Trivia for
Dirty Dancing (1987) More at IMDbPro »

• The song "She's Like The Wind", originally written for Grandview, U.S.A. (1984), was later used in this movie instead.
  
  
• Voted #2 Must See Movie of all time by listeners of Capital FM in London.
  
  
• Cynthia Rhodes (Penny Johnson) was the first to be cast.
  
  
• Throughout the film, Johnny and Baby always wear contrasting colors, Baby in very light colors, and Johnny in black or something very dark.
  
  
• The film was re-released in 1997 solely due to a petition led by late-night talk show host Conan O'Brien in which he asked viewers to send letters calling for the film's re-release. When exhibitors finally agreed, O'Brien joked that he actually didn't like the movie all that much.
  
  
• The film was set in the summer, yet the lake scene where they were practicing the lift was filmed in October. Since the leaves were already turning, they had to paint the leaves in the background. If you look closely you can see where they missed a few in one spot.
  
  
• The dancing that Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey do during the love scene was actually the same dance that they did for the screen tests. It was not originally supposed to be in the film.
  
  
• Director Cameo: [Emile Ardolino] At the séance right before Johnny goes in to the kitchen to get Penny.
  
  
• In the scene where Johnny and Baby are practicing dancing, and she keeps laughing when he runs his arm down hers, it was not part of the scene, she was actually laughing and his frustration was genuine. They left it because it was effective. Her falling over in this scene was unplanned too.
  
  
• The very famous scene where Johnny and Baby are practicing their dancing and they are crawling towards each other on the floor wasn't intended to be part of the film; they were just messing around and were warming up to do the real scene, but the director liked it so much he kept in the film.
  
  
• Although they barely dance during the movie, Jerry Orbach and Kelly Bishop (Baby's parents) were both well-known as Broadway singers and dancers. In fact, their most famous Broadway musicals - "A Chorus Line" for Bishop and "Chicago" for Orbach - had engaged in a famous rivalry for box office and awards when they opened within months of each other in 1975.
  
  
• The lake practice scene was filmed at Lake Lure in the mountains of North Carolina in October. There are no close-ups because the actors were so cold that their lips were blue.
  
  
• Val Kilmer was initially offered the lead but declined.
  
  
• Billy Zane was considered for the lead role, but he didn't dance well.
  
  
• The movie's line "Nobody puts Baby in the corner." was voted as the #98 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).
  
  
• Baby tells Johnny that her real name is "Frances, after the first woman in the cabinet." Frances C. Perkins was the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1947. She was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during his first term, and served throughout all four of his terms and two years into Truman's presidency.
  
  
• The song "She's Like The Wind" was co-written by Patrick Swayze with Stacy Widelitz and sung by Patrick Swayze.
  
  
• Jennifer Grey, at 27, was 10 years older than the character of Baby. During her audition, she had 5 minutes to prove she could play younger, and that she had the moves for the role.
  
  
• According to the book "The Catskills Alive" by Francine Silverman, Jackie Horner was the prototype for the Penny Johnson character.
  
  
• At the beginning of the film, it is said that Baby will attend Mount Holyoke College in the fall. Her namesake, Frances Perkins, was a graduate of Mount Holyoke, Class of 1902.
  
  
• Toward the end of the movie, Lisa, Mr. Kellerman, and several others sing an anthem to the Kellerman's resort ("Join hands and hearts and voices/ Voices, hearts and hands...") in the talent show. This song's lyrics were written for the movie, but the tune is a traditional one (known variously as "Amici" or "Annie Lisle") that has been used as the basis for the alma maters for many well-known American universities, including Cornell University, The University of Alabama, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
  
  
• Lynn Lipton, the actress originally cast as Marjorie Houseman (Baby's mother) was replaced early in the filming with Kelly Bishop, who had originally been cast as Vivian Pressman (the "Bungalow Bunny"). Left without an actress to play Vivian, the producers cast Miranda Garrison, the film's assistant choreographer, in that role.
  
  
• According to a December 2008 interview with Dirty Dancing screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein, the characters of Baby and Johnny were both influenced by Bergstein's own biography. Like Baby Houseman, Bergstein came from a liberal Jewish family who visited Catskills resorts during the 1960s; her father was a doctor; and she was nicknamed "Baby" until she was 22 years old. Like Johnny Castle, Bergstein was an skilled "dirty dancer" who learned at house parties and later became an Arthur Murray instructor.
  
  
• Billy Zane told TMZ that he and Sarah Jessica Parker had auditioned for the leads.
  
  

• SPOILER: Dr. Ruth Westheimer was asked to play the role of Mrs. Schumacher, but turned it down when she realized the character was a thief.
  
  

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