Elmer Gantry

Elmer Gantry (1960)

Timing: 2:26 (146 min)

7.3/10
192

7.215/10
808

7.7/10
14000

All about film

Video 1

Photo 26

Actors and characters

Release date

1960-07-07

Country

United States

Production

United Artists

Genre

Drama

Budget

$3 000 000

Revenue

$11 336 000

Website

Director

Richard Brooks

Actors

Burt Lancaster, Jean Simmons, Arthur Kennedy, Dean Jagger, Shirley Jones, Patti Page, Edward Andrews, John McIntire, Hugh Marlowe, Joe Maross
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Bernard Smith

Operator

John Alton

Composer

André Previn

Artist

Audition

Editing

Marjorie Fowler
All team (25)

• Pat Hingle (1924-2009) was cast as the main character in the film, but one day, even before filming began, the actor got stuck in his own home elevator. Trying to get out of the cabin, he pried open the doors to climb to the nearest floor using a rope, but lost his balance, fell, and plummeted to the bottom of the shaft, falling over 16 meters. The actor sustained severe injuries, including damage to his skull, hands, hip bones, and legs, not to mention broken ribs. In addition, his little finger on his left hand had to be amputated. Hingle spent almost the next year relearning how to walk. He, of course, had to give up the role.
• Only the six actors in the lead roles had access to the detailed script. This was done to prevent information about how Sinclair Lewis's (1885-1951) 1926 source novel was adapted for the screenplay from leaking to the press in advance.
• Jean Simmons (1929-2010) was so frightened by the fire during the filming of a fire scene that she ran off the set. Director Richard Brooks (1912-1992) didn't know what to do, and actor Arthur Kennedy (1914-1990) suggested "plumping up" Simmons with gin and milk. Kennedy had observed the same method being used on Dorothy McGuire (1916-2001) during the filming of Delmer Daves' (1904-1977) 1959 drama, "Summer Place." Simmons drank five portions in her dressing room, after which the flames no longer bothered her.