Trivia - AIRPLANE!

In 1980, a little movie called “Airplane!” crashed into theaters and changed comedy forever. More than four decades later, audiences are still quoting its lines, replaying its outrageous gags, and laughing just as hard as they did on opening night. Widely considered one of the greatest comedy films ever made, the movie took the disaster-film formula of the 1970s and turned it completely upside down with nonstop visual jokes, absurd situations, and brilliantly deadpan performances.

Written and directed by the legendary ZAZ team — Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and David Zucker — the movie brilliantly paired Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty as star-crossed lovers trapped aboard the most hilariously dysfunctional flight in movie history. Surrounding them was an all-star lineup of dramatic actors — including Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Peter Graves, and Lloyd Bridges — all delivering completely straight-faced performances while absolute madness unfolded around them. Whether it’s Barbara Billingsley suddenly translating “jive,” the autopilot named Otto, or an entire line of passengers waiting to slap a hysterical woman, “Airplane!” is packed with iconic moments that remain comedy gold to this day.

In honor of leading man Robert Hays joining me for Episodes 171 and 172 of Hollywood Obsessed Podcast, I thought it would be fun to revisit this cinematic classic with a collection of trivia and behind-the-scenes facts celebrating the film we’re still obsessed with all these years later. So fasten your seatbelt, keep your tray table in the upright position, and whatever you do… don’t call me Shirley.

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“Airplane!” wasn’t just spoofing disaster movies in general — it was practically a scene-by-scene parody of the 1957 thriller “Zero Hour!”. The filmmakers borrowed the plot, character types, and even chunks of dialogue, while also hilariously skewering the “Airport 1975” movies and the entire disaster-film craze of the 1970s.

Made for only $3.5 million, “Airplane!” became one of the biggest comedy hits of all time, eventually grossing an astonishing $171 million worldwide and turning a bizarre little parody film into a pop culture phenomenon.

The legendary comedy trio behind the movie — Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and David Zucker (ZAZ)— first developed their offbeat comedic style while performing with their sketch troupe, the Kentucky Fried Theatre, which they founded in 1971.

Before “Airplane!” ever got off the ground, the ZAZ team struggled for years trying to sell their comedy ideas. It wasn’t until director John Landis encouraged them to turn their sketches into a feature film that they finally broke through with “The Kentucky Fried Movie.”

Paramount executives reportedly didn’t understand the concept of “Airplane!” until the filmmakers pitched it as “National Lampoon's Animal House on a plane.” The comparison wasn’t really accurate, but it was apparently the only way the studio could grasp how outrageous the comedy would be.

Universal Pictures actually challenged the movie before release, arguing that Airplane!’s parody of the “Airport” films — and even its title — was too similar to their franchise. As part of the settlement, the film was released internationally under the alternate title “Flying High!”

As part of the same dispute, ZAZ agreed not to cast singer Helen Reddy as the singing nun because her appearance too closely resembled a character she had played in “Airport 1975.”

Much of “Airplane!” was filmed at Culver City Studios, with additional scenes shot at Los Angeles International Airport. Ironically, the film’s cinematographer, Joseph F. Biroc, had previously worked on serious disaster epics like “The Towering Inferno” and “Beyond the Poseidon Adventure.”

During filming, Jerry Zucker stood directly beside the camera while David Zucker and Jim Abrahams watched the monitor feed nearby. After nearly every take, the trio huddled together to fine-tune the timing of the jokes.

The Directors Guild of America initially refused to let the trio share directing credit because Guild rules prohibited three credited directors on one film. After a lengthy battle, the filmmakers finally won special permission to be jointly credited.

The miniature airplane used for the movie’s flying shots still survives today and hangs in a museum at the Studios at Las Colinas in Texas.

Jimmie "J.J." Walker made a memorable cameo in the 1980 comedy classic “Airplane!” as the "Windshield Wiper Man". He is shown scraping the glass and checking the oil of the plane before falling off the plane. Producers cast him as a subtle inside joke nodding to his appearance in the 1979 disaster film “The Concorde... Airport '79.”

The unforgettable opening parody of “Jaws” — featuring the airplane stalking through the clouds like a shark — was created with nothing more than cotton clouds, a piece of plywood, and a hidden wire track.

The Hare Krishna passenger in the airport scene was played by David Leisure — a college roommate of Robert Hays — who landed the role simply because he was willing to shave his head. Years later, he became famous as the over-the-top Joe Isuzu spokesman.

Peter Graves originally turned down the script because he thought it was too tasteless. The filmmakers convinced him to reconsider by assuring him that his wildly inappropriate lines to a young boy would “make sense later” — even though the explanation scene never existed.

Lloyd Bridges accepted the role of Steve McCroskey after his children encouraged him to do it. He loved the experience so much that he returned for “Airplane II: The Sequel.”

Believe it or not, the role of Ted Striker was originally written with David Letterman in mind. After Letterman passed on further auditions, the role went instead to Robert Hays — a casting choice that became comedy history.

Future stars Sigourney Weaver and Shelley Long both auditioned for the role of Elaine Dickinson, but the part ultimately went to newcomer Julie Hagerty in her feature film debut.

Broadway and film comedy legend Ethel Merman made her final screen appearance in “Airplane!” before passing away in 1984.

To keep the cast constantly laughing and off-balance between takes, Leslie Nielsen carried around a handheld device that made loud fart noises everywhere he went.

Basketball superstar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar only accepted the role of co-pilot Roger Murdock after negotiating an extra $5,000 for an oriental rug he wanted to buy.

Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty worked hard to build believable chemistry on screen, even rehearsing their disco dance routine to Stayin' Alive for weeks before filming.

According to the Blu-ray commentary, the Bee Gees actually granted permission for “Stayin’ Alive” to be sped up by 10 percent to make the dance scene even funnier.

Actor Stephen Stucker improvised many of his hilariously bizarre lines as Johnny, the increasingly unhinged airport employee.

The famous “red zone/white zone” airport announcement argument sounded authentic for a reason: the filmmakers hired the real married couple whose recorded voices were actually being used at LAX at the time.

The entire movie was shot in just over a month — while Robert Hays was simultaneously starring in the sitcom “Angie.”

The Boeing 707 featured in the movie was actually a repainted former TWA airliner.

The first draft of “Airplane!” was written way back in 1974, and from the very beginning the filmmakers wanted Robert Stack to play Captain Rex Kramer.

Much of the iconic “jive talk” dialogue was improvised by actors Al White and Norman Alexander Gibbs because the filmmakers admitted they weren’t exactly experts in street slang. In one of the movie’s funniest reversals, the subtitles appear when the characters switch back to normal English.

Otto, the inflatable automatic pilot, became one of the movie’s most bizarre fan-favorite characters. After filming, the prop reportedly sat in Jerry Zucker’s garage for years before eventually disintegrating.

The singing nun in the movie is Maureen McGovern, who had previously performed Oscar-winning disaster movie theme songs for “The Poseidon Adventure” and “The Towering Inferno” — making her appearance an inside joke all by itself.

Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty rehearsed the “Stayin’ Alive” dance for an entire month before filming it. Coincidentally, Hays was starring on “Angie” alongside Donna Pescow, who had appeared in “Saturday Night Fever” — the movie that made the song famous.

The beach parody of “From Here to Eternity” was filmed on the very same beach where Charlton Heston discovered the Statue of Liberty in “Planet of the Apes.”

The role of the “Jive Lady” was first offered to Harriet Nelson from “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet”, but she turned it down because of the film’s language. The part instead went to Barbara Billingsley from “Leave It to Beaver” — creating one of the funniest surprise cameos in movie history.

The line “Surely you can’t be serious.” / “I am serious… and don’t call me Shirley” was ranked #79 on the American Film Institute’s list of the greatest movie quotes of all time.

“The Love Boat” star Jill Whelan played Lisa Davis, the sweet but seriously ill little girl awaiting a heart transplant aboard the doomed flight in “Airplane!.” Whelan was only 11 years old during filming and 13 when the movie was released, yet she more than held her own alongside the film’s veteran comedy cast. Over the years, she has often said in interviews that Lisa remains her favorite role of her entire career.

Actress Lorna Patterson, who was involved with The Groundlings improv group, originally auditioned for a smaller role in “Airplane!” (the girl who runs into a post) but was quickly asked to read for the part of Randy.

Jerry Zucker and David Zucker both make cameo appearances at the beginning of the movie as ground crew workers directing the airplane straight into the terminal window.

In real life, Robert Hays was actually a licensed pilot, having completed his flight training in 1974 — years before starring as troubled pilot Ted Striker.

Lloyd Bridges reportedly spent a lot of time trying to understand the logic and motivation behind his absurd dialogue until Robert Stack finally told him: “Lloyd, we are the joke.”

Amazingly, Aeromexico was reportedly the only airline willing to show “Airplane!” as in-flight entertainment.

In 2009, AirTran Airways brought back Peter Graves for a series of online “Internetiquette” videos that lovingly referenced his unforgettable “Airplane!” role.

Delta Air Lines paid tribute to the movie in a 2014 onboard safety video featuring a cameo by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar reprising his role as Roger Murdock.

The ZAZ team declined to make “Airplane II” because they believed they had already used every possible airport joke in the original film.

In 2010, “Airplane!” was officially selected for preservation by the United States National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Without the involvement of the original creators, “Airplane II: The Sequel” struggled to match the magic of the first movie. Despite modest box office returns, the sequel received mixed reviews and plans for an “Airplane III” were eventually scrapped.

In 2014, Travel Wisconsin reunited Robert Hays and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in a nostalgic commercial that referenced the film and Kareem’s years playing for the Milwaukee Bucks. Hays later spoofed his airline pilot image again in “Sharknado 2: The Second One”.

In 2023, the wildly entertaining oral history book “Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane!” finally gave fans a first-class ticket behind the scenes of the making of “Airplane!.” The book — and especially its hilarious audiobook edition — reunited the surviving members of the cast and creative team, including David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, Robert Hays, and Julie Hagerty. The audiobook also features commentary and tributes from comedy heavyweights like Jimmy Kimmel, Bill Hader, Weird Al Yankovic, Molly Shannon, Sarah Silverman, Patton Oswalt, Beau Bridges, John Landis, Barry Diller, and Michael Eisner — proving once again that people are still absolutely serious about not calling Shirley.

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Some of the facts featured in this article were sourced from IMDb and Wikipedia — because unlike Ted Striker, I wanted to make sure I had my information cleared for takeoff.

If you’d like to go even deeper behind the scenes of “Airplane!”, do yourself a favor and check out my in-depth, nostalgia-filled conversation with Ted Striker himself, Robert Hays, on Hollywood Obsessed Podcast Episodes 171 & 172. From the making of “Airplane!” to his incredible television and film career, the conversation is packed with hilarious stories, heartfelt moments, and enough classic Hollywood memories to keep your tray table in the upright position for the entire flight.

So sit back, relax, and stop calling me Shirley.

Listen here:

Episode 171 — HERE

Episode 172 — HERE