FILM · 1992 · UK
Ruby
21 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (21)
- #001
On the morning of November 24, 1963, while Lee Harvey Oswald was being transferred from a jail cell to an interrogation office, he was shot by Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby, who was alleged to have acted out of anger and anguish over the president's death. Ruby was tried and found guilty of the murder (March 14, 1964) and sentenced to death. In October 1966 the Texas Court of Appeals overturned the conviction, but before a new trial could be held, Ruby died of a blood clot complicated by cancer (January 3, 1967).
- #002
In real life, Jack Ruby earned the nickname "Sparky" because of his famously violent temper.
- #003
Tobin Bell plays the role of David Ferrie in JFK, a part played by Joe Pesci. Bell and Pesci appear together in GoodFellas.
- #004
Willie Garson, who played Lee Harvey Oswald in Ruby, also portrayed LHO in Quantum Leap (1989).
- #005
The film's first screening in the United States took place about three months after Oliver Stone's JFK (1991), which deals with the John F. Kennedy assassination.
- #006
Danny Aiello replaced Bob Hoskins in the lead role of Jack Ruby. Hoskins had initially been signed to play Ruby, but delays in shooting meant he had to report for duty on the set of Steven Spielberg's Hook (1991). Hoskins and this film's director, John Mackenzie, had previously worked together on two feature films: The Long Good Friday (1980) and the feature film Beyond the Limit (1983).
- #007
The character Sheryl Ann 'Candy Cane' DuJean, played by Sherilyn Fenn, is fictional. She is, however, a composite of several real-life women, including the stripper Candy Barr (who was friends with Jack Ruby), Marilyn Monroe (who resembled Candy Cane) and Judith Campbell Exner (who said she had relationships with both Sam Giancana and John F. Kennedy).
- #008
Danny Aiello said that of all the roles he played, Jack Ruby was his favorite. He cited the variety of Ruby's character and his ability to adapt effortlessly to any kind of social setting, which is what made it his favorite role.
- #009
A quote in the film's title sequence reads: "The world will never know the true facts of what occurred, my motives… because unfortunately people with so much to gain… will never let the true facts be revealed to the world" - Jack Ruby, Dallas County Jail, 1965.
- #010
The film includes original black-and-white stock archival footage from the 1960s, some of it featuring both Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and John F. Kennedy.
- #011
The film was made and released about five years after Stephen Davis's source stage play "Love Field" was first staged at the Bush Theatre in London, England, in 1987. Davis also wrote the film's screenplay. A film titled Love Field (1992) was released in the same year as Ruby (1992) but was not based on Davis's stage production.
- #012
In promoting this picture, the producers declared that the film was "speculative fiction."
- #013
After Jack Ruby was convicted in 1964, he was held in a jail cell overlooking Dealey Plaza, where President John F. Kennedy was shot.
- #014
It was the last cinema film for about eight years from director John Mackenzie, whose next feature film would be When the Sky Falls (2000).
- #015
It was actor Maurice Benard's first feature film.
- #016
Danny Aiello later appeared in Leon: The Professional. His co-stars Natalie Portman and Gary Oldman played Jacqueline Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald in other films.
- #017
The film is notable for featuring two actors in their first supporting roles: Tobin Bell of the "Saw" film series and David Duchovny of The X-Files (1993) and Californication (2007).
- #018
Danny Aiello appeared in The Godfather: Part II, in which the assassination of Hyman Roth closely resembles that of Lee Harvey Oswald.
- #019
The film's title sequence disclaimer reads: "Although some characters and events are based on real people and actual events, other characters and events are entirely fictional. Fictional characters include, among others, the character Candy Cane, and all events involving Candy Cane are fictional. Any similarity between fictional characters and living persons is unintentional and coincidental."
- #020
Candy Cane's first name is Sheryl Ann, which is the real first name of Sherilyn Fenn, the actress who plays her.
- #021
This was actually to have been David Fincher's directorial debut before he left to direct Alien 3 (1992).
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