The Fan/Fun Facts

• The film was originally intended as a straightforward thriller starring Elizabeth Taylor and directed by Jeff Lieberman. However the project was delayed and both left the picture.

• Both directorial debut and theatrical movie directorial debut for Ed Bianchi.

• After this movie, Ed Bianchi did not direct another theatrical feature until Off and Running (1991), a gap of about a decade.

• The Fan's first letter to Sally Ross reads: "Dear Miss Ross, I am your greatest fan because unlike the others, I want nothing from you. The only thing that matters to me is your happiness. I have posters, playbills, and a closet jam packed with photographs covering every stage of your magnificent career. Your presence alone makes every one of your films a true cinema classic. I don't care what time they show on television. I will gladly stay awake until any hour in the morning. I bought a gorgeous new Lucite frame for one of your most famous pictures...the one of you singing while President Truman plays the piano. I despise those desperate, pathetic people who intrude upon your privacy. Your happiness and piece of mind must be protected. I know of all the famous men in your life, but I adore you as no other ever has or ever will. Thank you for the inspiration you have given me. You are the greatest star of all. Your friend, Douglas Breen P.S. Could you send me your most recent photograph as soon as possible?"

• Maureen Stapleton plays star secretary Belle Goldman in this movie. In the same 1981 year, Stapleton played another character with the same last name. She won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award Oscar for Reds (1981) playing Emma Goldman.

• This movie was controversial upon theatrical release due to the recent number of stalkings, harassment, shootings and even assassinations of celebrities. Stars at the time who had become victims of fan obsession included Jodie Foster, Jane Seymour, Larry Hagman, Persis Khambatta, and Jacqueline Bisset. The Pope and Ronald Reagan had been shot at whilst Sharon Tate, Dorothy Stratten and John Lennon all had been homicides. Paul Wilson wrote of The Fan (1981) in England's 'Photoplay' magazine stating "When The Fan (1981) was released in America there was, not unnaturally, a public outcry for it echoes the killing of John Lennon. The [film] company put out a statement denying this, but the parallels are certainly there . . . Is there any wonder then, why there's been an outcry over The Fan (1981)?"

• Second of three cinema movies that actor James Garner and actress Lauren Bacall both worked on. The films include HealtH (1980), The Fan (1981) and My Fellow Americans (1996), one in each decade of the 1970s [Health shot in 1979], 1980s and 1990s.

• This movie was made about three years after Bob Randall's novel "The Fan" was first published in 1978.

• The DVD sleeve notes state that for this movie Lauren Bacall returns to the screen.

• This movie was produced by Robert Stigwood known for his musical films such as Grease (1978), Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Jesus Christ Superstar (1973). This thriller actually includes two musical dance numbers and stage musicals as story elements.

• Though a suspense-thriller, one of this movie's main posters was designed completely with black-and-white artwork actually more typical of gangster movies such as the same Paramount Studios' The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather: Part II (1974).

• Maureen Stapleton plays a supporting role, as Lauren Bacall's secretary in this movie. Stapleton won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for another film released in the same 1981 year as this film, for Reds (1981). Bacall, this movie's star actress, would not receive an Academy Award until 2009 (twenty-eight years later) when she was awarded an Honorary Oscar statuette by the Academy.

• According to "Terrortrap", this movie has been derided by its own star Lauren Bacall.

• Lauren Bacall plays a star of stage and screen in this movie including Broadway musicals. Bacall herself appeared in two Broadway musicals, "Applause" in 1970 (a musical adaptation of "All About Eve") for which she won a Tony Award and "Woman of the Year" in 1981.

• Lauren Bacall was about fifty-six years old when she made this movie.

• Composer Pino Donaggio's score for this film has been likened to the work of composer Bernard Herrmann.

• Playing a stage and screen actress of repute Sally Ross, Lauren Bacall in real life was herself a stage and screen actress of repute.

• Hollywood would make another film under the same title about fifteen years after this movie was made. The Fan (1996) was not a remake of this thriller but a sports movie though, its title referring to a sports fan.

• The source novel, written by Bob Randall and published in 1978, BEFORE stalking of public figures became a major problem, was his first; its form is "epistolary," consisting of various letters between many of the characters.