Like her character in
The Bad and the Beautiful, Lana Turner began her Hollywood career as an extra.
Although producer John Houseman minimized comparisons to
Citizen Kane (1941) in publicity for
The Bad and the Beautiful, there are three clear references to the earlier film. Movie mogul Harry Pebbel (Walter Pidgeon) refers to producer Jonathan Shields (Kirk Douglas) as "genius boy," a reference to Welles' "boy wonder" nickname. Actor Paul Stewart, who played the butler in
Kane, has a small role. During the filming of Georgia Lorrison's (Lana Turner) screen test, the camera pulls back from the scene she is shooting to show the rest of the sound stage, gradually moving upwards to show a lighting technician clearly admiring her performance. This is a clear reference to the presentation of the opera
Salambo in
Citizen Kane, in which a similar camera move ends with lighting technicians assessing the performance of Kane's wife below (they give her a big thumbs down).
Because of the lengthy time period covered by the film, Kirk Douglas had an unusually large wardrobe for a male star -- 73 pieces.
The Doom of the Cat Men, the horror film that secures Jonathan Shields' reputation, was modeled on
Cat People (1942), the moody horror film that established former David O. Selznick associate Val Lewton as a major producer at RKO. Like Lewton, Shields and his director (Barry Sullivan) used suggestion to turn a lurid concept into an atmospheric hit.
Although Georgia Lorrison's actor-father, George Lorrison, never appears in the film, actor Louis Calhern provided the voice for Lorrison's recordings of Shakespeare. He also posed for photographs of the character.
Turner's own makeup man, Del Armstrong; hairdresser, Helen Young; and stand-in, Allyce May play similar roles in the film.
During the shooting of
The Bad and the Beautiful, Turner's boyfriend Fernando Lamas refused to go on location for the MGM film
Sombrero (1953) because the jealous actor didn't want to leave the actress alone. The studio put him on suspension and replaced him with Ricardo Montalban.
Gloria Grahame learned the Southern accent required by her role by studying with African-American disc jockey Joe Adams. To keep the dialect consistent, she used it around the clock during filming.
Although
The Bad and the Beautiful was one of the most famous films made by both Turner and Grahame, they never appear on screen together. Some Hollywood insiders suggest they were deliberately kept apart for fear of making Turner jealous.
Former silent screen star Francis X. Bushman made his first MGM appearance since
Thoroughbreds Don't Cry (1937) as the eulogist in
The Bad and the Beautiful. The reason for the long break, he told Douglas, was because of a visit Louis B. Mayer, the head of MGM, paid him backstage after a play. When asked to wait until Bushman had removed his makeup, Mayer stalked off, swearing the actor would never work at MGM again.
The day before filming started director Vincente Minnelli finalized his divorce from Judy Garland. He would later say the picture got him through that emotional time. On the last day of shooting, June 4, 1952, Garland married Sid Luft.
The film's German title was
Die Stadt der Illusionen ("The City of the Illusions"), while in France it was called
Les Ensorceles ("The Bewitchers").
The film's original title,
Tribute to a Bad Man, would resurface in 1956 as the title of an MGM Western starring James Cagney.
The day after the Academy Awards® ceremony, MGM production head Dore Schary sent producer John Houseman a telegram: "My personal congratulations to you for a wonderful job. You many not have got an Oscar[®] of your own but you certainly own a little hunk of all the ones that were handed out" (Schary quoted in Houseman,
Front and Center).
Memorable Quotes from THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL
"He wasn't a heel. He was
the heel....But he made great pictures! So will I." -- Kirk Douglas, as Jonathan Shields, eulogizing his father.
"I'm gonna ram the name Shields down their throats." -- Douglas, as Jonathan Shields, on reclaiming the family name.
"If you dream, dream big." -- Douglas, as Shields.
"When I work on a picture, it's like romancing a girl. You see her, you want her, you go after her. The big moment. Then, the let-down, every time, every picture, the after-picture blues." -- Douglas.
"I don't want to win awards. I want to make pictures that end with a kiss and black ink on the books." -- Walter Pidgeon, as Harry Pebbel, explaining his production philosophy.
"Oh, who's kidding who at four in the morning?" -- Lana Turner, as Georgia Lorrison, accusing Douglas of ulterior motives.
"You're a Lorrison, all right. Because he was a drunk, you're a drunk. Because he loved women, you're a tramp. But you forgot one thing. He did it with
style!" -- Douglas, trying to talk some sense into Turner, as Georgia Lorrison.
"The test was atrocious, but bad as it was, it proved one thing. When you're on the screen, no matter who you're with, what you're doing, the audience is looking at you. That's star quality." -- Douglas, assessing Turner, as Georgia.
"Georgia, love is for the very young."
"For the very young. I like that. Would you marry me, Jonathan?"
"Not even a little bit." -- Douglas, turning down a proposal from Turner.
"Harry, shut your penny-pinching mouth and build him his platform!" -- Douglas, butting heads with Pidgeon, as Harry Pebbel.
"There are no great men, buster! There's only men!" -- Elaine Stewart, as Lila, explaining a starlet's view of life.
"I forgot to tell you, Georgia. I saw the picture -- thought you were swell." -- Stewart, as Lila, after Turner catches her spending the night with Douglas.
"Maybe I like to be cheap once in a while. Maybe everybody does, or don't you remember? Get that look off your face! Who gave you the right to dig into me and turn me inside out and decide what I'm like. How do you know how I feel about you, how deep it goes? Maybe I don't want anybody to own me. You or anybody. Get out! Get out! Get out!" -- Douglas, rejecting Turner.
"I dare say I
am getting too big for my britches."
"They're pretty britches."
"James Lee, you have a very dirty mind, I'm happy to say." -- Gloria Grahame, as Rosemary Bartlow, making up after a fight with husband Dick Powell, as James Lee Bartlow.
"And don't you worry, Mr. Shields, I won't be a nuisance." -- Grahame, as Rosemary Bartlow, proving herself no prophet.
"Jonathan is more than a man. He's an experience, and he's habit-forming. If they could ever bottle him, he'd out-sell Ginger Ale." -- Turner, warning Powell, as James Lee Bartlow, about Douglas.
"You know, when they list the ten best pictures ever made, there are always two or three of his on the list. And I was with him when he made them." -- Pidgeon, as Pebbel, assessing Shield's career.
"Don't worry. Some of the best movies are made by people working together who hate each other's guts." -- Douglas.
Compiled by Frank Miller
