No, he wasn’t really saying “fudge.”
1. Jack Nicholson was originally interested in the role of The Old Man, but the film's budget was too small to afford him.
2. Peter Billingsley, the actor who played Ralphie, was the first child director Bob Clark saw audition. Clark figured he couldn't hire the first child he saw audition, so he auditioned thousands of others before deciding to cast Billingsley as Ralphie anyway.
3. One of the thousands of kids who auditioned was Wil Wheaton, who read for the role of Ralphie the same day as a young Sean Astin, who would go on to star in The Goonies.
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4. Clark and Billingsley remained close after filming, and Billingsley said Clark was "the most significant mentor in [his] life."
5. A Christmas Story is based on Jean Shepherd's 1966 book, In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash.
6. The book started as a series of short stories published in Playboy.
MGM
