100 Fun Facts About TV & Movies

Which 1975 thriller's faulty mechanical shark, nicknamed Bruce, had to stay mostly offscreen?

Jaws became the prototype summer blockbuster partly because the unreliable shark pushed Steven Spielberg to hint at it rather than reveal it, leaving John Williams's two-note theme to do the frightening.

Which Star Wars film gave Darth Vader actor David Prowse a decoy line to keep its twist secret?

The Empire Strikes Back hid 'I am your father' so well that only the director, the producers and Mark Hamill knew it on set; James Earl Jones dubbed the real line in later.

Which 1942 Humphrey Bogart film began as an unproduced play called Everybody Comes to Rick's?

Casablanca had its premiere rushed forward to November 1942 because Allied troops had just landed in North Africa and captured the city itself.

Which 1972 film won Marlon Brando a Best Actor Oscar that Sacheen Littlefeather declined for him?

The Godfather's Brando boycotted the 1973 ceremony in protest at Hollywood's portrayal of Native Americans and the siege at Wounded Knee, so Littlefeather raised a hand to refuse the statuette.

Which Malcolm in the Middle dad went on to play chemistry teacher Walter White in Breaking Bad?

Bryan Cranston got the part because creator Vince Gilligan remembered him from a 1998 X-Files episode, 'Drive'; AMC executives, who knew him as a sitcom dad, had hesitated.

Which film was the first ever to gross $1 billion worldwide?

Titanic was tipped to sink: at $200 million it was the most expensive film yet made, and critics predicted a flop before it out-grossed every film before it.

Which Ricky Gervais mockumentary about a Slough paper firm was remade in America with Steve Carell?

The Office drew low ratings when it first aired on BBC Two in 2001, yet it has since been sold to broadcasters in more than 80 countries.

Which animated sitcom started out as shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987?

The Simpsons were sketched in producer James L. Brooks's lobby before a pitch: Matt Groening would not sign away his Life in Hell strip, so he invented a family and named it after his own.

Which 1939 MGM musical recoloured Dorothy's silver shoes red to flaunt three-strip Technicolor?

The Wizard of Oz's slippers were Silver Shoes in L. Frank Baum's novel; they became so prized that one surviving pair was stolen from a museum in 2005 and recovered only in 2018.

In Doctor Who, a broken chameleon circuit leaves the TARDIS shaped like what 1960s London object?

A police box was an everyday sight in Britain when the series began in 1963, and the Doctor later admits he stopped repairing the circuit because he grew attached to the shape.

Which 1960 horror film set at the Bates Motel broke a taboo by showing a toilet flush on screen?

Psycho broke a second habit on release: cinemas were told to admit nobody once the film had started, a 'no late admission' rule that was unusual for the time.

Which BBC sitcom about Peckham trader Del Boy Trotter featured a three-wheeled Reliant Regal van?

Only Fools and Horses began slowly, its first series drawing mediocre ratings; in 1996 'Time on Our Hands' drew 24.3 million viewers, a UK sitcom record.

Which John Cleese hotel sitcom made just 12 episodes yet topped the BFI's 2000 list of British TV?

Fawlty Towers was inspired by the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay, where Cleese stayed in 1970, and the BFI's industry poll in 2000 named it the best British television series of all time.

Which badge-awarding BBC children's programme has run since 1958, longer than any other worldwide?

Blue Peter is named after the flag a ship flies when it is about to leave port, chosen to promise young viewers a voyage of adventure.

Which Netflix drama recast Elizabeth II every two seasons, passing from Claire Foy to Olivia Colman?

The Crown later gave the Queen to Imelda Staunton, and its producers admitted that Claire Foy had been paid less than Matt Smith, who played her husband, for the first two seasons.

Which 1995 film was the first entirely computer-animated feature?

Toy Story nearly died in 1993: a story reel made its hero Woody such a jerk that Disney halted production until the script was rewritten.

Which Die Hard villain went on to play Severus Snape in all eight Harry Potter films?

Alan Rickman played Snape with inside knowledge: J. K. Rowling had told him where the character's loyalties lay, and he told puzzled directors only that he knew something they didn't.

Which former star of The Saint played James Bond in seven Eon films, more than any other actor?

Roger Moore bowed out with A View to a Kill in 1985, later saying he was mortified to learn he was older than his female co-star's mother.

Which HBO mob drama ended by cutting to black mid-scene as Journey's 'Don't Stop Believin'' played?

The Sopranos ended on a cut so abrupt, followed by seconds of silence, that many viewers first thought their cable had failed; Tony's fate was left to argument.

Which Lucille Ball sitcom was the first scripted series shot on 35mm film before a studio audience?

I Love Lucy was filmed in Hollywood although its sponsor wanted it made in New York, where most shows went out live; the film prints let Ball and Desi Arnaz pioneer the syndicated rerun.

Which military sitcom's 1983 finale drew 106 million US viewers, a record for scripted TV?

M*A*S*H ran for 11 seasons, far longer than the three-year Korean War it depicted, and its finale stayed America's most-watched broadcast of any kind until 2010.

Which oil-family soap left the world asking 'Who shot J.R.?' through the summer of 1980?

Dallas's cliffhanger was a CBS advertising catchphrase, and the answer, Kristin Shepard, J.R.'s scheming sister-in-law and mistress, was watched by an estimated 83 million people.

Which David Hasselhoff drama was axed by NBC after one season, then revived in syndication?

Baywatch came back in 1991 with Hasselhoff's own money behind it and went on to be listed as the world's most-watched series, with over 1.1 billion weekly viewers.

Which 1994 Tom Hanks film opens with a feather and the line 'Life was like a box of chocolates'?

Forrest Gump made Tom Hanks tens of millions through his share of its gross receipts, even as the studio's accounts showed the hit film running at a loss.

In which 1980 Stanley Kubrick film did Jack Nicholson improvise the line 'Here's Johnny!'?

The Shining's line borrows Ed McMahon's introduction on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and Kubrick, long resident in England, missed the reference and nearly used another take.

Which 1994 Quentin Tarantino crime film, told out of sequence, won the Palme d'Or at Cannes?

Pulp Fiction did more than win at Cannes: its success reinvigorated the career of John Travolta, who earned a Best Actor nomination as hitman Vincent Vega.

Which 1999 Keanu Reeves sci-fi film popularised the slow-motion 'bullet time' effect?

The Matrix shot the effect with an arc of still cameras fired in sequence around the actor, so the action crawls while the viewpoint sweeps past it.

For which 2008 Batman film did Heath Ledger win a posthumous Oscar as the Joker?

The Dark Knight missed a Best Picture nomination, and the backlash led the Academy to raise the limit from five nominees to ten at the next ceremony.

Which 1939 epic remains the highest-grossing film ever when adjusted for inflation?

Gone with the Wind made Hattie McDaniel the first African American to win an Oscar, yet at the ceremony she was seated at a segregated table, apart from her co-stars.

Which 2019 Bong Joon-ho thriller was the first non-English-language film to win Best Picture?

Parasite's subtitler Darcy Paquet, working with Bong, coined 'ram-don' for the instant-noodle dish jjapaguri, and the invented name stuck in English.

Which Christopher Nolan biopic, released the same day as Barbie in 2023, won seven Oscars?

Oppenheimer's thirteen nominations became seven wins, including Best Director for Nolan and Best Actor for Cillian Murphy, as 'Barbenheimer' double bills packed cinemas.

Which actress won a record four Best Actress Oscars, the last of them for On Golden Pond in 1981?

Katharine Hepburn won from Morning Glory to On Golden Pond, yet she never attended a ceremony to collect any of her four Best Actress Oscars.

Which actor has three Best Actor Oscars, for My Left Foot, There Will Be Blood and Lincoln?

Daniel Day-Lewis refused to break character on My Left Foot, so crew members had to wheel him around the set and lift him over cables between takes.

Which film was the real 2017 Best Picture winner after Faye Dunaway read out La La Land by mistake?

Moonlight was named only after La La Land's speeches had begun: Warren Beatty had been handed a duplicate Best Actress envelope, and producer Jordan Horowitz held up the real card.

Which director of Rebecca and Rear Window got five Best Director nominations but never won?

Alfred Hitchcock watched Rebecca win Best Picture, but that statuette went to its producer, David O. Selznick, and all five of his own directing nominations fell short.

Which 2003 fantasy finale won all 11 Oscars it was up for, the genre's first Best Picture?

The Return of the King was shot at the same time as the two earlier films in one long New Zealand production; its 11 wins from 11 nominations is the largest clean sweep in Oscar history.

Which 2006 remake of Hong Kong's Infernal Affairs won Martin Scorsese his first Oscar?

The Departed finally won Scorsese Best Director, his only personal Oscar; it moved the Hong Kong plot to Boston and drew loosely on real crime boss Whitey Bulger.

Which Archie Bunker sitcom, adapted from Britain's Till Death Us Do Part, spun off The Jeffersons?

All in the Family was turned down by ABC after two pilots; CBS picked it up, and it topped the yearly Nielsen ratings for five seasons running.

Which Hampshire seat of the Earls of Carnarvon was the main filming location for Downton Abbey?

Highclere Castle's 5th Earl, George Herbert, employed Howard Carter in the search for Tutankhamun's tomb, and the house keeps an Egyptian museum from the 1922 discovery.

Which silent First World War film starring Clara Bow won the first Best Picture Oscar?

Wings was for many years considered a lost film, until a print was found in the Cinémathèque Française archive in Paris; it had taken the first award for Outstanding Picture in 1929.

Which Rowan Atkinson character, first seen on ITV in 1990, drives a citron-green Mini?

Mr. Bean was built to work without words: at Montreal's Just for Laughs festival in 1987, Rowan Atkinson insisted on the French-speaking bill to test the character.

Which Amazon motoring series reunited Clarkson, Hammond and May after their exit from Top Gear?

The Grand Tour followed the BBC's 2015 decision not to renew Jeremy Clarkson's contract after he assaulted a Top Gear producer; Hammond and May left with him.

Which Australian soap set in Erinsborough made stars of Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan?

Neighbours drew two million Australians to Scott and Charlene's wedding in 1987, but 19.6 million watched in Britain a year later, the country's third most-watched programme of 1988.

Which sitcom's rapped theme tells how a West Philadelphia teen ended up in a relative's mansion?

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air rescued its star: Will Smith owed $2.8 million in taxes when Quincy Jones had him audition on the spot at a party, and the contract was drawn up that night.

Which sitcom about the Home Guard in Walmington-on-Sea gave Corporal Jones the cry 'Don't panic!'?

Dad's Army drew on experience: co-writer Jimmy Perry had himself joined the Home Guard as a teenager in Watford in 1940.

Which BBC drama stars Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby, running a Birmingham gang after 1918?

Peaky Blinders borrows the name of a real Birmingham street gang active from the 1880s, though the razor blades sewn into their cap peaks are thought to be folklore.

Which 2008 Danny Boyle film follows a Mumbai teenager through a TV quiz and won eight Oscars?

Slumdog Millionaire nearly skipped American cinemas: its first US backer planned to send it straight to video before Fox Searchlight took over distribution.

Which 1975 comedy gave Graham Chapman's Arthur coconut shells clapped for hoofbeats?

Monty Python and the Holy Grail could not afford real mounts beyond a single animal in a couple of scenes, so the coconut gag was born of budget rather than whimsy.

Which Kermit the Frog variety series was recorded in England at ATV's Elstree Studios?

The Muppet Show was produced by Lew Grade's ITC and Henson Associates for five seasons and 120 episodes from 1976 to 1981, after American networks rejected Jim Henson's proposals.

Which ITV detective series' theme, 'Eye Level', spent four weeks at UK No. 1 in 1973?

Van der Valk's theme barely charted on its first release in 1972; reissued a year later, 'Eye Level' topped the chart and sold over a million copies.

Which Spielberg film lured its alien with Reese's Pieces after Mars refused to let M&M's be used?

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial turned a snub into a windfall: Mars feared the creature would frighten children, and Hershey saw sales of its stand-in candy jump.

Which NBC sitcom's six stars negotiated their pay as a bloc, each reaching $1 million an episode?

Friends started each lead on $22,500 an episode; after pay diverged in season two, the six insisted on bargaining together so that nobody outranked the rest.

Which TV series' letter-writing fans got NASA's first space shuttle named after a starship?

Star Trek fans sent the White House hundreds of thousands of letters, so the orbiter planned as Constitution rolled out in 1976 as Enterprise, with most of the original cast watching.

Which Disney animated film takes its murdered father, scheming uncle and exiled heir from Hamlet?

The Lion King was a rare Disney animated feature built on an original story, and studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg urged its writers to put in as much of the play as they could.

Which actor was working as a carpenter when George Lucas hired him just to read lines at auditions?

Harrison Ford won Lucas over during those line readings and was cast as Han Solo; he had taken up carpentry to support his wife and two young sons when good roles dried up.

Which subject did SpongeBob SquarePants' creator teach at an ocean institute before animation?

Marine biology supplied the cast: Stephen Hillenburg drew an educational comic about tide-pool animals for his students, and its Bob the Sponge grew into SpongeBob.

Which Disney film won an honorary Oscar made of one full-size statuette and several miniature ones?

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs earned Walt Disney one small statuette per dwarf beside the full-size Oscar, and child star Shirley Temple handed him the set in 1939.

Which Netflix series set in 1980s Indiana sent a Kate Bush single to number one after 37 years?

Stranger Things featured Running Up That Hill in its fourth season, giving Kate Bush her second UK number one 44 years after her first, Wuthering Heights.

Which 1980s comedy had to re-film scenes already shot with Eric Stoltz in the lead role?

Back to the Future had wanted Michael J. Fox from the start, but he was tied to a sitcom; bringing him in mid-shoot added about $4 million to the budget.

Which HBO fantasy series reshot about 90 percent of its unaired pilot before winning 59 Emmys?

Game of Thrones showed its first pilot at a private viewing, where it went down so badly that HBO demanded the re-shoot, along with changes of cast and director.

Which 1970s Best Picture winner was written by an actor who refused to sell it unless he starred?

Rocky came from a screenplay Sylvester Stallone wrote in about three and a half days, and he turned down a six-figure offer for the rights until United Artists agreed to cast him.

Which Netflix thriller became the first non-English-language nominee for the Outstanding Drama Series Emmy?

Squid Game made more history on the night: Lee Jung-jae became the first Asian actor to win the drama lead-actor Emmy, and creator Hwang Dong-hyuk won for directing.

Which Bill Murray comedy, filmed in Woodstock, Illinois, became a byword for endless repetition?

Groundhog Day's makers scouted more than 60 towns before choosing Woodstock, because they wanted a town square rather than a main street to stand in for Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

Which sitcom's scene of Fonzie water-skiing over a shark inspired the term for a show past its peak?

Happy Days carried on for six more seasons, but in 1985 Jon Hein and a college roommate coined the phrase jumping the shark for the moment a series tips into decline.

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

Keith Richards appeared as Captain Teague in two of the sequels; Depp had researched 18th-century pirates and decided they were the rock stars of their age.

Which NBC sitcom made the December 23 holiday of Festivus famous in a 1997 episode, The Strike?

Seinfeld got Festivus from staff writer Dan O'Keefe, whose father had invented the holiday and had the family celebrating it as early as 1966.

Which superhero film launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a script unfinished when filming began?

Iron Man leaned on improvised dialogue as a result, and director Jon Favreau felt the ad-libbing made the 2008 film seem more natural.

Which Boston-set NBC sitcom ranked 74th of 77 shows at its premiere, then ran for 11 seasons?

Cheers was nearly cancelled in that first season, then recovered to finish eight of its 11 seasons in the Nielsen top ten, one of them at number one.

What did the Hollywood Sign spell out in 1923, when it went up to advertise a housing development?

Hollywoodland was the estate being sold, and the sign was only meant to be temporary; its last four letters did not come down until 1949.

Which reality format, first shown in the Netherlands in 1999, shuts strangers in a house under constant camera watch?

Big Brother takes its name from the all-seeing ruler of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four; John de Mol's format has been remade in more than 60 countries and regions.

Which Disney musical, first shown unfinished at a festival, was the first animated Best Picture nominee?

Beauty and the Beast drew a ten-minute standing ovation at the New York Film Festival while still a work in progress, months before the Academy made room for it.

Which serial set in fictional Weatherfield became the world's longest-running TV soap opera in 2010?

Coronation Street was commissioned for just 13 episodes in 1960, with some at Granada doubting it would outlast them; it took the record once As the World Turns ended.

Which Marvel film won the costume design Oscar and became the first superhero Best Picture nominee?

Black Panther's three Oscars, for costume design, production design and original score, were also the first Academy Awards won by any Marvel Studios film.

Which sci-fi series is credited with the Scully effect, drawing young women into science careers?

The X-Files made Dana Scully a medical doctor as well as an FBI agent, and Gillian Anderson says girls often told her they chose medicine or science because of the character.

Which star of High Noon retired from acting at 26 to become Princess of Monaco?

Grace Kelly had won the Best Actress Oscar for The Country Girl shortly before she quit, in a part that came her way when a pregnant Jennifer Jones bowed out.

Which ABC drama about the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 was shot mainly on Oahu in Hawaii?

Lost was one of the most expensive series on television because of its big ensemble cast and location filming; the pilot alone cost more than $14 million.

Which Japanese movie monster was conceived in 1954 as a metaphor for nuclear weapons?

Godzilla arrived while the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Lucky Dragon 5 incident were recent memories in Japan; radiation is what wakes the creature.

Which broadcaster is the only person to win BAFTAs in black and white, colour, HD, 3D and 4K?

David Attenborough also ran BBC Two when colour arrived, and brought snooker to the screen to show the format off, because the game depends on coloured balls.

Which former Miss Ohio USA was the first Black woman to win the Best Actress Oscar, for Monster's Ball?

Halle Berry had already played Dorothy Dandridge, the first Black woman ever nominated for that award, in a television biopic made a few years earlier.

Which cable channel launched in 1981 with the Buggles' Video Killed the Radio Star as its first clip?

MTV went on air at 12:01 a.m. on August 1, 1981, opening with footage of the first Moon landing before its video jockeys took over.

Which 1991 thriller swept the Big Five Oscars and was the first horror film to win Best Picture?

The Silence of the Lambs was only the third film to take Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay together, after It Happened One Night and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Which David Lynch series set in the Pacific Northwest turned on the murder of teenager Laura Palmer?

Twin Peaks was cancelled in 1991 after two seasons, then came back for a third on Showtime in 2017, more than a quarter of a century later.

Which western star, Sergio Leone's Man with No Name, was elected mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea in 1986?

Clint Eastwood served two years as mayor of the California town; in his Leone westerns the nonsmoking actor had been made to smoke cigars as part of the character's look.

Which Hanna-Barbera cartoon, inspired by The Honeymooners, was the first animated prime-time series?

The Flintstones ran on ABC from 1960 to 1966 and also counts as the first animated sitcom; co-creator William Hanna rated The Honeymooners among the finest comedies on television.

Which detective did Guinness name in 2012 as the most portrayed human literary character on screen?

Sherlock Holmes took the title in film and television after more than 75 actors had played him in over 250 productions.

Which annual televised music competition, first held in 1956, brought ABBA worldwide fame in 1974?

The Eurovision Song Contest has missed only one year since it began, the pandemic year of 2020, making it the longest-running international music competition on television.

Which Apple TV+ comedy grew out of promotional sketches for NBC Sports' Premier League coverage?

Ted Lasso was Jason Sudeikis's character in those promos long before the 2020 series, which sends the American college football coach to manage an English club.

Which spy film franchise began as a CBS television series that ran for seven seasons from 1966?

Mission: Impossible was revived on television for two more seasons in 1988, eight years before Tom Cruise took the idea to cinemas.

Which director, once married to James Cameron, became the first woman to win the Best Director Oscar?

Kathryn Bigelow won for the war drama The Hurt Locker; years after their divorce, Cameron had written and produced her 1995 film Strange Days.

Which Hayao Miyazaki film was the first non-English-language winner of the Best Animated Feature Oscar?

Spirited Away was written around the ten-year-old daughter of a friend of Miyazaki's, who visited his house each summer and became the model for its young heroine.

Which Akira Kurosawa epic about villagers hiring warriors against bandits became a 1960 American western?

Seven Samurai moved to the Old West as The Magnificent Seven, the best known of many films that have reworked its story and its approach to action.

Which 1922 German silent film did a court order destroyed after Bram Stoker's widow sued over copyright?

Nosferatu had changed names and details, turning Count Dracula into Count Orlok, but Florence Stoker won anyway; the film survives because several prints escaped the order.

Which Al Jolson musical of 1927 was the first feature film with synchronised singing and speech?

The Jazz Singer has speech in only a few isolated sequences, yet its Vitaphone sound-on-disc songs were enough to signal the end of the silent era.

Which film pioneers' paid screening at a Paris café in 1895 is traditionally called the birth of cinema?

The Lumière brothers drew only a few dozen paying visitors that December night, though the Skladanowskys had already sold tickets to projected films in Berlin the month before.

Which Scottish inventor demonstrated the world's first mechanical television system in January 1926?

John Logie Baird's company sent the first television pictures across the Atlantic two years later, from London to New York, the same year he showed the first colour transmission.

Which voice actor, known as the Man of a Thousand Voices, first played Bugs Bunny in A Wild Hare?

Mel Blanc bit into real carrots to get the rabbit's chewing sounds, then quickly spat into a spittoon so that he could get on with the next words.

Which variety series drew a then-record 73 million viewers when the Beatles appeared in February 1964?

The Ed Sullivan Show usually pulled in about 21 million viewers; that night's record stood for three years, until the series finale of The Fugitive.

Which Lorne Michaels sketch comedy premiered in 1975 from Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza?

Saturday Night Live began as NBC's Saturday Night, because rival network ABC was already using the name for a variety show fronted by Howard Cosell.

Which child star became the youngest competitive Oscar winner at ten, for Paper Moon opposite her father?

Tatum O'Neal turned nine while Paper Moon was being filmed in 1972, and took Best Supporting Actress in April 1974 with her father Ryan O'Neal as her co-star.

Which ABC miniseries adapted from an Alex Haley novel aired over eight consecutive nights in January 1977?

Roots built to a finale with unprecedented Nielsen ratings, the third-highest-rated episode of any type of television series.