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The Killing of Sister George (1968)

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• It received an X rating in 1968, but was downgraded to an R in 1972. Director Robert Aldrich spent $75,000 unsuccessfully battling the X rating in court.
  
  
• The huge success of The Dirty Dozen (1967) the year before had given director Robert Aldrich the opportunity to set up Aldrich & Associates. This gave him the freedom to pursue more challenging and stimulating subject matter, of which "The Killing of Sister George" was the first example.
  
  
• The scene in the lesbian bar was filmed in a real one - the Gateways Club in London. This generated a lot of controversy, as audiences weren't used to seeing lesbians interacting so openly with each other.
  
  

• The lesbian lovemaking scene so disgusted Robert Aldrich's longtime composer friend Frank De Vol that he quit the production and didn't work with Aldrich for several years.
  
  
• Locations were filmed in London but the interiors were filmed in Los Angeles.
  
  
• The word "lesbian" is only uttered once, 100 minutes into the film.
  
  
• Angela Lansbury was offered, and refused, the role of June Buckridge.
  
  
• When first submitted in 1969 UK censor John Trevelyan refused to grant a certificate unless the seduction scene was toned down and urged all 600 local authorities to boycott the film. 12 councils, including the GLC, overrode him and showed the film with their own X certificate. After heated discussions with the distributor the kissing scene was slightly reduced and Trevelyan eventually passed the movie. All video/DVD versions of the film are the original uncut one.
  
  
• Robert Aldrich always counted this as a personal favorite of all his films.
  
  
• Beryl Reid won a Tony Award for playing Sister George on Broadway. Despite this, Robert Aldrich encountered resistance to the notion of casting her for the film, as she was generally deemed to be a comedienne.
  
  
• Bette Davis was reportedly very keen to land the part of Sister George.
  
  
• Last film of Meier Tzelniker.
  
  

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