Highest-grossing films worldwide, to date:

1. Titanic (1997)
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
3. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001)
4. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
5. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
6. Jurassic Park (1993)
7. Shrek 2 (2004)
8. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
9. Finding Nemo (2003)
10. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

At first that looks like a triumph of modern marketing — all of these films were made in the last 12 years. But here are the top ten when receipts are adjusted for inflation:

1. Gone With the Wind (1939)
2. Star Wars (1977)
3. The Sound of Music (1965)
4. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
5. The Ten Commandments (1956)
6. Titanic (1997)
7. Jaws (1975)
8. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
9. The Exorcist (1973)
10. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Titanic has made $1.8 billion worldwide to date, and it’s only number 6 on the all-time list. Gone With the Wind has made $3.8 billion, more than twice as much.

Only nine people have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony award:

1. Mel Brooks
2. John Gielgud
3. Marvin Hamlisch
4. Helen Hayes
5. Audrey Hepburn
6. Rita Moreno
7. Mike Nichols
8. Jonathan Tunick
9. Richard Rodgers

If you count honorary awards, then Barbra Streisand and Liza Minnelli also qualify. If you count “daytime Emmys,” then so does Whoopi Goldberg.

Short actors:

• Sylvester Stallone: 5’7″
• Tom Cruise: 5’7″
• Al Pacino: 5’7″
• Richard Dreyfus: 5’5″
• Dustin Hoffman: 5’5″
• Danny DeVito: 5’0″
• Linda Hunt: 4’9″

Stature doesn’t equal talent. Asked for advice on acting, John Wayne (6’4″) said, “Talk low, talk slow, and don’t talk too much.”

Some of the busiest people in show business don’t exist:

• The name George Spelvin is traditionally used in American theater programs when an actor’s name would otherwise appear twice.
• In the London theater, Walter Plinge gets the credit when a part has not been cast.
• On BBC television dramas in the 1970s, David Agnew was credited when contractual reasons prevented a writer’s name from being used.
• When a Hollywood director no longer wants credit for a film, the name Alan Smithee is used.

That last one is such an open secret — “Smithee” even directed a Whitney Houston video — that the Directors Guild finally abandoned it in favor of random pseudonyms, starting with the 2000 James Spader bomb Supernova, directed by “Thomas Lee” (Walter Hill).