48 Fun Facts About Sixteen Candles

Which 1985 John Hughes film reunited the two teen leads of Sixteen Candles?

The Breakfast Club's five young stars were soon lumped together by the media as the Brat Pack.

The actress who plays Sam's sister Ginny won an Emmy for which 1978 miniseries?

Holocaust drew about half of West Germany's adults when it aired there in 1979, and parliament then lifted the statute of limitations on murder.

Which actress plays Samantha Baker in Sixteen Candles?

Molly Ringwald got the part over Ally Sheedy, who also auditioned for Sam but lost out because Hughes felt Ringwald fit the role better.

Who plays Sam's crush, senior heart-throb Jake Ryan, in Sixteen Candles?

Michael Schoeffling's Jake Ryan became such a lasting dream crush that The Washington Post ran a 2004 Valentine's Day story on fans still pining for him.

In Sixteen Candles, what is the nickname of Anthony Michael Hall's freshman character, also billed as 'the Geek'?

Farmer Ted went to Anthony Michael Hall because, Hughes said, every other kid did a stereotyped nerd act, while Hall played it straight.

In Sixteen Candles, what does Ted wager with Bryce and Wease that he will 'get physical' with Sam before the dance ends?

Floppy disks are the stakes, and once Ted wins, he and his pals charge other freshman boys to see the proof.

In Sixteen Candles, what proof do Bryce and Wease demand that Ted has won his bet?

Sam's underwear later ends up with Jake, who takes it from Ted in exchange for a favor and returns it to Sam along with her birthday cake.

In Sixteen Candles, who is Long Duk Dong?

An exchange student travelling with Sam's grandparents, Long Duk Dong gets sent along with Sam to the school dance that night.

Which actor plays Long Duk Dong in Sixteen Candles?

Gedde Watanabe gave Dong a heavy accent, but the actor was actually born and raised in Ogden, Utah.

What sound effect plays whenever Long Duk Dong appears on screen?

A gong marks his scenes, and Asian American kids in the 1980s were taunted at school with nicknames based on his name.

Which future comedy star was considered for the Geek in Sixteen Candles before Anthony Michael Hall won the part?

Jim Carrey was in the running, but Hall got the role and later turned down Duckie in Pretty in Pink to avoid being typecast as the geek.

Carole Cook, who has a small role in Sixteen Candles, was the protégée of which TV comedy legend?

Lucille Ball talked her into swapping her first name, Mildred, for Carole, after Carole Lombard, and was matron of honor at her 1964 wedding.

In Sixteen Candles, with her bedroom taken over, where does Sam have to sleep?

On the sofa, Sam gets a late-night visit from her father, who finally apologizes for forgetting her birthday.

How does Sam reveal her crush on Jake in Sixteen Candles?

By filling out a friend's sex quiz, Sam spills her crush, while Jake, who has noticed how she looks at him, asks his friend Rock about her.

In Sixteen Candles, in exchange for the bet winnings, Jake lets Ted drive a drunken Caroline home in his father's what?

Rolls-Royce Corniche is the car, and the next morning Jake finds Ted and Caroline together in the back of it.

In Sixteen Candles, what does Wease's photo of Ted with Caroline in the expensive car actually show?

The top of Ted's head is all the picture shows, after Ted drove Caroline over to Bryce and Wease's house just to impress the geeks.

In Sixteen Candles, when Jake phones the Baker house from his party, who answers and tells him Sam is not interested?

Her grandparents turn him away, and Jake only learns that Sam likes him after the party, when he finds Ted trapped under a table.

In Sixteen Candles, what does Sam say when Jake tells her to make a wish?

That it already came true is her answer, after Jake surprises her and takes her back to his house for a cake with 16 candles.

The morning after the party, a hungover Long Duk Dong garbles his English and says Sam is doing what?

Getting married is Dong's garbled version, but Jake heads to the church anyway and catches Sam after the ceremony.

Paul Dooley agreed to play Sam's father in Sixteen Candles only after John Hughes did what?

Wrote him a new scene, in the middle of the film: the late-night talk in which Sam's father apologizes for forgetting her birthday.

Which real-life sibling pair both appear in Sixteen Candles, as Bryce and 'Geek Girl'?

John and Joan Cusack had bit parts, and in 1985 Joan joined Saturday Night Live alongside co-star Anthony Michael Hall, but both were let go after one season.

Hughes wrote Sixteen Candles in one weekend after pinning which item of his future lead actress above his desk?

Her headshot sparked the script, which Hughes pushed ahead because he felt his other planned teen film had less commercial appeal.

Which future star was a finalist to play Jake Ryan in Sixteen Candles?

Viggo Mortensen was the lead actress's own pick for Jake, but the part went to the other finalist.

Where was Sixteen Candles primarily shot?

Chicago's North Shore suburbs were close to home for Hughes, who grew up in the nearby Chicago suburb of Northbrook.

What was unusual about Niles East High School, where Sixteen Candles shot school scenes?

It had already closed to students in 1980, and Oakton Community College later demolished most of the building to make way for a new campus.

In Sixteen Candles, the Baker family house is a real home in which suburb?

Evanston, where the Baker house stands, stayed dry for more than a century, until its city council allowed liquor sales in 1972.

Which 1983 hit comedy, written by John Hughes, gave him the clout to direct Sixteen Candles?

National Lampoon's Vacation, together with another 1983 hit script, won Hughes a three-picture deal with Universal.

Hughes chose Sixteen Candles as his directing debut after studio executives fired him from which film?

Mr. Mom's studio later rehired him, and Universal's Ned Tanen then approved his films on condition that Sixteen Candles came out first.

What rating did the MPAA initially give Sixteen Candles before Hughes won an appeal?

R was the first rating, and after Hughes won his appeal the film opened as PG in May 1984, two months before the PG-13 rating was introduced.

Paul Dooley, who plays Sam's father, co-created which PBS children's show?

The Electric Company, which Dooley helped create, aimed its sketch comedy at kids too old for Sesame Street who still needed help learning to read.

Which band recorded the '16 Candles' cover heard in Sixteen Candles?

Stray Cats moved from Long Island to London, since rockabilly was dead in America and they felt more at home with British youth culture.

Which doo-wop group took the original '16 Candles' to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100?

The Crests were discovered singing on a subway train, when bandleader Al Browne's wife handed them his card.

Which Thompson Twins track is heard in Sixteen Candles?

If You Were Here is by the band that Madonna joined onstage at Live Aid in Philadelphia in 1985.

Jami Gertz, who plays Sam's friend Robin, later starred as Star in which 1987 vampire film?

The Lost Boys director Joel Schumacher cast Gertz as Star only after co-star Jason Patric pushed for her.

Ira Newborn, who scored Sixteen Candles, is best known for the music of which comedy franchise?

The Naked Gun films kept the theme Ira Newborn wrote for Police Squad!, the TV spoof ABC canceled after six episodes before it became a movie hit.

Gene Siskel gave Sixteen Candles three and a half stars and called it the best teenage comedy since which film?

Risky Business, released the summer before, was the film that made Tom Cruise a star.

The actors who play Sam and Ted both won which honors for their Sixteen Candles roles?

Young Artist Awards come from a foundation launched in 1978 to honor young performers often overlooked by other awards shows.

After retiring from acting in 1991, what did the actor who played Jake Ryan do for a living?

Built handcrafted furniture: he opened a woodworking shop in Pennsylvania and has turned down every interview request since leaving acting.

Justin Henry, who plays Sam's little brother Mike, earned an Oscar nomination at age eight for which film?

Kramer vs. Kramer earned him the nod, and the eventual winner, Melvyn Douglas, skipped the ceremony, saying an actor has no chance against a child.

The actress who plays Sam's older sister Ginny is the daughter of which Hollywood star?

Carroll Baker played the title role in Baby Doll, a 1956 film so racy that the Catholic Legion of Decency condemned it.

Zelda Rubinstein, who has a small part in Sixteen Candles, was best known as the tiny medium in which horror franchise?

Poltergeist's medium made her famous, and from 1984 she fought HIV/AIDS by appearing in safer-sex awareness ads.

In Sixteen Candles, the church reverend is played by the older brother of which comedy star?

Bill Murray's older brother, Brian Doyle-Murray, co-wrote Caddyshack, drawing on his teenage memories of caddying at a golf club in Winnetka.

Paul Dooley (Sam's dad Jim) played the frustrated father in which 1979 coming-of-age film?

Breaking Away's hero was modeled on Dave Blase, an Italian-loving cyclist who won Indiana University's Little 500 for writer Steve Tesich's team.

Carlin Glynn, who plays Sam's mother, won a Tony Award for originating the lead in which musical?

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas grew out of Larry L. King's 1974 Playboy article about the closing of a real brothel, the Chicken Ranch.

Jami Gertz, who plays Sam's friend Robin, became a co-owner of which NBA team in 2015?

The Atlanta Hawks went up for sale after owner Bruce Levenson's racially charged 2012 email surfaced, and Gertz's husband Tony Ressler led the buyers.

Which magazine's 1985 cover story coined 'Brat Pack', a label later stuck on some Sixteen Candles stars?

New York magazine's story began as a profile of Emilio Estevez, until a night out with him and his actor friends made writer David Blum widen it.

What is the title of the Sixteen Candles reimagining with four Latina leads that Peacock announced in 2022?

15 Candles moves the milestone to fifteen: its heroines face quinceañera season, when girls in many Latin American cultures celebrate turning 15.

A 2009 Salon essay by Amy Benfer asked whether Sixteen Candles condones what?

Date rape is the charge, over Jake letting Ted drive his drunk girlfriend home when she is too far gone to consent.