The film version of Graham Greene’s Travels with My Aunt began as a project designed for Katharine Hepburn and director George Cukor, with producer Robert Fryer seeking a screenplay that would satisfy both stars and studio expectations. Hugh Wheeler was initially hired, but Hepburn and Fryer remained unhappy with his draft, so Jay Presson Allen was brought in. Allen produced what she described as a straightforward script, only to encounter Hepburn’s growing resistance: the actress had recently appeared in the disastrous Madwoman of Chaillot and did not want to play another eccentric older woman. Rather than openly abandon Cukor, Hepburn began finding fault with Allen’s work and rewriting large sections herself. Allen eventually told Hepburn that she should write the script herself, which Hepburn proceeded to do. The Writers Guild would not grant Hepburn screen credit because she was not a Guild member; Fryer also refused to remove Allen’s name because Allen was the writer he had paid, while Wheeler was left angry after contributing to the project without receiving credit. Hepburn ultimately maneuvered herself out of the production, and Maggie Smith, fresh from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, replaced her.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1970s
The Travels with My Aunt Credit War: Katharine Hepburn Rewrites the Rewrite
Travels with My Aunt / 1970s
The film version of Graham Greene’s Travels with My Aunt began as a project designed for Katharine Hepburn and director George Cukor, with producer Robert Fryer seeking a screenplay that would satisfy both stars and studio expectations. Hugh Wheeler was initially hired, but Hepburn and Fryer remained unhappy with his draft, so Jay Presson Allen was brought in. Allen produced what she described as a straightforward script, only to encounter Hepburn’s growing resistance: the actress had recently appeared in the disastrous Madwoman of Chaillot and did not want to play another eccentric older woman. Rather than openly abandon Cukor, Hepburn began finding fault with Allen’s work and rewriting large sections herself. Allen eventually told Hepburn that she should write the script herself, which Hepburn proceeded to do. The Writers Guild would not grant Hepburn screen credit because she was not a Guild member; Fryer also refused to remove Allen’s name because Allen was the writer he had paid, while Wheeler was left angry after contributing to the project without receiving credit. Hepburn ultimately maneuvered herself out of the production, and Maggie Smith, fresh from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, replaced her.
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