1. Despite popular fan rumors, the famous photo of Laura Palmer is NOT actress Sheryl Lee's real-life prom photo.
2. And, for some unexplained reason, Laura Palmer's photo in the show is DIFFERENT in the feature film Fire Walk With Me.
3. The show was originally called Northwest Passage.
4. And the title may have been changed because of composer Angelo Badalementi.
When Lynch told him the title of the show, Badalemnti remarked, "David, that's something I read when I was in grammar school. You can't use that title!" Not much longer after that, the show became Twin Peaks.
5. For budgetary reasons, after shooting the pilot in Washington, the rest of the show had to be filmed in Los Angeles.
The town of Twin Peaks actually had to be re-created and built as sets in Van Nuys, California, while many of the exteriors were filmed in Malibu Canyon.
6. David Lynch and Mark Frost originally shot three different versions of the Season 1 finale.
7. And for Season 2, they filmed two different reveals of Laura Palmer's killer.
They wanted to keep the killer's true identity a complete secret, even from cast and crew.
8. In fact, production distributed false scripts on set to the cast and crew.
9. And the phony scripts had all kinds of "warnings" on them.
Things like: "This is the conclusion of the show," "Here's the killer," "Don't share this with your friend," Destroy after [reading]," and "Don't leave it anywhere."
10. The series' eerie final line, "How's Annie?" wasn't even in the original script.
11. However, the question is actually answered in a deleted scene from the prequel film Fire Walk With Me.
12. Bob (and essentially the entire mythology of the show) was a complete accident.
13. The flickering light when the "R" is being removed from under Laura Palmer's fingernail was totally accidental — there was literally just a problem with the light on set.
14. Only 5,120 people live in Twin Peaks, not 51,201 – Frost and Lynch added a "1" on the end after ABC felt the town should be "more populated."
15. The chevron pattern on the Black Lodge floor is also in David Lynch's first feature film, Eraserhead.
16. And Jack Nance, who plays Pete Martell, was the lead in Eraserhead.
17. Catherine Martell's and Lucy Moran's names are spelled wrong in the pilot episode credits.
18. Agent Cooper's full name is Dale Bartholomew Cooper.
19. Sherilyn Fenn's character Audrey Horne inspired Lynch's iconic film Mulholland Drive.
20. And Audrey's iconic shoes were actually painted Oxfords – Lynch had wanted real saddle shoes, but no one could find them (in the area).
21. Kyle MacLachlan (Agent Cooper) was the one who squashed all of our Dale-Audrey shipping dreams.
22. Although MacLachlan felt that Fenn was too young to play his love interest, Heather Graham (Annie), who DID end up playing his love interest, is actually five years younger than Fenn!
23. Audrey wasn't in the Miss Twin Peaks fashion show because Fenn straight-up didn't like the storyline.
24. Sheryl Lee (Laura Palmer) was just a local theater actress in Washington when she landed her iconic part on the show.
As was Wendy Robie (Nadine Hurley).
25. And David Lynch thought Sheryl Lee had been so great as Laura Palmer that he wrote the part of her cousin Madeleine "Maddy" Ferguson just to keep Sheryl in the show.
26. And the character is a nod to Alfred Hitchcock's iconic film Vertigo.
27. Maddy is also from Missoula, Montana, which is where David Lynch is originally from.
28. Sheryl Lee and David Lynch had even talked about there being a THIRD character for her to play.
29. The conspiracies surrounding Marilyn Monroe's death influenced the show.
30. Ray Wise (Leland Palmer) had originally gone in to meet with Lynch and Frost for the role of Sheriff Truman.
31. And he REALLY cut his hand in the scene where he dances with Laura's picture.
32. Ray Wise's hair started to fall out from having it bleached for Leland's "white hair" look.
33. Mädchen Amick was originally considered for the part of Donna Hayward. And even though she didn't get it, Frost and Lynch liked Amick so much that they created the role of Shelly for her.
34. Eric Da Re (Leo) is the son of Johanna Ray, who was the show's casting director (and a longtime Lynch collaborator).
35. Eileen Hayward (Donna's mom) is actually Emily and Zooey Deschanel's mom IRL...
36. ...and their dad directed a few episodes of the show, too!
37. In fact, Zooey often visited the set, but she wasn't allowed to watch the show.
38. Caleb was also one of the few people who actually knew the truth about who the killer was.
An assistant director called the Deschanels' house one night and left a message with Emily Deschanel about "Killer Bob" and she was "completely mystified and frightened by it."
39. Peggy Lipton, who played Norma Jennings, is Rashida Jones' mom.
40. And Russ Tamblyn (Dr. Jacoby) is Amber Tamblyn's father.
41. Tamblyn and Richard Beymer (Ben Horne) famously costarred in West Side Story as Riff and Tony, respectively...
42. In fact, Lynch and Frost said they couldn't "resist the notion of reuniting them [from West Side Story]."
43. Miguel Ferrer (Agent Albert Rosenfield) was George Clooney's cousin.
44. Ferrer, Ray Wise, and Dan O’Herlihy (Andrew Packard) were all in the original 1987 film Robocop, too.
45. Harry Goaz (Deputy Andy) was once David Lynch's driver.
46. Blue Velvet star (and David Lynch's former girlfriend) Isabella Rossellini was supposed to play the role of Josie Packard.
47. Lana Budding Milford (Robyn Lively) is Blake Lively's half-sister IRL.
48. Mrs. Tremond's grandson was played by David Lynch's actual son, Jack Lynch.
49. And David Lynch's character Gordon Cole was named after a character in Sunset Boulevard.
50. Doc Hayward (Donna's dad) was actually co-creator Mark Frost's father IRL, Warren Frost.
51. And Kyle MacLachlan's brother played this dead body in Season 2!
52. Steven Spielberg was going to direct the Season 2 premiere until David Lynch decided to do it himself.
When Mark Frost told David about the idea, Lynch said, "No, no. I think I'll direct the first one. Maybe he can direct later in the season."
53. And Diane Keaton directed an episode.
54. Dana Ashbrook (Bobby) actually had a huge crush on Diane Keaton, too.
55. Every episode directed by Lesli Linka Glatter has a convention taking place at the Great Northern hotel.
56. Russ Tamblyn actually wore the "Dr. Jacoby glasses" when he met Lynch and Frost for the first time — they were pretty much his idea.
57. Dr. Jacoby was supposedly inspired by the late ethnobotanist Terrence McKenna.
58. Michael J. Anderson (the Man From Another Place) actually knew how to speak backwards before being cast in the show – he learned how to do it as a kid.
59. Harley Peyton (one of the writers) created the name Windom Earle from the actor William Windom and Earle from the Bogart character in High Sierra, Mad Dog Roy Earle.
60. In the original script for Season 2, Episode 22, Bob played a demonic dentist in the Black Lodge.
61. Catherine Coulson (the Log Lady) got to keep her log and brought it with her to fan conventions.
62. A Japanese company even tried to buy the log from her.
But she didn't sell it to them and she kept it until her death in 2015 (where it currently resides now remains a mystery).
63. Coulson was also Jack Nance's (Pete Martell) ex-wife in real life.
64. While filming, Michael Ontkean purposefully fumbled his scenes with Joan Chen on set in order to require more takes.
65. Joan Chen and Chris Mulkey REALLY drank each other's blood.
66. David Duchovny’s first TV role was as transgender FBI agent Dennis “Denise” Bryson in Season 2.
67. Harold Smith was based on a series of books called The Inman Diaries, about a man named Harold Inman who never left his house.
68. Annette McCarthy (Evelyn Marsh) was first introduced to Twin Peaks by a personal friend...director Steven Soderbergh.
69. The scene where Evelyn and James are drinking champagne...well, they were REALLY drinking champagne.
70. Piper Laurie remained in full makeup and drag as a "famous Japanese actor" even while NOT shooting.
71. There were three books in total made as companion pieces to the show: The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, The Autobiography of F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper: My Life, My Tapes, and Welcome to Twin Peaks: An Access Guide to the Town.
72. The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer was written by Jennifer Lynch, David Lynch's daughter.
73. And it was No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list for six weeks and sold half a million copies.
74. The diary also reveals that Laura Palmer had 40 sexual partners.
75. Dale Cooper doesn't know his secretary Diane's last name.
76. Dale Cooper's favorite book is The Warren Commission Report: The Official Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
77. Nadine is one of the few characters to have no interaction with Agent Cooper.
78. Laura Palmer died on Feb. 24, 1989.
79. The zip code for Twin Peaks is 98065.
80. The special of the day at the Double R Diner was changed every episode.
81. Norma Jennings won Miss Twin Peaks in 1969.
82. Josie Packard's real name was Li Chun Fung.
83. Twin Peaks consumes more doughnuts than any town in the entire world.
84. In Episode 6, the book on Cooper's nightstand is Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.
85. Dr. Jacoby wrote a book titled The Eye of God: Sacred Psychology in the Aboriginal Mind.
86. A slice of Double R Diner's famous cherry pie will run you a whopping $2.50.
87. Queen Elizabeth II was (and probably still is?) a big fan of the show.
According to Paul McCartney, she left her own party at Buckingham Palace because Twin Peaks was on and she wanted to watch.
88. The entire theme song has lyrics.
View this video on YouTube
The song is called "Falling" and is sung by Julee Cruise — she actually sings parts of the song during the bar scene in the pilot episode.
89. And "Falling" peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Alternative charts in 1990.
90. Although the show was shot all on the West Coast, the music was made in New York.
In a little studio called Excalibur (that no longer exists).
91. The music for the pilot was also written without the musicians ever having seen any footage.
Musician Kinny Landrum (synthesizer) said, "We never scored the picture; that was all laid in after the fact."
92. "Laura Palmer's Theme" was created by David Lynch whispering and talking in Angelo Badalamenti's ear as he played a keyboard.
Lynch pretty much just described a moody, woodsy scene. And it only took 20 minutes to write!
93. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Sherilyn Fenn admitted she didn't know how to do the famous cherry stem trick and switched an already tied one hidden in her mouth. However, Mädchen Amick demonstrated in several TV interviews that SHE can do it very easily.
94. The impact of Twin Peaks was so big that both Saturday Night Live and Sesame Street parodied it.
View this video on YouTube
95. The episode "Lisa's Sax" of The Simpsons has a scene of Homer watching Twin Peaks.
96. David Bowie was supposed to reprise his role from the prequel film Fire Walk With Me in the upcoming Showtime reboot.
97. The artist who created the "Welcome to Twin Peaks" sign had to re-create it for the upcoming new season on Showtime.
98. Many fans believe that Robert Forster, who, legend has it, was offered the part of Harry S. Truman originally, will play a character introduced in The Secret History of Twin Peaks named Frank Truman. Yes...Harry S. Truman's brother.
99. And finally, David Lynch and Mark Frost had a whole plan for a Season 3 arc when the show ended back in 1991.
Facts for this post have been sourced from Reflections: An Oral History of Twin Peaks and The Secret History of Twin Peaks: A Novel unless otherwise noted.