Before accepting the role of Senator Ralph Owen Brewster in The Aviator, Alan Alda had never heard of the man. Nor had he seen any photographs.

"Scorsese asked me if I'd be in this movie and I was so flattered to be in a film with Martin Scorsese," Alda later recalled. "I felt so flattered. And then, after I'm in the movie, they send me research and I see a picture of the guy I'm going to play: The ugliest man I ever saw!"

[Alda was later nominated for an Oscar for the role.]