FILM · 1996 · USA
The First Wives Club
41 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (41)
- #001
In an interview, Bette Midler said all three leads wanted to make a sequel, but the studio refused because it regarded the film's success as a "fluke." Midler also said that just before the film opened, she was told it would not do well because it was competing against male-star action films like Bruce Willis's. The film opened at number one and beat out all the action films.
- #002
Olivia Goldsmith, author of the original novel the film is based on, appears in a cameo at Cynthia Swann Griffin's funeral as the short-haired woman who is the first to notice Cynthia's ex-husband and his new wife when they arrive.
- #003
Doctors created the simulated collagen treatment by injecting a harmless saline solution into Goldie Hawn's lips. Hawn later said in interviews that the experience was quite painful, even though temporary, and that it put her off ever getting real collagen.
- #004
Among the actresses playing the wives in this film, Diane Keaton is the only one who has never married. Bette Midler has been married to her first husband since 1984, which makes Goldie Hawn the only one who has been divorced in real life.
- #005
When Annie receives Cynthia's letter, the contents can be read if the film is paused. The letter says: "Dear Annie, I'm so sorry we couldn't be in each other's lives. But I knew you would be someone important, Annie. Sometimes I envied your life. The things I read seem so perfect. Funny, in college I dreamed of making a difference, of helping others. But now it's as if I never existed. I wish I had a talent like Elise, or Brenda's sense of humor, or your strength, Annie. I wish we still had our friendship. Maybe loneliness isn't the problem. Please take care of each other, Cynthia."
- #006
Timothy Olyphant, influenced by local stage work, made his feature film debut as Brett Artounian, the young director who considers Elise (Hawn) for his film's first mother role.
- #007
This was Eileen Heckart's (Catherine MacDuggan) last cinema film.
- #008
All three lead actresses celebrated their fiftieth birthdays during the making of the film. Their birthdays are 50 days apart (from November to January).
- #009
Two of the paintings in Elise's apartment are John Singer Sargent's portrait of Madame X and Andy Warhol's mass-produced "Marilyn Monroe."
- #010
Although the film grossed over $105 million in the US alone, Paramount Pictures refused to make a sequel.
- #011
The Oscar statuette Brenda takes from Elise's apartment actually belongs to Goldie Hawn's character, not Bette Midler's. Brenda sniffs and disdainfully asks whether it is filled with chocolate. Midler never won an Oscar.
- #012
In late-20th-century Hollywood, dominated by male executives, the only sure box-office bet was believed to be male-driven stories. Yet there had been major hits led by women, including Hawn's Private Benjamin (1980) and Death Becomes Her (1992), Midler's Ruthless People (1986) and Beaches (1988), and Keaton's Baby Boom (1987), as well as Steel Magnolias (1989), The Joy Luck Club (1993) and Waiting to Exhale (1995). In most cases, female-driven films that made money at the box office, especially those starring older women or Black women, were seen as flukes. With that mindset, The First Wives Club becoming not just a hit but a cult film surprised much of Hollywood. It had the highest box-office range in its opening week. It stayed at number one for three weeks and eventually grossed $181 million on its $30 million investment. Though it received mixed reviews, it earned an Oscar nomination for Marc Shaiman's score and the National Board of Review award for Best Acting by an Ensemble.
- #013
The role of Duarto was originally given to writer David Rakoff. He found acting in front of the camera difficult compared with his previous stage roles and was fired after one day.
- #014
Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker appeared in Hocus Pocus (1993), in which both characters share a romantic partner with disastrous results.
- #015
Bette Midler (Brenda) makes a joke to Shelly (Sarah Jessica Parker) calling her an L'Oreal pubic jockey. Sarah Jessica Parker was in fact a L'Oreal spokesperson.
- #016
The cast includes six Oscar winners: Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, Maggie Smith, Marcia Gay Harden, J. K. Simmons and Eileen Heckart; three Oscar nominees: Bette Midler, Stockard Channing and Rob Reiner; Emmy winner Sarah Jessica Parker; seven Emmy nominees: Bronson Pinchot, Debra Monk, Dan Hedaya, Kate Burton, Stephen Collins, Timothy Olyphant and Victor Garber; and Golden Globe nominee Heather Locklear. Bette Midler, Maggie Smith, Marcia Gay Harden, James Naughton and Philip Bosco won Tony Awards, while Diane Keaton, Victor Garber, Eileen Heckart and Kate Burton were Tony nominees.
- #017
Diane Keaton and Stephen Collins played a divorcing couple in this film, while in Because I Said So (2007) they played a marrying couple.
- #018
The outfit Morty puts on Brenda in the store (which she cannot afford) is the same one she wears in the final scene. You can tell by its off-white color, its pockets, its collar and its clear plastic buttons.
- #019
The three lead actresses were born in chronological order: Goldie Hawn in November 1945, Bette Midler in December 1945 and Diane Keaton in January 1946.
- #020
Jessica Lange was initially considered for the role of Elise Elliot Atchison.
- #021
This is the second time Diane Keaton and Jennifer Dundas played mother and daughter; the first was in Mrs. Soffel (1984).
- #022
It was included among the 500 films on the American Film Institute's 2000 list of nominees for the 100 Funniest American Films.
- #023
The theatrical trailer included fragments of scenes that were not in the final cut.
- #024
The photograph next to the answering machine in Elise's (Goldie Hawn) home is a photo of her from the role of Gloria in Foul Play.
- #025
Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg turned down the role of Phoebe LaVelle.
- #026
In the film's final scene, the three characters put on their coats and leave the building while singing and dancing. When they come out, Elise is wearing different shoes.
- #027
Eileen Heckart and Goldie Hawn both appeared in Butterflies Are Free (1972).
- #028
All three of the film's leading women celebrated their 50th birthdays on set.
- #029
Diane Keaton's character Annie "really liked" Bette Midler's uncle, the Sicilian Carmine. It is quite funny that one of Keaton's breakout roles was playing the wife of a Sicilian mobster in The Godfather films. Her character in The Godfather, unlike her character in The First Wives Club, hates the Sicilian mob.
- #030
Diane Keaton and Sarah Jessica Parker both appeared in The Family Stone (2005).
- #031
Principal photography took place over more than three months, between December 1995 and March 1996, at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York City. Among the 60 locations shown on screen are the Christie's auction house, the Bowery Bar, a suite at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Café des Artistes, the King Cole Bar at the St. Regis Hotel, Frank E. Campbell's funeral home and Barneys. Other familiar places include the Chrysler Building, the NoHo neighborhood, 5th and 7th Avenues, Riverside Drive and Central Park.
- #032
Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker appear together in the second film. (Hocus Pocus is the first.)
- #033
Dan Hedaya and Aida Linares both appeared in Clueless (1995).
- #034
Strangely, Sarah Jessica Parker appears only in the closing credits, not in the opening title sequence.
- #035
In the final musical number, Goldie Hawn's shoes were too painful to keep wearing in the same style. When the women leave the building and step out onto the street, a noticeably different shoe is visible.
- #036
This was Kathie Lee Gifford's first acting experience.
- #037
In Elise's husband's office, a signed photograph of Madonna from her True Blue era can be seen on his desk.
- #038
P. J. Hogan was originally set to direct this film.
- #039
When Elise stops at a street newsstand after her cosmetic surgery and sees the headline about Cynthia's suicide, a copy of The Wire magazine with Madonna on the cover is visible among the publications on display.
- #040
The fact that Diane Keaton's character is named "Annie" is a funny coincidence in four ways. 1. Her nickname is Annie. 2. One of her most famous roles (and her Oscar-winning role) was playing the title character in Annie Hall (1977). 3. In Father of the Bride (1991) and Father of the Bride Part II (1995), her character's daughter is named Annie (played by Kimberly Williams-Paisley), and 4. Stephen Collins (who played her ex-husband in this film) played Reverend Eric Camden in the family drama 7th Heaven (1996), in which his wife is named Annie (Catherine Hicks).
- #041
Director Hugh Wilson initially wanted Steve Guttenberg to play Duarto. Wilson directed Police Academy (1984), one of Guttenberg's biggest box-office hits. However, Guttenberg refused, thinking he could not do a French accent properly. Bronson Pinchot was later cast based on his performance in Beverly Hills Cop (1984). Had Guttenberg accepted, it would have been his second film with Wilson, after Three Men and a Baby (1987) and It Takes Two (1995), and his third with Phillip Bosco.
Continue through the archive
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- IMDb IMDb kaydı
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work