Princess O'Rourke

Princess O'Rourke (1943)

She came from a Royal Line but his Line was better!

A down-to-earth pilot charms a European princess on vacation in the United States.

Date of release
1943-10-23
TMDB
6.5 / 10 (21)
Runtime
1h 34m
Genres
Comedy, Romance
Director
Norman Krasna

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Awards: 1 · Nominations: 1. Including: Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay

Princess O'Rourke is a 1943 American romantic comedy film directed and written by Norman Krasna, and starring Olivia de Havilland, Robert Cummings and Charles Coburn. Krasna won the 1944 Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

Production

In the early 1940s Norman Krasna had established himself as a leading screenwriter. He wanted to move into directing and in February 1942 signed a contract with Warner Bros to write and direct. His first assignment was to be Princess O'Rourke.

In April 1942 Warner Bros announced Loretta Young would play the lead. In May Warner Bros arranged to borrow Fred MacMurray from Paramount to play the male lead in exchange for Ann Sheridan who Paramount wanted to play Texas Guinan. Also that month Hal Wallis announced he would produce.

By June, however, the arrangement to exchange MacMurray for Sheridan was cancelled. (The Texas Guinan movie went on to be made with Betty Hutton, and MacMurray would not finish No Time for Love in time.) The male lead went to Cummings, who was borrowed from Universal and who had worked for Warners on Kings Row. The female lead went to de Havilland. Charles Coburn joined the cast in late June.

De Havilland initially refused the part and subsequently was suspended by Warner Bros.

Feeling that being cast in a lightweight role would limit her future in Hollywood features, de Havilland also began to have medical problems that compounded her anxiety. During her suspension, Alexis Smith was tested as a replacement. Claude Rains campaigned to be in the film, but the casting of Charles Coburn solidified the main cast choices.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended