Hollywood myths and legends debunked

Everyone likes a good urban legend, and Hollywood is no different. From ghosts and suicides apparently caught on camera to directors embellishing their early beginnings, we've taken a look at the juiciest film myths.

Munchkin suicide    
It may be a cherished family classic but did you know, according to legend, that a scene in 'The Wizard of Oz', featuring Dorothy and co. walking along the yellow brick road, includes them passing a 'munchkin' actor who had committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree in the background?

The legend reads as thus: one of the diminutive actors was nursing a broken heart and decided to end his life on the set of the film. Not realising what they had caught with their footage, the film's bosses tried to hush up the incident after their huge budget family film supposedly included a real life suicide.

It's easy to see why it became one of Hollywood's biggest urban legends, but it's actually false. While the suicide angle of the story began circulating in the late '80s, the jerky movements seen in the background of the shot were the subject of much discussion long before that, having been attributed to a stagehand not realising he was on camera.

However, it has now been explained that it was one of the birds acquired from a zoo for the scene simply spreading his wings.

Spielberg's ambitious start
You'd think someone as talented as Steven Spielberg was destined for a glittering career behind the camera (a no-budget film he made as a teenager with his school friends was played at his local cinema). However, if you believed Spielberg's version of events, he only got his movie break after sneaking into Universal Studios and pretending he worked there over a three-month period, which saw him buy a suit and briefcase and take over a disused room as his 'office'.

It cemented Spielberg's status as one of Hollywood's rising talents — he was brash, ambitious and hugely confident. It's a shame, then, that it was false.

During subsequent interviews with the director over the years (he reportedly first mentioned it in the late '60s) there would be different versions of the events, as well as changes to the actual date it was supposed to have happened.

In actual fact, how Spielberg got to work at Universal is an altogether more mundane tale and an example of the old adage 'It's not what you know, but who you know'. His father knew someone who knew someone at the studio, allowing Spielberg to make contacts and, through luck and hard work, get his big break.

Not quite as sexy then, but at least he highlighted the kind of active imagination later utilised in his best films.

The hoverboards in 'Back to the Future Part II' were real
Who wouldn't want a hoverboard after seeing 'Back to the Future Part II'? They were flying skateboards!

And in what was a clear attempt to exploit the excitement of young cinemagoers at the time, a rumour that the hoverboards were real, and would be available in shops shortly after the film's release, was circulated. It was said that toy manufacturer Mattel then had second thoughts when a worker was killed road-testing them. The rumour was given credence when director Robert Zemeckis, tired of answering questions about them, revealed that hoverboards were indeed real.

He was joking of course. Hoverboards were sadly nothing but another Hollywood myth. Of course, if the film's depiction of 2015 was accurate, we should expect those skateboards flying their way to us five years from now.

Jack Palance read out the wrong name at the Oscars
"And the Oscar goes to… Marisa Tomei."

That's what was heard during the 1993 awards, with Jack Palance telling the surprised audience that Tomei's charming but slight performance in 'My Cousin Vinny' won the best supporting actress trophy ahead of thespians like Vanessa Redgrave.

However, not long after her win, rumours began to circulate that the eccentric Palance was so drunk he had read out the wrong name by mistake.

The rumour has since spread like wildfire, but Oscar bosses have always heavily denied it. In fact, they have measures in place for exactly this sort of scenario — Oscar officials have been stationed near the stage since the '50s to correct any mistakes that might occur.

A ghost in 'Three Men and a Baby'
One of the more popular film urban legends involves an indoor scene in the 1987 film featuring Ted Danson's character and his on-screen mother. A figure of what appears to be a young boy can be seen peering from the curtains.

The rumour that it was the ghost of a boy who died in the house started soon after the video release, prompting much media attention — despite the simple overlooked fact that the scene was shot in a soundstage, not a real house.

The figure was nothing more than a cardboard cut-out of Danson's struggling actor character Jack. The cut-out was explained in the script, but those scenes were left on the cutting room floor.

Sidenote: It has also been claimed that the rumour was in fact started by the film's bosses to promote the video release and generate more interest for the sequel 'Three Men and a Little Lady'.

Walt Disney's body was placed in a cryonic chamber
One of the most enduring Hollywood urban legends, and yet, like so many, it's totally without foundation (and possibly a tad ridiculous).

The man behind some of the greatest animated films of all time died in 1966, and is believed to have been cremated.

However, due to Walt Disney's eccentric nature and the lack of information regarding his burial (no details were made public), someone put two and two together and came up with the idea that he was suspended in ice underneath the Magic Kingdom. As you do.