Trivia / The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

• Creator Couple:
  • Jean Brodie and Teddy Lloyd were played by married couple Maggie Smith and Robert Stephens.
  • Husband and wife Gordon Jackson and Rona Anderson play Miss Lowther and Mr Lockhart (who get married themselves).
• The Danza: Gordon Jackson plays Gordon Lowther.
• Dawson Casting: Justified since the actresses play the Brodie set across many years, and the majority of scenes are when they're about to graduate.
  • Pamela Franklin (Sandy) was nineteen. Justified as she appears in nude scenes later in the film.
  • Diane Grayson (Jenny) was twenty.
  • Shirley Steedman (Monica) was eighteen.
  • Jane Carr (Mary) was eighteen.
  • According to Pamela Franklin, most of the student extras were over eighteen as well.
• Fake Scot:
  • Out of the main cast, only Gordon Jackson (Mr Lowther) was indisputably Scottish. Maggie Smith does get close to Scottish—but from the wrong city (her mother was from Glasgow; Jean Brodie is not just from Edinburgh, she can be specifically identified with Morningside). This doesn't really matter with Ann Way as Miss Gaunt - who has no lines.
  • In the 1978 miniseries, Jean Brodie was played by Geraldine McEwan, who was English with Northern Irish roots.
• Playing Against Type: Mildly for Gordon Jackson, who spent most of his career either as servants or soldiers.
• Real-Life Relative: Sort of. The director's grandson posed to be the baby in Teddy's portrait.
• Scully Box: Inverted. The school desk props were raised to make the actresses appear younger.
• Star-Making Role:
  • This won Maggie Smith an Oscar and it's one of her most iconic roles.
  • Subverted with Pamela Franklin. Despite a BAFTA nomination and critical praise, the film Hell House typecast her as a 'Scream Queen' and she would retire from acting by the 80s.
• Wag the Director:
  • Pamela Franklin admitted to insisting a scene should be played differently but didn't specify which one.
  "But director Ronald Neame later admitted I was right, and I apologised for being rude. It was all rather tearful, but I loved making that film."
  • Averted when Maggie Smith attempted to convince Neame that Brodie crying out "assassin!" in the film's climax was overwrought, and that it would have been much more effective had she whispered it. Neame insisted on Smith shouting the lines, but many years later when recording the DVD Commentary he admitted in retrospect that Smith had probably been right.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Maggie Smith was the first choice for the stage version. But as she was unavailable, Vanessa Redgrave played Jean Brodie. She was to reprise the role in the film but this time she was unavailable - so now Maggie Smith got to play it. Prior to that, Julie Andrews turned it down, and Angela Lansbury tried to buy the rights, while 20th Century Fox wanted Audrey Hepburn for it.
  • Michael Winner was asked to direct.
  • Wendy Hiller was considered for the role of Miss Mackay.
  • Wendy Padbury was offered a role, but turned it down due to her commitment to Doctor Who.

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