Beloved Infidel (1959)

Toward the end of his life F. Scott Fitzgerald is writing for Hollywood studios to be able to afford the cost of an asylum for his wife. He is also struggling against alcoholism. Into his life comes the famous gossip columnist.

Director:

Henry King

Writers:

Sy Bartlett (screenplay), Sheilah Graham (based on the book by),

Stars:

Gregory Peck, Deborah Kerr, Eddie Albert

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Gregory Peck	...	F. Scott Fitzgerald
Deborah Kerr	...	Sheilah Graham
Eddie Albert	...	Bob Carter
Philip Ober	...	John Wheeler
Herbert Rudley	...	Stan Harris
John Sutton	...	Lord Donegall
Karin Booth	...	Janet Pierce
Ken Scott	...	Robinson

Storyline

In 1936, the witty columnist Sheilah Graham leaves her noble British fiancé and travels in the Queen Mary from Southampton, England, to New York. She seeks out the editor of the North American Newspaper Alliance, John Wheeler, offering her services but he sends her to the Daily Mirror. Sheilah becomes successful and John offers a job in Hollywood to write a gossip column about the stars. When Sheilah meets the decadent writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, they immediately fall in love. Sheilah discovers that Scott accepts any job to financially support his wife Zelda that is in asylum, and his daughter at a boarding school. She opens her heart to him and tells the truth about her origins; but their relationship is affected by his drinking problem.

---

Plot Keywords:

asylum | columnist | hollywood | gossip columnist | love | 

---

Genres:

Drama | Romance

---

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 December 1959 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Un matin comme les autres

Filming Locations:

1325 Miller Drive, West Hollywood, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Company of Artists, The, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

123 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At a studio preview, Scott and Sheila view the finale of That Night in Rio.

---

Goofs

In 1937, in Hollywood, Deborah Kerr is driving a 1939 Buick convertible.

---

Connections

Referenced in Biography: F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great American Dreamer (1997)

---

Soundtracks

"You Were Meant for Me"
(uncredited)
Music by Nacio Herb Brown
Played at Carter's party

User Reviews

Excuse Me?

This film purports to be about the last years of F. Scott Fitzgerald and his life with his paramour Sheila Graham as seen through the eyes of Ms. Graham. Sorry, wrong number! Obviously, Ms. Graham remembers through rose colored glasses. Granted, she was there and we were not but this is a very sanitized version of life with a hopeless alcoholic, has-been. Fitzgerald was the darling of the jazz age who, with his unstable wife Zelda, ran rampant through life with a joy for living which set a standard for the time. But he dried up artistically, Zelda was committed to an institution and he took to the bottle with a vengeance. The film begins when he is on his last legs, trying to make it in Hollywood as a screen writer and having an affair with Ms. Graham, a Hollywood gossip columnist. Gregory Peck is just not believable as Fitzgerald. He is not gritty enough, not desperate enough and is just.....well, he is just Gregory Peck, not F. Scott Fitzgerald. Deborah Kerr is so wrong for this part that it is ludicrous. It appears that she was chosen for the role because she had an English accent as did Ms. Graham. Sheila Graham was a kick-ass opportunist (which she had to be to make it in the business) and Kerr is much too genteel and ladylike. I'm sure Ms. Graham loved her man and that her memories (at least some of them) were romantic and wonderful but it is just all too good to be true. Fitzgerald's last days are well known enough to make this film a saccharin fairy tale.