17 Jaw-Dropping Facts About Classic Film Production
As a minor, Judy Garland was forced to work 72-hour shifts, and given both amphetamines and sleeping pills in order to control her energy levels for such a gruelling schedule.
The Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz was originally played by Buddy Ebsen, who got aluminium poisoning from the pure aluminium makeup and was hospitalized.
Jack Haley replaced him and is the Tin Man we see in the movie — aluminium paste was used for his makeup, which gave him an eye infection.
Meanwhile, Margaret Hamilton, who played the Wicked Witch of the West, had significant burns from the smoke and fire effects in the film, and her stunt double, Betty Danko, was so badly injured when the asbestos-coated "broomstick" she was riding exploded that she had to have a hysterectomy.
The Wizard of Oz also used asbestos as fake snow, and it was far from the only movie to do so — it was a common prop in iconic movies like Citizen Kane and It's a Wonderful Life.
It's a Wonderful Life was actually shot during summer, and production had to shut down at one point so the cast and crew could recover from heat exhaustion.
Tippi Hedren spent five days having live birds thrown at her and finally tied to her costume to film the climactic attack scene in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.
In her memoir, she described the experience as "brutal and ugly and relentless".
Both Linda Blair and Ellen Burstyn permanently injured their spines in two separate incidents while filming difficult stunts for The Exorcist.
Malcolm McDowell described filming A Clockwork Orange as "torture" — he cracked several ribs during a violent scene, and also went temporarily blind when his corneas were scratched during the filming of the infamous eye clamping scene.
The fight scene between Sonny Corleone and Carlo Rizzi in The Godfather got too real when actor Gianni Russo broke two ribs and cracked his elbow.
In a fight scene, Bruce Lee kicked his Enter the Dragon co-star Robert Wall so hard that one of the extras behind him who tried to catch Wall actually broke his arm.
For Grease, the dance scene was shot in a gym with no windows, leading several cast and crew to suffer from heatstroke.
Sylvester Stallone ended up in intensive care for eight days while filming Rocky IV because he wanted the fight scenes to feel "real," leading to him receiving such a hard blow to his chest that his heart was injured.
Burt Reynolds insisted on doing a stunt that involved jumping into a waterfall himself for Deliverance, which led to him falling unconscious and cracking his tailbone.
Bo Derek was attacked by a lion while filming Tarzan, the Ape Man, slicing open her shoulder.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was actually chased by German Shepherds for the wolf scene in Conan the Barbarian, and was injured when one caught up to him.
Michael J. Fox actually passed out and could have died while filming the hanging scene in Back to the Future Part III.
And finally, for Police Story, Jackie Chan performed a stunt where he slid down a multi-story pole, tearing through strings of lights, and smashing into a glass pane below. Chan did it in one take, and ended up with second-degree burns on his hands.
Which of these facts shocked you the most? Do you have your own stories about Old Hollywood to share? Drop them in the comments!
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