Trivia / A Man for All Seasons

• All-Star Cast:
  • The 1966 film had a stellar cast. In addition to Paul Scofield as Sir Thomas More and John Hurt as Richard Rich, the cast included: Robert Shaw as Henry VIII, Leo McKern as Cromwell, Orson Welles as Cardinal Wolsey, Wendy Hiller as Lady Alice, Susannah York as Meg, Colin Blakey as Matthew, Cyril Luckham as Cranmer, Corin Redgrave as Roper, and his sister Vanessa Redgrave as Anne Boleyn in a cameo.
  • The 1988 TV version included Charlton Heston as Sir Thomas More, Vanessa Redgrave as Lady Alice, Sir John Gielgud as Wolsey and Roy Kinnear as the Common Man.
  • The 2006 BBC Radio 4 production had Charles Dance as Sir Thomas More, Brian Cox as Henry VIII, Julian Rhind-Tutt as Richard Rich, Romola Garai as Meg, and Martin Freeman as Roper.
• Cast the Runner-Up: 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. She was listed (last) as playing Anne Boleyn, as unbilled does not mean uncredited.
• Creator Backlash: Leo McKern admitted that he wasn't particularly fond of the film version as he missed playing the "Common Man" character he'd originated on stage. Additionally, McKern felt that the story worked better as a play than a movie.
• Doing It for the Art: Vanessa Redgrave refused to be paid for her cameo role as Anne Boleyn.
• Fake Brit:
  • Orson Welles as Cardinal Wolsey. However, Welles always had a light British accent despite being American.
  • Leo McKern was actually Australian, but he spent most of his acting career in England and largely lost his native accent by this point in his career, so the distinction's kind of moot.
• Playing Against Type: In the BBC Radio version, Charles Dance (yes Tywin Lannister from Game of Thrones, Mr. Tulkinghorn from Bleak House and Aredian the Witchfinder from Merlin) was cast to play Sir Thomas More.
• Referenced by...:
  • In Eye of a Fly, Ernest takes Annie to see A Man for All Seasons. Both are too distracted by each other to pay attention to the movie.
• Self-Adaptation: Robert Bolt won an Oscar for adapting his own play to the big screen.
• Star-Making Role: The 1966 film made stars of Paul Scofield (More) and John Hurt (Rich). While Scofield mainly went back to the stage, John Hurt had a very successful career as a character actor on film and TV.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Although Fred Zinnemann insisted and won on having Scofield reprise his stage role as Thomas More, other candidates for the role included Laurence Olivier and Alec Guinness. Charlton Heston badly wanted the role, but he was never seriously considered by the producers. He did get to play the role on TV in 1988, though as mentioned above. Richard Burton turned down the role of Sir Thomas Moore to star in another acclaimed theatrical adaptation Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Dirk Bogarde was also considered.
  • Richard Harris and Peter O'Toole were considered for Henry VIII.
  • David Warner turned down the role of Rich, as he was busy playing Hamlet at Stratford Upon Avon.
  • Julie Christie was offered the role of Margaret More.
  • Robert Bolt offered the part of Norfolk to his friend John Huston who turned it down.

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