Follow TV Tropes

Following

Trivia / The Bad and the Beautiful

Go To

  • Actor-Shared Background: Lana Turner plays an actress whose career started as a movie extra. Turner started her own career as an extra in A Star Is Born (1937).
  • Cast the Runner-Up: Dick Powell and Barry Sullivan were initially cast in each others' roles.
  • Completely Different Title:
    • The German and Swedish titles of this movie translate to "City of Illusions".
    • The Spanish title translates to "Captives of Evil".
  • Deleted Scene: To somewhat soften the depiction of Shields, Vincente Minnelli cut a scene in which he accepts the Best Picture Oscar for the film whose idea he had stolen from his best friend. In the scene, Shields devotes most of his speech to his late father, then makes only a brief mention of his friend at the end.
  • Executive Meddling: Although preview audiences were generally positive about the film, many felt it was too long, prompting MGM to cut almost 12 minutes, including shots of Shields in Paris as he phones to ask his former friends to work on his next film, and a scene in which Georgia and James meet for the first time.
  • Underage Casting: Early in the film, Harry Pebble admits to being 65 years old. Walter Pidgeon was born in 1897 and had his 60th birthday and associated celebration while filming this movie.
  • What Could Have Been: Clark Gable was originally offered the role of Jonathan Shields. It was then offered to Spencer Tracy.
  • Working Title: Tribute to a Bad Man. One reason for the title change was to add "beautiful," in consideration of the top-billed Lana Turner.

Top