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5 unusual facts about The King of Marvin Gardens


Blood and Wine

Rafelson has stated that the film forms the final part of his unofficial trilogy with Nicholson, with whom he made Five Easy Pieces and The King of Marvin Gardens in the 1970s.

The King of Marvin Gardens

The film was one of several collaborations between Jack Nicholson and Bob Rafelson, which included the cult 1968 Monkees film Head and Five Easy Pieces (1970), which established both men as major figures in Hollywood.

David (Jack Nicholson) and Jason (Bruce Dern) are estranged siblings, the former a depressive late-night radio talk show host, the latter an extrovert con man.

Dern and Nicholson had previously worked together in Psych-Out (1968) and Rebel Rousers (1970) and Nicholson and Scatman Crothers subsequently co-starred in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980).

Traymore Hotel

It can be seen in several exterior scenes of the 1972 Bob Rafelson film The King of Marvin Gardens, which was shot in Atlantic city only a few months before the building was demolished.


Conrad Yama

Highlights include The King of Marvin Gardens, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, the made for TV version of Year of the Dragon as Pa Eng, the father of George Takei's character, and Midway as Admiral Nobutake Kondō.


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