James Whale said of his Frankenstein (1931) star, Boris Karloff: "His face fascinated me. I made drawings of his head, adding sharp bony ridges where I imagined the skull might have joined."

The US Air Force refused to help in the filming of Howard Hawks' The Thing (1951) because the theme of the movie was counter to the Air Force claim that flying saucers don't exist. In fact, one crewmember (Dewey Martin) reads a quote from Air Force regulations denying flying saucers to the others as they are flying near the UFO crash site.

In George Pal's War of the Worlds (1953), the unique Flying Wing aircraft that drops the atom bomb on the advancing Martians was a prototype and remains, to this day, the only aircraft of its model in existence.

The title character in King Kong (1933) was actually an aluminum skeleton, covered by molded sponge rubber covered with rabbit fur. In New York scenes, the Kong model was 24 inches tall. He was smaller at a one-inch-to-one-foot ratio in the earlier jungle sequences. Certain body parts were constructed on a massive scale when actors were featured in the scene, as when Fay Wray is nestled in the eight-foot cranelike structure that was Kong's paw. Three men were inside Kong's head to operate it.

John Candy was originally supposed to be the young lawyer in Ghostbusters but Rick Moranis was ultimately hired to play the character, which he helped develop.

Bela Luogsi only made $700 for his seven-week role in Dracula (1930). Of course, star-making roles such as Lugoi's turn as the blood-thirsty count routinely make little for the then-unknown actors who make them. They make their bundle on subsequent movies.

The director of Vincent Price's excellent House of Wax (1953) had one eye. What's ironic is that Andre de Toth produced one of the best-known 3D movies of the period, which he was unable to enjoy.

The Bates mansion in Psycho (1960) was built to two-thirds scale to heighten the dramatic impact. It appeared in sequels as well as TV episodes, as on CBS's "Murder She Wrote."

The first scene that was shot when making Gone With The Wind was the burning of Atlanta scene.  Producer David O. Selznick did this in order to be able to clear the back lot at the studio.  Among the bulidings that can be seen on fire are the great gates from King Kong.  Because the role of Scarlett O'Hara had not been cast, a stuntman dressed as Scarlett rode in the wagon beside the stuntman dressed as Rhett Butler.  While filming the scene, Selznick's brother, Myron, who was an agent, brought a new client to watch the filming.  The new client turned out to be Vivian Leigh, who Myron introduced to his brother by saying "David, I want you to meet your Scarlett O'Hara".

This tale is rather shocking and is about an event that occured while filiming The African Queen while on location in what was then the Belgian Congo.  Director John Huston noted that there was a meat dish being served to the film crew by a local caterer who referred to it as "long pig".  A few days later, local authorities arrest the caterer.  Men had been disappearing from local villages and cannibalism was suspected.

In The Wizard Of Oz, actor Frank Morgan, who played The Wizard and Professor Marvel, wears a tattered Prince Albert style coat.  The coat was bought off the rack from a second hand shop by the MGM wardrobe department.  One day Morgan happened to turn out the pocket and discovered a name tag sewn inside bearing the name L. Frank Baum, who was the original author of the book The Wizard Of Oz.  It was later confirmed by the coat's tailor in Chicago that he did indeed tailor the coat for Mr. Baum.

In the 1973 movie Sleuth, Laurence Olivier plays a mystery writer who coerces a rival, played by Michael Caine, to ransack his house and rob him.  In the scene, Olivier sweeps a collection of figurines off a mantelpiece with his hand while describing the carnage.  As it turned out, he cut his hand while doing the scene.  Rather than stop filming, Olivier blotted the blood on the back of an upholstered chair, hid his bloody hand in his pocket and calmly finished the scene.  As soon as the director yelled "Cut!", Olivier promptly asked to be taken to the hospital.  The shot remained in the film and Olivier can be seen grimacing as he cut his hand.

During filming of A Clockwork Orange (released in 1972), director Stanley Kubick asked Malcolm McDowell to sing a song while commiting "ulta-violence".  McDowell started singing the first song that came to mind, "Singing In The Rain".  Kubrick stopped filming and called MGM Studios and obtained permission to use the song in the movie.  Critics of the film have always marveled at the irony of the song choice when it was actually just a coincidence.

In the closing scene of The French Connection, released in 1971, Gene Hackman, as a crazed narcotics investigator, fires his gun at an unseen target after the screen goes black.  There was a lot of speculation as to the meaning of the shot fired.  What did it mean?  Absolutely nothing, says director William Friedkin, who admitted that he playfully told the editor "Let's end the film with a bang and get it into the theatres."

Winston Churchill

Pigs are an interesting animal, which might be why we love them in film and TV. Contrary to popular belief pigs cannot sweat, are clean and have no odor ('sweat like a pig', "dirty as a pig", "stink like a pig"). Long believed by scientists to be one of the earth's most intelligent animals, pigs are one of the easiest animals to work with in the show-biz arena.

But, alas, little piggies grow quickly and their 15-minutes of fame usually only add up to … well, just more than 15 minutes. Arnold Ziffle (Green Acres fame) was played by dozens of tiny porkers. Babe was played by 48 different piglets, and Wilbur (Charlotte's Web) required 47 pig actors.

Like all actors, pigs are concerned about their appearance on camera (it adds an extra 10 pounds, you know). No worry, little pigs! Thanks to improved genetics and farming conditions, pigs are 50% leaner than their ancestors from 1960. Not bad for an animal that averages 1 ton of food per year.

1. The part of Indiana Jones was originally offered to Tom Selleck but three weeks before filming began he had to turn the part down because he was committed to play Magnum P.I. in the T.V. Series.
2. The original idea for "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was developed while George Lucas and Steven Spielberg were on holiday in Hawaii (George was supposedly trying to escape from what he thought may be the disastrous opening of "Star Wars"). Apparently, they were building a sand castle together and decided they'd like to recreate the adventure serials of the 1930's that they'd enjoyed as children.
3. Indiana Jones's full name is Henry Jones Junior but he calls himself Indiana after the pet dog he had as a child. In real life the name of the pet dog George Lucas had in the 1970's was also Indiana.
4. During the filming of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" in Tunisia, nearly everyone in the cast and crew fell sick apart from Stephen Spielberg. A possible explanation was that he only ate the food he'd brought from home - cans and cans of "Spaghetti O"s'.
5. A kangaroo hide bullwhip used by Harrison Ford in "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "Temple of Doom" and "The Last Crusade" was sold at Christies in September 1999 for a cracking £27,600.
6. Sharon Stone was originally one of the top choices to play the heroine Willie Scott in "The Temple of Doom".
7. The Russian soldiers in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" were cast from Russian actors so their accents would be as authentic as possible.
8. If you carefully watch the airport scene in the beginning of "The Temple of Doom", you'll see Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas both making cameo performances as missionaries.
9. The fedora hat and leather jacket that Indiana wore in "The Last Crusade" are now on display at the Smithsonian's American History Museum in Washington D.C.
10. Kate Capshaw met her future husband, Steven Spielberg, for the first time as she auditioned for the female lead, Willie Scott, in "The Temple Of Doom".
11. Even though George Lucas and Steven Spielberg were both 100% behind the filming of "Raiders of the Lost Ark", every studio in Hollywood originally turned the idea down.
12. Initially Danny Devito was all ready to play the part of Sallah (Indy's Arab guide) but due to conflicts with the filming of the hit T.V. sitcom "Taxi" he had to drop out and the part went to John Rhys-Davies.
13. To get himself fit enough to play Indy for the fourth time and complete all his own stunts, 64 year old Harrison Ford, spent three hours a day in the gym and lived on a high protein diet of only fish and vegetables.
14. The robots R2-D2 And C-3PO surprisingly feature as hieroglyphics in the Well of Souls scene in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and they also feature on a post to the right of Indy and Sallah as they remove the Ark.
15. Pat Roach, the British wrestler and best known as Bomber from "Auf Wiedersehen, Pet", seems to get killed more times than anyone else in the Indiana Jones films. In "Raiders of the Lost Ark", he's a giant Sherpa who dies in the burning Nepalese Bar. Then he's the German mechanic who gets splattered by an aeroplane's propeller. Finally in the "The Temple of Doom", he's the chief guard who's crushed by the rock crusher.
16. Next time you watch "The Last Crusade"; look out for the scene where Indy and his father are talking at a table aboard the Zeppelin. It was so hot on set that day, Harrison Ford and Sean Connery acted their parts with no trousers on.
17. Originally there were supposed to be five Indiana Jones films made but it was only in 2000 when Steven Spielberg's son asked when the remaining two films would be released that the director rekindled his interest in the project.
18. "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was the biggest movie hit of 1981, earning more at the box office than three of it's closest rivals combined: "Arthur", "Chariots of Fire" and "For Your Eyes Only".
19. Stephen Spielberg wrote the script to "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial" during filming breaks in "Raiders of the Lost Ark". He dictated the story to Harrison Ford's then wife, Melissa Mathison who's profession was a screenwriter.
20. The glamorous dress that Kate Capshaw wears in "The Temple of Doom" was a unique creation comprising of rare 1920's and 30's beads. However, in a scene where the dress is seen drying out over a tree, an elephant took a liking to it and decided to munch on it for lunch. As a result the production team had to fill out the unusual insurance claim "Dress eaten by Elephant!"
21. Before "The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" was chosen as the title for the latest Indiana Jones film, several other titles were considered including "The City of Gods", "The Destroyer of Worlds", "The Fourth Corner of the Earth", "The Lost City of Gold", and finally, "The Quest for the Covenant".
22. Harrison Ford had to fly back to the United States for emergency surgery during the filming of "The Temple of Doom" as he ruptured a disc in his back from learning to ride an elephant.
23. The temple that's carved into the rock in "The Last Crusade" is not in the fabled city of Alexandretta but actually located in Petra, Jordan.
24. A lot of the filming for "The Temple of Doom" took place in Sri Lanka where the authorities weren't exactly happy with having live pythons brought into the country. So animal handler Michael Culling had to book the snakes into a hotel room under false names - that of Mr and Mrs Longfellow.
25. In "The Last Crusade" when young Indy is in the lion's compartment on the train, he cracks a whip that cuts him on the top of his chin, giving him a scar. In real life though Harrison Ford actually got that scar in his mid-twenties when he crashed his car while trying to put his seatbelt on.