Picture Mommy Dead/Fun Facts

From The Grindhouse Cinema Database

< Picture Mommy Dead
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  • Hedy Lamarr was originally cast in the role that was eventually filled by Zsa Zsa Gabor, but she was forced to abandon the film when she was arrested at a Los Angeles department store for trying to shoplift an $86 pair of slippers.
  • Star Don Ameche liked the script for the movie, but initially turned down the role because it was to be filmed in California, and he and his family had just settled on the other side of the country. Director Bert I. Gordon paid Ameche a visit to ask him to reconsider, and after it came up that they were both born and raised in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Ameche agreed to star in the film.
  • Susan Gordon (Susan Shelley) was the daughter of the director Bert I. Gordon.
  • In order to appear more sinister, Maxwell Reed asked to have the scar makeup applied to the left side of his face, which he claimed was his good side.
  • Star Martha Hyer was a noted art collector and allowed some of her most valuable paintings to adorn the walls in the film.
  • Greystone, the Beverly Hills mansion that doubles as the Shelley home, was unfurnished. Director Bert I. Gordon finagled and wound-up obtaining all of the furnishings from newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst's New York City apartment for use in the movie.
  • Final film of Susan Gordon.
  • Gene Tierney was first announced for the role of Francene Shelley but dropped out before filming, supposedly over dissatisfaction with the part. It was then offered to Merle Oberon, who turned it down. The part was eventually played by Martha Hyer.
  • "Picture Mommy Dead" (with image from the film on the cover) by Robert Sherman was published in paperback by Lancer Books.
  • Television premiere on ABC-TV on December 3, 1969. Repeated on ABC-TV on July 6, 1970.
  • Filmed in April 1966.
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