A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS

There is much of pomp and circumstance in A Man for All Seasons. Its chief virtue, however, is not the spectacle it presents, but rather how it reflects the actual history while giving us sharp dialogue and acting that show us More's intense personal crisis.

The history is indeed portrayed quite accurately, down to More's interaction with Richard Rich, who as the Solicitor General is widely believed to have perjured himself in giving the testimony that sealed More's fate. Henry, too, is vividly portrayed as a mercurial ruler, angry and conciliatory by turns, who brooks no disagreement and gets very little.

The film stands as a classic of historical drama, made so by the often searing dialogue adapted from Robert Bolt's play as well as by excellent acting, costumes, cinematography — all the usual features of a quality film.

Awards

A Man for All Seasons is one of only four productions to win both the Best Play Tony (1962) and the Best Picture Oscar (1966). (The other three are My Fair Lady (1957/1964), The Sound of Music (1960/1965) and Amadeus (1981/1984).) It is also one of two Best Picture Oscar winners whose title begins with the word "A" (the other is A Beautiful Mind (2001).) It was selected by the Vatican in the "religion" category of its list of 45 "great films." Robert Shaw became the second actor to be nominated for an Oscar for playing Henry VIII, after Charles Laughton. Richard Burton was later nominated for playing the monarch too, making this the only role to give rise to three separate nominations.

Trivia

• Robert Bolt borrowed the title from Robert Whittinton, a contemporary of Thomas More, who in 1520 wrote of him: "More is a man of an angel's wit and singular learning; I know not his fellow. For where is the man of that gentleness, lowliness and affability? And, as time requireth, a man of marvelous mirth and pastimes, and sometime of as sad gravity: a man for all seasons."
• Although it is never mentioned in the film, Lady Alice More was not Margaret More's mother. Before Alice, Sir Thomas More had been married to a woman named Jane Colt, with whom he had four children. After her death, More remarried almost immediately with Alice, who was a widow herself. They did not have any children, but she raised Margaret as her own.
• Five of the historical persons depicted in the film all had the first name Thomas: Sir Thomas More, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Thomas Cromwell, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, and Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk. Perhaps to avoid confusion, in the play and film, the only character referred to as Thomas is Thomas More.
• The trial and execution scenes are based very closely on an eyewitness account, published anonymously in the Paris Newsletter of August 4, 1535.
• Orson Welles used an exact duplicate of Cardinal Wolsey's official seal, as well as authentic sheepskin parchment and a quill pen.
• The original play opened at the Globe Theatre (now the Geilgud) in London on July 1, 1960. It was then produced at the ANTA Playhouse (New York) on November 21, 1961 and played for 637 performances. Both incarnations starred Paul Scofield.
• Fred Zinnemann, as quoted in his autobiography, calls this the easiest film he ever made, thanks to the extraordinary caliber of the crew and the actors and the way they worked together.
• To keep the budget under $2 million, all the actors took salary cuts. The only actors to receive payments over £10,000 were Orson Welles, Paul Scofield and Susannah York. For his first major film role, John Hurt was paid £3,000. Robert Shaw was paid just $15,000, a big drop from the $350,000 he had earned on Battle of the Bulge the previous year (1965), but he also received 2.5% of the profits. Vanessa Redgrave was originally lined up to play Margaret but she had theater commitments. Instead, she agreed to do an unpaid cameo as Anne Boleyn on the condition that it remain unbilled.
• Vanessa Redgrave later played Anne Boleyn's daughter Queen Elizabeth I in Anonymous (2011), in which her daughter Joely Richardson played the younger version of the Queen.
• Fred Zinnemann, as quoted in his autobiography, calls this the easiest film he ever made, thanks to the extraordinary caliber of the crew and the actors and the way they worked together. Filmed over a period of 12 weeks.
• Truckloads of Styrofoam were ordered to simulate a snowy landscape. As soon as it was delivered, real snow began falling.
• Paul Scofield and Leo McKern reprised the roles they played in the Broadway production of the play. During most of the play's 20-month run, the role of Margaret was played by a young Faye Dunaway.

To contact Chris Winter, send email to this address.
Copyright © 2017-2021 Christopher P. Winter. All rights reserved.
This page was last modified on 13 March 2021.