- Adopted his "Henry Higgins" hat as his favorite form of headwear. {MY FAIR LADY}
- Favorite beverage was Guinness Stout.
- Frequently wore a specific ring with a dark square-cut stone, on his pinky finger of his left hand. It appears in almost all of his films. {TRUE!!! Saw it in "MY FAIR LADY"}
- Blind in one eye as the result of a childhood illness.
- Once punched
Frank Sinatra in the jaw, thinking the singer was hitting on his wife,
Lilli Palmer. Afterwards the two men became good friends.
- Is the basis for the voice of Stewie Griffin on
"Family Guy" (1999).
- Despite extensive vocal training after landing the part of Henry Higgins in
My Fair Lady (1964), he was unable to sing a note. In the end the director gave up and told him to quasi-speak the whole thing.
- He had a reputation for being very abrupt with his fans. One night, after a stage performance of "My Fair Lady", it was late, cold and pouring with rain and there was an old woman standing alone outside the Stage Door. When she saw Rex, she asked him for his autograph. Rex told her to "Sod off", and the old woman was so enraged at this that she rolled up her program and hit him with it.
Stanley Holloway, who had followed Rex out in time to see this, congratulated him on not only making theater history but, for the first time in world history, "the fan has hit the shit!".
- Discovered
Carole Landis' body the day she committed suicide. He had dined with her the previous night.
- His first name [Rex] means 'King' in Latin.
- When filming
Doctor Dolittle (1967), was frequently bitten by the animals.
- [When asked if he received any special privileges upon becoming a knight]: "Alas, no. In the old days I believe you at least got a couple of horses out of the deal."
- "There is always a struggle, a striving for something bigger than yourself in all forms of art. And even if you don't achieve greatness, even if you fail, which we all must, everything you do in your work is somehow connected with your attitude toward life, your deepest secret feelings."
[COURTESY OF: www.imdb.com]