Things You Probably Didn't Know About The 'Pirates of the Caribbean' Cast

There are tons of great stories detailing some of Johnny Depp's more generous escapades, but there are a few that slip by unnoticed. While filming Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the actor spent $64,200 of his own money on warm jackets for the 500 men and women working as crew on the film's production.

He didn't do this simply because he had some weird desire to see everyone wearing the same gear; it was a genuine act of kindness. The weather had turned rather cold and rainy, so he made sure everyone working on the film was properly outfitted and taken care of.

Since he first starred in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Johnny Depp hasn't left home without his Captain Jack costume. The reason for this is simple: He never wants to find himself in a situation where he's unable to throw on the costume and head to a children's hospital to spend some time with the kids.

Depp explained his reasoning while promoting The Lone Ranger, saying, "Sometimes you go to kiddie hospitals and things like that. I'll just sneak in and go and surprise a bunch of kiddies through the different wards... It basically turns into a two-, three-hour improvisation, and it's really fun. So I travel with Captain Jack."

While he was filming one of this many scenes as Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean, Johnny Depp received a letter from a young fan named Beatrice. In the correspondence, she pleaded with Captain Jack to come to her school and lead a mutiny against her teachers.

Without any prior notice to the school, Depp turned up at the primary school in Greenwich, South London, dressed and fully decked out as Captain Jack Sparrow. The visit went over well with everyone - and the good captain suggested to Beatrice that a mutiny wasn't the best option at that time.

Throughout the filming of all the Pirates of the Caribbean films, the cast was required to attend "Pirate School" under the expert tutelage of Bob Anderson. While his name may not be familiar to everyone, it holds a special place in Star Wars fans' hearts. Anderson is an expert swordsman who has created numerous forms of lightsaber combat.

While the actors were attending Anderson's school, they learned the proper techniques for operating cannons and swords. They were trained to use the weaponry safely, so they could appear as realistic as possible on the films' sets.

Sadly, Anderson passed in 2012, though the Olympic fencer and master swordsman is remembered for his contribution to the worlds of science fiction and fantasy. He was the one battling against Luke Skywalker while wearing the Darth Vader costume, and that's only one of his impressive credits. He also worked on the Lord of the Rings trilogy, alongside the likes of Errol Flynn and Antonio Banderas, and in many more projects.

If you look back over Orlando Bloom's film career, he's engaged in some serious stunts, but his most devastating injury didn't come from any of them. When he was 21 years old, Bloom attempted to climb a rooftop terrace with some friends. The drain pipe he was scaling collapsed, dropping him three stories, and breaking several vertebrae in his back.

Bloom was paralyzed, and the doctors told him he might never regain mobility. Fortunately, he recovered sensation within four days. But the experience ended up changing his life. Thirteen years later, he told Men's Health that he was "grateful for it." 

Bloom had multiple surgeries, followed by 18 months of rehabilitation. He overcame the injury, and the first project he jumped into after convalescing was none other than the Lord of the Rings trilogy. As Bloom explains:

I'm always working on my back. It hasn't prevented me from doing anything. But it's a constant reminder. Fear is not a friend of mine. But it's something to have a healthy awareness of. [But] I can't stop living. It would ruin my creativity, the person I am.

If you've ever noticed that actor Bill Nighy tends to throw up a lot of peace signs, like the one pictured, there's a reason for that. While he probably likes throwing the sign, the main reason he does that is that he suffers from a condition called Dupuytren's contracture. This condition causes his pinkie and ring finger on each hand to be permanently bent towards his palm.

It's something that isn't clear in the Pirates of the Caribbean due to the simple fact that his character is created via motion capture. In some of his other roles, it can be seen, but it's never created a clear impediment in his acting career.

The condition is hereditary, though Nighy didn't begin to feel any of its effects until he was an adult. In an interview with The Guardian, he was asked if the condition was painful:

Not at all. It started in my twenties. It was alarming, and I should have had an operation on them at the time, but I didn't because I was a mess and was frightened. It means I have a spooky handshake.