Anne Trivia

I don't know about you, but I love trivia about my favorite movies. So, here is a collection of some of the trivia I've discovered about the Anne movies. This is day three of http://bramblewoodfashion.blogspot.com/  Anne of Green Gables week.

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'Schuyler Grant' auditioned for the role of Anne Shirley before she was eventually cast as Diana Barry.

The scene where Mrs. Hammond brings Anne to the orphanage was done last.

The scene in the kitchen in which Anne tells Marilla she will apologize to Mrs. Lynde was shot with a body double for Richard Farnsworth as his schedule could not permit him to be there. All close-up shots were filmed later.

Katharine Hepburn was originally approached to play Marilla Cuthbert. She declined, but suggested her relative (great-niece), 'Schuyler Grant' for the part of Anne.

The scene where Anne and Marilla are walking back from Mrs. Lynde's after Anne's theatrical apology was the very first to be filmed.

A lot of the scenes, mainly long shots, were made before any of the characters were cast.
Megan Follows beat out 3,000 girls for the role of Anne Shirley.

Colleen Dewhurst grew up on Prince Edward Island.

The line Hattie Pringle says about not wanting to bruise herself fainting on stage is said by the character Amy in the novel "Little Women".


Though the American title is "Anne of Avonlea", it is only partially based on that L.M. Montgomery book, the second in the series, and is in fact based on parts from that and the third and fourth books in the series (out of eight).

This film takes pieces from several subsequent books because Kevin Sullivan thought there wasn't "enough dramatic material for a film" in the sequel "Anne of Avonlea" alone.

Kevin Sullivan says that Anne's hairstyles kept getting bigger and more eccentric as filming went on. One of Anne's hairstyles he found to be particularly extravagant was when Anne and Gilbert walk along the lane discussing "Averil's Atonement". The hairstyle Anne sports towards the end of the movie when she goes to visit Gilbert when he's sick was the least favorite of Sullivan's.

For the cow scene in which Anne and Diana fall into the mud, the costume department made four dresses. However, Megan Follows did the stunt in one take, and the others were not needed.

If you look closely at the doors in the kitchen, they are closed in every scene. This is due to the fact that for this movie they only rebuilt the kitchen, and there is nothing behind those doors.

It took quite a few takes to get Diana's bed to break correctly when Anne and Dianna fall on it during the bedroom scene before Diana's wedding.

Cameo: [Hagood Hardy] playing the organ during Diana's wedding.

While shooting the scene where Anne says goodbye to Marilla and Rachel before she leaves for Kingsport, Colleen Dewhurst was wearing jeans under her dress because she had to catch a plane in an hour.

One of the first scenes shot with Dame Wendy Hiller was the picnic scene. She had just recently had an operation and while climbing into the buggy for the scene, her hip was displaced. Everyone was confused and nervous, wondering if she had had a heart attack. When Sullivan got over to her, she said, "Get me a whiskey, dear boy." Unfortunately, her humorous mood was short-lived and she wanted to return to England at once, without finishing the film. Sullivan had to work hard to get her to stay.

It was Dame Wendy Hiller's idea to add the scenes concerning Mrs. Harris's death. She wanted a dénouement for her character. She and Sullivan discussed it and thought Mrs. Harris should "expire". Her death allowed Anne the opportunity to "free Pauline".