Trivia / Stage Fright (1950)

• Ability over Appearance: Viewers really don't care that Marlene Dietrich doesn't do an English accent to play Charlotte, or that an English actress wasn't cast instead. Simply because she's Marlene Dietrich and her performance is iconic.
• Actor-Inspired Element: Marlene Dietrich, a close personal friend of Édith Piaf, got the singer's permission to sing "La Vie En Rose" in the film. Marlene was also allowed to have a lot of input in how her scenes were lit and shot - as Hitchcock knew she had learned a lot about cinematography from Gunther Rittau and Josef von Sternberg.
• Cast the Expert: Sgt. Mellish, the other policeman in the final scene, was played by Ballard Berkeley (the future Major on Fawlty Towers). Besides his acting, Berkeley did part-time constable work for the London Metropolitan Police during World War II.
• Creator Backlash: Alfred Hitchcock regretted the twist where Jonathan's flashback of the events was a lie all along, breaking a long-established cinematic convention that flashbacks were always a true account of earlier events, after it was poorly received by audiences at the time.
• Deleted Role: Irene Handl had a bigger part as the maid Miss Mason but most of the scenes were cut.
• Executive Meddling:
  • Hitchcock wanted Tallulah Bankhead for the role of Charlotte. The studio suggested Marlene Dietrich instead.
  • Some lines from the Cole Porter song "Laziest Girl In Town" had to be cut or reworked because they were too risque.
• Fake Brit: American Jane Wyman and German Marlene Dietrich as Eve and Charlotte respectively. Neither of them bother with the accents though, and Eve's is hand waved by saying she was educated in America.
• Hostility on the Set: Hitchcock grew a bit frustrated with Jane Wyman for trying to glam up her "Doris Tinsdale" look too much, and with Alastair Sim, who had a habit of mugging for the camera and trying to steal scenes.
• Real-Life Relative: Hitchcock's daughter Pat Hitchcock plays Chubby Banister. She also acted as Jane Wyman's stunt double for some driving scenes.
• Romance on the Set: Marlene Dietrich and Michael Wilding had a fling during filming.
• Uncredited Role:
  • Cyril Chamberlain as Detective Sergeant Loomis.
  • Irene Handl as Mrs. Mason.
  • Brenda Cowling as a plump RADA girl.
• Vacation, Dear Boy: Alfred Hitchcock made this film primarily so he could spend time in London with his daughter, who was studying there at the time.
• Wag the Director:
  • Jane Wyman struggled to look plain in her maid disguise, often bursting into tears whenever she was around the glamorous Marlene Dietrich. She would often secretly put more make-up on or try to improve her appearance so as not to look as dowdy or frumpy.
  • Dietrich was allowed to have some creative control over how she was shot, mainly because she had learned cinematography and lighting from actual European masters of the art, and she was willing to directly collaborate with the film's cinematographer to get the effects desired.