Fun with Roman Holiday

A few years ago, shortly after I spent an evening at my neighborhood multiplex to see Roman Holiday during one of their Tuesday Night Classics screenings, I went on-line to search out any advertising images from that night’s show. What I noticed during my search were the number of behind-the-scenes photos and studio shots that showed the participants in the film smiling and having fun…as if there were nothing better in the world to be doing but working on a romance comedy in Rome in the 1950s. I also saw a bunch of neat fan art and revival posters, and decided it might be cool to gather a few of these images and put them together in a post…a happy look at a happy film.

I have a few other movies I’ll be posting ‘Fun with…’ articles about throughout the year, but tonight we’ll travel with Audrey, Greg, and William to The Eternal City and have some fun with Roman Holiday.

“Work? No…today’s gonna be a holiday!”
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa – Gregory Peck, as Joe Bradley
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‘Between the enthusiastic crowds, the invigorating locations, the entrancing film story,
and the joy of working with Wyler and Hepburn, that summer became one of the happiest of his life…’
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa – from Gregory Peck: A Biography, by Gary Fishgall
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‘Paramount has a winner in this William Wyler romantic comedy-drama…Wyler used the ancient buildings
and streets of Rome as a colorful and beautiful backdrop…He times the chuckles with a never-flagging pace,
puts heart into the laughs, endows the footage with some off bits of business and points up some tender,
poignant scenes in using the smart script and the cast to the utmost advantage.’
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa–  Variety
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‘…one of the better pictures of the year, certainly one of the brightest comedies.’
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa – New York Herald-Tribune
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“I want to say thank you to everybody who, in these past months and years,
have helped, guided, and given me so much. I’m truly, truly grateful, and terribly happy.”
aaaaaaaaaa – Audrey Hepburn, Academy Award acceptance speech for Roman Holiday
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“Of the movies I’ve done, there isn’t much I really like.
The Gunfighter, Roman Holiday, and Twelve O’Clock High I feel were my best.”
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa – Gregory Peck, 1956
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Ranked #4 on the American Film Institute’s list
of the 10 greatest romantic comedies of all time.
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“I will cherish my visit here in memory as long as I live.”
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa– Audrey Hepburn, as Princess Ann
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