History Trivia / ToKillAMockingbird

* PlayingAgainstType: Brock Peters had mostly played villains before this film. Here he plays the completely innocent NiceGuy Tom Robinson.

* IAmNotSpock: Mary Badham chose to retire from films after this, so she remained as Scout in the public consciousness. Even Gregory Peck - with whom she remained close friends - continued to call her Scout as an AffectionateNickname.

* ReferencedBy: The book is ComicBook/{{Superman}}'s favorite.

* AmateurCast: Scout and Jem were played in the film by Mary Badham and Phillip Alford, local kids from near the shooting site. Neither had any acting experience. Alford had a few TV roles later, while Badham was cast in several film and TV productions, notably as Sport Sharewood in ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' and Willie in ''This Property Is Condemned'', where she sings "Wish Me a Rainbow". A heavy Alabama accent prevented her from moving on to an adult acting career. John Megna (Dill) was the only kid in the cast with substantial acting experience, most of it on Broadway. He went on to do many films and TV episodes (he was the "Bonk bonk on the head!" kid from the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Miri") before dying of AIDS at 42.

* HostilityOnTheSet: Mary Badham (Scout) and Philip Alford (Jem) didn't get along while filming. She messed up nearly every take in which the family eats at the table. He didn't like eating the same meal dozens of times, so in one of the takes of the scene, in which he rolls Badham in the tire, he aimed it at an equipment truck in an attempt to hurt her.
** As adults however, Badham has stated that she and Alford get along fine now, and remain good friends.

* ReferencedBy: The film is ComicBook/{{Superman}}'s favorite movie.

** Universal wanted Rock Hudson to play Atticus in the film, but he was deemed too young for the part. Creator/SpencerTracy was the director and producer's first choice, but he was unavailable. Creator/JamesStewart was also offered the part, reportedly second, but told the producers he believed the script was "too liberal," and feared the film would be controversial.

** In the ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode ''Diatribe of a Mad Housewife'', Homer expresses disappointment with the book, stating that it only taught him racial tolerance instead of how to kill mockingbirds.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Originally Harper Lee wrote a book called ''Go Set a Watchman'' about an adult Scout coming to terms with life in the South as the Civil Rights Movement begins to pick steam. However, her publisher/editor was more intrigued by the childhood flashbacks and asked her to rewrite the book based on those scenes, which became ''To Kill a Mockingbird''. Decades later, the manuscript for ''Go Set a Watchman'' was rediscovered and published.

* HostilityOnTheSet: Mary Badham (Scout) and Philip Alford (Jem) didn't get along while filming.

* ReferencedBy: The film is ComicBook/Superman's favorite movie.

* ReferencedBy: The film is ComicBook/SuperMan's favorite movie.

* WriteWhoYouKnow: Scout was based on Harper Lee's childhood, Atticus on her lawyer father, Jem on her four-year older brother, and Dill on her childhood friend Truman Capote. Boo Radley was based on one of her neighbors, and Tom Robinson was the amalgam of several cases. Ultimately everyone in the book is based off of someone from Lee's childhood. The townspeople were not amused. However, the book was VindicatedByHistory in Monroeville (Lee's hometown). They perform a stage version of it every year with AudienceParticipation for the courtroom scene: the audience is segregated as they were in the courtroom, and twelve men from the crowd are selected as the jury.

* WriteWhoYouKnow: Boo Radley is based on Alfred "Son" Boleware, a man from Harper Lee's neighborhood who was put under house arrest by his father well into adulthood after a teenage vandalism incident.

* AFIS100YearsSeries:
** AFIS100Years100Movies: #34
** AFIS100Years100HeroesAndVillains:
*** #1 Hero, Atticus Finch
** AFIS100YearsOfFilmScores: #17
** AFIS100Years100Cheers: #2
** AFIS100Years100Movies10THAnniversaryEdition: #25
** AFIS10Top10:
*** #1, Courtroom Drama
* BigNameFan: Creator/WaltDisney had the film screened at his personal theater when it was first released and loved it. At the end he told his colleagues that this was the kind of movie [[AnimationAgeGhetto he wished he could make]].

* DyeingForYourArt: Robert Duvall stayed out of the sun for six weeks and dyed his hair blonde, for the role of Boo Radley who, according to the story, spent much of his life as a recluse.
* FanNickname: Tequila Mockingbird.[[note]]Say the title with a Southern drawl if you don't get it.[[/note]]
** A restaurant in Staunton, VA offers a Tequila Mockingbird as its signature drink.
*** There's also a book of that title containing other literary-themed cocktail recipes.
** There was also an episode of ''Series/GetSmart'' that had the Tequila Mockingbird as a MacGuffin.
** It's also a monster in TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}}

* LifeImitatesArt: At a couple of points in the movie, Scout, who is only just learning to read, sits on Atticus' lap to visually follow along as he reads aloud. ''Decades'' later, real-life educators began recommending this very technique to parents who wanted to help their youngsters learn to read.

* SelfAdaptation: During the filming, Harper Lee used to come everyday to the set, but stopped after three weeks because by then she knew the movie would be fine without her.
* ThrowItIn: In the film, Tom Robinson's emotional breakdown during his testimony was not scripted.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Originally Lee wrote a book called ''Go Set a Watchman'' about an adult Scout coming to terms with life in the South as the Civil Rights Movement begins to pick steam. However, her publisher/editor was more intrigued by the childhood flashbacks and asked her to rewrite the book based on those scenes, which became ''To Kill a Mockingbird''. Decades later, the manuscript for ''Go Set a Watchman'' was rediscovered and published.
** Universal wanted Rock Hudson to play Atticus in the film, but he was deemed too young for the part. Creator/SpencerTracy was the director and producer's first choice, but he was unavailable. Creator/JamesStewart was also offered the part, reportedly second, but told the producers he believed the script was "too liberal," and feared the film would be controversial.
** Creator/JamesEarlJones auditioned for Tom Robinson.

* SelfAdaptation: During the filming of ''To Kill a Mockingbird'', Harper Lee used to come everyday to the set, but stopped after three weeks because by then she knew the movie would be fine without her.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Originally Lee wrote a book called ''Go Set a Watchman'' about an adult Scout coming to terms with life in the South as the Civil Rights Movement begins to pick steam. However, her publisher/editor was more intrigued by the childhood flashbacks and asked her to rewrite the book based on those scenes, which became ''To Kill a Mockingbird''. Decades later, the manuscript for ''Go Set a Watchman'' was rediscovered and published.

** In the ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode ''Diatribe of a Mad Housewife'', Homer expresses disappointment with the book, stating that it only taught him racial toletance instead of how to kill mockingbirds.

* Fun Fact: The movie adaptation is Franchise/{{Superman}}'s favorite movie.

* ReferencedBy: The film is [[ComicBook/SuperMan]]'s favorite movie

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Originally Lee wrote a book called ''Go Set a Watchman'' about an adult Scout coming to terms with life in the South as the Civil Rights Movement begins to pick steam. However, her publisher/editor was more intrigued by the childhood flashbacks and asked her to rewrite the book based on those scenes, which became ''To Kil A Mockingbird''. Decades later, the manuscript for ''Go Set a Watchman'' was rediscovered and published.

* {{Woolseyism}}: The Italian title of the book and movie is 'Il Buio Oltre La Siepe', 'The Darkness Beyond The Hedge', which is a pretty poetic description of the main theme of both works; not just racism, but also fear of the unknown, whatever is in that darkness that is just beyond the hedge that borders the world we do know, [[spoiler: like Boo Radley]].

** Universal wanted Creator/RockHudson to play Atticus in the film, but he was deemed too young for the part. Creator/SpencerTracy was the director and producer's first choice, but he was unavailable. Creator/JamesStewart was also offered the part, reportedly second, but told the producers he believed the script was "too liberal," and feared the film would be controversial.

* Fun Fact: The movie adaptation is Franchise/{{Superman}}'s favorite movie.
* LifeImitatesArt: At a couple of points in the movie, Scout, who is only just learning to read, sits on Atticus' lap to visually follow along as he reads aloud. ''Decades'' later, real-life educators began recommending this very technique to parents who wanted to help their youngsters learn to read.

* DyeingForYourArt: Creator/RobertDuvall stayed out of the sun for six weeks and dyed his hair blonde, for the role of Boo Radley who, according to the story, spent much of his life as a recluse.

** AFIS100Years100Movies10ThAnniversaryEdition: #25