FILM · 1961 · USA
Breakfast at Tiffany's
- Directed by
- Blake Edwards
- Runtime
- 115 min
- Studio
- Paramount Pictures, Jurow-Shepherd
40 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
Holly Golightly is an eccentric New York City playgirl determined to marry a Brazilian millionaire. But when young writer Paul Varjak moves into her apartment building, her past threatens to get in their way.
Summary: TMDB
All facts (40)
- #001
Audrey Hepburn was paid $750,000 for the film (roughly equivalent to $7.3 million as of 2022), making her the highest-paid actress per film at the time.
- #002
Holly Golightly wears the same dresses throughout the film, changing only her accessories to give each outfit a different look. Her black shift dress features prominently at least four times over the course of the film. This shows that, though she is not well off, she knows how to be stylish by using the few things she owns to great effect.
- #003
Henry Mancini wrote "Moon River" specifically for Audrey Hepburn. Although many versions of the song were made later, he said he felt hers was the best.
- #004
Holly Golightly is supposed to be only 19 years old when she meets Paul. Audrey Hepburn was 31 when she played Holly.
- #005
Although they were not visible on camera, hundreds of spectators watched Audrey Hepburn's window-shopping scene at the beginning of the film. It made her nervous and she kept making mistakes. She pulled herself together and completed the scene only after one of the crew members was nearly electrocuted behind the camera.
- #006
According to lyricist Johnny Mercer, at a meeting held after the film's San Francisco screening, a Paramount executive referred to "Moon River" and said: "Well, I think the first thing we can do is get rid of that stupid song." Audrey Hepburn stood up at the table and told him: "Over my dead body!" The song stayed in the film and has since become a classic. "Moon River" has been recorded more than 500 times since.
- #007
Audrey Hepburn said the scene in which she throws Cat out into the rainy street was the most unpleasant thing she had to do in the film.
- #008
The song "Moon River" was written specifically for Audrey Hepburn because she had no vocal training. The vocals were written to be sung within a single octave.
- #009
Eva Gabor was offered the role of the fictional Hollywood agent "O. J. Berman." Talent agent Swifty Lazar was also reportedly considered. The character was ultimately played by actor Martin Balsam.
- #010
Although it is never explained why Holly wears a bedsheet at her cocktail party, an earlier scene (cut before release) reveals that she had been taking a bath and had to improvise a dress on the spot. The cut scene appeared in a photograph in Life magazine shortly before the film's release.
- #011
Despite having known him previously and getting along well during rehearsals, Patricia Neal said working with George Peppard was unbearable.
- #012
It is not true that Audrey Hepburn thought she was miscast as Holly Golightly, but she was well aware of Capote's concerns; even so, the role was among the most popular of her career.
- #013
The famous black dress Audrey Hepburn wore in the film's opening scenes sold for $807,000 at Christie's auction house in London on December 4, 2006, making it the second most expensive film memorabilia ever sold. The first is the Best Picture Oscar for Gone with the Wind (1939).
- #014
Although Fernando Lamas was said to be taking the role of "José da Silva Pereira," the role went to José Luis de Vilallonga.
- #015
Patricia Neal's hair was dyed red so as not to compete with Audrey Hepburn's dark curls.
- #016
For the scene in which Paul and Holly try to get a Cracker Jack ring engraved at Tiffany's, the production team reportedly went through 200 boxes of Cracker Jack before finding a ring. The toy of the day was apparently a whistle.
- #017
In the 2006 short documentary Breakfast at Tiffany's: The Making of a Classic (2006), Blake Edwards said that when the film was made he did not consider the consequences of Mickey Rooney, an actor of European heritage, taking on a Japanese role; however, he said, "looking back, I wish I had never done it… and I would give anything to be able to recast it." Screenwriter George Axelrod, however, claimed before his death in 2003 that Edwards had rejected all of his and Audrey Hepburn's attempts to persuade Rooney to play the role again. He had been very pleased with Rooney's quirks. Axelrod also said that Edwards had even offered that Hepburn would reshoot all her scenes with "Mr. Yunioshi" for free if a Japanese actor were used in the role, but this was refused.
- #018
George Peppard was a student of Method acting, a style Audrey Hepburn found difficult to work with. Nevertheless, the two actors remained close friends until his death on January 20, 1993. Peppard died nearly a year and a half later (May 8, 1994).
- #019
This film revived the career of 1930s movie singer and hoofer Buddy Ebsen, who had a small but effective role as Holly's former husband, Doc Golightly. His success here led directly to his being known for the role of Jed Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies (1962).
- #020
Author Truman Capote had Marilyn Monroe in mind for the part of Holly Golightly. Monroe was initially set to take the role, but her drama coach Lee Strasberg told her that playing a call girl would be bad for her image. The film became a major success with Audrey Hepburn, who replaced Monroe, earning a Golden Globe and an Oscar® nomination for Best Actress.
- #021
Holly's whistle is dubbed in when she calls a taxi for Paul. Audrey Hepburn tried to learn to whistle with two fingers but never managed to produce the intended sound.
- #022
In the famous "It should take you exactly four seconds to cross from here to that door. I'll give you two" scene, it takes Paul exactly four seconds to walk from where he starts to the door.
- #023
Although Audrey Hepburn was the consummate professional during the shoot, her insecurities about playing the role took a heavy toll, and the stress led to weight loss she did not need.
- #024
The first scene shot was the opening scene, with Holly eating a pastry in her evening gown outside Tiffany's. It was filmed early on a Sunday morning in front of Tiffany's on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Tiffany's was extremely cooperative during the shoot and gave the crew unprecedented access to film the interior.
- #025
Henry Mancini found his greatest inspiration in Audrey Hepburn. He said: "It's a unique situation for a composer to really be inspired by a person, a face or a personality, but Audrey certainly inspires me. Normally I have to see a finished film before I compose the music, but with Tiffany I knew what to write for Audrey just by reading the script."
- #026
While director Blake Edwards was having lunch with Mickey Rooney at a posh Hollywood restaurant, Rooney objected to his salad being thrown by the waiter and began demonstrating the 'right' way to do it. Edwards found Rooney's attention-seeking routine so funny that he wrote it into the film.
- #027
Given the intensity, it is not surprising that George Peppard made few friends on set. He and Blake Edwards locked horns many times during the shoot and nearly came to blows at least once. Whatever instructions he was given, Peppard ultimately played the scene the way he thought it should be played, which did not endear him to anyone. Even Patricia Neal, whom Peppard had been friendly with in the past, noticed a change in the actor, and not for the better. She thought Peppard had become "spoiled." Peppard had felt from the start that Neal's character was too dominant. "He wanted things as he wanted them," she later said of Peppard. "I had much more of a hold on him in the script and he didn't want to be seen in that position… The character was written with a worn fragility that was entirely appealing, but that didn't fit George's leading-man image. He seemed to want it to be an old-time handsome movie."
- #028
Elements such as Holly's random character in the original novel flirting with bisexuality were removed out of respect for the times, as were much of the dialogue found in the book, to make the part more suitable for Audrey Hepburn. It is still notable, however, that she accompanies a visibly bored Paul to a strip club. As for the unhappy ending in which Holly Golightly disappears, in the film she instead reunites with Varjak and the cat rather than fleeing New York.
- #029
Author Truman Capote, who sold the rights to his novella to producers Richard Shepherd and Martin Jurow, expressed a desire to play Paul himself. The pair successfully sidestepped the issue.
- #030
Three hundred cats were brought to an open casting call. The winning cat, Putney, appeared in the location scenes shot in New York, while a trained "movie feline" was used for the West Coast shoot. There were at least nine different cats playing the cat role. One of the nine cats used in the film was named Orangey; it appears in the scene where Holly hears the news about her brother Fred and throws a tantrum. Orangey was one of the best animal actors and even won the second Patsy award, the animal equivalent of the Oscar®.
- #031
The filming of the wild party scene in Holly's apartment was reported to be the longest and most difficult scene. Most of the resulting jokes are not in the novel, but the script was originally written by Blake Edwards. For this scene Edwards wanted to capture the free lifestyle of Holly and her New York friends using a complex series of visual gags. Shooting on the Paramount sound stage took six days. The extras playing the guests were all friends of director Blake Edwards, who ordered real cases of champagne and allowed a cheerful atmosphere to develop among the players, letting everyone offer ideas about bad behavior. The supplies included 120 gallons of soft drinks, 60 cartons of cigarettes, hot dogs, cold cuts, chips, dips and sandwiches. A smoker of the kind used by a beekeeper was brought in to generate enough smoke. It became one of the film's most memorable scenes.
- #032
According to the script, 2-E's name is Emily Eustace, hence the nickname "2-E."
- #033
Actor James Garner was offered a role in the film but could not accept it because of the force majeure clause Warner Bros. Pictures held against him.
- #034
In the film's original trailer (included on the DVD special edition), the announcer mispronounces Truman Capote's surname as "Capot," without sounding the "e" at the end of his name. The mistake was repeated (deliberately) on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970) --- Ted Baxter (Ted Knight) demands better writers and says they should get "that Truman Capot fellow." Phyllis (Cloris Leachman) tries to correct him with just "E". Ted then says, "Oh yes, Truman E. Capot."
- #035
In the novel the narrator describes how Holly washes her hair and then sits on the fire escape, strumming her guitar while it dries. That is why she has a scarf around her head in the "Moon River" scene.
- #036
In his 2008 autobiography, Tony Curtis stated that he asked his friend, director Blake Edwards, to give him the role of writer Paul Varjak. Edwards did not give him the part, however, because Mel Ferrer did not want his wife Audrey Hepburn to make a film with Curtis.
- #037
When Paul takes Holly to the library, it is the only moment in the film when Holly refers to Paul by his name, and even then only while reading his name on the card; every other time she calls him "Fred."
- #038
Most of the exteriors were shot in New York City --- including the Mall in Central Park, the New York Women's House of Detention on Tenth Street, a brownstone on the Upper East Side and the exterior of the New York Public Library --- and all the interiors, except for parts of the scene inside Tiffany & Company, were shot at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. The location shoot for the exterior of the apartment building where Holly Golightly and Paul Varjak live is 169 East 71st Street in Manhattan, between Third and Lexington Avenues. The building was unchanged as of 2016. Tiffany's opened its doors on a Sunday for the first time since the 19th century so that the store's interior could be filmed.
- #039
Audrey Hepburn disliked Danish pastries, which made filming the famous opening scene somewhat of a chore for her.
- #040
The uncredited voice of the "terrifying man" who wrecks Holly's apartment belongs to George Peppard, who years later used his vocal talents on The A-Team (1983), where he always performed his own alternate voices instead of dubbing and made them a defining trait of his master-of-disguise character.
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