Factual error: At Liberace's funeral, when the priest concludes his prayer, the congregation responds, "And with your Spirit." This response has only been part of the English-language Catholic Mass since 2011. In 1987, the response would have been "And also with you."
Behind the Candelabra (2013)
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Matt Damon, Dan Aykroyd, Scott Bakula, Eric Zuckerman
Continuity mistake: Liberace's mother is playing a poker machine at her son's house, with Matt Damon watching. She puts the money in and pulls the lever and waits to see if she has won. She does this over and over, but one time she puts the money in, she doesn't pull the lever, but even so the machine goes through its motions.
Continuity mistake: When Lee and Scott are in the hot tub, Lee's champagne glass is in his left hand, then it's in his right.
Trivia: Although they played mother and son in this film, Debbie Reynolds (born 1932) was only twelve years older than Michael Douglas (born 1944).
Trivia: A phrase that is traditionally attributed to Liberace is "crying all the way to the bank." Liberace used the phrase throughout his career as a response to critics who often derided his extravagance and flamboyance on stage (in spite of the fact that he was a popular and financial success). The first documented time Liberace used the phrase was following a reception at Madison Square Garden (New York City) in 1956, when he humorously remarked, "The take was terrific, but the critics killed me. My brother George cried all the way to the bank." Thereafter, Liberace used the phrase so often that, over the decades, he came to be regarded as the originator of "crying all the way to the bank"; some sources have even retro-credited him with originating the phrase as far back as 1954. However, newspaper columnist Walter Winchell apparently originated the phrase in 1946, nearly a decade before Liberace started using it.
Liberace: I love to give the people a good time.
Liberace: I hate my life sometimes, I really do.
Liberace: I have an eye for new and refreshing talent.
Scott Thorson: You have an eye for new and refreshing dick.
Question: Who did the actual piano-playing for the movie? I'm sure it couldn't have been Michael Douglas.
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Chosen answer: Michael Douglas was not playing the piano himself. Special effects were used to digitally graft Douglas' head onto the body of Philip Fortenberry, a Julliard-trained pianist who also once played at the now-closed Liberace Museum in Las Vegas.
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