Mame

Mame (1974)

She'll coax the blues right out of your heart!

The madcap life of eccentric Mame Dennis and her bohemian, intellectual arty clique is disrupted when her deceased brother's 10-year-old son Patrick is entrusted to her care. Rather than bow to convention, Mame introduces the boy to her free-wheeling lifestyle, instilling in him her favorite credo, "Life is a banquet, and most poor sons of bitches are starving to death."

Date of release
1974-03-07
TMDB
5.9 / 10 (34)
Runtime
2h 11m
Genres
Comedy
Director
Gene Saks

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Based on: Mame
  • Filmed in: Los Angeles

Mame is a 1974 American Technicolor musical film in Panavision based on the 1966 Broadway musical of the same name and the 1955 novel Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis.

Production

Warner Bros. executives had Elizabeth Taylor in mind in the role of "Auntie Mame" Dennis Burnside. They passed over Angela Lansbury for the title role, even though she had won the Tony for her performance of the role on Broadway. Lucille Ball won the part.

Bette Davis wanted to portray Vera Charles with Lansbury in the lead, however, Bea Arthur reprised her Tony award-winning role.

In 1970, it was announced that Leonard Gershe would write the screenplay, however, Paul Zindel ended up writing it.

Production had been scheduled to begin in early 1972 but was postponed until January, 1973 after Ball broke her leg in a skiing accident. Owing to the delay, George Cukor, the original director, was forced to withdraw from the project. The assignment then went to Gene Saks, who had helmed the Broadway production.

Shortly after shooting began, Ball, who had casting approval, became dissatisfied with Madeline Kahn's interpretation of Gooch and had her replaced by Jane Connell, a member of the original Broadway cast.

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

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