Trivia

Steve McQueen named her as the best actress he ever worked with.

Despite her clashes with Roman Polanski, she referred to Chinatown (1974) as "possibly the best film I ever made".

Her performance as Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) is ranked #34 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.

Her first husband, Peter Wolf, was the lead singer of the rock band J. Geils.

Bette Davis described Dunaway as the worst person she had ever worked with in an interview with Johnny Carson in 1988, calling her "totally impossible", "uncooperative", and "very unprofessional". Dunaway denied Davis' claims in her autobiography, writing "Watching her, all I could think of was that she seemed like someone caught in a death throe, a final scream against a fate over which no one has control. I was just the target of her blind rage at the one sin Hollywood never forgives in its leading ladies: growing old.".

While working as a cocktail waitress in her last year of college, Faye was hit on so often that she went out and bought herself a cheap wedding band to keep the advances at bay.

In order to be taken seriously as an actress, she turned down a regular role on Guiding Light (1952) in 1965.

According to the DVD commentary by John Waters on Mommie Dearest (1981), Dunaway feels the film's reception ruined her career, to an extent, and she refuses to discuss the film (hence her lack of participation in its release).

Had a drug problem in her 30s.

The role of Evelyn Mulwray in Chinatown (1974) was originally marked for Ali MacGraw, wife of the film's producer Robert Evans. By the time production started, MacGraw had left Evans for actor Steve McQueen and other actresses were considered for the role. Dunaway's main competition for the role was Jane Fonda.

Cohabited with Marcello Mastroianni (1968-1970). When after two years together Marcello still refused to divorce his estranged wife and marry Faye, she broke up with him.

Her performance as Evelyn Cross Mulwray in Chinatown (1974) is ranked #36 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time.

She has appeared in four films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant": Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Little Big Man (1970), Chinatown (1974) and Network (1976).

She presented the Palme d'Or to Wim Wenders for Paris, Texas (1984) at the 37th Cannes Film Festival in 1984.

In August 2011, her New York City landlord was seeking to evict Dunaway from a rent-stabilized one-bedroom apartment, alleging she was not entitled to it since her primary residence is a house in West Hollywood.

Her small production company, Port Bascom, is named for her hometown.

One of only four actresses, along with Halle Berry, Sandra Bullock and Liza Minnelli, to win both the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Razzie Award for Worst Actress (Dunaway shared her award with Bo Derek).

She is a devout Roman Catholic and has said that she attends morning Mass regularly.

Good friends with actress Sharon Stone.

Is only 14 years older than Diana Scarwid, who played her daughter in Mommie Dearest (1981).

Attended Boston University. Gave up a Fulbright Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London to join the original training program at the Lincoln Center Repertory Theater in New York. She got her first starring role in "A Man for All Seasons" just days after graduating from college. She was the daughter of a career army man which resulted in her traveling constantly in her early life.

Converted to Roman Catholicism while in Boston, Massachusetts. (December 27, 1996)

Member of Pi Beta Phi Sorority.

Her favourite actresses include Naomi Watts, Julianne Moore, Jennifer Lawrence and Melissa McCarthy. She's also a fan of Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper.

Born 2½ months premature.

In an unprecedented envelope mix-up, she announced La La Land (2016) as the Best Picture winner at The Oscars (2017) instead of the actual winner, Moonlight (2016). (February 26, 2017)

As of 2018, has starred in four Oscar Best Picture nominees: Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Chinatown (1974), The Towering Inferno (1974) and Network (1976).

Competing for beauty titles was considered de rigueur for Southern girls in the 1950s, and Dunaway remembers in her autobiography that she was somehow convinced that she could NOT leave Florida until she won one. She missed being crowned May Queen at Leon High School in Tallahassee by a mere six votes, and had another near-miss at a title when she was voted runner up for Miss University of Florida in 1959. Dunaway finally scored her beauty crown when she was named Sweetheart of Sigma Chi, and promptly transferred to Boston University.

After playing famed opera singer Maria Callas in a touring stage production of "Master Class" in 1996, Dunaway bought the rights to the play and announced her intention of writing, directing and starring in a film version. For nearly two decades it has been in development limbo.

Is the only actor/actress to have appeared in both the 1968 version (The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)) and 1999 version (The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)) of "The Thomas Crown Affair".

Jane Fonda, Ann-Margret, Tuesday Weld and Natalie Wood were each offered Dunaway's breakthrough role of Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde (1967), which they all turned down. Other actresses up for the role included Leslie Caron (who was rejected as too old), Sue Lyon, Carol Lynley, Jean Hale, Cher, and even Warren Beatty's big sister Shirley MacLaine (before Beatty signed on to play Clyde, of course).

Moved to Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah (1954). Joined the "Skull Valley Players" and the first production was "Harvey" as Nurse Kelly. She was age 13 at the time in eighth grade. She stayed in Utah until her sophomore year in high school at Dugway.

She was honored with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on September 26, 1996.

Broke her leg a few days before filming Inconceivable (2017) but director Jonathan Baker refused to recast the role, as it had been written specifically for her, and rewrote her role so that she would be able to perform sitting down.

In the book "Son of Golden Turkey Awards" (1986) by Harry and Michael Medved, Faye won the award for "The Most Ludicrous On Screen Impersonation of a Hollywood Legend" for her performance as Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest (1981).

By her own admission in a New York Times interview many years back, she and late comedian Lenny Bruce were briefly lovers and lived together for a week, circa 1963. She was also engaged to director Jerry Schatzberg in the mid-1960s.

She was awarded Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by French culture minister Frédéric Mitterrand on May 15, 2011.

No longer smokes cigarettes (quit 1990) or drinks alcohol and has cut sugar, salt and most grains from her diet.

Studied drama at HB Studio in Greenwich Village, New York City.

Before living in a very modest New York City apartment on East 78th Street between First and Second Avenues, Dunaway had resided at the huge, sumptuous Eldorado on Central Park West.

Ranked #65 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. (October 1997)

Born to John MacDowell Dunaway, Jr. (1920-1984), a cook in the United States Army, and Grace April Hartshorn (née Smith; 1922-2004), no profession. They married in 1939 and divorced in 1955. Faye had one brother, Mac Simmion Dunaway (1942-2022), a Washington, D.C. based lawyer.

Had an affair with Robert Altman. (1972)

Dunaway was fired from the Broadway-bound play "Tea at Five" in July 2019 due to altercations between her and crew members. On August 14, the actress' former personal assistant sued her in Manhattan Supreme Court, alleging verbal harassment and discrimination. The lawsuit is currently pending.

She was considered for the role of "Betsy" in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976), which later went to Cybill Shepherd.

She is only 11 years younger than Gene Hackman, who played her father in The Chamber (1996).

She has English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry.

Was hired to replace Glenn Close as Norma Desmond in the Broadway production of "Sunset Boulevard". However, she was dismissed as Andrew Lloyd Webber felt her voice was not up to the role.

She was the first recipient of a Leopard Club Award that honors film professionals whose work has left a mark on the collective imagination. She made a rare personal appearance at the Locarno International Film Festival to accept the award.

Release of her autobiography, "Looking for Gatsby: My Life" by Faye with Betsy Sharkey. (1995)