.gif)
Forever Amber (film)
Encyclopedia
Forever Amber is a 1947 film directed by Otto Preminger
and starring Linda Darnell
and Cornel Wilde
. It was based on the book of the same name. It also starred Richard Greene
, George Sanders
, Glenn Langan, Richard Haydn
, Dolores Hart
, and Jessica Tandy
. It was adapted by Jerome Cady
, Philip Dunne
and Ring Lardner, Jr., and directed by Otto Preminger
, who replaced original director John M. Stahl
after 39 days of filming and $1 million of production. The Hays Office
condemned the work, but within a month of its publication the movie rights had been purchased by 20th Century Fox
.
In 1947, Darnell won the starring role in the highly anticipated film adaptation when the original star, newcomer Peggy Cummins
, proved too inexperienced for the role. The character Amber in the novel was so called because of her eye color. This is the only major film in which Darnell — normally known for her raven hair and somewhat Latin looks — appears as a redhead. Publicity at the time compared the novel Forever Amber to Gone with the Wind
. The search for the actress to portray Amber, a beauty who uses men to make her fortune in 17th-century England
, was modeled on the extensive process that led to the casting of Vivien Leigh
as Scarlett O'Hara
.
The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Original Music Score
.
Otto Preminger
Otto Ludwig Preminger was an Austro–Hungarian-American theatre and film director.After moving from the theatre to Hollywood, he directed over 35 feature films in a five-decade career. He rose to prominence for stylish film noir mysteries such as Laura and Fallen Angel...
and starring Linda Darnell
Linda Darnell
Linda Darnell was an American film actress.Darnell was a model as a child, and progressed to theater and film acting as an adolescent. At the encouragement of her mother, she made her first film in 1939, and appeared in supporting roles in big budget films for 20th Century Fox throughout the 1940s...
and Cornel Wilde
Cornel Wilde
Cornel Wilde was an American actor and film director.-Early life:Kornél Lajos Weisz was born in 1912 in Prievidza, Hungary , although his year and place of birth are usually and inaccurately given as 1915 in New York City...
. It was based on the book of the same name. It also starred Richard Greene
Richard Greene
Richard Marius Joseph Greene was a noted English film and television actor. A matinee idol who appeared in more than 40 films, he was perhaps best known for the lead role in the long-running British TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood, which ran for 143 episodes from 1955 to 1960.It has been...
, George Sanders
George Sanders
George Sanders was a British actor.George Sanders may also refer to:*George Sanders , Victoria Cross recipient in World War I...
, Glenn Langan, Richard Haydn
Richard Haydn
Richard Haydn was an English comic actor in radio, films and television.-Early life and career:Born George Richard Haydon in London, he was known for playing eccentric characters, such as Edwin Carp, Claud Curdle, Richard Rancyd and Stanley Stayle. Much of his stage delivery was done in a...
, Dolores Hart
Dolores Hart
Dolores Hart is an American Roman Catholic nun and former actress. She made 10 films in 5 years, playing opposite Stephen Boyd, Montgomery Clift, George Hamilton and Robert Wagner, having made her movie debut with Elvis Presley in Loving You .-Background:Dolores Hicks was the only child of the...
, and Jessica Tandy
Jessica Tandy
Jessie Alice "Jessica" Tandy was an English-American stage and film actress.She first appeared on the London stage in 1926 at the age of 16, playing, among others, Katherine opposite Laurence Olivier's Henry V, and Cordelia opposite John Gielgud's King Lear. She also worked in British films...
. It was adapted by Jerome Cady
Jerome Cady
Jerome Cady was a Hollywood screenwriter.What promised to be a lucrative and successful career as a film writer - graduating up from Charlie Chan movies in the late 30s to such well respected war films as Guadalcanal Diary , a successful adaptation of Forever Amber and the police procedural Call...
, Philip Dunne
Philip Dunne (writer)
Philip Dunne was a Hollywood screenwriter, film director and producer, who worked prolifically from 1932 until 1965. He spent the majority of his career at 20th Century Fox crafting well regarded romantic and historical dramas, usually adapted from another medium...
and Ring Lardner, Jr., and directed by Otto Preminger
Otto Preminger
Otto Ludwig Preminger was an Austro–Hungarian-American theatre and film director.After moving from the theatre to Hollywood, he directed over 35 feature films in a five-decade career. He rose to prominence for stylish film noir mysteries such as Laura and Fallen Angel...
, who replaced original director John M. Stahl
John M. Stahl
John Malcolm Stahl was an American film director and producer.Born in New York City, New York, he began working in the city's growing motion picture industry at a young age and directed his first silent film short in 1914. In the early 1920s Stahl signed on with Louis B...
after 39 days of filming and $1 million of production. The Hays Office
Production Code
The Motion Picture Production Code was the set of industry moral censorship guidelines that governed the production of the vast majority of United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1930 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Hollywood's chief censor of the...
condemned the work, but within a month of its publication the movie rights had been purchased by 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
.
In 1947, Darnell won the starring role in the highly anticipated film adaptation when the original star, newcomer Peggy Cummins
Peggy Cummins
Peggy Cummins is a retired Irish actress. Cummins is best known for her performance in Joseph H. Lewis' Gun Crazy , playing a trigger happy femme fatale who robs banks with her lover .-Early life:...
, proved too inexperienced for the role. The character Amber in the novel was so called because of her eye color. This is the only major film in which Darnell — normally known for her raven hair and somewhat Latin looks — appears as a redhead. Publicity at the time compared the novel Forever Amber to Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind
The slaves depicted in Gone with the Wind are primarily loyal house servants, such as Mammy, Pork and Uncle Peter, and these slaves stay on with their masters even after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 sets them free...
. The search for the actress to portray Amber, a beauty who uses men to make her fortune in 17th-century England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, was modeled on the extensive process that led to the casting of Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier was an English actress. She won the Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire , a role she also played on stage in London's West End, as well as for her portrayal of the southern belle Scarlett O'Hara, alongside Clark...
as Scarlett O'Hara
Scarlett O'Hara
Scarlett O' Hara is the protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind and in the later film of the same name...
.
The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Original Music Score
Academy Award for Original Music Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
.
Cast
- Linda DarnellLinda DarnellLinda Darnell was an American film actress.Darnell was a model as a child, and progressed to theater and film acting as an adolescent. At the encouragement of her mother, she made her first film in 1939, and appeared in supporting roles in big budget films for 20th Century Fox throughout the 1940s...
- Amber St. Clair - Cornel WildeCornel WildeCornel Wilde was an American actor and film director.-Early life:Kornél Lajos Weisz was born in 1912 in Prievidza, Hungary , although his year and place of birth are usually and inaccurately given as 1915 in New York City...
- Bruce Carlton - Richard GreeneRichard GreeneRichard Marius Joseph Greene was a noted English film and television actor. A matinee idol who appeared in more than 40 films, he was perhaps best known for the lead role in the long-running British TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood, which ran for 143 episodes from 1955 to 1960.It has been...
- Lord Harry Almsbury - George SandersGeorge SandersGeorge Sanders was a British actor.George Sanders may also refer to:*George Sanders , Victoria Cross recipient in World War I...
- King Charles II - Glenn Langan - Capt. Rex Morgan
- Richard HaydnRichard HaydnRichard Haydn was an English comic actor in radio, films and television.-Early life and career:Born George Richard Haydon in London, he was known for playing eccentric characters, such as Edwin Carp, Claud Curdle, Richard Rancyd and Stanley Stayle. Much of his stage delivery was done in a...
- Earl of Radcliffe - Jessica TandyJessica TandyJessie Alice "Jessica" Tandy was an English-American stage and film actress.She first appeared on the London stage in 1926 at the age of 16, playing, among others, Katherine opposite Laurence Olivier's Henry V, and Cordelia opposite John Gielgud's King Lear. She also worked in British films...
- Nan Britton - Anne RevereAnne RevereAnne Revere was an American stage, film, and television actress.-Early life:Born in New York City, Revere was a direct descendant of American Revolution hero Paul Revere. Her father, Clinton, was a stockbroker, and she was raised on the Upper West Side and in Westfield, New Jersey...
- Mother Red Cap - John RussellJohn Russell (actor)John Lawrence Russell was an American actor, and World War II veteran, most noted for playing Marshal Dan Troop in the successful ABC western television series Lawman from 1958 to 1962....
- Black Jack Mallard - Jane Ball - Corinne Carlton
- Robert CooteRobert CooteRobert Coote was an English actor. He played aristocrats or British military types in many films, and created the role of Colonel Hugh Pickering in the long-running original Broadway production of My Fair Lady.-Biography:Coote was educated at Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex...
- Sir Thomas Dudley - Leo G. CarrollLeo G. CarrollLeo Gratten Carroll was an English-born actor. He was best known for his roles in several Hitchcock films and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Topper.-Early life:...
- Matt Goodgroome - Natalie Draper - Countess of Castlemaine
- Margaret WycherlyMargaret WycherlyMargaret Wycherly was an English stage and film actress.-Early life:Wycherly was born Margaret De Wolfe in London, England of American parents, Dr. and Mrs. J. L. De Wolfe. She was married to writer Bayard Veiller in 1901. They had a son, Anthony Veiller , who also became a writer...
- Mrs. Spong - Alma KrugerAlma Kruger-Career:Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Kruger had a long career on stage before appearing in films. From 1907 to 1935, she starred in many theatre plays on Broadway, mostly in Shakespearean plays such as Hamlet , Twelfth Night , Taming of the Shrew , and The Merchant of Venice .She appeared in...
- Lady Redmond - Lillian Molieri aka Lupe Mayorga - Queen Catherine