A Man for All Seasons

A Man for All Seasons (1966)

Timing: 2:0 (120 min)

7.363/10
404

7.369/10
2914

7.7/10
40000

All about film

Video 1

Photo 16

Actors and characters

Release date

1966-12-13

Country

United Kingdom, United States

Production

Columbia Pictures, Highland Films

Genre

Drama, History

Budget

$2 000 000

Revenue

$28 350 000

Website

Director

Fred Zinnemann

Actors

Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, Leo McKern, Robert Shaw, Orson Welles, Susannah York, Nigel Davenport, John Hurt, Corin Redgrave, Colin Blakely
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Fred Zinnemann, William N. Graf

Operator

Ted Moore

Composer

Georges Delerue

Artist

Roy Walker

Audition

Robert Lennard

Editing

Ralph Kemplen, William Kirby
All team (30)

• All members of the cast had to agree to a reduction in their fees in order to keep the total film budget under $2 million. Only Orson Welles (1915-1985), Paul Scofield (1922-2008), and Suzanne York (1939-2011) received fees exceeding $10,000.
• Orson Welles, who played the role of Cardinal Wolsey (1473-1530), used an exact replica of Wolsey's official seal, as well as authentic parchment made from sheepskin and a quill pen for writing.
• The trial and execution scenes are based on the testimonies of eyewitnesses anonymously published on August 4, 1535.
• Vanessa Redgrave was initially considered for the role of Margaret, but she was busy with theater. Redgrave agreed to appear on screen without pay in a cameo role as Anne Boleyn (1501-1536), but on the condition that her name would not be in the credits. However, her name is present in the final credits.
• The filmmakers ordered several trucks of polystyrene to simulate a snowy landscape. As soon as the polystyrene arrived, the weather deteriorated and it began to snow.
• Paul Scofield (1922-2008) did not attend the Academy Awards ceremony, believing that the Best Actor statuette would go to Richard Burton (1925-1984) for his role in Mike Nichols' (1931-2014) 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' (1966). The award went to him, and the statuette was sent to him by mail and broken during transport.
• The film shows that Thomas More (1478-1535) was beheaded for refusing to sign a document proclaiming the king head of the Church, as this conflicted with his beliefs. The film does not mention that More, as Lord Chancellor, knew many people whose beliefs conflicted with his, and that all those with whom he disagreed were declared heretics and burned at the stake.