Trivia / Topkapi

• Life Imitates Art: Six weeks after the release of this movie, a real-life heist took place at a New York City museum. Although twenty-two gems were stolen, they were recovered within forty-eight hours.
• What Could Have Been: According to Jules Dassin, he originally planned to cast Peter Sellers as Simpson, but Sellers refused to work with Maximilian Schell, who he claimed had a reputation for being difficult. Dassin was not prepared to dispense with Schell, and so cast Ustinov in place of Sellers. Dassin also hoped to cast Orson Welles as Cedric Page.

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