Petulia
Encyclopedia
Petulia is a British
drama film
directed by Richard Lester
. The screenplay
by Lawrence B. Marcus is based on the novel Me and the Arch Kook Petulia by John Haase
. It was listed to compete at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival
, but the festival was cancelled due to the events of May 1968 in France.
married to a savagely abusive man. She finagles a meeting with physician Archie Bollen, whom she first saw and with whom she became smitten as he treated an injured Mexican boy. Bollen is in the process of divorcing his wife, is sifting through new relationships with his ex, the new man in her life, his sons, and friends who knew him only as one-half of a couple. The two soon embark on a quirky relationship.
release stars Julie Christie
as Petulia, George C. Scott
as Archie Bollen, and Richard Chamberlain as David Danner, with Arthur Hill
, Shirley Knight
, Pippa Scott
, Kathleen Widdoes
, Richard Dysart
, Ruth Kobart
, Joseph Cotten
, Rene Auberjonois
, and Ellen Geer
in supporting roles. Howard Hesseman
is seen briefly in a cameo appearance
.
Filmed on location throughout San Francisco, Petulia included scenes at the apartment building located at 307 Filbert Street, the Cala Foods
on Hyde, and in the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel
.
with Big Brother and the Holding Company
, the Grateful Dead
playing "Viola Lee Blues", The Committee
, and Ace Trucking Company are briefly featured in club sequences. Grateful Dead members Jerry Garcia
, Mickey Hart
, Bob Weir
, Phil Lesh
, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, and Billy Kreutzman appear in cameos during the movie's apartment house medical emergency scene as onlookers.
for Best Written American Drama.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Richard Lester
Richard Lester
Richard Lester is an American film director based in Britain. Lester is notable for his work with The Beatles in the 1960s and his work on the Superman film series in the 1980s.-Early years and television:...
. The screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
by Lawrence B. Marcus is based on the novel Me and the Arch Kook Petulia by John Haase
John Haase (author)
Not to be confused with the criminal John HaaseDr. John Haase was a dentist and author, whose most well known novel was adapted into the 1968 Richard Lester film "Petulia", starring George C. Scott and Julie Christie....
. It was listed to compete at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival
1968 Cannes Film Festival
The 21st Cannes Film Festival was held on May 10 - 24, 1968, before being cancelled due to the turmoil of May 1968 in France.Peter Lennon's documentary Rocky Road To Dublin was to be the final film screened at the festival...
, but the festival was cancelled due to the events of May 1968 in France.
Synopsis
The film has a non-linear construction with frequent flash-backs and flash-forwards (especially at the beginning of the film.) The title character is a young San Francisco socialiteSocialite
A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....
married to a savagely abusive man. She finagles a meeting with physician Archie Bollen, whom she first saw and with whom she became smitten as he treated an injured Mexican boy. Bollen is in the process of divorcing his wife, is sifting through new relationships with his ex, the new man in her life, his sons, and friends who knew him only as one-half of a couple. The two soon embark on a quirky relationship.
Production
The Warner Brothers/Seven ArtsWarner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
release stars Julie Christie
Julie Christie
Julie Frances Christie is a British actress. Born in British India to English parents, at the age of six Christie moved to England, where she attended boarding school....
as Petulia, George C. Scott
George C. Scott
George Campbell Scott was an American stage and film actor, director and producer. He was best known for his stage work, as well as his portrayal of General George S. Patton in the film Patton, and as General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's Dr...
as Archie Bollen, and Richard Chamberlain as David Danner, with Arthur Hill
Arthur Hill (actor)
Arthur Edward Spence Hill was a Canadian actor best known for appearances in British and American theater, movies and television...
, Shirley Knight
Shirley Knight
Shirley Enola Knight is an American stage, film and television actress. She has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, in 1960 for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and in 1962 for Sweet Bird of Youth....
, Pippa Scott
Pippa Scott
Pippa Scott is an American actress who has appeared in movies and television since the 1950s. She was also married to a founding partner of Lorimar Productions, Lee Rich...
, Kathleen Widdoes
Kathleen Widdoes
-Life and career:Widdoes was born in Wilmington, Delaware, the daughter of Bernice and Eugene Widdoes. Widdoes moved to New York City to pursue stage work and studied at the Sorbonne in Paris under a Fulbright scholarship. From 1964 to 1972 she was married to well known actor Richard Jordan, with...
, Richard Dysart
Richard Dysart
Richard A. Dysart is an American actor, perhaps best known for his role as Leland McKenzie on the NBC legal drama L.A. Law....
, Ruth Kobart
Ruth Kobart
Ruth Kobart was an American performer, whose six-decade career encompassed opera, Broadway musical theatre, regional theatre, films, and television.-Life and career:...
, Joseph Cotten
Joseph Cotten
Joseph Cheshire Cotten was an American actor of stage and film. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair...
, Rene Auberjonois
Rene Auberjonois
René Murat Auberjonois is an American actor, known for portraying Father Mulcahy in the movie version of M*A*S*H and for creating a number of characters in long-running television series, including Clayton Endicott III on Benson , Odo on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Chef Louis in The Little...
, and Ellen Geer
Ellen Geer
Ellen Ware Geer is an American actress, professor, screenwriter, film director and theatre director.-Personal life:Geer was born in New York City, New York, the daughter of actors Herta Ware and Will Geer. She is currently married to children's musician Peter Alsop, and was previously married to...
in supporting roles. Howard Hesseman
Howard Hesseman
Howard Hesseman is an American actor best known for playing disc jockey Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cincinnati and schoolteacher Charlie Moore on Head of the Class.-Early life:...
is seen briefly in a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
.
Filmed on location throughout San Francisco, Petulia included scenes at the apartment building located at 307 Filbert Street, the Cala Foods
Cala Foods
Cala Foods was a supermarket chain operating in San Francisco, California. Cala Foods was the sister chain to Bell Markets, but Cala operated stores exclusively within the San Francisco city limits. The last Cala Foods store closed its doors on December 1, 2011.-History:Cala Foods was established...
on Hyde, and in the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel
The Fairmont San Francisco
The Fairmont San Francisco is a luxury hotel at 950 Mason Street, atop Nob Hill in San Francisco, California. The hotel was named after mining magnate and U.S. Senator James Graham Fair , by his daughters Theresa Fair Oelrichs and Virginia Fair Vanderbilt who built the hotel in his honor. The hotel...
.
Performance cameos
Janis JoplinJanis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
with Big Brother and the Holding Company
Big Brother and the Holding Company
Big Brother and the Holding Company is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Airplane. They are best known as the band that featured Janis Joplin as their...
, the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
playing "Viola Lee Blues", The Committee
The Committee (improv group)
The Committee is a San Francisco based improvisational comedy group founded by Alan Myerson and Jessica Myerson . The Myersons were both alums of The Second City in Chicago. The Committee opened April 10, 1963 at 622 Broadway in a 300 seat Cabaret theater that used to be an indoor bocce ball court...
, and Ace Trucking Company are briefly featured in club sequences. Grateful Dead members Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
, Mickey Hart
Mickey Hart
Mickey Hart is an American percussionist and musicologist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band the Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 to February 1971, and from October 1974 to August 1995...
, Bob Weir
Bob Weir
Bob Weir is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, most recognized as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the Grateful Dead disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead, together with other former members of the Grateful Dead...
, Phil Lesh
Phil Lesh
Phillip Chapman Lesh is a musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he played bass guitar throughout their 30-year career....
, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, and Billy Kreutzman appear in cameos during the movie's apartment house medical emergency scene as onlookers.
Cast
- Julie ChristieJulie ChristieJulie Frances Christie is a British actress. Born in British India to English parents, at the age of six Christie moved to England, where she attended boarding school....
as Petulia Danner - George C. ScottGeorge C. ScottGeorge Campbell Scott was an American stage and film actor, director and producer. He was best known for his stage work, as well as his portrayal of General George S. Patton in the film Patton, and as General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's Dr...
as Dr Archie Bollen - Richard ChamberlainRichard ChamberlainGeorge Richard Chamberlain is an American actor of stage and screen who became a teen idol in the title role of the television show Dr. Kildare .-Early life:...
as David Danner - Arthur HillArthur Hill (actor)Arthur Edward Spence Hill was a Canadian actor best known for appearances in British and American theater, movies and television...
as Barney - Shirley KnightShirley KnightShirley Enola Knight is an American stage, film and television actress. She has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, in 1960 for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and in 1962 for Sweet Bird of Youth....
as Polo - Pippa ScottPippa ScottPippa Scott is an American actress who has appeared in movies and television since the 1950s. She was also married to a founding partner of Lorimar Productions, Lee Rich...
as May - Kathleen WiddoesKathleen Widdoes-Life and career:Widdoes was born in Wilmington, Delaware, the daughter of Bernice and Eugene Widdoes. Widdoes moved to New York City to pursue stage work and studied at the Sorbonne in Paris under a Fulbright scholarship. From 1964 to 1972 she was married to well known actor Richard Jordan, with...
as Wilma - Roger BowenRoger BowenRoger Bowen was an American comedic actor and novelist, known for his portrayal of Lt. Col. Henry Blake in the 1970 film MASH. He often portrayed roles as a stuffy defender of the upper class and had regular roles on a number of television series...
as Warren - Richard DysartRichard DysartRichard A. Dysart is an American actor, perhaps best known for his role as Leland McKenzie on the NBC legal drama L.A. Law....
as Motel Receptionist - Ruth KobartRuth KobartRuth Kobart was an American performer, whose six-decade career encompassed opera, Broadway musical theatre, regional theatre, films, and television.-Life and career:...
as Nun - Ellen GeerEllen GeerEllen Ware Geer is an American actress, professor, screenwriter, film director and theatre director.-Personal life:Geer was born in New York City, New York, the daughter of actors Herta Ware and Will Geer. She is currently married to children's musician Peter Alsop, and was previously married to...
as Nun - Lou Gilbert as Mr Howard
- Nate Esformes as Mr Mendoza
- Maria Val as Mrs Mendoza
- Vincent Arias as Oliver
- Eric WeissEric WeissEric Weiss is a fictional character, played by Greg Grunberg, from the television series Alias. He is one of Sydney Bristow's CIA co-workers....
as Michael - Kevin CooperKevin CooperKevin Cooper may refer to:* Kevin Cooper , inmate on death row in California* Kevin Cooper , English footballer* Kevin Cooper , English first class cricketer...
as Stevie - Joseph CottenJoseph CottenJoseph Cheshire Cotten was an American actor of stage and film. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair...
as Mr Danner
Awards
Marcus was nominated for the Writers Guild of America AwardWriters Guild of America Award
The Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949...
for Best Written American Drama.