50 Fun Facts About Inherit the Wind

What happens to Matthew Harrison Brady when he tries to speak after the Inherit the Wind verdict?

He collapses and dies as the crowd files out, ignoring his speech. The statesman he is modeled on outlived the real 1925 trial by five days.

Which star of Boys Town and Father of the Bride plays lawyer Henry Drummond in Inherit the Wind?

Spencer Tracy turned the part down at first; once he signed, the rest of the cast followed. It was the first of four films he made with the same director.

Which song-and-dance star of An American in Paris plays reporter E. K. Hornbeck in Inherit the Wind?

Gene Kelly was cast against type because the director liked his mix of intelligence and devilish humor. Trade papers had first announced Theodore Bikel for the part.

Inherit the Wind's Matthew Harrison Brady is modeled on which real three-time presidential candidate?

William Jennings Bryan lost the presidency in 1896, 1900 and 1908, then served as Secretary of State. Unlike Brady, he offered to pay the defendant's fine himself.

The title Inherit the Wind comes from which Old Testament book, quoted by Brady at a prayer meeting?

Proverbs supplies the warning against bringing trouble on your own household, which Brady turns on Reverend Brown for cursing his own daughter in front of the town.

Dick York, the accused teacher Bertram Cates in Inherit the Wind, later played Darrin in which sitcom?

Bewitched made him famous as Darrin Stephens, but a back injury suffered while filming the western They Came to Cordura forced him out of the series in 1969.

The authors of Inherit the Wind used the Scopes trial as a parable for which 1950s controversy?

McCarthyism was the real target: one of the authors later said evolution stood in for any kind of mind control, and that the story is about the right to think.

Which director of The Defiant Ones and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner also made Inherit the Wind?

Stanley Kramer called it the third in a trilogy of socially provocative films, and shot the courtroom scenes in story order over 22 days before 300 spectators.

What fine does the judge hand Bertram Cates at the end of Inherit the Wind?

$100 was also the real 1925 penalty, the smallest the law allowed. In the film the mayor warns the judge that the country is watching, so the sentence is kept light.

In Inherit the Wind, what is Rachel Brown, the reverend's daughter, to accused teacher Bertram Cates?

His fiancée is an invention of the playwrights: the real 1925 defendant had no sweetheart, and no preacher like Reverend Brown took part in the case.

Henry Drummond in Inherit the Wind is modeled on which Chicago lawyer of the Leopold and Loeb case?

Clarence Darrow, some historians say, wanted his real client convicted so the case could be appealed to a higher court. In the film a newspaper hires Drummond.

E. K. Hornbeck in Inherit the Wind is based on which caustic journalist who nicknamed the Monkey Trial?

H. L. Mencken filed scathing columns from the 1925 trial, mocking the locals as yokels, and his newspaper helped pay the defense's expenses.

Which fictional town, overrun by vendors and zealots during the trial, is the setting of Inherit the Wind?

Hillsboro welcomes the trial as a boon for business, a theme the screenwriters added. The stage play never even says which state the town is in.

Which actor, later Sherman Potter on M*A*S*H, presides as the judge in Inherit the Wind?

Harry Morgan plays Judge Coffey, patterned on the real trial's John T. Raulston. He went on to play Officer Bill Gannon in Dragnet before joining M*A*S*H in 1975.

Which star of The Best Years of Our Lives plays prosecutor Matthew Harrison Brady in Inherit the Wind?

Fredric March won Best Actor at the film's world premiere festival for the role, yet was passed over at the Oscars, where only his co-star was nominated.

Bertram Cates, the Inherit the Wind defendant, teaches which subject at the town high school?

Biology was hardly his real model's field: the 1925 defendant had only filled in for the regular biology teacher, and later said he was unsure he had ever taught evolution.

After accusing the judge of bias, Henry Drummond is cited for which offense in Inherit the Wind?

Contempt of court carries $4,000 bail in the film, and a local farmer posts the bond. The real defense lawyer was cited too, and apologized to have the charge dropped.

Which honorary rank does the mayor give Brady in Inherit the Wind, forcing the court to grant Drummond one too?

Colonel is the title Drummond objects to hearing in court, so the judge hastily makes him a temporary honorary one for the length of the trial.

Henry Drummond, hired to defend Cates in Inherit the Wind, is notorious across America as what kind of thinker?

An agnostic by reputation, Drummond still quotes the title verse from memory in the last scene, and Hornbeck brands him a hypocrite and a secret believer.

In Inherit the Wind, the judge bars Henry Drummond from calling which kind of expert witnesses for Cates?

Scientists are ruled irrelevant because the law, not evolution, is said to be on trial, so Drummond calls the prosecutor himself as an expert on the Bible instead.

In Inherit the Wind, which Old Testament figure's story does Drummond use to test Brady's literal faith?

Jonah surviving inside a great fish is one of the miracles Brady insists happened exactly as written. Drummond then asks how long the first day of creation really lasted.

In Inherit the Wind, Henry Drummond tells of which childhood toy that looked splendid but was shoddily made?

A rocking horse named Golden Dancer broke the moment he rode it. Drummond uses the memory as a warning against things that dazzle on the outside.

Why did Bertram Cates quit Reverend Brown's church, as Rachel testifies in Inherit the Wind?

A sermon on a drowned boy drove him out: the reverend preached that the unbaptized child was damned. The boy's father later comes to Drummond's aid.

In Inherit the Wind, Brady dates creation to 4004 BC using the calculations of which churchman?

Bishop Ussher, Brady adds, even fixed the hour at nine in the morning. Drummond then asks how long that first day lasted, since the sun had not yet been made.

Which gospel standard does an unseen singer perform over the opening arrest scene of Inherit the Wind?

Old-Time Religion is sung unaccompanied, and the same voice closes the film with the Battle Hymn of the Republic as Drummond walks out.

Which actress, the real-life wife of the actor playing Brady, plays Sarah Brady in Inherit the Wind?

Florence Eldridge was sharing the screen with her husband for the seventh and last time. They had met as leading lady and leading man in a 1926 summer stock troupe.

E. K. Hornbeck's newspaper in Inherit the Wind, like his real-life model's, is based in which city?

Baltimore is home to the fictional Herald, which pays for the defense. The columnist who inspired Hornbeck began his career at a real paper of that name before joining the Sun.

Which playwriting team, who later wrote Auntie Mame, created the stage play Inherit the Wind?

Lawrence and Lee finished the script in 1950, but eight Broadway producers turned it down and it waited five years for a first staging.

At which European film festival did Inherit the Wind have its world premiere and win a Best Actor prize?

Berlin hosted the first screening in June 1960, where the film was the official American entry and also took a prize as the best feature for young people.

Which Tennessee law, named for the farmer who wrote it, lay behind the trial dramatized in Inherit the Wind?

The Butler Act barred public school teachers from denying the Genesis account of human origins, and it stayed on the books until 1967, seven years after the film.

Which organization set off the real case behind Inherit the Wind by offering to defend any teacher who broke the law?

The American Civil Liberties Union wanted a test case, a step Inherit the Wind leaves out: the film opens with townsmen marching in to arrest the teacher mid-lesson.

After the trial that inspired Inherit the Wind, John Scopes gave up teaching to study which science in Chicago?

Geology had been his minor in college. He enrolled at the University of Chicago that September and earned a master's degree, while trying to dodge the city's reporters.

What became of the real conviction behind Inherit the Wind when it reached the Tennessee Supreme Court?

It was overturned on a technicality: the judge had set the fine when state law required the jury to do it. The court still found the anti-evolution law itself constitutional.

John Scopes, the real teacher behind Inherit the Wind's Bertram Cates, also coached which sport at his high school?

Football was his sideline at Rhea County High School, where the 24-year-old had just finished his first year of teaching. He agreed to stand trial as a test case.

In what kind of shop did town boosters hatch the plan for the real Scopes trial behind Inherit the Wind?

A drugstore, Robinson's, is where local businessmen decided a test case would bring the town much-needed publicity. The film shows townspeople turning on the teacher instead.

Which nickname did the real statesman behind Inherit the Wind's Brady carry through three presidential races?

The Great Commoner got the name from his faith in the wisdom of ordinary people. His early fame as the youngest presidential candidate also made him the Boy Orator.

Where did the real Scopes trial stage the Bible cross-examination that Inherit the Wind sets in a courtroom?

On the courthouse lawn is where the judge moved the session, citing the packed building, though the stifling heat was the likelier reason. The exchange lasted about two hours.

The Scopes trial behind Inherit the Wind was the first American trial carried nationally by which medium?

Radio carried it to the country through Chicago station WGN, whose announcer reported from the scene. The film keeps a WGN microphone in the courtroom for the verdict.

In which Tennessee town, home of the real Scopes trial, did Inherit the Wind have its American premiere?

Dayton screened the film on the 35th anniversary of the trial's final day, and the teacher once convicted there came back as guest of honor.

Which Patton star played Brady in a 1999 television remake of Inherit the Wind, his final screen role?

George C. Scott had played the opposing lawyer, Drummond, in a Broadway revival three years earlier, until ill health forced him to leave the production.

Which star of the 1932 film Scarface first played Henry Drummond when Inherit the Wind opened on Broadway?

Paul Muni won a Tony Award for the part, even though a tumor cost him an eye a few months into the run. He was back in the role that December.

Which future star of television's The Odd Couple played reporter E. K. Hornbeck in Inherit the Wind on Broadway?

Tony Randall got his first major Broadway role in the play. Four decades later he produced its 1996 revival and stepped in as Drummond when the star fell ill.

In which Texas city did the play Inherit the Wind first open, months before it reached Broadway?

Dallas director Margo Jones staged it in January 1955 after eight Broadway producers had passed, and rave reviews carried it to New York within four months.

Which Chicago Sun-Times critic added Inherit the Wind to his Great Movies collection decades after its release?

Roger Ebert added it in 2006, 46 years after release. Time magazine's original review had panned the film as slow and muddled, though most critics praised it highly.

Which airline tested its brand-new in-flight movie program by showing Inherit the Wind aboard a 707?

Trans World Airlines showed it on a miniature screen in the first-class cabin between New York and Los Angeles, a test the trade press saw as a possible new market for distributors.

Which state's ban on teaching evolution did the Supreme Court strike down in 1968, eight years after Inherit the Wind?

Arkansas had modeled its 1928 statute on the Tennessee law behind the film's real case. The justices ruled unanimously that it breached the First Amendment.

The director and leading man of Inherit the Wind reunited a year later for which courtroom drama?

Judgment at Nuremberg cast him as the presiding American judge. It was the second of the four films the pair made together.

Which veterans' group condemned the makers of Inherit the Wind for hiring a blacklisted screenwriter?

The American Legion's commander went on to debate the director on CBS television. The writer, Nedrick Young, worked under a pseudonym, and his credit was restored in 1996.

Which singer, later Kizzy in Roots, performs the unaccompanied songs that open and close Inherit the Wind?

Leslie Uggams was still a teenager and never appears on screen. Eight years later she won a Tony Award for the Broadway musical Hallelujah, Baby!

Which studio, founded by Chaplin, Pickford, Fairbanks and Griffith, released Inherit the Wind?

United Artists was founded in 1919 so that stars could control their own work. Four decades on, it backed an independent producer-director who hired a blacklisted writer.