Director Renny Harlin had cast Davis, then his wife, hoping to make her an action star.

Which mutinous captain of the Black Pearl is played by Geoffrey Rush in Pirates of the Caribbean?

Barbossa was conceived as a classic Disney villain, but Rush felt he was playing the unsung hero of the first film, a man who dreamed only of lifting his curse.

Which composer, too busy to score the first Pirates of the Caribbean film, scored the next three?

Hans Zimmer was committed to The Last Samurai, so the first film's music went to his colleague Klaus Badelt. The producer had been unhappy with the music Alan Silvestri composed for it.

Which ghost ship does Davy Jones captain in the Pirates of the Caribbean films?

The Flying Dutchman of legend is a ghost ship doomed to sail forever without making port. In the films its crew have traded 100 years of service for immortality.

What is Will Turner's trade before he turns pirate in the Pirates of the Caribbean films?

Blacksmith's apprentice Will, played by Orlando Bloom, forges fine swords for which his often-drunk master takes the credit. He is also a self-taught swordsman.

In Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which legendary prize is Blackbeard hunting?

The Fountain of Youth quest was borrowed from Tim Powers's 1987 novel On Stranger Tides, which the film loosely adapts. In the story, Ponce de León died searching for it 200 years earlier.

In Pirates of the Caribbean, the Black Pearl's crew are cursed for stealing which people's gold?

Aztec gold, 882 pieces of it, had been paid to Hernán Cortés to stop his slaughter. The director objected to the first film's subtitle because the gold is cursed, not the ship.

Which actor played octopus-bearded Davy Jones through motion capture in Pirates of the Caribbean?

Bill Nighy wore a grey suit and markers on set instead of performing later in a studio. The fully digital character helped Industrial Light & Magic win the Oscar for visual effects.

Which actor plays Long John Silver, the scheming ship's cook, in Muppet Treasure Island?

Tim Curry was one of the few humans in the cast, alongside Billy Connolly as Billy Bones. He had form with pirates, having voiced Captain Hook in the cartoon Peter Pan and the Pirates.

In Pirates of the Caribbean, what kind of animal is Jack, the undead pet named to mock Sparrow?

A monkey, a capuchin, belongs to the Black Pearl's mutinous captain. Sparrow later trades the creature to the mystic Tia Dalma in exchange for a jar of dirt.

Which actress plays Blackbeard's daughter Angelica, Jack Sparrow's old flame, in On Stranger Tides?

Penélope Cruz learned she was pregnant as shooting neared, so she filmed Angelica's close-ups while her sister Mónica stood in for the long-distance shots.

Jack Sparrow recruits a crew on which real Caribbean island, once the main base of the buccaneers?

Tortuga, off Haiti, became the buccaneers' main base of operations from 1630. By 1641 its sea rovers were calling themselves the Brethren of the Coast.

Captain Phillips dramatises the 2009 seizure of a US cargo ship by pirates from which country?

Somalia's coast was where the Maersk Alabama was boarded, the first successful pirate seizure of a US-flagged ship since the early 19th century.

Which real scientist do the pirate crew capture at sea in The Pirates! Band of Misfits?

Charles Darwin, voiced by David Tennant, is seized in a raid on HMS Beagle. In Britain the Aardman film kept the book's title, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!

Which actor voices the title pirate in the DreamWorks cartoon Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas?

Brad Pitt's Sinbad sails to recover the stolen Book of Peace from the goddess Eris, voiced by Michelle Pfeiffer. The film lost so much money that it nearly bankrupted the studio.

Which actor plays Captain Shakespeare, who commands an airborne pirate ship, in the film Stardust?

Robert De Niro took the part after turning down a role in the first Pirates of the Caribbean film, which he had expected to flop like earlier pirate movies.

Which actor plays a fairy-dust-mining Blackbeard in Joe Wright's 2015 Peter Pan prequel Pan?

Hugh Jackman's Blackbeard forces kidnapped children to mine crystallised fairy dust, which he uses to stop himself ageing. Garrett Hedlund plays James Hook as a fellow miner.

Which actor voices Captain Gutt, the giant ape who leads the pirates in Ice Age: Continental Drift?

Peter Dinklage's Gutt is a Gigantopithecus whose crew sail on a floating iceberg. Dinklage also sings on the sea shanty the pirates perform in the film.

Which star plays Burger Beard, the live-action pirate in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water?

Antonio Banderas plays a pirate whose magical book makes anything written in it come true. His character has also converted his ship into a food truck.

Which Muppet plays Captain Abraham Smollett, commander of the Hispaniola, in Muppet Treasure Island?

Kermit the Frog's captain is reunited on the island with the old flame he jilted: Miss Piggy as Benjamina Gunn, queen of a tribe of pigs.

What is the name of Captain Hook's pirate ship in Peter Pan?

Jolly Roger is best known as the black flag with a skull and crossbones, flown in the 1710s by pirate captains such as Samuel Bellamy. Hook's brig carries the same name.

Which manga about Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates has spawned more than a dozen animated films?

One Piece is named after the legendary treasure Luffy is hunting, the prize that would make him King of the Pirates. It is the best-selling manga series ever published.

In Disney's Treasure Planet, the ship's cook John Silver is reimagined as what kind of being?

A cyborg is what the crash-landed Billy Bones warns the young hero to beware. The directors first pitched the film in 1985 as Treasure Island in Space, at the same meeting as The Little Mermaid.

Which actor became a Hollywood star playing a doctor turned pirate in 1935's Captain Blood?

Errol Flynn and his co-star Olivia de Havilland both became major stars through the film. It was the first of eight pictures the pair made together.

Which producer of Top Gun and Armageddon is behind the Pirates of the Caribbean film series?

Jerry Bruckheimer made box-office history in July 2003, when the first Pirates film and his Bad Boys II were the two highest-grossing films of a single weekend.

Which Hong Kong star plays the pirate lord Sao Feng in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End?

Chow Yun-fat lost half his screen time in China: ten of his twenty minutes as Sao Feng were reportedly trimmed from the version shown there, with no official reason given.

Following stage tradition, Jason Isaacs plays Captain Hook and which other role in 2003's Peter Pan?

Mr. Darling and Hook have traditionally shared one actor ever since Gerald du Maurier played both on stage. The 2003 film broke another custom by casting a boy, not a woman, as Peter.

Which actor's Long John Silver in Disney's 1950 Treasure Island popularised the stock pirate accent?

Robert Newton, who grew up in Cornwall, exaggerated his own West Country accent for his pirate roles. He is now called the patron saint of International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Which former circus acrobat starred as Captain Vallo in the 1952 swashbuckler The Crimson Pirate?

Burt Lancaster joined the Kay Brothers circus in the 1930s as half of the acrobat duo Lang and Cravat. His old partner, Nick Cravat, co-stars with him in the film.

Which actor voices James, the cabin boy who becomes Captain Hook, in Disney's The Pirate Fairy?

Tom Hiddleston's James poses as a humble cabin boy but is really the captain of the pirate ship. The Tinker Bell film even gives him a song about a frigate that flies.

Which music legend appears as Jack Sparrow's Uncle Jack in the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean film?

Paul McCartney turns up in a prison scene after Johnny Depp invited him to appear. The character was named after McCartney's own uncle, John "Jack" McCartney.

Which duo wrote the 1879 comic opera behind the films The Pirates of Penzance and The Pirate Movie?

Gilbert and Sullivan's opera reached the screen twice in two years. The Pirate Movie's new songs were co-written by a Peter Sullivan, who was no relation to the composer Arthur Sullivan.

Which novelist's Captain Blood and The Black Swan both became classic Hollywood pirate films?

Rafael Sabatini's name sold tickets: it stayed on the publicity for 1940's The Sea Hawk even though that film had dropped his plot for an entirely different story.

Which Hollywood veteran played Captain Red in Roman Polanski's 1986 swashbuckler flop Pirates?

Walter Matthau took the lead in a film Polanski had been planning since 1976 as his follow-up to Chinatown. It bombed, though its costumes earned an Oscar nomination.

Which actress starred as pirate-obsessed Manuela opposite Gene Kelly in the 1948 musical The Pirate?

Judy Garland's Manuela fantasises about being swept away by the legendary pirate Macoco. Her husband, Vincente Minnelli, directed the film, which has songs by Cole Porter.

Which silent star slides down a sail on his knife in the 1926 adventure The Black Pirate?

Douglas Fairbanks took a financial risk by shooting the film in early Technicolor, choosing a muted palette inspired by Flemish painters. The sail slide became one of his most famous stunts.

Which actor played the title spirit opposite Dean Jones in Disney's 1968 comedy Blackbeard's Ghost?

Peter Ustinov's Blackbeard is a drunkard cursed by his wife to exist in limbo until he performs a good deed. A college track coach conjures him up by reciting a spell for a lark.

Which Monty Python member co-wrote the 1983 pirate comedy Yellowbeard and played its title role?

Graham Chapman developed the idea with money from his friend Keith Moon, the Who drummer, who wanted the lead himself until his health failed. Eric Idle and John Cleese also appear.

Which actor repeated his Broadway role as the Pirate King in the film of The Pirates of Penzance?

Kevin Kline led a film that opened in cinemas and on pay TV on the same day, an unprecedented move by Universal. The major theatre chains refused to show it, and it flopped.

Which actress makes a brief cameo as one of Captain Hook's pirate crew in Steven Spielberg's Hook?

Glenn Close joins the crew alongside the musicians David Crosby and Jimmy Buffett. George Lucas and Carrie Fisher also slip into the film, as a kissing couple sprinkled with pixie dust.