Did you know that Cary Grant visited a hypnotist while filming the classic film, An Affair to Remember? Did you also know that it’s a film that has made three separate times? Well, if you’re a fan of this legendary film, you’re gonna want to keep watching. We’ve jam-packed this video with behind-the-scenes info and fun facts about An Affair to Remember that you might not be familiar with. This classic American romance movie, starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, is remembered fondly by fans and critics alike. And it has quite a set of intriguing behind-the-scenes elements that any fan of classic American cinema should know about. So stick around, as Facts Verse tells you all about the making of this fil, including the fact that Cary Grant visited a hypnotist while filming it!
An Affair to Remember is considered by many to be one of the most romantic films ever made. Starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, the movie came out in 1957 and directed by Leo McCarey.
It’s Made Into A Movie Three Different Times
An Affair To Remember was certainly a memorable and unique movie in many ways. But one way that it’s fairly unoriginal is that not only had its story been made into a movie before the 1957 version, but it was also made into a movie again in 1994. (Of course, with the success of remakes like “A Star Is Born,” maybe this trend of remaking a classic film will keep going.) The original story was in the 1939 film, Love Affair. It starred Irene Dunn playing the same role (Terry McKay) as Deborah Kerr played in the 1957 version.
It also starred Charles Boyer in the lead male role. Unlike the 1957 version, his character’s name was Michael Marnet. (In the 1957 version, Cary Grant’s character is named Nickie Ferrante. Interestingly enough, Love Affair directed by Leo McCarey, just like the 1957 version. Clearly he knew a good thing when he directed it! The 1994 version saw Annette Bening take on the role of Terry McKay. And she starred opposite her long time beau, Warren Beatty. Beatty’s character was once again named something different – this time he was Mike Gambril.
Grant And Kerr Starred Together Again
It’s clear that not only did Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr have great on-screen chemistry when acting opposite each other, but clearly audiences were quite fond of the pairing. That would explain why, during the 1950’s and early ‘60’s, Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr starred in a total of four movies together. Previous to An Affair To Remember, they also starred in 1953’s Dream Wife. Directed by Sidney Sheldon, it’s about a wealthy businessman who is set to marry a Middle Eastern princess. Her family’s customs make it so they must spend many months living apart from each other before the ceremony, a situation that is made more complex when his ex-fiancée is suddenly made the pair’s chaperone.
1957, the year An Affair to Remember released, also saw the duo star together in Kiss Them For Me. It directed by Stanley Donen, and about Naval pilots who are on leave in San Francisco in 1944. They meet up with people in the executive suite of a hotel, where chaos ensues.
Finally, in 1960 Grant and Kerr reunited on-screen in the movie The Grass Is Greener. It also directed by Stanley Donen. It’s about an oil tycoon from the US who meets a woman during a tour of an English mansion, but the women is already with another man. So it’s a fairly classic rom-com setup.
Cary Grant Visited A Hypnotist During Filming
Cary Grant was a heavy smoker. In fact, he was known to smoke 60 cigarettes a day, and this habit had started around 1911. And while this was a lot more common in the 1950’s than it is today, even then many people were aware of how unhealthy smoking is. Of course, while on set there is often a lot of downtime. And for smokers, this is often a reason to light one (or several) up until you’re called back to set. Such was the case for Cary Grant. His wife, Betsy Drake, was aware of Grant’s smoking habit, and was determined to help him quit.
She arranged for Grant to visit with a hypnotist while on set, to see if it would help get him off cigarettes for good. There’s no official word on whether or not this strategy ended up working out, though there are reports that he picked smoking back up after production ended. But it seems to have worked in the short term.
We can say this because of the story of Betsy’s packed lunches for Grant. Drake made sure he left home each day with a container filled with as much healthy food as possible for his lunch. But unfortunately, he often didn’t eat all that food for lunch. That’s because he usually finished it all in the morning! This was do to the fact that since he had stopped smoking cigarettes, Grant found his appetite was voracious. He would plow through the health food by mid morning, and then head to craft services for lunch!
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John Williams Gives the Theme Song High Praise
The music in An Affair to Remember is one of the many memorable elements of the movie. And while the score is notable and excellent, the most famous element of the music from the movie was the incredible theme song. Not surprisingly, it’s title “An Affair To Remember (Our Love Affair).” It written in 1957 specifically for the film by Harry Warren. The lyrics penned by the movie’s director Leo McCarey as well as Harold Adamson. Audiences get to hear the lovely theme right away, as it’s sung by crooner Vic Damone over the opening credits.
But perhaps more famously, it’s sung later by Deborah Kerr. This is because her character, Terry McKay was not only a music teacher, but had also been a nightclub singer. However, what many people don’t know is that Kerr’s voice wasn’t actually utilized in the movie. Instead, it was dubbed over by Marni Nixon.
Nixon was a legendary singer who gained prominence in the industry by being a go-to vocal performer in movies where an actress didn’t have the singing ability necessary for a performance. For example, Nixon provided the singing voice for Kerr again in The King and I and for Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady. Interestingly, this fact was often hidden from audiences in the initial releases of the films.
The song “An Affair to Remember” ended up getting a nomination for best original at the 1957 Oscar awards. It lost out to a song called “All the Way”
John Williams, a legendary composer himself, once remarked that the theme from An Affair To Remember was one of his all time favorites. He noted that it conjured “the image and atmosphere” of the movie more than any other theme he could think of. Not too shabby! So stick around, as Facts Verse tells you all about the making of this fil, including the fact that Cary Grant visited a hypnotist while filming it!
Cary Grant’s Forehead Was an Issue
At a certain point during filming, the cinematographer, Milton Krasner, noticed a big problem. While Cary Grant looked fine in all the medium and wide shots, his close ups were suddenly an issue. This is because there was a noticeable lump there that was quite obviously when Grant’s face filled the frame. When Krasner inquired about it, Grant revealed that it was actually something that had been there since he was a child.
As a result of a boyhood accident, Grant’s forehead had always had a little bump. However, it wasn’t something that most people knew about. But, as Grant revealed, he had a habit of rubbing it. He probably wasn’t even aware of it half the time. But the years of rubbing it had added up, and it had now become a noticeable, swelled-up growth. So he saw a doctor who advised him to have it removed. The only catch was that the doctor said the recovery time would be 4 to 6 weeks. Grant obviously didn’t want to delay the film’s shooting schedule.
So he told the doctor that he would opt for local anesthetic and removal in the office, rather than general anesthesia and in an operating room. Amazingly this gamble paid off, because he was able to work again in a few days time, and there was no clear scarring from the procedure. And what’s more, in an effort to get him into a zen place for the procedure, he had his wife Betsy hypnotize him. So it looks like Cary Grant benefited in more ways than one from hypnosis while filming An Affair To Remember!
Now it’s time to hear from you. Which one of these behind the scenes facts about An Affair to Remember was most surprising to hear about? Let us know in the comments section below. And before you go, make sure you give this video a like, and subscribe to Facts Verse if you haven’t already. Click the bell icon to stay updated on all our latest content!
