Did You Know?

Co-writer Chris Miller based the National Lampoon short stories that gave rise to the film on his experiences in the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity at Dartmouth (from which he graduated in 1962).

The President of the University of Oregon only allowed this movie to be filmed on that campus because he decided he did not know how to read screenplays. In 1967 he had received the screenplay for a movie but had denied it permission to film there. That movie was The Graduate and he liked that movie so much that he decided he didn't want to miss another opportunity, so he allowed Animal House to be filmed on the University of Oregon campus. But he insisted that the college's name not be listed in the film's credits.

The bass player in the band Otis Day and the Knights is then-unknown bluesman Robert Cray. Cray was instrumental in getting the musicians together that appeared as the band.

Before Donald Sutherland was brought on board, John Belushi was the highest-paid actor in the cast at $40,000.

Virtually unheard of, "Toga Parties" became all the rage in colleges all over America after the release of this film.

John Belushi's wife, Judy Jacklin (now Judith Belushi-Pisano), is an uncredited extra in several toga party scenes.

The interior scenes of the Delta house were filmed in a Sigma Nu fraternity. The exterior of the Delta house was a dilapidated house from the 1800's that was torn down in the mid 80's. The sorority house's exterior is the real exterior of the Sigma Nu house that was used for the interior scenes.

Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Brian Doyle-Murray, and Dan Aykroyd all turned down roles in the film due to prior commitments.

Although the film takes place in Pennsylvania, a Tennessee flag is shown in the courtroom. This is because the set decorator was unable to find a large enough Pennsylvania flag for the scene, and the blue Oregon state flag wouldn't work because it had "State of Oregon" text on the upper part. So the set decorator used the most generic flag he could find, which turned out to be the Tennessee state flag.

Film debut of Kevin Bacon and Karen Allen.

The role of D-Day was written for Dan Aykroyd and based on his motorcycle-loving personality.

John Belushi wanted his character to go with the others on the road trip but director John Landis refused, arguing that his character was best used sparingly.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the release of this film, a parade was held down Hollywood Blvd. featuring not only cast and crew members, but recreations of parade floats used in the movie.

The full name of the Delta House changes during the movie. When the movers are taking out the contents of the frat house the name is Delta Tau Chi. Earlier in the movie it is Delta Chi Tau.

In the Student Court scene, a list of Delta Tau Chi members is written on the blackboard. Writer Chris Miller's name is one of those visible on the list. Other names include "Dick Hertz" and "Duane Wayne".

Chevy Chase was originally asked to play the role of Eric Stratton. The role went to Tim Matheson instead, who later starred with Chase in Fletch.

The front of the Deathmobile has the statue's head of Emil Faber (the school's founder) mounted as a hood ornament.

Verna Bloom mentioned that her scene with Dean Wormer where she is drunk and he is on the phone with the mayor, was completely improvised as John Landis was not happy with the lines the scene had.

To get the role of Neidermeyer, Mark Metcalf lied about his ability to ride horses. After he got the role, he immediately took equestrian classes.

John Landis sacrificed his heavy beard and much of his hair to appear in the film as a cafeteria dishwasher who catches Bluto mooching and tries, unsuccessfully, to stop him. The scene was filmed, but despite his personal sacrifices, Landis eventually also sacrificed the scene.

Stacy Grooman, Flounder's girlfriend Sissy, was actually a student at the University of Oregon at the time the movie was filmed.

The movie's line "Toga! Toga!" was voted as the #82 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).

Niedermeyer's line "You're all worthless and weak, now drop and give me twenty!" was used in the Twisted Sister song "We're Not Gonna Take It" (Mark Metcalf appears in the video). In addition, the music video for Twisted Sister's "I Wanna Rock" features a high school student, clearly based on Flounder, being ridiculed by a teacher (Mark Metcalf again). At the video's conclusion, the principal (played by Stephen Furst) sprays Metcalf in the face with seltzer water.

More money was spent on advertising and promotion for the film than the film itself.

The hole John Belushi makes in the wall with the guitar is the only physical damage to the house the movie-makers made during the entire shoot. Instead of repairing it, the fraternity placed a frame around the hole with an engraved brass tag around the hole commemorating it.

'Harold Ramis (I)', who co-wrote the film, based some of the pranks on his college experiences at Washington University in St. Louis, specifically when Otter and Boone are hitting golf balls at the ROTC.

The tune that Otter whistles throughout the movie is the main theme ("Peter's Theme") from Sergei Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf".

Professor Jennings bites an apple while lecturing about good and evil in John Milton's "Paradise Lost". This is a deliberate gag reference to Eve's eating fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, a key event in "Paradise Lost" (and referenced too perhaps by the statue pedestal motto seen in the opening titles: "Knowledge is Good"). Jennings' students miss the gag - as seems most Animal House viewers.

Harold Ramis wrote the part of Boon for himself to play, but John Landis felt Ramis was too old. Ramis was so disappointed he refused to accept a smaller part Landis offered him. (Ramis was 32, Peter Riegert was 29.)

Producer Matty Simmons, founder of the National Lampoon, contributed one line to the script: Bluto's "Seven years of college down the drain!"

To prepare for their roles, the actors playing the Deltas went to a real frat party at the University of Oregon's SAE house (except John Belushi, who was working on Saturday Night Live that night). The real fraternity members did not like the actors being there and a brawl ensued. When Belushi returned to the set and heard about the fight, he had to be physically restrained from seeking revenge.

Chris Miller based the character of Pinto on himself. Dean Wormer was based on Richard Nixon and Miller's Dean at Dartmouth.

All of John Belushi's behavior in the cafeteria was improvised. He was not told to pile all the food on his tray and when he did director John Landis urged the camera operator to "stay with him." The infamous "zit scene" was also improvised. The reaction from the cast is genuine.

Ivan Reitman wanted to direct but the studio wanted a more experienced director. Richard Lester and Bob Rafelson were approached before John Landis was hired.

The Delta actors partied together every night but John Landis kept John Belushi away from them by having him stay in a house miles away with his wife, Judith Belushi-Pisano. Belushi was a notorious partier and Landis wanted him to stay clean throughout the shoot. Belushi did host a few parties at the house but stayed clean because he saw the film as a great opportunity for him.

The final interrupting of the parade sequence was shot on the Universal back lot. This part of the lot had been used in several other films, but the section of road the parade ends up at is the same section that Robert Zemeckis used for the clock tower sequence in Back to the Future. Every angle of this street is used, but never once do you see the front of the clock tower set. The only time you do see the tower is from the back end.

The scene where John Belushi is teaching everyone the "dirty lyrics" of The Kingsmen's 1963 song "Louie Louie" is based on an actual investigation conducted by the FBI from 1963 to 1965 in which the agency spent more than 2-1/2 years trying to "decode" the song because of the supposed profanity that was "hidden" in the muffled lyrics. After spending more than two years and tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars, the agency announced that it could find no "obscene" words in the song.

The core group of Deltas (D-Day, Otter, Boone, Hoover, Flounder, Bluto and Pinto) actually traveled up to the filming site a week early, at director John Landis' request. He wanted the group to emotionally bond so that their friendship would look genuine in the film.

During filming, John Belushi would often go to local nightclubs to check out the various bands. He was fascinated by a musician named Curtis Salgado. Salgado's sunglasses, harp playing and love of the blues inspired Belushi to form The Blues Brothers with fellow Saturday Night Live cast mate Dan Aykroyd.

Sean McCartin, who played the "Lucky Boy" who gets a visit from a Playmate, went on to become a pastor at a local church in Cottage Grove, Oregon. A newspaper headline about his story announced "'Lucky Boy' Still Thanking God".

A scene that was cut was Pinto being entertained by Boon and Hoover by telling tales of legendary Delta House frat brothers from years before. The past fraternity brothers had names like Tarantula, Bulldozer, Giraffe, and his girlfriend, Gross Kay.

According to Landis, Universal Pictures president Ned Tanen protested the scene in which the Deltas take a road trip to an African-American bar by stopping a screening of the film. He ordered the scene to be removed and claimed that the scene would cause race riots in the theaters. Landis then screened the movie for Richard Pryor who wrote a note to Tanen that read: "Ned, Animal House is fucking funny and white people are crazy - Richard."

During the parade, one float is credited to the fraternity/sorority Zeta Tau Beta (ZTB). Co-writer Harold Ramis is an alum of the Alpha Xi chapter of Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT) at Washington University.

Reputedly one of Donald Sutherland's personal favorites of all movies he has acted in. He described working in the film the funniest experience he had on a set.

Jack Webb turned down the role of Dean Wormer feeling the movie would be bad for his image.

Many first-run theatrical releases showed a glimpse of Clorette topless during Pinto's moral dilemma scene right after she drunkenly unhooks her bra and passes out, leaving Pinto holding the tissue with which she'd stuffed her bra. Later in the movie, right before they about to have sex on the football field, she admits she is only thirteen. By the time home video became widespread, some American obscenity laws forbade showing minors nude in sexual situations - actual or "depicted". The latter was meant for illicit composite images, but could be construed to mean acting also. The actress was 18 at the time of filming, but when her character announced her age as thirteen, a legally-problematic situation arose. Her bare chest is absent from nearly all home-use copies of the film.