I Passed for White
Encyclopedia
I Passed for White is a 1960
film directed and adapted for the screen by Fred M. Wilcox from a novel of the same name by Reba Lee
"as told to" Mary Hastings Bradley
. The film stars Sonya Wilde, James Franciscus
, Patricia Michon, and Isabel Cooley. The film was released by Televista on March 18, 1960.
with her family travels to New York
and starts a new life passing
as a white woman. The film begins with her being mistaken for a purely white woman by a white man who tries to hit on her repeatedly. Her brother, more obviously of mixed heritage, fights off the man. Bernice's grandmother consoles her when she confides her troubles.
Later in the film, after a failed attempted at looking for employment as a black, she decides to leave town, use the name Lila Brownell and live as a white woman. On the plane to New York she meets and eventually marries the man of her dreams – Rick Leyton – only she hasn't told him she is part black. He and his rich family and friends are white. Her white friend Sally, and black maid Bertha both advise her not to tell him. She becomes pregnant, and fears the child will have black features or coloring – and gets a book to read about this unlikely possibility, which she hides, but Rick eventually discovers it, although their maid claims the book belongs to her.
Bernice/Lila goes into premature labor and has a stillborn child, but cries out "Is the baby black?" after she awakens from anesthesia. This leads Rick to suspect that his wife has been unfaithful. Eventually, she and her husband divorce without Bernice ever having revealed her true name or past. She then returns to her family in Chicago and her original identity.
1960 in film
The year 1960 in film involved some significant events, with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho the top-grossing release in the U.S.-Events:* April 20 - for the first time since coming home from military service in Germany, Elvis Presley returns to Hollywood, California to film G.I...
film directed and adapted for the screen by Fred M. Wilcox from a novel of the same name by Reba Lee
Reba Lee
Reba Lee told her life story to writer Mary Hastings Bradley who put it in book form in "I Passed For White."Published in 1956, this memoir was made into a movie in 1960....
"as told to" Mary Hastings Bradley
Mary Hastings Bradley
Mary Hastings Bradley was a traveler and author. She was the mother of author Alice Sheldon .- Life and work :...
. The film stars Sonya Wilde, James Franciscus
James Franciscus
James Grover Franciscus was an American actor, known for his roles in the series The Naked City and The Investigators, and in feature films.-Life and career:...
, Patricia Michon, and Isabel Cooley. The film was released by Televista on March 18, 1960.
Plot
Bernice Lee, a young woman of mixed African and European ancestry, living in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
with her family travels to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and starts a new life passing
Passing (racial identity)
Racial passing refers to a person classified as a member of one racial group attempting to be accepted as a member of a different racial group...
as a white woman. The film begins with her being mistaken for a purely white woman by a white man who tries to hit on her repeatedly. Her brother, more obviously of mixed heritage, fights off the man. Bernice's grandmother consoles her when she confides her troubles.
Later in the film, after a failed attempted at looking for employment as a black, she decides to leave town, use the name Lila Brownell and live as a white woman. On the plane to New York she meets and eventually marries the man of her dreams – Rick Leyton – only she hasn't told him she is part black. He and his rich family and friends are white. Her white friend Sally, and black maid Bertha both advise her not to tell him. She becomes pregnant, and fears the child will have black features or coloring – and gets a book to read about this unlikely possibility, which she hides, but Rick eventually discovers it, although their maid claims the book belongs to her.
Bernice/Lila goes into premature labor and has a stillborn child, but cries out "Is the baby black?" after she awakens from anesthesia. This leads Rick to suspect that his wife has been unfaithful. Eventually, she and her husband divorce without Bernice ever having revealed her true name or past. She then returns to her family in Chicago and her original identity.