1. Monroe dusted herself with baby powder to become the pale club singer who rarely sees the sun in Bus Stop. Marilyn's company produced the film but director Josh Logan was clearly in control, even carrying Monroe out of her dressing room when he grew tired of her tardiness. Logan also coerced the star to sing live, rather than lip-synch, to capture her nervous performance on two cameras.2. Lemmon was a cog in the corporate machine, until he started handing out his key to The Apartment to his bosses. Co-star Shirley MacLaine and Lemmon hit it off from the first day of shooting. She recalled after his death how he would say It's magic time before each scene - a ritual he continued throughout his career.
3. In preparation to play Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady Hepburn took weeks of singing lessons, only to have most of her tunes dubbed by Marni Nixon. Co-star Rex Harrison insisted on singing live while the cameras rolled, requiring a microphone in his tie wired to a transmitter strapped to his leg.
4. Cusack was a street performer before he found how interesting Being John Malkovich could be. Malkovich realized it's not always easy being yourself when director Spike Jonze would correct him, saying "John Malkovich wouldn't do it like that."
5. Since no spiders were injured during the filming of Arachnophobia what's that on the bottom of exterminator Goodman's shoe? Nothing ... literally. To create the look of squashed spider, a hole was cut in the shoe's sole, and the sound of the creature's demise was achieved by crunching potato chips. Talk about odd jobs, a Live Spider Coordinator, Spider Consultants and a Spider Spotter all worked on the film.
6. That's Arthur, explaining his vocation to a prostitute (Marjorie Barnes) Sadly, Moore now feels that "Arthur has invaded my body,I have become him," because progressive supranuclear palsy has taken such a toll on his body.
7. Unlike most of Allen's films, Take the Money and Run was shot - not in New York - but in the San Francisco area. It was the first feature film to use a single-truck mobile studio, enabling a smaller crew to cover up to 6 locations a day.
8. Rains was Louis Renault, prefect of police in Casablanca. During breaks he played chess with Humphrey Bogart. Although Rains got 4th billing, his salary was second only to Bogie's.
9. Goldblum was very visible in The Big Chill but you won't see Kevin Costner's face. All Costner's scenes (except a glimpse of his body being dressed for burial) as the group's dead pal Alex were cut from the final print. The characters began their friendship at the University of Michigan, writer-director Lawrence Kasdan's alma mater.
10. Streisand reluctantly did a scene topless for The Owl and the Pussycat, then asked director Herbert Ross to cut it. It was deleted. Streisand was given the negatives to destroy. 10 years later the stills surfaced in High Society magazine.
11. That's what Barbara Stanwyck thought when MacMurray explained the Double Indemnity clause in her husband's policy. Director Billy Wilder didn't get along with Raymond Chandler while they were writing the script but Chandler admitted he liked the end result. Wilder insisted on dirtying up the sets to give the film it's dark look and even created dust in Stanwyck's home by blowing aluminum particles in the air.
12. Hoffman couldn't get a part until he donned drag and became Dorothy in the film originally titled Would I Lie to You? Hoffman suggested that it be changed to his mother's name for him - Tootsie.
13. Most of Hollywood was happy when Bergman returned after a 21-year absence to portray dental nurse Stephanie Dickinson in Cactus Flower. Lauren Bacall, playing the part on Broadway, was furious that Bergman was cast. When Bergman's reporter daughter Pia was assigned to interview Ms Bacall, Lauren told her "Don't even mention your mother's name!"
14. Groucho pulled pranks in Horse Feathers and in real life. His son Arthur says the family returned from Europe when a customs official not recognizing the famous funnyman without his black mustache asked him to fill in his occupation on a form. Groucho wrote "Smuggler" and was taken away and searched.