What a Way To Go!
Brief Synopsis
A very wealthy widow retells her life with the four different husbands who made her rich.
Cast & Crew
Read More
J. Lee Thompson
Director
Shirley Maclaine
Louisa
Paul Newman
Larry Flint
Robert Mitchum
Rod Anderson
Dean Martin
Leonard Crawley
Gene Kelly
Jerry Benson
Film Details
Genre
Comedy
Musical
Release Date
Jan
1964
Premiere Information
New York opening: 14 May 1964
Production Company
Apjac Productions, Inc.; Orchard Productions
Distribution Company
Twentieth Century--Fox Film Corp.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 51m
Sound
Mono
Color
Color (DeLuxe)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
2.35 : 1
Synopsis
Louisa Benson's offer to give the U. S. Government all of her wealth, amounting to more than $200 million, is refused because the gift is made in the form of a personal check. Distressed, Louisa consults psychiatrist Victor Stephanson and tells him the story of her life, in which every man she married died shortly after the wedding. Rebelling against her money-hungry mother, Louisa, who wants a simple life, rejects Leonard Crawley, her hometown's richest boy, to marry Edgar Hopper, a carefree storekeeper with little interest in money. Their marriage is happy until Leonard ridicules the threadbare manner in which Edgar supports his wife. Stung, Edgar becomes a successful merchant--ruining Crawley in the process--and literally works himself to death, leaving Louisa a rich young widow. She goes to Paris and meets and marries taxi driver Larry Flint, who is also an unsuccessful modern artist and the inventor of a machine that converts sound into oil paintings. Their union is idyllic until Louisa feeds classical music into the machine and creates a very successful painting. By building more machines and using music, Larry becomes an enormously rich artist until he gets entangled in his machines and is killed, leaving Louisa even wealthier. For her next husband she chooses millionaire-industrialist Rod Anderson on the premise that an already wealthy man would change her luck. Rod's neglect of his empire for Louisa perversely triples his fortune. She persuades him to retire to a farm, and Rod is killed by an angry bull he mistakenly attempts to milk. Louisa's fourth husband is song-and-dance man Jerry "Pinky" Benson, who has worked in the same dingy nightclub for years performing a clown act so corny that customers never look up from their food or drink. All is perfect until Pinky, at Louisa's suggestion, goes on without costume or makeup; he does his number as a ballad and is a sensation. He rapidly becomes a top movie star but he is trampled to death by his adoring fans at a premiere . As Louisa finishes her story, the Internal Revenue Service calls Dr. Stephanson to tell him Louisa's check is good, and he faints, having thought her wealth a fantasy. A janitor who shuffles in as Louisa is trying to revive Stephanson turns out to be Leonard Crawley, her first beau, who never regained his wealth. Louisa marries him, and they go to live on a rundown farm. There they are ecstatically poor until a hole in their field threatens their happiness when it begins to spout oil. To Louisa's relief, they learn it is merely a break in an oil company pipeline.
Director
J. Lee Thompson
Director
Cast
Shirley Maclaine
Louisa
Paul Newman
Larry Flint
Robert Mitchum
Rod Anderson
Dean Martin
Leonard Crawley
Gene Kelly
Jerry Benson
Bob Cummings
Dr. Stephanson
Dick Van Dyke
Edgar Hopper
Reginald Gardiner
Painter
Margaret Dumont
Mrs. Foster
Lou Nova
Trentino
Fifi D'orsay
Baroness
Maurice Marsac
René
Wally Vernon
Agent
Jane Wald
Polly
Lenny Kent
Hollywood lawyer
Marjorie Bennett
Mrs. Freeman
Christopher Connelly
Ned
Barbara Bouchet
Girl on plane
Tom Conway
Lord Kensington
Queenie Leonard
Lady Kensington
Antony Eustrel
Willard
Sid Gould
Movie executive
Paula Lane
Movie executive's girl
Army Archerd
TV announcer
Tracy Butler
Movie star
Anton Arnold
Mr. Foster
Roy Gordon
Minister
Burt Mustin
Crawleyville lawyer
Billy Corcoran
Leonard Crawley, age 7
Jeff Fithian
Jonathan Crawley, age 5
Pamelyn Ferdin
Geraldine Crawley, age 4
Helene Winston
Doris
Jack Greening
Chester
Phil Arnold
Publicity and press agent
Dick Wilson
Driscoll
Crew
L. B. Abbott
Special Photography Effects
M. Abrahams
Prop
Don Anderson
Camera Operator
Leon Charles
Dial coach
Betty Comden
Composer
Betty Comden
Screenwriter
Red Crawford
Camera Operator
Gwen Davis
Story
Margaret Donovan
Supervisor hairstyles
William Eckhardt
Unit Production Manager
John Flynn
Assistant Director
Marjorie Fowler
Film Editor
John Franco
Script Supervisor
Bernard Freericks
Sound
Adolph Green
Composer
Adolph Green
Screenwriter
Sydney Guilaroff
Hairstyles for Miss Maclaine created by
Fred Hall
Gaffer
Ted Haworth
Art Director
Edith Head
Miss Maclaine's gowns Designer
Richard Humphrey
Choreography & Assistant
Arthur P. Jacobs
Producer
Mark Kaufman
Stills
Gene Kelly
Choreography
Emil Kosa Jr.
Special Photography Effects
Moss Mabry
Men's Wardrobe
William Mahan
Assistant to the prod
Leo Mccreary
Grip
James Mitchell
Stills
Arthur Morton
Orchestration
Ben Nye
Makeup Supervisor
Lloyd Phillips
Grip
Elmer Raguse
Sound
Stuart A. Reiss
Set Decoration
Nelson Riddle
Music
Anthony Samaniego
Boom Operator
Walter M. Scott
Set Decoration
Pat Shade
Film Editor
Leon Shamroy
Director of Photography
Fred R. Simpson
Assistant Director
Toby Skarstedt
Makeup
Dick Smith
Makeup
Jack Martin Smith
Art Director
Jule Styne
Composer
J. Lee Thompson
Company
Les Warner
Assistant Director
Bill Wells
Recording
Frank Westmore
Makeup
Film Details
Genre
Comedy
Musical
Release Date
Jan
1964
Premiere Information
New York opening: 14 May 1964
Production Company
Apjac Productions, Inc.; Orchard Productions
Distribution Company
Twentieth Century--Fox Film Corp.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 51m
Sound
Mono
Color
Color (DeLuxe)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
2.35 : 1
Award Nominations
Best Art Direction
1964
Best Costume Design
1964
Edith Head
Best Costume Design
1964
Moss Mabry
Articles
What a Way to Go!
A very wealthy widow retells her life with the four different husbands who made her rich.
What a Way to Go!
A very wealthy widow retells her life with the four different husbands who made her rich.
What a Way to Go! - What a Way To Go! on DVD
What a hodgepodge of a cast: Shirley MacLaine in a role once meant for Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, Dick Van Dyke, Gene Kelly, Bob Cummings and Margaret Dumont. That's right, tough guy Mitchum and haughty Marx Brothers foil Dumont actually appeared in a movie together. Who'd've thunk it? But, aside from Dino, who's in scenes with Van Dyke and Cummings, none of the men ever interact, as the comedy episodically unfurls through the flashbacks of MacLaine's Louisa May Foster. After an opening in which she tries to give her sizable fortune to the government, she's sent to shrink Cummings, who puts her on the couch and gets her to open up about her many dead husbands, launching the flashbacks.
We see her childhood, when domineering mom Dumont incessantly preached the importance of marrying a rich man, which caused Louisa to rebel by dumping the guy whose family owned the town (Martin) in favor of a Thoreau-reading eccentric (Van Dyke). In a pattern that repeats throughout the movie, Louisa's quest for "the simple life" falls victim to her husbands' changes of heart. The Thoreau reader neglects her to challenge ex-rival Martin's domination of their town's retail business; the beatnik painter (Paul Newman) she then marries becomes obsessed with selling paintings after his first taste of art money; the small-time song-and-dance man (Kelly) she later marries becomes a big star, complete with inflated ego and condescending love for "the little people." Each dies as a consequence of chasing a buck, leaving Louisa more wealthy and more miserable each time. (The exception to the pattern is Mitchum's character, a tycoon who's already rich and who dies from a bizarre farming accident after Louisa convinces him to settle down.)
The actors' roles arrive as definite star turns, the performances delivered with half-winks at times, and What a Way to Go! strives for the frothy, slightly campy feel of the Rock Hudson and Doris Day comedies of its era. While that pastel vibe succeeds on a superficial level - Edith Head designed a number of over-the-tops outfits for MacLaine - the movie never gets funny enough to really feel like the parody of American capitalism it wants to be. Each husband's sequence also includes a movie spoof, set up by Louisa telling the shrink life with each was initially like a "wonderful old silent movie" (Van Dyke sequence), "one of those ridiculously romantic French movies" (for the Paris-set Newman sequence), "one of those glamorous movies about love and what you'll wear next" (Mitchum sequence) and "a big gay musical number from one of those Hollywood musicals" (Kelly sequence). There are a few amusing bits in these parodies, like MacLaine sporting a Bardot wig in the French send-up, but they rarely go beyond one obvious gag (silent comedy is wacky!). Most problematic is the lavish, Kelly-choreographed sequence that veers between intentionally bad singing and dancing and intentionally good singing and dancing. Its individual pieces can satisfy; altogether, they make a headscratcher.
What a Way to Go! acts as if it's more absurd and amusing than it actually is, which is never a becoming quality. Betty Comden and Adolph Green's screenplay seems middling at best, but much of the blame must be leveled at the odd choice of J. Lee Thompson as director. Thompson's lengthy career peaked shortly before What a Way to Go!, with the Oscar®-winning The Guns of Navarone and the original Cape Fear, featuring Mitchum's still-astonishing performance. He was a hot director at the time, and Fox hired him to do a movie for which he proved to be inappropriate. How could Fox have mistaken him for Frank Tashlin?
The What a Way to Go! disc includes a pair of notable ballyhoo extras not even mentioned on the disc's packaging. One is a puffy newsreel report about the auditions for the painting chimp in Newman's sequence; the other is an old Fox promo film about the movie's premiere at the 1964 New York World's Fair. The latter shows that, both in What a Way to Go! and off-screen, '64 was a bad hair year for MacLaine.
For more information about What a Way to Go!, visit Image Entertainment. To order What a Way to Go!, go to TCM Shopping.
by Paul Sherman
What a Way to Go! - What a Way To Go! on DVD
What a Way to Go! may be the most curious, jaw-dropping 1960s collision of Hollywood humanity this side of Skidoo (1968). If only I could report it was as interesting as Otto Preminger's more outrageous comedy.
What a hodgepodge of a cast: Shirley MacLaine in a role once meant for Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, Dick Van Dyke, Gene Kelly, Bob Cummings and Margaret Dumont. That's right, tough guy Mitchum and haughty Marx Brothers foil Dumont actually appeared in a movie together. Who'd've thunk it? But, aside from Dino, who's in scenes with Van Dyke and Cummings, none of the men ever interact, as the comedy episodically unfurls through the flashbacks of MacLaine's Louisa May Foster. After an opening in which she tries to give her sizable fortune to the government, she's sent to shrink Cummings, who puts her on the couch and gets her to open up about her many dead husbands, launching the flashbacks.
We see her childhood, when domineering mom Dumont incessantly preached the importance of marrying a rich man, which caused Louisa to rebel by dumping the guy whose family owned the town (Martin) in favor of a Thoreau-reading eccentric (Van Dyke). In a pattern that repeats throughout the movie, Louisa's quest for "the simple life" falls victim to her husbands' changes of heart. The Thoreau reader neglects her to challenge ex-rival Martin's domination of their town's retail business; the beatnik painter (Paul Newman) she then marries becomes obsessed with selling paintings after his first taste of art money; the small-time song-and-dance man (Kelly) she later marries becomes a big star, complete with inflated ego and condescending love for "the little people." Each dies as a consequence of chasing a buck, leaving Louisa more wealthy and more miserable each time. (The exception to the pattern is Mitchum's character, a tycoon who's already rich and who dies from a bizarre farming accident after Louisa convinces him to settle down.)
The actors' roles arrive as definite star turns, the performances delivered with half-winks at times, and What a Way to Go! strives for the frothy, slightly campy feel of the Rock Hudson and Doris Day comedies of its era. While that pastel vibe succeeds on a superficial level - Edith Head designed a number of over-the-tops outfits for MacLaine - the movie never gets funny enough to really feel like the parody of American capitalism it wants to be. Each husband's sequence also includes a movie spoof, set up by Louisa telling the shrink life with each was initially like a "wonderful old silent movie" (Van Dyke sequence), "one of those ridiculously romantic French movies" (for the Paris-set Newman sequence), "one of those glamorous movies about love and what you'll wear next" (Mitchum sequence) and "a big gay musical number from one of those Hollywood musicals" (Kelly sequence). There are a few amusing bits in these parodies, like MacLaine sporting a Bardot wig in the French send-up, but they rarely go beyond one obvious gag (silent comedy is wacky!). Most problematic is the lavish, Kelly-choreographed sequence that veers between intentionally bad singing and dancing and intentionally good singing and dancing. Its individual pieces can satisfy; altogether, they make a headscratcher.
What a Way to Go! acts as if it's more absurd and amusing than it actually is, which is never a becoming quality. Betty Comden and Adolph Green's screenplay seems middling at best, but much of the blame must be leveled at the odd choice of J. Lee Thompson as director. Thompson's lengthy career peaked shortly before What a Way to Go!, with the Oscar®-winning The Guns of Navarone and the original Cape Fear, featuring Mitchum's still-astonishing performance. He was a hot director at the time, and Fox hired him to do a movie for which he proved to be inappropriate. How could Fox have mistaken him for Frank Tashlin?
The What a Way to Go! disc includes a pair of notable ballyhoo extras not even mentioned on the disc's packaging. One is a puffy newsreel report about the auditions for the painting chimp in Newman's sequence; the other is an old Fox promo film about the movie's premiere at the 1964 New York World's Fair. The latter shows that, both in What a Way to Go! and off-screen, '64 was a bad hair year for MacLaine.
For more information about What a Way to Go!, visit Image Entertainment. To order What a Way to Go!, go to
TCM Shopping.
by Paul Sherman
TCM Remembers - J. Lee Thompson
TCM REMEMBERS J. LEE THOMPSON, 1914 - 2002
Oscar-nominated director J. Lee Thompson died August 30th at the age of 88. Though he worked in several genres, Thompson was best-known for his action films. Thompson was born in Bristol England on August 1, 1914. After graduating from college he became a playwright and it was the appearance of one of his plays on London's famous West End that got him noticed by the British film studio, Elstree. His first filmed script was The Pride of Folly in 1937 and others appeared sporadically until his career was side-tracked during the war when Thompson served in the RAF as a B-29 tail gunner. (He also reportedly worked as a dialogue coach on Hitchcock's Jamaica Inn, 1939.) Thompson's directorial debut came in 1950 when he adapted his own play Double Error to the screen as Murder Without Crime. Throughout the decade he directed a variety of dramas and comedies until hitting it big in 1958 with Ice Cold in Alex (released in the US minus 50 minutes under the title Desert Attack). It was nominated for three BAFTAs and was enough of a commercial success that Thompson landed the film that made his career: The Guns of Navarone (1961). This enormous international hit snagged Thompson an Oscar nomination for Best Director. He immediately followed that with the original Cape Fear (1962) and his reputation was set. Though Thompson remained active almost three more decades he didn't reach that level again. He worked on Westerns (Mackenna's Gold, 1969), horror films (Eye of the Devil, 1967), literary adaptations (Huckleberry Finn, 1974) and others. During this time, Thompson directed two Planet of the Apes sequels but was kept most busy working with Charles Bronson, for whom he directed nine films. Thompson's last film was in 1989.
KATRIN CARTLIDGE, 1961 - 2002
The news of actress Katrin Cartlidge's death at the age of 41 has come as a shock. It's not just the age but the thought that even though Cartlidge was already a major actress--despite a slender filmography--she held out the promise of even greater work, a promise that so few artists of any type can make. "Fearless" is perhaps the word most often used to describe Cartlidge but emotions are never enough for an actor; much more is required. Director Mike Leigh said she had "the objective eye of an artist" while remarking on her "her deep-seated suspicion of all forms of woolly thinking and received ideas."
Cartlidge was born in London on May 15, 1961. Her first acting work was on the stage, in tiny independent theatres before she was selected by Peter Gill for the National Theatre. Cartlidge also worked as a dresser at the Royal Court where she later made one of her final stage appearances. She began appearing in the popular British TV series Brookside before making her first film in 1985, Sacred Hearts. A small role in the Robbie Coltrane-Rik Mayall vehicle Eat the Rich (1987) followed before Cartlidge had her first leading role in Mike Leigh's scathing Naked (1993).
Cartlidge never took a safe approach in her films. She told The Guardian that "I try to work with film-makers who I feel will produce something original, revealing and provoking. If something provokes a reaction, it's well worth doing." You can see this in her choice of projects. Before the Rain (1994) dramatized violence in Macedonia in the wake of the Yugoslavian break-up and made Cartlidge something of a star in the area. She appeared in Lars Von Trier's controversial look at redemption, Breaking the Waves (1996), Leigh's sharply detailed story of aging friends Career Girls (1997), as one of Jack the Ripper's victims in From Hell (2001), as a call girl trying to leave the business in Clair Dolan (1998) and in the Oscar-winning film about Bosnia-Herzegovina, No Man's Land (2001). Her last work included a BBC adaptation of Crime and Punishment (2002), playing Salvador Dali's wife Gala in the BBC comedy-drama Surrealissimo (2002) and an appearance in Rosanna Arquette's directorial debut, Searching for Debra Winger (also 2002), a documentary about women in the film industry.
Cartlidge died September 7th from septicaemia brought on by pneumonia.
TCM REMEMBERS LEO MCKERN, 1920-2002
The recent death of Leo McKern, 82, marked the passing of one of Britain's finest and most respected character actors. He was suffering from ill health in recent years and was moved to a nursing home a few weeks before his death on July 23 2002 in Bath, England. An actor of commanding presence with a deep-throated voice, the portly, bulbous-nosed McKern had a long, distinguished career spanning more than half a century, earning numerous plaudits along the way in all major mediums: theatre, film and television.
Born Reginald McKern on March 16, 1920 in Sydney, Australia; he served with the Australian Army during World War II and worked in regional theatre in his native Sydney before immigrating to England in 1946. It was a slow start, but after a three-year apprenticeship of painting scenery, stage-managing and acting, McKern eventually joined the celebrated Old Vic theatrical company in 1949 and proved one of the more versatile actors in the troupe tackling diverse roles in comedy, the classics and serious contemporary parts.
His film debut came in Murder in the Cathedral (1952) but it took a few years before he made his mark in cinema. Some of his best film work included roles as Peter Sellers' comic henchman in the classic satire The Mouse That Roared (1959); a bungling train robber in the charming Disney film The Horse Without a Head (1963); a nefarious professor who kills off his colleagues for amusement in the brilliant black comedy A Jolly Bad Fellow (1964); Clang, a cartoonish villain in the Beatles' pop film Help! (1965); Cromwell, the persecutor of Sir Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons (1966) and as Thomas Ryan in the David Lean drama, Ryan's Daughter (1970).
Yet despite all the accolades McKern earned in theatre and films, it was television where he foundinternational fame as the wily, irascible barrister Horace P. Rumpole in John Mortimer's Rumpole of the Bailey in 1975. Infusing the character with beguiling skill and energy, McKern made the acerbic, wine swilling, Tennyson-quoting Rumpole a much loved figure that was adored by critics, audiences and even its creator Mortimer. Perhaps Mortimer offered the most fitting tribute when he once referred to McKern - "His acting exists where I always hope my writing will be: about two feet above the ground, a little larger than life, but always taking off from reality." Enough said.
By Michael T. Toole
TCM Remembers - J. Lee Thompson
TCM REMEMBERS J. LEE THOMPSON, 1914 - 2002
Oscar-nominated director J. Lee Thompson died August 30th at the age of 88. Though he worked in several genres, Thompson was best-known for his action films. Thompson was born in Bristol England on August 1, 1914. After graduating from college he became a playwright and it was the appearance of one of his plays on London's famous West End that got him noticed by the British film studio, Elstree. His first filmed script was The Pride of Folly in 1937 and others appeared sporadically until his career was side-tracked during the war when Thompson served in the RAF as a B-29 tail gunner. (He also reportedly worked as a dialogue coach on Hitchcock's Jamaica Inn, 1939.) Thompson's directorial debut came in 1950 when he adapted his own play Double Error to the screen as Murder Without Crime. Throughout the decade he directed a variety of dramas and comedies until hitting it big in 1958 with Ice Cold in Alex (released in the US minus 50 minutes under the title Desert Attack). It was nominated for three BAFTAs and was enough of a commercial success that Thompson landed the film that made his career: The Guns of Navarone (1961). This enormous international hit snagged Thompson an Oscar nomination for Best Director. He immediately followed that with the original Cape Fear (1962) and his reputation was set. Though Thompson remained active almost three more decades he didn't reach that level again. He worked on Westerns (Mackenna's Gold, 1969), horror films (Eye of the Devil, 1967), literary adaptations (Huckleberry Finn, 1974) and others. During this time, Thompson directed two Planet of the Apes sequels but was kept most busy working with Charles Bronson, for whom he directed nine films. Thompson's last film was in 1989.
KATRIN CARTLIDGE, 1961 - 2002
The news of actress Katrin Cartlidge's death at the age of 41 has come as a shock. It's not just the age but the thought that even though Cartlidge was already a major actress--despite a slender filmography--she held out the promise of even greater work, a promise that so few artists of any type can make. "Fearless" is perhaps the word most often used to describe Cartlidge but emotions are never enough for an actor; much more is required. Director Mike Leigh said she had "the objective eye of an artist" while remarking on her "her deep-seated suspicion of all forms of woolly thinking and received ideas."
Cartlidge was born in London on May 15, 1961. Her first acting work was on the stage, in tiny independent theatres before she was selected by Peter Gill for the National Theatre. Cartlidge also worked as a dresser at the Royal Court where she later made one of her final stage appearances. She began appearing in the popular British TV series Brookside before making her first film in 1985, Sacred Hearts. A small role in the Robbie Coltrane-Rik Mayall vehicle Eat the Rich (1987) followed before Cartlidge had her first leading role in Mike Leigh's scathing Naked (1993).
Cartlidge never took a safe approach in her films. She told The Guardian that "I try to work with film-makers who I feel will produce something original, revealing and provoking. If something provokes a reaction, it's well worth doing." You can see this in her choice of projects. Before the Rain (1994) dramatized violence in Macedonia in the wake of the Yugoslavian break-up and made Cartlidge something of a star in the area. She appeared in Lars Von Trier's controversial look at redemption, Breaking the Waves (1996), Leigh's sharply detailed story of aging friends Career Girls (1997), as one of Jack the Ripper's victims in From Hell (2001), as a call girl trying to leave the business in Clair Dolan (1998) and in the Oscar-winning film about Bosnia-Herzegovina, No Man's Land (2001). Her last work included a BBC adaptation of Crime and Punishment (2002), playing Salvador Dali's wife Gala in the BBC comedy-drama Surrealissimo (2002) and an appearance in Rosanna Arquette's directorial debut, Searching for Debra Winger (also 2002), a documentary about women in the film industry.
Cartlidge died September 7th from septicaemia brought on by pneumonia.
TCM REMEMBERS LEO MCKERN, 1920-2002
The recent death of Leo McKern, 82, marked the passing of one of Britain's finest and most respected character actors. He was suffering from ill health in recent years and was moved to a nursing home a few weeks before his death on July 23 2002 in Bath, England. An actor of commanding presence with a deep-throated voice, the portly, bulbous-nosed McKern had a long, distinguished career spanning more than half a century, earning numerous plaudits along the way in all major mediums: theatre, film and television.
Born Reginald McKern on March 16, 1920 in Sydney, Australia; he served with the Australian Army during World War II and worked in regional theatre in his native Sydney before immigrating to England in 1946. It was a slow start, but after a three-year apprenticeship of painting scenery, stage-managing and acting, McKern eventually joined the celebrated Old Vic theatrical company in 1949 and proved one of the more versatile actors in the troupe tackling diverse roles in comedy, the classics and serious contemporary parts.
His film debut came in Murder in the Cathedral (1952) but it took a few years before he made his mark in cinema. Some of his best film work included roles as Peter Sellers' comic henchman in the classic satire The Mouse That Roared (1959); a bungling train robber in the charming Disney film The Horse Without a Head (1963); a nefarious professor who kills off his colleagues for amusement in the brilliant black comedy A Jolly Bad Fellow (1964); Clang, a cartoonish villain in the Beatles' pop film Help! (1965); Cromwell, the persecutor of Sir Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons (1966) and as Thomas Ryan in the David Lean drama, Ryan's Daughter (1970).
Yet despite all the accolades McKern earned in theatre and films, it was television where he foundinternational fame as the wily, irascible barrister Horace P. Rumpole in John Mortimer's Rumpole of the Bailey in 1975. Infusing the character with beguiling skill and energy, McKern made the acerbic, wine swilling, Tennyson-quoting Rumpole a much loved figure that was adored by critics, audiences and even its creator Mortimer. Perhaps Mortimer offered the most fitting tribute when he once referred to McKern - "His acting exists where I always hope my writing will be: about two feet above the ground, a little larger than life, but always taking off from reality." Enough said.
By Michael T. Toole
Quotes
Trivia
Marilyn Monroe and 'Elizabeth Taylor' wereboth considered for the role of Louisa.
Frank Sinatra was the first choice to play Rod Anderson. When Darryl F. Zanuck balked at his salary demand, Robert Mitchum agreed to play the role at no fee for tax purposes.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States 1964
CinemaScope
Released in United States 1964
