“There’s a lot of ugly things in this world, son. I wish I could keep ’em all away from you. That’s never possible.”
Gregory Peck’s inspired performance as Atticus Finch may be the highlight of his career, but Rock Hudson was actually the studio’s first choice for the role. James Stewart was also offered the part, but told the producers he thought the script was “too liberal”, and feared the film would be too controversial. The first scene that Peck shot had him returning home from Atticus’ law office while his children ran up to greet him. Writer Harper Lee was a guest on the set that day, and Peck noticed her crying after the scene was finished. “Why are you crying?” Peck asked. Peck had looked just like her late father, the model for Atticus, Lee explained. Peck even had a little round pot belly just like her father’s. “That’s not a pot belly, Harper,” Peck told her, “That’s great acting.” The pocket watch used in the film was a prop, but Harper Lee gave Peck her father’s watch after the film was completed because he reminded her so much of him. Brock Peters as Tom Robinson cried performing the courtroom testifying scene – without having rehearsed it that way. Peck said he had to look past him playing the scene instead of looking him in the eye, to avoid choking up himself. The role of Charles Baker ‘Dill’ Harris was modeled after Harper Lee’s childhood friend, Truman Capote. Capote in turn, based one of his characters in his book ‘Other Voices, Other Rooms’ on his recollection of Harper Lee. Mary Badham (Scout) and Gregory Peck became close friends during filming and kept in contact for the rest of their lives, Peck always calling her Scout.
