Only When I Laugh - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Only When I Laugh or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Only When I Laugh

[richard]

The film represents an early film appearance of then unknown actor Kevin Bacon who appears in a couple of brief scenes.

[christina]

At the time of production, Marsha Mason was married to Neil Simon, the film's Producer, Screenwriter, and source Playwright. Of the movies they made together, Max Dugan Returns (1983) and this film, were the only ones where Simon was a Producer.

[ken]

At the time this movie was released, it was the first of the seventeen screenplays, and nineteen theatre plays, which Neil Simon had personally produced.

[miriam]

Final completed feature film of actress Joan Hackett.

[ethel]

The name of the play, in which Georgia (Marsha Mason) was performing, was "Only When I Laugh". As such, this film represents an instance where the title of a play-within-a-movie, is also the title of the movie.

[lonnie]

The character name of Georgia Haines (played by Marsha Mason) was changed by writer Neil Simon from his original source play "The Gingerbread Lady" where she was known as Evy Meara. On Broadway, Evy was played by Maureen Stapleton, after her successful performance on stage in Simon's "Plaza Suite". Stapleton won a Best Actress Tony Award for her part in "The Gingerbread Lady". The Evy Meara character was inspired by Judy Garland.

[toni]

First film as a Producer for Neil Simon. Simon once said of this, "...to avoid any of the confrontations I've had with producers in the past over casting, I've decided to do this one myself. I didn't want anyone telling me we had to have superstar names."

[ken]

James Coco became the first and only (to date) actor to be nominated for both an Academy Award and a Razzie for the same performance. Coco won neither award.

[kristen]

The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, all for acting, but failed to win any. They were for Best Actor in a Supporting Role - James Coco; Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Joan Hackett; and Best Actress in a Leading Role - Marsha Mason. Kristy McNichol was the only member of the principal cast not to be Oscar nominated, while Coco's nomination was the only one he ever received. Morevoer, this film represents Mason's final Oscar nomination (to date, December 2012) for acting, her fourth, and all without a win, while Hackett won the Golden Globe equivalent for her performance. McNichol, however, was nominated for an acting award for this film and won it too, it being the Young Artist Award for Best Young Motion Picture Actress.

[nina]

The movie was retitled "It Hurts Only When I Laugh" in the UK, so the title would not be confused with British television's Only When I Laugh (1979) which was broadcast there between 1979 and 1982.

[scarlett]

Film Composer David Shire had lyrics written to his lively main theme by Richard Maltby, Jr., and the song "Only When I Laugh" was recorded by Brenda Lee. For reasons unknown, the song was not included in the film. However, MCA Records released it as a 7-inch single with the label credit "From the Columbia Motion Picture". The song was also nominated for a for a Worst Original Song Razzie Award.

[steve]

It is a characteristic insight by Neil Simon, who once admitted that he could not have written "Only When I Laugh", at least "not in its present form", without the experience of having raised his own two daughters. "You don't get nearly enough time to enjoy your kids and if you blow it, you'll never know what you missed", Simon once observed. "During the past few years, my oldest girl, Ellen, suddenly grew up. She became a wife, a mother, a woman in her own right. And I had to relinquish some of my precious parental rights. It wasn't easy. But I've always had an open relationship with Ellen and my younger daughter, Nancy, the kind I wished I had had, but didn't, with my own parents. And I found that the more I gave up, the more we came together, in a new and different way". His children, Simon adds, have frequently been his toughest critics. "They have said things to me which were so strong and honest that I was taken aback. But beneath it, there's always been affection and humor".

[darrell]

The film has never been released on DVD (to date, December 2012). The movie was released on VHS during the 1980s and was available on a laser-disc by the 1990s. The movie rarely turns up on free-to-air television but has played in a letterbox transfer on TCM. The film though is available for download through Amazon Instant Video and Apple's iTunes Store. As of March 2017, it is available on DVD.

[javier]

This movie marks the only time that a Neil Simon written film has had a different title to the Neil Simon play, on which it is based. The source play was called "The Gingerbread Lady".

[gabriel]

Some movie posters for this film ran with a long preamble which read: "Kristy McNichol's a daughter who never had a childhood...Marsha Mason is a mother who never grew up. For 16 years, they've been practically strangers...And when they get together, they're the most mismatched roommates since The Goodbye Girl (1977)."