The Mega Book of Useless Information. Noel Botham

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      • When Marlon Brando signed into hotels, he used the name Lord Greystoke, aka Tarzan.

      • Batman actor Michael Keaton’s real name is Michael Douglas.

      • The largest number of fatalities on a film set is 40, occurring during the making of The Sword of Tipu Sultan (1989).

      • Norma Talmadge made the first footprints in the Hollywood Walk of Fame outside Grauman’s Chinese Theater in May 1927.

      • Some Like it Hot (1959) was originally called ‘Not Tonight, Josephine’.

      • One of the actors in Reservoir Dogs (1992), Eddie Bunker (Mr Blue), was a real former criminal and was once on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list.

      • Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Steve McQueen, Cher and Tom Cruise never finished school.

      • Brad Pitt once worked as a chicken for the El Pollo Loco restaurant chain.

      • Marni Nixon provided the singing voice for Audrey Hepburn’s character in My Fair Lady (1964).

      • Screen 6 at Atlanta’s CNN Center has been showing Gone with the Wind twice a day, 365 times a year since the film’s release in 1939.

      • Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton first married in Canada in 1964, and then again in Botswana in 1975.

      • The first film to show the sex act was Extase in 1932.

      • The longest ever interval between an original film and its sequel is 46 years – between The Wizard of Oz and Return to Oz.

      • Since 1989, to avoid offending losers, Oscar presenters say, ‘And the Oscar goes to…’ instead of ‘And the winner is…’

      • Darth Vader has advertised Duracell batteries.

      • Charlie Chaplin first spoke on film in The Great Dictator (1940).

      • James Dean recorded an album called Jungle Rhythm.

      • Oliver Reed was once a bouncer for a strip club.

      • Robert Duvall’s character in Apocalypse Now (1979), Colonel Kilgore, was originally called Colonel Kharnage.

      • Bob Hope hosted the Academy Awards a record 16 times.

      • As well as the handprints and footprints outside Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, you’ll also find casts of Groucho Marx’s cigar, Betty Grable’s legs, Jimmy Durante’s nose, Trigger’s hooves, Harold Lloyd’s glasses and Whoopi Goldberg’s braids.

      • Between 1990 and 1995, Holocaust films won four out of five Best Documentary Oscars.

      • The Hollywood sign originally read ‘Hollywoodland’.

      • Star Wars character Yoda was originally called The Critter.

      • John Wayne made an album entitled America, Why I Love Her.

      • In Superman, when Superman discovers Lois Lane’s body he lets out a scream, revealing his tooth fillings. Not very in keeping with his invincible image.

      • Tom Selleck was originally cast as Indiana Jones.

      • Meryl Streep, Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman and Burt Lancaster all started out as waiting staff.

      • Bruce Willis recently played with his band at the opening of a branch of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.

      • Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell had a car stolen from their drive and didn’t notice for three days.

      • Sergeant Bilko’s first name is Ernest.

      • Paramount is the only major studio still based in Hollywood.

      • After breaking up with his fiancée Winona Ryder, Johnny Depp had his tattoo ‘Winona Forever’ changed to ‘Wino Forever’.

      • Mickey Rooney’s real name is Joe Yule Jnr.

      • Bix Beiderbecke was the first white jazz musician.

      • The melody of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ was composed by Mozart.

      • The real name of Batman villain The Penguin is Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot.

      • A total of 364 gifts are given by the lover in ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ song.

      • Sting’s real name is Gordon Sumner.

      • Contralto is the lowest female singing voice.

      • Engelbert Humperdinck’s real name is Arnold Dorsey.

      • Hank Williams was known as the ‘Drifting Cowboy’.

      • Kazatsky is a Russian folk dance characterized by a step in which a squatting dancer kicks out each leg alternately to the front.

      • The taboo against whistling backstage comes from the pre-electricity era, when a whistle was the signal for the curtains and the scenery to drop. An unexpected whistle could cause an unexpected scene change.

      • ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ is ranked the most difficult national anthem to sing.

      • The Writers’ Guild of America Registration Office states that approximately 20,000 movie scripts are registered with the Guild each year and that, of these, less than one per cent are picked up by a studio and made into a film.

      Roger Moore is the only English actor to have played the role of James Bond. Sean Connery is Scottish, George Lazenby is Australian, Timothy Dalton is Welsh and Pierce Brosnan is Irish.

      • The names of the six Gummi bears are Gruffi, Cubbi, Tummi, Zummi, Sunni and Grammi.

      • Whistler’s best-known painting, often called Whistler’s Mother, is actually titled Arrangement in Grey and Black: The Artist’s Mother.

      • The names of Popeye’s four nephews are Pipeye, Peepeye, Pupeye and Poopeye.

      • The Pac Man video arcade game featured coloured ghosts named Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde.

      • The Marlboro Man has appeared in more advertisements than any ad figure in history.

      • The Hitchcock film North by Northwest (1959) takes its name from a Hamlet quote: ‘I am but mad north-northwest.’

      • Elizabeth Hurley checks into hotels under the name Rebecca de Winter.

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