Popeye

Top 10 Fun Facts

1. The cast of "Popeye" got to spend some quality time in a created paradise at Anchor Bay on the island of Malta after a set was built to represent the town of Sweethaven.
2. Robin Williams had to wear a long sleeved raincoat for the first few days of filming for "Popeye." It wasn't to protect him from the rain. The coat was used to hide Williams' normal sized arms. Once his fake arms were ready from the makeup department, the raincoat came off.
3. If you thought many of the extras in "Popeye" were circus freaks, you would be sort of right. Many of the movie's "citizens" of Sweethaven had previously worked in circuses around Europe.
4. Once filming ended on "Popeye," actor Robin Williams was asked to re-dub many of his lines because it sounded like he had a mouthful of marbles, or spinach as it were.
5. "Popeye" may have been actor Robin Williams' film debut but he was already well known to audiences around the world. Mork from Ork had landed on television two years earlier in the popular sitcom "Mork and Mindy." Nanu-Nanu!
6. The filmmakers of "Popeye" must have had a very understanding rental agency. The sunken ships in the film were actually perfectly fine vessels that were rented (or bought) and then sunk.
7. "Popeye" director Robert Altman didn't let rumors of Harry Nilsson's obsessive drinking discourage him from hiring the songwriter. Robin Williams supported Altman in his decision and later, Altman said Nilsson was a "delight to work with."
8. The elaborate set build for "Popeye" could have been swept away. To prevent the set from getting flooded, a 200-250 foot breakwater was built at the mouth of the harbor where they shot the film.
9. As a child, actress Shelley Duvall was teased in school when classmates would call her "Olive Oyl." In a wonderfully wicked example of irony, the adult Duvall would nab the role of "Olive Oyl" in "Popeye." The only one who was laughing then was Duvall...all the way to the bank!
10. The original script for "Popeye" included a mysterious animal called a Jeep. Although the said Jeep didn't make it into the film, its magical powers were given to Swee'Pea, hence the baby's apparent clairvoyance. Realism was not a major criterion for plot elements in the movie.

Cast

Crew