49 Fun Facts About When Harry Met Sally

Who directed When Harry Met Sally...?

Rob Reiner directed it, coming off Stand by Me (1986) and The Princess Bride (1987); it was his fifth feature after This Is Spinal Tap and The Sure Thing.

Who wrote the screenplay for When Harry Met Sally...?

Nora Ephron wrote the screenplay, basing Harry on long conversations with the director and producer Andrew Scheinman, and Sally partly on herself and her friends.

In which year was When Harry Met Sally... released?

It was released on July 12, 1989, into a summer dominated by Batman and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and became a sleeper hit.

What are the full names of the title characters?

Harry Burns and Sally Albright meet as new University of Chicago graduates who share a long drive east after commencement.

Harry and Sally first meet sharing a drive from Chicago to which city?

They drive to New York, where Sally is starting journalism school; Harry is dating her friend Amanda, which is how the two end up sharing the car.

What is the central question the film asks?

The film asks whether men and women can ever just be friends; on the first drive Harry says no, because 'the sex part always gets in the way'.

At which real New York deli does Sally fake an orgasm?

Katz's Delicatessen on East Houston Street hung a sign over the table reading 'Where Harry met Sally... hope you have what she had!'

Who delivers the line 'I'll have what she's having' in the deli scene?

Rob Reiner's mother, Estelle Reiner, delivered the line; a jazz singer and actress, she died in 2008 at 94.

Who came up with the punchline 'I'll have what she's having'?

Billy Crystal came up with the punchline during script meetings; it was the last piece added to a deli scene that had been built up in stages.

Which actress suggested Sally should actually fake an orgasm on screen, not just discuss it?

Meg Ryan proposed actually performing the fake orgasm at the table; Reiner demonstrated what he wanted himself before she did take after take.

Where does 'I'll have what she's having' rank on AFI's list of the 100 greatest movie quotes?

The film also placed 23rd on AFI's list of the funniest American films.

Who plays Marie, Sally's best friend?

Carrie Fisher plays Marie, who keeps a card file of eligible men and ends up marrying Harry's friend Jess after the disastrous double date.

Who plays Jess, Harry's best friend?

Kirby reunited with Crystal two years later in City Slickers.

The actor who plays Sally's ex-boyfriend Joe is the son of which US President?

Joe is played by Steven Ford, Gerald Ford's youngest son, who was best known as Andy Richards on daytime TV's The Young and the Restless.

How does Harry describe himself to Sally on their drive?

Ephron drew Harry's gloomy pessimism from her interviews with the recently divorced Reiner, who was 'constantly depressed and pessimistic yet funny'.

Over how many years does the film follow Harry and Sally?

The story spans twelve years: they meet in 1977, cross paths again in 1982 and 1987, and marry three months after New Year's Eve 1988.

Where do Harry and Sally run into each other for the third time, in 1987?

They meet again in a bookstore, Shakespeare & Co. on the Upper West Side; Sally has split from Joe and Harry's wife Helen has left him, so they try being friends.

What is Harry watching alone at home on the last night of 1988 before he runs to find Sally?

Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, the ABC countdown special Clark had hosted since the mid-1970s, is on Harry's TV; he then walks the city reminiscing before sprinting to the party.

The interludes with older couples telling how they met were originally based on what?

Ephron did the interviews when she didn't feel like writing; the material was rewritten and reshot with actors.

Which real-life friendship supplied much of Harry and Sally's dialogue?

The split-screen scene of them channel-surfing on the phone was something Crystal and Reiner did every night.

What was the screenwriter's original working title for the film?

Ephron's first draft carried the working title How They Met; a long list of alternatives, including Boy Meets Girl and Harry, This Is Sally, was tried before the final title.

How did the script originally end?

The script originally had Harry and Sally stay friends, which Ephron and Reiner felt was truer; Reiner changed his mind after meeting his future wife, Michele Singer, during production.

Which of these actors turned down the role of Harry Burns?

Tom Hanks turned Harry down, saying he could not identify with a man devastated by his divorce; Richard Dreyfuss and Michael Keaton were also considered.

Which actress was the director's ex-wife when work on the film began in 1984?

Reiner's marriage to Penny Marshall, the Laverne & Shirley star, ended in 1981; his awkward return to single life fed directly into Harry.

At which New York restaurant did the director, producer and writer first meet in 1984?

They first met over lunch at the Russian Tea Room on West 57th Street in 1984; Ephron rejected Reiner's first pitch, and a second lunch about single life became the film.

Which singer performs the standards on the film's soundtrack?

Harry Connick Jr., then 21, sang the standards; Reiner thought he sounded like a young Sinatra, and the album became his breakthrough.

What did the soundtrack's singer win for his work on it?

The soundtrack won its singer his first Grammy Award, Best Jazz Male Vocal Performance, in 1990; the album also went double platinum.

Which 1924 standard from the film made AFI's list of the 100 greatest movie songs?

'It Had to Be You', written by Isham Jones and Gus Kahn in 1924, ranked 60th on AFI's 2004 list of 100 Years...100 Songs.

Who arranged the big band and orchestra on the soundtrack?

Shaiman went on to a long partnership with Billy Crystal, including his Oscar-hosting musical numbers, and later wrote Hairspray.

Roughly how much did the film gross in North America?

It grossed about $93 million in North America, making it one of the highest-grossing romantic comedies of the 1980s.

How did Columbia roll the film out, opening in just 41 theaters first?

Columbia used a platform release, opening in just 41 theaters on July 12 and going wide on July 21 once word of mouth had built.

Which award did the screenplay win?

The screenplay won the BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay; it was nominated for the Oscar, the Golden Globe and the WGA award but lost the Oscar to Dead Poets Society.

What grade did CinemaScore audiences give the film?

The rare top grade matched a 90 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, though the New York Times called it 'amazingly hollow'.

Which two actors starred in the 2004 London stage adaptation?

Luke Perry and Alyson Hannigan opened the play at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in 2004; Molly Ringwald and Michael Landes later took over the roles.

In what year was the film added to the US National Film Registry?

It was added in December 2022, in the same National Film Registry class as Iron Man and The Little Mermaid.

Where does the film rank on AFI's list of the 100 funniest American movies?

It ranks 23rd on AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs list (2000), and AFI's 2008 Ten Top Ten named it the sixth-best romantic comedy.

Which brand's 2025 Super Bowl ad reunited Ryan and Crystal with Sydney Sweeney's famous line?

Hellmann's mayonnaise ran the ad during Super Bowl LIX in February 2025, 36 years after the film, with Sweeney ordering what Ryan was having.

Which relationship terms did the film help popularize?

'High-maintenance' and 'transitional person' both entered everyday use from the film: Harry tells Sally she is 'the worst kind: high-maintenance but you think you're low-maintenance'.

Which 1970s sitcom made the film's director famous as an actor?

All in the Family made him a star as Michael 'Meathead' Stivic, a role that won him two Emmys; his parents Carl and Estelle Reiner were both performers.

The film's screenwriter later directed Meg Ryan in which two romantic comedies opposite Tom Hanks?

Ephron directed Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and You've Got Mail (1998), both pairing Ryan with Hanks; Joe Versus the Volcano, their first film together, was not hers.

The actor who plays Harry had earlier played Jodie Dallas on which sitcom?

Crystal played Jodie Dallas on Soap from 1977 to 1981, one of the first openly gay regular characters on US television; he later hosted the Oscars nine times.

Which soap opera gave Meg Ryan her early break in 1982?

Four years later she was in Top Gun, and by 1989 she was the summer's breakout star.

What is Meg Ryan's birth name?

She was born Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra in Fairfield, Connecticut, in 1961, to a math teacher and a former actress.

In what year was the deli from the famous scene founded?

The deli was founded in 1888 on the Lower East Side, making it among the city's oldest; it moved to its Houston and Ludlow corner in 1917.

The screenwriter's semi-autobiographical novel Heartburn was about her marriage to which journalist?

Heartburn fictionalized Ephron's marriage to Carl Bernstein, the Watergate reporter, which ended in 1980; she adapted the 1986 film starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson.

Which actor passed on the role of Harry, feeling the film was too reminiscent of Woody Allen?

Albert Brooks passed, saying the script felt too much like a Woody Allen film; Richard Dreyfuss and Michael Keaton also turned Harry down.

What prize did Reiner offer the crew for coming up with the film's title during shooting?

Reiner offered a case of champagne to any crew member who found a title during the shoot, since the working titles kept changing; the final title came late in production.

Who passed Reiner the tape that got the soundtrack's singer hired?

Bobby Colomby, the Blood, Sweat & Tears drummer and a friend of Reiner, passed along the tape; the singer was then signed for the whole soundtrack.

What was the film's production budget?

The budget was about $16 million, modest for a star-led studio comedy; Castle Rock Entertainment, which Reiner co-founded in 1987, produced it.