50 Fun Facts About Some Like it Hot

Who produced, co-wrote and directed Some Like It Hot?

Wilder also co-wrote the script with I. A. L. Diamond, the start of a run that continued with The Apartment.

Which actress played the band singer Sugar Kane?

Monroe thought Sugar was another dumb blonde but took the part for a share of the profits.

Which pair of actors played the musicians Joe and Jerry?

Lemmon spent about 80 percent of the role in drag and based his Daphne partly on his own mother.

In which year was the film released?

It opened in March and spent weeks at number one at the US box office that spring.

In which era of American history is the film set?

The speakeasy raid and the garage massacre both draw on 1920s Chicago gangland.

What is the name of the all-female band Joe and Jerry join?

Joan Shawlee played bandleader Sweet Sue.

Which Florida city is the band's train bound for?

The Florida scenes were actually shot in California, at a hotel in Coronado.

Which instrument does Joe play?

Sugar confides that she has sworn off players of that very instrument, which complicates Joe's plans.

What female names do Joe and Jerry take when they go into disguise?

Jerry later grows so comfortable as Daphne that he accepts a marriage proposal.

Joe woos Sugar by posing as the heir to which fortune?

Wilder cast Curtis partly because Sugar had to believe he came from that family.

Whose accent does Joe imitate while playing the millionaire Junior?

Curtis would later work with the real thing in Operation Petticoat the same year.

What is the name of the multi-divorced millionaire who pursues Daphne?

His refusals only make Daphne more attractive to him, and they end up dancing until dawn.

Which comedian played the smitten millionaire who delivers the film's last line?

Brown had been one of the biggest screen comedians of the 1930s, famous for his enormous elastic smile.

What is the film's celebrated closing line?

Wilder's tombstone pays homage to it, reading "I'm a writer, but then, nobody's perfect".

What is the name of the Chicago mob boss who owns the speakeasy?

He is executed at the end by a rival boss for bungling the Chicago situation.

Which actor played the mob boss hunting Joe and Jerry?

It was his first A picture in a number of years, a nod to his 1930s gangster fame.

Which informant tips off the police, leading to the raid on the speakeasy?

The garage killing of his gang is what Joe and Jerry accidentally witness.

The garage shooting the pair witness was inspired by which real event?

The real 1929 killings happened in a Chicago garage, just as in the film.

Who co-wrote the screenplay with Wilder?

Diamond's widow said the bickering friendship of Joe and Jerry was modelled on her husband's relationship with Wilder.

The plot was based on the screenplay of which 1935 French film?

The French original is set in the Depression and sends its musicians to the Riviera; Wilder added the gangsters.

Wilder's source was a German remake of the French original made in which year?

The German film was Fanfaren der Liebe; Wilder worked from it and invented the gangster subplot.

Which real California resort doubled as the Seminole Ritz in Miami?

It was chosen because it still looked like the 1920s and was close to Hollywood.

Why did Wilder shoot the film in black and white?

Monroe's contract actually required colour, but she agreed to the change after seeing the ghoulish tests.

Who designed Monroe's gowns and the men's drag outfits?

The outfits were so convincing that Curtis and Lemmon reportedly used the ladies' room after lunch without being spotted.

The film won its only Academy Award in which category?

It was nominated in the other three categories too, but Ben-Hur dominated the ceremony that year.

How many takes did Monroe need to get the line "It's me, Sugar" right?

She kept reversing the word order, and Curtis and Lemmon placed bets on how many takes it would need.

Who was Wilder's first idea for the role of Jerry?

Wilder dropped the idea because he thought the singer would be too difficult to work with.

Which comedian turned down the part later played by Lemmon because he refused to do drag?

He is said to have regretted the decision for the rest of his career.

Which actress did Wilder and his co-writer originally have in mind for Sugar?

Once word came that Monroe wanted the part, the writers felt they had to have her.

Which female impersonator was hired to coach Lemmon and Curtis?

Barbette had been a celebrated trapeze performer in Paris in the 1920s.

Curtis famously compared kissing Monroe to kissing whom?

The remark came out of frustration at the number of retakes she demanded.

Which comedy did Wilder see Lemmon in before casting him?

It began a partnership that ran to seven films, several also featuring Walter Matthau.

Wilder first spotted Curtis while he was making which 1953 film?

Wilder said Curtis was handsome enough that Sugar could believe he was an oil heir.

Monroe and Wilder had previously worked together on which 1955 film?

Afterwards Wilder joked that his doctor and psychiatrist told him he was too old and too rich to work with her again.

Which husband encouraged Monroe to accept the role of Sugar?

He and her acting coach Paula Strasberg both tried to influence the shoot, to the crew's annoyance.

Who composed the film's score?

Brassy strings signal the arrival of the gangsters throughout the film.

Which production outfit presented the film, bringing crew over from Allied Artists?

Mirisch brought several crew members over from his home base at Allied Artists.

In 1989 the Library of Congress made it one of the first 25 titles inducted into what?

The Library of Congress picks films that are culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.

What was the 1972 Broadway musical based on the film called?

Producer David Merrick could not license the film's title, so he named the show after its heroine.

Who won the 2023 Tony for Best Leading Actor in a Musical as Jerry/Daphne?

Ghee was one of the first two openly non-binary performers to win a Tony, alongside Alex Newell for Shucked.

Who wrote the music for the 2022 Broadway musical adaptation?

Shaiman and Scott Wittman first revealed the project on Graham Norton's BBC Radio 2 show in 2019.

Who played Joe in the unsold 1961 television pilot based on the film?

Curtis and Lemmon cameoed in the opening scene before the characters had plastic surgery to become the new leads.

Which football star played Joe in a 1984 stage production in Atlantic City?

The show ran at the Claridge Hotel & Casino.

Which 1975 Bollywood film was a remake of Some Like It Hot?

The story has also been staged in Belgrade for more than 30 years under the title Neki to vole vruće.

Which 1959 film knocked Some Like It Hot off the top of the US box office?

Wilder's comedy then retook the top spot for another four weeks before Pork Chop Hill replaced it.

Besides singing, which instrument does Sugar play in the band?

Monroe performs four songs on the soundtrack.

The Mafia meeting at the hotel hides behind which front organisation?

Its presiding boss already holds a grudge against Spats over the Toothpick Charlie killings.

Which boss presides over the Mafia meeting and has Spats killed?

Joe and Jerry witness the second killing while trying to sneak out of the hotel in male clothes.

When Joe breaks up with Sugar by phone, which country does he claim he is moving to?

He tells her he must marry a woman of his father's choosing.

Monroe's deal gave her 10 percent of the gross above what figure?

Curtis got 5 percent over $2 million, and Wilder 17.5 percent of the first million after break-even.