Is only 14 years older than Diana Scarwid, who played her daughter in Mommie Dearest (1981).
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".
Member of Pi Beta Phi sorority.
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).
Other actresses considered for Dunaway's breakthrough role of Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) included Natalie Wood, Sue Lyon, Carol Lynley, Leslie Caron, and even Warren Beatty's big sister Shirley MacLaine. Tuesday Weld actually turned down the role due to pregnancy.
Prior to living in a very modest New York City apartment on E. 78th St. between First and Second Aves., 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]
She auditioned for the role of Daisy that went to Mia Farrow in The Great Gatsby (1974). Her 1995 autobiography was titled "Looking for Gatsby: My Life."
She presented the Palme d'Or to Wim Wenders for Paris, Texas (1984) at the 37th Cannes Film Festival in 1984.
She studied drama at HB Studio in Greenwich Village in New York City.
The role of Evelyn Mulwray in Chinatown (1974) was originally offered to Jane Fonda. Fonda was wanted by the film's producer Robert Evans, who was also at the time chief of production at Paramount Pictures, and by director Roman Polanski and Paramount owner Charlie Bluhdorn. After lengthy negotiations, Fonda passed on the role. Evans then contacted Faye Dunaway's agent Sue Mengers and got her for the rock bottom price of $50,000, telling Mengers -- a close friend -- that he wanted Dunaway whereas everyone else wanted Fonda. Saying that he had time to intercede before Fonda signed her contract, Mengers got Dunaway to agree to the insulting offer. (Evans had explained to Mengers that after three flops in a row, Faye was a cold property.) After signing Dunaway, he told Mengers that Fonda had actually passed on the role. Mengers slammed down the phone on him. Polanski had not wanted Dunaway as his female lead due to her reputation for being temperamental, which she lived up to on the "Chinatown shoot. She received an Oscar nomination for the role.
Turned down the role in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969).
Was offered the role of Lillian Hellman in Julia (1977) but she turned it down and Jane Fonda, who went on to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance, was cast instead.
Was to replace Glenn Close as Norma Desmond in the Broadway production of "Sunset Boulevard", however was let go as Andrew Lloyd Webber felt her voice was not up to the role.