To Kill a Mockingbird - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of To Kill a Mockingbird or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to To Kill a Mockingbird

[javier]

Paul Fix (portrayed Judge Taylor), Brock Peters (portrayed Tom Robinson), John Megna (portrayed Dill Harris), Frank Overton (portrayed Heck Tate), William Windom (portrayed Mr. Gilmer), Richard Hale (portrayed Nathan Radley), and Noble 'Kid' Chissell (portrayed Courtroom Spectator), appeared on Star Trek: The Original Series (1966).

[javier]

The band "The Boo Radleys", who had hits in the 1990's such as "Wake Up Boo!", took inspiration for their name from the original book.

[tamara]

Every day that she shot, Ruth White spent four hours getting into old age make-up, but in the end, most of her scenes were cut from the film, as they tended to slow it up.

[bernard]

When Mayella Ewell is sworn in during the trial of Tom Robinson, if you look closely you can see that she does not actually place her hand on the Bible. Instead, she lets it hover just above, as she knows that the testimony she was about to give accusing Tom of assault was false.

[javier]

Despite the closeness of their characters, Mary Badham and Phillip Alford did not get along while filming. Mary would mimic Phillip saying his lines off camera so that he couldn't concentrate. However, it might not have been malice on her part. In the scene where Atticus drives with the children to speak with Helen Robinson, Mary is mouthing Gregory Peck's lines (at 0:44:37). It seems unlikely that she was trying to break Gregory Peck's concentration. It's possible instead that she memorized everyone's lines in each of her scenes, and she wouldn't know what her next line would be until she recited the line immediately preceding it.

[maureen]

Gregory Peck's summation speech, which runs for 6 minutes and 30 seconds, was nailed in a single take.

[javier]

Gregory Peck's grandson Harper Peck Voll was named after Harper Lee.

[kenneth]

In both manner and appearance, Arthur "Boo" Radley (Robert Duvall) is nearly identical to Karl (Billy Bob Thornton) in Sling Blade (1996). Duvall played Karl's father in Sling Blade (1996).

[elmer]

Gregory Peck stated in subsequent interviews that he believed what won him the Academy Award was the scene where he quietly walks out of the courthouse after losing the case, while the upper gallery stands in silent respect, and the reverend says, "Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passing."

[toni]

Mary Badham, at age nine during filming, became the youngest girl to receive an Oscar nomination (for Best Actress in a Supporting Role), coincidentally losing the award to another child actress, Patty Duke, at age fourteen, for The Miracle Worker (1962).

[francisco]

This book was banned from school reading lists due to the use of the "n" word and other racially inflamatory language.

[chris]

Grossed over $13 million in its U.S. release.

[kristen]

Phillip Alford had trouble eating certain foods for years afterwards, particularly bacon and eggs, as they had to eat their breakfasts repeatedly until they got the scenes right.

[francisco]

Art Directors Alexander Golitzen and Henry Bumstead had an entire reconstruction of the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, built on the Universal backlot at a cost of two hundred twenty-five thousand dollars. The set contained more than thirty buildings. It would have cost at least one hundred thousand dollars more, had Golitzen and Bumstead not learned of some Southern-style housing about to be demolished to make way for a new Los Angeles freeway. They bought a dozen of them and had them brought to the studio. Such efforts resulted in the two winning the Oscar for Best Art Direction the following year.

[violet]

In 1995, To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) was added to the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress.

[tom]

Robert Mulligan and Alan J. Pakula travelled to Harper Lee's hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, but found it unsuitable for filming because the town had been modernized. Therefore, the production team constructed their own ideal version of Monroeville, Alabama, on a backlot at Universal. When Lee saw their re-creation, she said it was perfect.

[tammy]

When he attended the Academy Awards, Gregory Peck was convinced that his friend Jack Lemmon would win the Best Actor Oscar for his searing portrayal of an alcoholic in Days of Wine and Roses (1962). In reality, Gregory Peck was stunned when he heard that he was the winner of the much coveted trophy.

[melinda]

It has been reported that this film was Gregory Peck's favorite work.

[jesse]

When Gregory Peck was first approached by Alan J. Pakula and Robert Mulligan for the role of Atticus Finch, Peck had already seen their first collaboration, Fear Strikes Out (1957), and was suitably impressed.