FILM · 1974
Earthquake
65 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (65)
- #001
In an odd coincidence, the location where filming began was shaken by an earthquake on the first day. Even more strangely, an earthquake also struck the location where the final day of shooting took place.
- #002
Before stereo television sound became widespread, National Broadcasting Company (NBC) broadcast the film on local FM radio stations alongside a simultaneous soundtrack transmission, allowing viewers to recreate "Sensurround" at home.
- #003
In the scene where Stewart Graff (Charlton Heston) runs lines with Denise (Geneviève Bujold), the script he is holding is actually from this film and is open to the page of the scene being shown.
- #004
At the time, this set a record for the most stunt performers used in a single film, with a total of 141.
- #005
After production began, it was discovered that Warner Bros was also working on a disaster film at the same time. Not only that, but they had partnered with 20th Century Fox to make the big-budget fantasy that turned out to be The Towering Inferno (1974).
- #006
Ava Gardner agreed to take a role in the film because she wanted to spend that spring in Los Angeles.
- #007
Many scenes shot for the film were left on the editing room floor (worth more than 30 minutes). Notable scenes include: additional footage of Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner and Lloyd Nolan (in particular, a subplot involving an abortion previously had by Gardner's character); George Kennedy (after his character, Officer Lew Slade, is suspended by the police captain); Barry Sullivan and Kip Niven (their seismologist characters survive the earthquake and discuss its magnitude); and Geneviève Bujold (her character, Denise Marshall, arrives at a film studio for a "bit part" in a movie but is turned away because of earthquake damage on the set). Additional crowd scenes during the earthquake were also cut.
- #008
The shaking of the "Black Tower" (a 12-story office building on the film's lot) was achieved by filming its reflection in a mirror and then bending the mirror back and forth. This sequence was filmed as a test before production and ended up in the final film as a joke, with the cost borne by Universal Pictures. At the time, the "Black Tower" housed Universal's senior executives.
- #009
The crash suffered by motorcycle stuntman Miles Quade (Richard Roundtree) while coming out of the loop on the stunt track was not written into the script but was a real spill captured by stunt performer Bud Ekins. Ekins was not injured, and the crash was kept in the final cut.
- #010
From the outset the film was designed as an event movie and ultimately focused on the Sensurround gimmick. At one point, however, there was serious talk of dropping polystyrene pieces onto unsuspecting audience members during the earthquake.
- #011
As part of a new marketing gimmick in the 1970s to promote action and disaster films, movie theaters were asked to install a new sound system called "Sensurround." Sensurround generated low-frequency sound vibrations through the cinema seats, giving the audience the feeling of being inside the film. In this film, when an earthquake occurred, Sensurround shook the seats like a real earthquake. Unfortunately, the speaker system was specialized work that usually required removing several rows of seats, and it was expensive. It was used for a few more films during the rest of the 1970s, but Sensurround was discontinued after theaters suffered structural damage, customers became ill from the experience, and nearby businesses complained about noise pollution.
- #012
The United Artists Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, had to turn off its Sensurround speakers after small pieces of plaster fell from the ceiling onto the audience. The same thing happened at the Bethany Theater in Phoenix, Arizona.
- #013
When the elevator falls, there is a very unrealistic animated blood splatter on screen. Initially they intended to spray blood for the scene but could not get it to work properly. In the end they decided to use only animation instead. This led to a rumor that the MPAA required them to use obvious cartoon blood to reduce on-screen violence, but according to the director's notes, that rumor is false.
- #014
Mario Puzo contributed to the first draft of the screenplay, which troubled many executives at Universal Pictures because the characters were multi-layered and the story spanned a wide geographical area of Los Angeles. As a result, the budget estimate rose rapidly and the script had to be rewritten to bring the budget under control. When Paramount Pictures greenlit The Godfather Part II (1974), Puzo was no longer able to continue on the screenplay, but many of Puzo's original characters and story threads found their way into the finished film, which is geographically confined to the Hollywood area of Los Angeles.
- #015
Sensurround was used only three more times: Midway (1976), Rollercoaster (1977) and Battlestar Galactica (1978).
- #016
Ava Gardner surprised Director Mark Robson by insisting on doing her own stunts, including dodging concrete blocks and heavy steel pipes.
- #017
George Fox, a magazine writer, was hired to write the screenplay based on Mario Puzo's draft. Since he had never written a screenplay before, Director Mark Robson helped him work on it. A total of 11 drafts were submitted before the screenplay was approved.
- #018
The role of Miles Quade (Richard Roundtree) was originally written for an Italian-American. Before the character was reworked, Joe Namath and Richard Dreyfuss were considered.
- #019
Some of the scenes of extras panicking in the movie theater are footage from Torn Curtain (1966).
- #020
The producers traveled to Europe to interest Audrey Hepburn in the role of Remy Royce-Graff. Audrey had by this point been retired from films for about 10 years, and she disliked the character's dialogue and the physical demands of the film role, so she turned the producers down. The role of Remy Royce-Graff was filled at the last minute by Ava Gardner after filming had begun.
- #021
1974 was a boom year for the disaster film genre, as The Towering Inferno (1974) and Airport 1975 (1974) both achieved major box office success.
- #022
After the incredible success of Airport (1970), Universal Pictures was eager to try another disaster film and hired producer Jennings Lang for the job. The idea of making a film about an earthquake was born from the magnitude 6.6 earthquake that struck the San Fernando Valley on February 9, 1971.
- #023
In this two-hour, three-minute film, the earthquake scene lasts nine minutes. According to the screenplay, the earthquake measures 9.9 on the Richter scale and would theoretically last four to five minutes (though this would be impossible on the San Andreas Fault system or any fault near California). The largest earthquake ever recorded in California's history was magnitude 8.3, and it lasted two minutes. Most moderate California earthquakes last 10 to 15 seconds.
- #024
The 123-minute film's television premiere was to air on NBC in September 1976, launching the network's new fall series "Big Events." The theatrical version was too long to fill the two-hour slot (with commercials) of "Big Event," so NBC had to air the film over two nights a week apart. In doing so, the theatrical film was not long enough to fill the two-night span, so the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) contacted Universal Pictures to reinsert footage shot for the theatrical film that had originally been "left on the cutting room floor." However, much of the remaining material centered on the Stewart and Remy Graff storyline and included an abortion that was deemed unusable for television in the 8:00 p.m. time slot. As a result, only a few minutes of original footage could be added (mainly an opening related to the San Andreas Fault and a brief scene with Reb Brown and Victoria Principal), and Universal allowed NBC to write and film new sequences and add them to the theatrical version to create a two-night "television version." An entirely new storyline was added involving structural engineer Sam Chew Jr. and his wife Debralee Scott flying to Los Angeles to interview Stewart Graff (their plane nearly crashes while trying to land at Los Angeles International Airport during the earthquake). In addition, original cast members Victoria Principal and Marjoe Gortner were rehired to shoot additional scenes expanding their characters' storyline from the original film, as were Jesse Vint and Michael Richardson for a brief scene in a pawn shop. Mark Robson was approached to direct the new scenes, but he flatly refused after reading the script. Robson also petitioned the Directors Guild of America to state that his directing credit on the television version referred only to his being the director of the theatrical version. Editor Gene Palmer was hired by NBC to direct the new scenes but left without being credited. Various other minor edits were made for the theatrical version (mainly to adjust for content). When the film aired in this format on its first night, it ended in a "cliffhanger" format in the middle of the earthquake.
- #025
Despite many claims to the contrary, Victoria Principal's hair in this film was not a wig. She confirmed this herself on May 15, 1974 (while the film was still in production) during her appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) in the Robert Blake/Fernando Lamas/Victoria Principal/Charles Fleischer/John Twomey episode (1974), when Johnny Carson asked her whether her curly hair was a wig and she replied that it was entirely her own hair. She repeated this statement once more during a 2021 podcast interview and also explained that she had been cast with long hair and, on a whim a few days before shooting (without the director's knowledge), cut her hair short and restyled it for the film.
- #026
The man chased and arrested by the characters played by George Kennedy and Pedro Armendáriz Jr. at the beginning of the film was to die in the earthquake scene in the original screenplay. His character was to be crushed when the prison walls of the police station collapsed.
- #027
Charlton Heston turned down the opportunity to play Chief Brody in Jaws (1975) in order to appear in this film.
- #028
Paul Newman and Steve McQueen were offered the lead roles, but they had already committed to appearing in The Towering Inferno (1974).
- #029
It was the fourth highest-grossing film of 1974. Its biggest rival that year in ticket revenue, The Towering Inferno (1974), became the year's biggest film.
- #030
The character of Sam Royce was originally offered to James Stewart, but he turned it down. Before the role went to Lorne Greene, it was offered to Fred MacMurray, Robert Young, Ernest Borgnine, Ben Johnson and Lee J. Cobb.
- #031
Although Ava Gardner was only nine months older than Charlton Heston, critics have traditionally felt she looked too old to play his wife. It has also long been a point of criticism that Lorne Greene, who plays Gardner's father in the film, is only seven years older than she is.
- #032
The film Rosa (Victoria Principal) watches in the theater is High Plains Drifter (1973).
- #033
The "Hollywood Dam" shown in the film is actually the Mulholland Dam, named after the famous engineer William Mulholland. The nearly identical St. Francis Dam near Valencia, California, collapsed on March 12, 1928, due to a geological fault, and the resulting flood killed more than 450 people. It remains California's second deadliest natural disaster after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
- #034
There were documented cases of nosebleeds and broken ribs among audience members due to the Sensurround system.
- #035
Special power amplifiers were produced specifically for theaters showing the film in Sensurround. These were BGW Systems 500D stereo amplifiers rated at 200 watts per channel. These power amplifiers were later used in discos because of their powerful bass. They were the leading amps of the day but weighed 50 lbs.
- #036
It is one of two films Geneviève Bujold made to fulfill her contract with Universal Pictures. Bujold had signed an agreement to make two films with the studio but had turned down her two previous roles (which breached the contract). Facing the threat of a lawsuit for breach of contract, Bujold took a role in this film. The other was Swashbuckler (1976).
- #037
When the film was shown at Graumann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood in 1974, it was presented in "Sensurround," with heavy bass speakers placed in the floor around the theater. Very shortly after the preview performances, a giant net had to be installed over the patrons for fear that the ornate ceiling decorations might come loose and fall on the audience below because of the low bass rumble of the earthquake sequences. During the film's first preview performances at the theater, the Sensurround vibrations actually caused occasional very small, harmless bits of plaster or paint to crack and fall on the audience. Worried that the powerful sound waves, which continued uninterrupted throughout the film's special screening, could loosen elements of the ceiling decorations and lighting fixtures, theater management ordered the safety net hung beneath the entire auditorium ceiling, just below the ornamentation. This action was reported in local newspapers. Whether the highly visible "safety net" on the ceiling was a real, practical safety measure or merely a publicity stunt, it served to heighten audiences' expectations about the film's effects.
- #038
With Mario Puzo's departure, development of the screenplay took several months. The staggering success of 20th Century Fox's The Poseidon Adventure (1972) fueled Universal Pictures' desire to put its disaster film back into production.
- #039
The film featured five actors who appeared in or would appear in films in the "Airport" series: Charlton Heston in Airport 1975 (1974), Lloyd Nolan in Airport (1970), Monica Lewis in Airport '77 (1977) and Concorde… Airport '79 (1979), Gene Dynarski in Airport 1975 (1974), and George Kennedy, who appeared in all four "Airport" franchise films.
- #040
Several scenes scripted for the film did not make the final theatrical cut (some were shot but not included, while others were never filmed). These scenes include: the San Andreas Fault rupturing at the start of the main earthquake; a lumber yard where many workers are buried by falling timber; high-steel workers thrown from a skyscraper under construction; a multi-car collision on a freeway; an elderly woman decapitated by falling glass; the Theme Building at Los Angeles International Airport collapsing (miniature); a fire in the air-conditioning system of the Royce Building; the collapse of Lew's (George Kennedy) police station, with the upper floors crushing the jail cells and killing the hit-and-run suspect (the man chased by Lew and Emilio at the beginning of the film); damage to the upper floors of Los Angeles City Hall; the letters of the Hollywood sign falling one by one; and a woman revealed in a bathtub as an apartment wall collapses.
- #041
The churches seen at the beginning of the earthquake sequence are: Mission San Gabriel (428 Mission Drive, San Gabriel, California); Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church (6657 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood); and Saint Charles Borromeo Catholic Church (10800 Moorpark Street, North Hollywood).
- #042
A sequel titled "Earthquake II" was planned, with a first draft of the script written by George Fox, who also wrote this film's screenplay, but it never advanced to development. The sequel followed several surviving characters from this film — George Kennedy, Victoria Principal, Richard Roundtree and Gabriel Dell — as they settle in San Francisco, California. Its multi-layered plot focused on a group of scientists trying to predict future earthquakes on the West Coast, a corrupt builder putting up high-rises on unstable ground, and the original characters adjusting to new relationships (Kennedy and Principal) and new business ventures (Roundtree and Dell). As a tsunami threatens to wipe the Bay Area off the map, an unexpected major earthquake strikes off the coast of San Francisco and levels the city. Completed in late 1975, the script passed through several channels at Universal Pictures (up to Sid Sheinberg), and the project remained active into early 1977 ("EQII" and Rollercoaster (1977) were in pre-production at the same time), but the "EQII" project was terminated. This original script was discovered in 2005 among director Mark Robson's papers held at the UCLA Film and Television Archives.
- #043
It was included in the American Film Institute's (AFI) 2001 list of 400 nominated films for the 100 Most Heart-Pounding American Movies.
- #044
Lloyd Nolan originally had a much larger role in the film, with his character Dr. Jim Vance established as the personal physician of Remy Royce-Graff (Ava Gardner) and a friend of Stewart Graff. In the final cut, Dr. Vance first appears as the doctor examining Sam Royce (Lorne Greene) at Wilson Plaza. The removed scene that established the relationship came early in the film, after Remy's fake overdose, and had Dr. Vance inadvertently telling Stewart Graff that Remy Royce-Graff had had an abortion several years earlier (Stewart had been told it was a miscarriage — he wanted to have children). The scene was cut at the last minute after the film's release.
- #045
Elizabeth Montgomery, Candice Bergen, Jacqueline Bisset, Sharon Gless, Sondra Locke, Meredith Baxter, Kate Jackson, Susan Saint James and Susan Clark were considered for the role of Denise.
- #046
Apart from the then-new Chevrolet Caprice and Chevrolet Vega seen in a few shots, most of the wrecked cars in the disaster scenes are 10 years old or older.
- #047
The customized 1974 Chevrolet Blazer K5 Cheyenne driven by Charlton Heston was built specifically for the film. Originally light blue, the SUV (as also evident from the interior) was repainted silver with a red stripe and black rocker panels by the Universal Pictures transportation department. The biggest customization was a Targa-style roof open over the driver and passenger seats, replacing the factory removable hardtop. Other smaller modifications included a hood air deflector, a custom front grille piece, American Racing slotted wheels with 31-inch tires, removal of the side mirrors, a chrome roll bar and — almost unheard of at the time — an in-car telephone with its associated "whip" antenna. One plot point in the film mentions a "customized" transmission that is difficult to operate, with "eight forward speeds and three reverse," but the actual Chevrolet Blazer used in the film did not have such a transmission. With its factory automatic transmission and two-speed four-wheel-drive transfer case, the film car had six forward and two reverse gears. Had the vehicle had a manual transmission, it would indeed have had eight forward gears… but only two reverse gears.
- #048
At 1 hour 25 minutes, when Jody (Marjoe Gortner) takes Rosa (Victoria Principal) out of the looters' police roundup and into the abandoned store, a poster for American Graffiti (1973), also a Universal Pictures film, is visible on the wall behind them.
- #049
Officer Slade's rank is Police III + 1 (two stripes and one star), one rank below Sergeant.
- #050
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) showgirl Beth Renner was Ava Gardner's stunt double on the film.
- #051
Kevin Tighe, considered for the role of Officer Lou Slade, and Randolph Mantooth, considered for the role of Walt Russell, would later star together in Emergency! (1972).
- #052
The role of Victoria Principal was originally created for Susan Sarandon or Kay Lenz.
- #053
Of the four major disaster films of the early 1970s (the other three being Airport (1970), The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1974)), it is the only one that received an Oscar nomination for acting.
- #054
All four of the major classic disaster films of the early 1970s feature an actor who appeared in Planet of the Apes (1968): Lou Wagner in Airport (1970), Roddy McDowall in The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Norman Burton in The Towering Inferno (1974) and Charlton Heston in this film.
- #055
Sonny Bono was considered for the role of Miles Quade before the part was rewritten as a Black man.
- #056
Victoria Principal (Rosa Amici) and George Kennedy (Lou Slade) later appeared in Dallas (1978), though not at the same time: Principal played Pamela Barnes Ewing from 1978 to 1987, while Kennedy played Carter McKay from 1988 to 1991.
- #057
Jon Voight, James Caan, Burt Reynolds and James Brolin were considered for the role of Stewart Graff.
- #058
Beau Bridges, Alan Alda, Stacy Keach, James Brolin, Rock Hudson, John Cassavetes, Kevin Tighe and William Atherton were considered for the role of Officer Lew Slade.
- #059
Lloyd Nolan and Lorne Greene had previously appeared together in Peyton Place (1957). Nolan played Doc Swain, who is questioned on the witness stand by Greene's prosecuting attorney.
- #060
Lee Grant, Jessica Walter and Elizabeth Allen were considered for the role of Remy Royce-Graff.
- #061
Randolph Mantooth was considered for the role of seismologist Walt Russell.
- #062
The cast includes three acting Oscar winners — Charlton Heston, George Kennedy and Walter Matthau — and two acting Oscar nominees, Ava Gardner and Geneviève Bujold, in what appear to be cameo appearances.
- #063
Jeannie Epper and Stephanie Epper appear in the elevator scene. Jeannie was also Lynda Carter's stunt double on Wonder Woman, and the two sisters are known for paving the way for modern stuntwomen.
- #064
The wall of water flowing toward Miles is a close-up of the water discharge used on the Universal Studios backlot tour. It is not a tall wall of water, as it struck the passenger trams.
- #065
The Italian censorship visa # 66047 was issued on 20 February 1975.
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