58 Fun Facts About Sleepless in Seattle

In Sleepless in Seattle, what does Sam Baldwin do for a living?

Architect Sam may design houses, but it is his young son who does the real planning: Jonah phones a national radio show and talks his reluctant father onto the air.

In Sleepless in Seattle, Annie Reed is a reporter for which newspaper?

The Baltimore Sun keeps Annie a continent away from Sam, so she writes to him, suggesting that they meet on Valentine's Day at the top of the Empire State Building.

In Sleepless in Seattle, on which night does Jonah first call the radio talk show about his father?

Christmas Eve's call goes out on a national show, and thousands of women write to the lonely widower afterwards; one of those letters, Annie's, is the one Jonah answers.

In Sleepless in Seattle, what is the name of the radio host who takes Jonah's call?

Dr. Marcia Fieldstone, voiced by Caroline Aaron, hosts a national call-in show; Jonah phones her first, then talks his reluctant father into coming to the phone himself.

In Sleepless in Seattle, what was the name of Sam's late wife?

Maggie is the wife Sam mourns on air, sure that a love like theirs does not come twice; women across the country write to him.

From which city do Sam and Jonah move to Seattle?

Chicago is the city Sam leaves because, as he says, he needs a real change after losing his wife. Nora Ephron described the move as trading a work-driven city for one that has chosen lifestyle over work.

Which actress plays Sam's sister Suzy, who weeps while describing An Affair to Remember?

Rita Wilson is Tom Hanks's wife off screen but plays his sister here; her sobbing account of the 1957 weepie sets up the men's mock tears over a war film.

Which child actress plays Jonah's friend Jessica, who books his flight to New York on her mother's computer?

Gaby Hoffmann, who had made her film debut in Field of Dreams, gives Jessica a habit of talking in initials: 'H and G' is hi and goodbye, and Sam and Annie are 'MFEO', made for each other.

Rob Reiner's character Jay mentions which dessert to Sam, who mistakes it for a euphemism?

Tiramisu is never explained on screen: Jay doesn't say it is a dessert, so baffled viewers phoned the film's distributor to ask what it meant.

An Affair to Remember, the 1957 weepie that Sleepless in Seattle's women keep watching, paired Cary Grant with which actress?

Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant play lovers who agree to meet atop the Empire State Building six months later, the rendezvous Annie copies when she writes to Sam.

In Sleepless in Seattle, Annie's fiancé Walter is the target of a running joke about which affliction?

Allergies are Walter's running gag: he sneezes through meeting Annie's family and asks whether dim sum has wheat in it, yet he bows out graciously when she ends the engagement.

Rob Reiner, who plays Sam's friend Jay, had earlier directed which romantic comedy?

When Harry Met Sally earned Nora Ephron an Oscar nomination for its script, and producer Gary Foster loved it so much that he sent her Sleepless in Seattle to rewrite.

Sleepless in Seattle co-writer David S. Ward had earlier won an Oscar for which con-artist caper?

The Sting won David S. Ward his Oscar; on Sleepless in Seattle his big change was to have Jonah, not Sam, phone the radio show, arguing that no strong man would call in to share his troubles.

Which director, the man behind Michael Myers's mask in Halloween, quit Sleepless in Seattle over Ephron's less sentimental rewrite?

Nick Castle had been handed the film after losing Hook to Steven Spielberg; he bowed out because he was uncomfortable with the edgier direction Nora Ephron's script took.

Which film was Nora Ephron's directorial debut, released the year before Sleepless in Seattle?

This Is My Life left Ephron short of money, by her own account, because she had directed it for scale; she took the Sleepless in Seattle rewrite as a quick cash infusion.

Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan had already played a couple in which film before Sleepless in Seattle?

Joe Versus the Volcano paired Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in 1990, so Sleepless in Seattle reunited a screen couple only to keep them on opposite coasts.

Meg Ryan first expected to star in Sleepless in Seattle opposite which actor, before Tom Hanks was cast?

Dennis Quaid was Ryan's husband at the time and the couple wanted a film to make together, but Nora Ephron felt he wasn't funny enough for Sam and went after Tom Hanks.

Annie's letter wins Jonah over by calling which baseball legend the best third baseman ever?

Brooks Robinson is Sam's favourite player too, so Jonah calls the letter a sign; Sam shrugs that everyone thinks Robinson is the greatest.

In Sleepless in Seattle, Jay tells Sam that women are now looking for pecs and what else?

A cute butt, says Jay, so Sam asks his friend to check out his own and gets a shrug: it's okay, he guesses.

Rosie O'Donnell made her film debut alongside Tom Hanks in which movie, the year before Sleepless in Seattle?

A League of Their Own was largely improvised, so O'Donnell struggled when Nora Ephron wanted every word as written; a grip taped her longest speech to his leg so she could read it.

Rosie O'Donnell modelled her performance as Becky on which entertainer's walk and talk?

Bette Midler was the model: O'Donnell copied her walk and her way of talking as a homage, and joked that Midler deserved a residual cheque for the performance.

Becky tells Annie she doesn't want to be in love, she wants to be in love where?

In a movie: Becky's jab sums up the film's point that screen romances like An Affair to Remember shape what people expect of love, and critics still quote the line.

Which actress, cut from Sleepless in Seattle, got an apologetic letter from Ephron and a bigger part in You've Got Mail?

In You've Got Mail she plays Patricia, the high-strung girlfriend of Hanks's bookstore magnate.

In Sleepless in Seattle, Hanks and Victor Garber fake-weep over which war film, mocking tears for An Affair to Remember?

The Dirty Dozen riff was improvised: Nora Ephron usually held actors to the script, but she let Tom Hanks and Victor Garber ad-lib their sobbing tribute to the 1967 war film.

Sam's houseboat sits on which Seattle body of water?

Lake Union's floating homes line its east and west shores, and the one used as Sam's house became a tourist attraction once the film came out.

The writer got the idea of giving Sam a floating home from a Seattle episode of which TV series?

This Old House once sent host Bob Vila to a Seattle houseboat, and writer Jeff Arch thought it a neat idea for Sam's home; he says details like that dropped into place once he had his ending.

Where was the Empire State Building observation deck for the climactic meeting actually built?

A hangar at a Seattle naval base, Sand Point's Hangar 27, housed the replica deck: the city had no sound stages, and the real building was open to the crew for only six hours.

Which jailed hotel magnate, whose family controlled the Empire State Building, gave Sleepless in Seattle just six hours there?

Leona Helmsley was serving time for tax evasion, so a publicist Ephron knew put the request to her on a prison visit; the six hours bought the helicopter shot, the lobby and Jonah's search of the deck.

Where is Annie when she first hears Sam talking on the radio?

In her car: Annie is driving to her fiancé's family when Sam's voice comes on the radio, and she is in tears at the wheel before the call ends.

Which cinematographer, a longtime Ingmar Bergman collaborator, shot Sleepless in Seattle?

Sven Nykvist came aboard after Ephron was told to find the world's best cinematographer; she found him one of the fastest too, lighting a scene in twelve minutes, sometimes six.

Which colour did Sleepless in Seattle's film-makers hold back until Sam and Annie cross paths at the airport?

Red was kept almost out of sight, on the production designer's idea, until a soccer team in red uniforms spills between Sam and Annie at the airport; after that it spreads through the film.

Which composer scored Sleepless in Seattle and co-wrote its Oscar-nominated song 'A Wink and a Smile'?

Marc Shaiman stepped in after John Barry, by his own account, backed away on being faxed a list of about 20 songs the film would use; Shaiman shared the Oscar nomination with lyricist Ramsey McLean.

Which Jimmy Durante recording did Nora Ephron insist on for Sleepless in Seattle's final scene?

Make Someone Happy stayed because Ephron, rather than run it past Sony boss Peter Guber, simply cut it into the ending and let a test audience react; they loved it.

Sleepless in Seattle's soundtrack duet of 'When I Fall in Love' paired Clive Griffin with which singer?

Celine Dion's duet was the studio's choice for the final scene, but Nora Ephron refused and closed the film on an old Jimmy Durante recording instead.

Which singer performed 'A Wink and a Smile', Sleepless in Seattle's Oscar-nominated original song?

Harry Connick Jr.'s number lost the Oscar to Bruce Springsteen's 'Streets of Philadelphia', so Tom Hanks starred in both the winning film and a beaten one that night.

Sleepless in Seattle's Best Original Screenplay nomination lost the Oscar to which film?

The Piano took the award for writer-director Jane Campion, so a talky romantic comedy with three credited writers lost to a drama whose heroine is mute.

Whose recording of 'Stardust' features on Sleepless in Seattle's soundtrack of old standards?

Nat King Cole's 'Stardust' sits on an album built around old standards, and it still went to number one on the Billboard 200 in August 1993.

Sleepless in Seattle opened second at the North American box office behind which blockbuster?

Jurassic Park was in its third weekend; Sleepless in Seattle's $17 million debut, pitched as the alternative to summer action films, was then the biggest opening for a romantic comedy.

Sleepless in Seattle mentions 'the meanest man in America', a vendor Seinfeld later made famous for selling what?

Soup: a colleague of Annie's pitches a story on a man who sells the greatest soup you have ever eaten, insisting it is not just about the soup. He was the real New York vendor behind Seinfeld's Soup Nazi two years later.

Which Sony-owned studio released Sleepless in Seattle in June 1993?

TriStar Pictures moved the film from spring into a summer when its own Cliffhanger was already playing, betting an adult romance could find room among the action blockbusters.

Five months before Sleepless in Seattle opened, its studio bought a TV spot during which televised event?

Bill Clinton's inaugural gala went out on television in January 1993, and producer Gary Foster called the costly spot a signal to Hollywood that the studio believed in the film.

When Annie ends their engagement, Walter says he doesn't want to be someone that anyone does what?

Settles for: Walter says marriage is hard enough without such low expectations, and Annie can only answer that she doesn't deserve him.

Which future Frasier star plays Annie's brother Dennis?

David Hyde Pierce's Dennis points out to Annie that it rains nine months of the year in Seattle; later that year Frasier, set in the same city, made him famous as Niles Crane.

Bill Pullman took the role of Walter thinking Sleepless in Seattle was a love triangle like which 1940 classic?

The Philadelphia Story was the pitch: Pullman pictured himself as the James Stewart figure to Hanks's Cary Grant and Ryan's Katharine Hepburn, then found Walter was a far smaller part.

After Sleepless in Seattle, Ross Malinger became the original voice of which Disney cartoon hero?

T.J. Detweiler leads the gang in Recess; Malinger himself walked away from acting after 2006 and went on to manage a car business.

Sleepless in Seattle ends not with a kiss but with Sam and Annie doing what?

Holding hands echoes what Sam said on the radio, that he knew his wife was the one the first time he took her hand; there is no kiss, and the three simply leave together.

Annie's brother Dennis dismisses destiny as just two what 'knowing they're a perfect match'?

Neuroses, says Dennis, are all that fate amounts to; Annie is relieved to hear it, yet she goes on chasing the stranger from the radio anyway.

The Sleepless in Seattle crew angered locals by bringing in truckloads of what?

Water had to be trucked in to fake the rain because Seattle was in a drought that summer, and Nora Ephron recalled that locals were angry at the waste.

Which city was briefly considered as a stand-in for Seattle before the producer decided it didn't feel American?

Vancouver was where the film was first slated to shoot, but producer Gary Foster felt it could be any city and not an American one, so Seattle's own landmarks ended up on screen.

On set, Tom Hanks complained to Nora Ephron that Sam, as written, was too what?

Wimpy was the complaint; Hanks also grumbled that the boy had better lines, so Ephron invited him to help rewrite Sam into a grumpier, funnier dad.

Sam and Jonah return to the observation deck at the end because Jonah has left what behind?

His backpack is what Annie finds on the empty deck; she is looking through it when Sam and Jonah step back out of the elevator to fetch it.

Which sister of Nora Ephron helped polish scenes uncredited and served as associate producer?

The pair would share official screenplay credit on You've Got Mail; the sisters' parents were screenwriters too, and Nora called this film a secret present to them.

Which prop did Nora Ephron ship across the country so Sam and Annie would each use the very same one?

A door: Annie goes through it on the East Coast and the film cuts to Sam coming out of the same one in Seattle, a visual link between two people who have not met.

What is the only word Sam and Annie exchange when they meet across a Seattle road?

Hello is all either manages; when Annie tells Becky back home, her friend recalls the heroine of An Affair to Remember saying the very same line and calls it a sign.

The Athenian Inn, where Sleepless in Seattle shot on location, sits inside which Seattle landmark?

Pike Place Market's Athenian Inn is one of the real Seattle spots in the film; producer Gary Foster said the city mattered so much that 'Sleepless in Generic' would not have worked.

Which star was rumoured in 1992 to be playing Annie before the part went to Meg Ryan?

Julia Roberts circled the part, and Nora Ephron said that winning over so big a star helped validate her as the director, though Roberts never made the film.

Moving Sleepless in Seattle from March to June avoided a clash with which 1993 date movie?

Indecent Proposal, with Robert Redford and Demi Moore, might have been the bigger draw; the June date also let the studio sell the film as an alternative to summer's action blockbusters.

In which scene is producer Gary Foster an extra Tom Hanks found too loud?

Sam and Victoria's first date at a restaurant has Foster, then about 30, sitting at the table behind them; he recalls Hanks getting mad at him for being too loud.