Roman Holiday ~ Celebrity

Roman Holiday is a 1953 romantic comedy directed and produced by William Wyler and starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. It was written by John Dighton and Dalton Trumbo, though with Trumbo on the Hollywood blacklist, he did not receive a credit; instead, Ian McLellan Hunter fronted for him. Trumbo's credit was reinstated when the film was released onDVD in 2003.

Hepburn won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance; the screenplay and costume design also took statuettes.

In the 1970s, both Peck and Hepburn were approached with the idea of a sequel, but the project never came to fruition. The film was remade for television in 1987 with Tom Conti and Catherine Oxenberg, who herself came from a European royal family.

Plot

Filmed on location, several scenes show landmarks such as the Spanish Steps.

Ann (Hepburn) is the crown princess of an unspecified country. She is on a widely publicized tour of several European capitals, including Rome. One night, she is overwhelmed by the strenuous demands of her official duties, where her day is tightly scheduled. Her doctor gives her a sedative to calm her down and help her sleep, but she secretly leaves her country's embassy to experience Rome by herself.

The injection eventually takes effect and she falls asleep on a bench, where Joe Bradley (Peck), an expatriate American reporter working for the Rome Daily American, finds her. Not recognizing her, he offers her money so that she can take a taxi home, but a very woozy "Anya Smith" (as she calls herself) refuses to cooperate. Joe finally decides, for safety's sake, to let her spend the night in his apartment. He is amused by her regal manner, but less so when she appropriates his bed. He transfers her to a couch without awakening her. The next morning, Joe hurries off to work, leaving the princess still asleep.

When his editor, Mr. Hennessy (Hartley Power), asks why he is late, Joe lies to him; he claims to have attended a press conference for the princess. Joe makes up details of the alleged interview until Hennessy informs him that the princess had suddenly "fallen ill" and the conference had been canceled. Joe sees a picture of her and recognizes the young woman. Joe and Hennessy end up making a bet on whether Joe can get an exclusive on the princess.

Joe realizes he is sitting on a windfall. Hiding the fact that he is a reporter, he offers to show Rome to Anya, but not before getting his photographer friend, Irving Radovich (Eddie Albert), to tag along to secretly take pictures. However, Anya declines Joe's offer and leaves.

Enjoying her freedom, on a whim, Anya gets her hair cut short in a barbershop. Joe follows and "accidentally" meets her on the Spanish Steps. They spend the day seeing the sights, including the "Mouth of Truth", a face carved in marble which is said to bite off the hands of liars. When Joe pulls his hand out of the mouth, it appears to be missing, causing Anya to scream. He then pops his hand out of his sleeve and laughs. (Hepburn's shriek was not acting — Peck decided to pull a gag he had once seen Red Skelton do, and did not tell his co-star beforehand.)^[1]

Joe and Anya on a Vespa ride through Rome — a ride that ends at the police station

Later, Anya shares with Joe her dream of living a normal life without her crushing responsibilities. That night, at a dance on a boat, government agents finally track her down and try to escort her away, but a wild melee breaks out and Joe and Anya escape. Through all this, they gradually fall in love, but Anya realizes that their relationship cannot continue. She finally bids farewell to Joe and returns to the embassy.

During the course of the day, Hennessy learns that the princess is missing, not ill as claimed. He suspects that Joe knows where she is, and tries to get him to admit it, but Joe claims to know nothing about it. Knowing Joe's feelings for Anya, Irving reluctantly decides not to sell his photos.

The next day, Princess Ann appears at the delayed news conference, and is surprised to find Joe and Irving among the members of the press. Irving takes her picture with the same miniature cigarette lighter/camera he had used the previous day. He then presents her with the photographs he had taken that day, discreetly tucked in an envelope, as a memento of her adventure. Joe lets her know, by allusion, that her secret is safe with them. She, in turn, works into her bland statements a coded message of love and gratitude to Joe. She then departs, leaving Joe to linger for a while, contemplating what might have been.

[edit]Cast

	Gregory Peck as Joe Bradley	The role was originally written with Cary Grant in mind. Grant declined,^[2] believing he was too old to play Hepburn's love interest (though he played opposite her ten years later in Charade.) Peck's contract gave him solo star billing, with newcomer Hepburn listed much less prominently in the credits. Halfway through the filming, Peck suggested to Wyler that he elevate her to equal billing — an almost unheard-of gesture in Hollywood.
	Audrey Hepburn as Princess Ann ('Anya Smith')	This role was originally written for Elizabeth Taylor. Hepburn was cast after a screen-test. After she had performed a dignified, subdued scene from the film, the director called "cut", but the cameraman left the camera rolling, capturing the young actress suddenly become animated as she chatted with the director. The candid footage won her the role; some of it was later included in the original theatrical trailer for the film, along with additional screen test footage showing Hepburn trying on some of Anya's costumes and even cutting her own hair (referring to a scene in the film). Roman Holiday was not Hepburn's first American acting job—she appeared on a 1952 CBS Television Workshop production of Rainy Day in Paradise Junction—but it was her first major role, one which introduced her to the general public.

Joe, "Smitty" and Irving alfresco, just before Joe flips Irving's chair to silence him.

Eddie Albert	as Irving Radovich
Hartley Power	as Hennessy, Joe's editor
Harcourt Williams	as the Ambassador of Princess Ann's country
Margaret Rawlings	as Countess Vereberg, Ann's principal lady-in-waiting
Tullio Carminati	as General Provno
Paola Borboni	as the Charwoman
Laura Solari	as Secretary

[edit]Awards

[edit]Wins

Academy Award for Best Actress (Audrey Hepburn)^[3]
Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (Edith Head)
Academy Award for Writing (Motion Picture Story) (Dalton Trumbo)
BAFTA Award for Best British Actress (Audrey Hepburn)
Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actress — Drama (Audrey Hepburn)
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (Audrey Hepburn)
Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Comedy (Ian McLellan Hunter and John Dighton)

First slated for production on the backlot, Rome location took color film from the budget

[edit]Nominations

[edit]Accolades

In 1999, Roman Holiday was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

In June 2008, AFI revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Roman Holiday was acknowledged as the fourth best film in the romantic comedy genre.^[4]

In 2002, AFI named Roman Holiday the fourth best love story of all time on its AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions list.

[edit]Tributes and references in popular culture

The film inspired the lyrics of Deep Blue Something's "Breakfast at Tiffany's", but the author, Todd David Pipes, thought that one of Hepburn's other films would make a better song title.^[5]
At least two different orchid cultivars share this name, Epc. Joseph Romans 'Roman Holiday' and Blc. Empress Worsley 'Roman Holiday'.
The "Mouth of Truth" scene was shown in the 2006 film You, Me and Dupree, with Dupree stating that the trick always gets him even though he knows it's coming. The joke is also used in the film Only You and the 2007 film National Treasure: Book of Secrets.
In the Japanese anime series ".hack//Sign", the character Tsubasa reenacts the Mouth of Truth scene, and comments that his mother was fond of the movie.

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