- Praised by Alfred Hitchcock as the best director ever.
- Liked to daydream, and his imaginations were frequently to play tricks to his friends and, in Mexico, one of his favorite "victims" was the Spanish screenwriter Luis Alcoriza. During a hunting party, Alcoriza saw an eaglet on a tree and knocked it down with the first shot but then he found a price tag on a paw: it was a stuffed bird put there by Buñuel.
- Rejected an offer from Salvador Dalí to direct a sequel to Un chien andalou (1929) in 1966.
- Besides his native Spanish, he spoke fluent French and English.
- Was voted the 14th Greatest Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
- Loathed Salvador Dalí's wife, Gala Dalí.
- Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1954
- Educated at Jesuit schools before attending the University of Madrid. While there he formed friendships with Salvador Dali and Federico Garcia-Lorca.
- In the 5th edition of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (edited by Steven Jay Schneider), 9 of his films are listed: Un chien andalou (1929), L'Age d'Or (1930), Las Hurdes (1933), The Young and the Damned (1950), The Young One (1960), Viridiana (1961), Belle de Jour (1967), Tristana (1970) and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972).
- Became a Mexican citizen in 1949.
- Worked as chief editor and chief of the writer department of the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1939-1943)
- Father of film-maker Rafael Buñuel.
- Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 71-92. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.
- 30 Film retrospective on the Berlinale in 2008.
- Grandfather of Diego Bunuel.
- In his youth, Buñuel was deeply religious, serving at Mass and taking Communion every day, until, at the age of 16, he grew disgusted with what he perceived as the illogicality of the Church, along with its power and wealth.
- Directed one Oscar nominated performance: Dan O'Herlihy in Robinson Crusoe (1954).
- Father of Juan Luis Buñuel
- Seven of Buñuel's films are included in Sight & Sound's 2012 critics' poll of the top 250 films of all time.
- Was father-in-law of filmmaker Joyce Buñuel.
- Woody Allen offered Bunuel $30,000 to make a cameo appearance as himself in Annie Hall (1977). It was for the scene outside a movie theater in which Allen shuts down a pompous academic by conveniently producing (in person) the very auteur whose work they are arguing about. Bunuel declined because he was working on his last film, That Obscure Object of Desire (1977). Allen ultimately adapted the part for media philosopher Marshall McLuhan.
- In 1971, when Tristana (1970) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, Bunuel told a journalist, "Nothing would disgust me more, morally, than receiving an Oscar". When The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) actually won the award in that category, the director was not present at the ceremony. Academy rules required an official photograph of the recipient holding the Oscar, so when the statuette was brought to him in Mexico, Bunuel posed for the pic wearing a joke disguise of white wig, fake mustache, and big glasses with surreal eyes painted on the lenses.
- When Bunuel died the Mexican government proposed giving him a state funeral. His family turned down the offer, respecting his wishes for a small private ceremony and cremation.
- Bunuel was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1968 and 1972.
- From his late 30s Bunuel suffered increasing hearing loss and in his later years was virtually deaf. This caused him much anguish in his personal life, but he continued to maintain tight control over the sound design of his films.
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