'To Kill a Mockingbird': Original 'Scout' part of touring show coming to Memphis' Orpheum

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When Aaron Sorkin's stage adaptation of "To Kill a Mockingbird" reaches Memphis this month, the presence of one actor in particular will connect the touring production with decades of "Mockingbird" history and with the beloved 1962 movie that cemented the story's status as an American classic.

Mary Badham, who was 10 years old when she appeared in the movie as Atticus Finch's daughter, Scout, will be onstage at the Orpheum in the role of Mrs. Dubose, the Finch family's elderly, contrary neighbor.

The part marks Badham's belated theatrical debut, some 60 years after she became the youngest person ever nominated for an Oscar, when she was a candidate for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Scout. (The 1962 winner was another young actress, Patty Duke, who was 15 when she appeared as Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker"; Badham's age record was broken in 1973 by Best Supporting Actress nominee and winner Tatum O'Neal, who was younger than Badham by about three months when she was recognized for "Paper Moon.")

In the intervening years, "To Kill a Mockingbird" has remained a touchstone for Badham, bringing her to the White House for a 50th anniversary screening with President Barack Obama, taking her on lecture tours to Russia and England, and helping to inspire a lifelong commitment to social justice that has long outlasted her movie career, which she abandoned when she was a teenager.

Mary Badham, who played 10-year-old Scout in the 1962 movie of "To Kill a Mockingbird," is elderly Mrs. Dubose in the touring production of the Broadway play. Dorcas Sowunmi plays the Dubose housekeeper.
Mary Badham, who played 10-year-old Scout in the 1962 movie of "To Kill a Mockingbird," is elderly Mrs. Dubose in the touring production of the Broadway play. Dorcas Sowunmi plays the Dubose housekeeper.

Unlike Scout — who at one point is costumed as a joint of pork for a school pageant — Badham never was a ham; she originally wanted to be a veterinarian, but eventually pursued careers as an art restorer and a college testing coordinator.

"It wasn't my bag, anyway," said Badham, 69. "I never wanted to be an actress. It was just something that happened to me and it was fun while it lasted, but I was ready to move on."

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The "fun while it lasted" included some enviable opportunities. Badham's post-"Mockingbird" credits include "This Property Is Condemned," with Natalie Wood and Robert Redford; "Let's Kill Uncle," directed by horror maestro William Castle; and "The Bewitchin' Pool," the last of the 156 episodes of the classic 1960s run of "The Twilight Zone." But, of course, none of these efforts had the impact of "Mockingbird."

Pulitzer novel, child actor

"To Kill a Mockingbird" was adapted from the novel of the same name by Harper Lee of Monroeville, Alabama. The book was an immediate success, hitting the best-seller lists, winning the Pulitzer Prize, becoming a fixture of high-school English classes, and never going out of print. The book also has been a lightning rod for controversy, challenged for its use of racial epithets, its anti-racism message and — in recent years — its foregrounding of the story of "white savior" figure Atticus Finch over that of the traumatized Black family he represents in court.

For Badham, the key to the longevity of the story is that "To Kill a Mockingbird" contains "all these life lessons that we still haven't learned yet. It talks about single-family parenting and the trials and tribulations of that. It speaks to physician-prescribed opioid abuse [a theme omitted from the film]. It talks about people with mental frailty, in the character of Boo Radley. It allows discussion of all these problems we are still dealing with, not to mention the elephant in the room, racism."

She said America's ongoing reluctance to confront the legacy of racism continues to motivate her interest in "Mockingbird."

"A lot of people thought with the coming of the Obama era, things would have changed, but all of this hatred and anger bubbled to the surface," she said. "It is just so sad to see, that those people are still out there."

Mary Badham as Scout in "To Kill a Mockingbird."
Mary Badham as Scout in "To Kill a Mockingbird."

The daughter of a U.S. Army general, Henry Lee Badham Jr., and an English actress, Mary Iola Badham, Mary Badham was born in her father's hometown of Birmingham after the family relocated to Alabama. Her mother continued to act in local theater, and when film scouts came to town looking for kids to star in a movie adaptation of "To Kill a Mockingbird," someone suggested little Mary audition for Scout.

"Of course, daddy said no," Badham said. "But my mom was really sharp and said, 'Now, Henry, dear, what are the chances the child is going to get the part, anyway?'"

The chances, as it turned out, were excellent. When "Mockingbird" producer Alan J. Pakula saw young Mary, he immediately wanted her for the role. (Pakula later achieved fame as a director, helming "Klute" and "All the President's Men.")

At that time, Mary's older brother, John, was at Yale, studying drama and philosophy but dreaming of a career in film. "You can imagine his shock," Badham said, "when he gets the call from my mother telling him I'm going to be in a movie, and then flash forward, and it's, 'Your sister got nominated for an Academy Award.'" That brother was John Badham, who 15 years after "Mockingbird" directed "Saturday Night Fever," which he followed with such other hit films as "Short Circuit," "WarGames" and the 1979 "Dracula."

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Although producers recruited child actors in Harper Lee's home turf (Phillip Alford, who played Scout's brother, Jem, was another Alabaman), "To Kill a Mockingbird" — directed by Robert Mulligan — was shot on the soundstages and backlot at Universal Studios in Hollywood. The kids weren't the only first-time movie actors on the set: the pivotal if brief role of Boo Radley was played by big-screen neophyte and future acting legend Robert Duvall. Meanwhile, established movie star Gregory Peck was solid, stolid Atticus Finch, the Lincolnesque small-town attorney and pillar of decency whose defense of a Black man (Brock Peters) accused of raping a white woman jeopardizes his family's security.

"He was a real-life Atticus," Badham said of Peck, whom she called "Atticus" throughout his life. "What you see up on film is what you got. He was so kind and loving, so intelligent, so well-read, such a good mentor. We were very much a family unit. I'd go home with the Pecks on the weekend and play with their children. Philip Alford would play chess with Atticus. We are all very close and stayed friends until he passed away," in 2003.

"To Kill a Mockingbird" stars Mary Badham and Gregory Peck go over the script of the film that would earn each of them Oscar nominations.
"To Kill a Mockingbird" stars Mary Badham and Gregory Peck go over the script of the film that would earn each of them Oscar nominations.

Peck won the Best Actor Oscar and playwright Horton Foote won the Best Adapted Screenplay award; the movie was nominated for Best Picture but lost to "Lawrence of Arabia." Badham was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, but she justifiably could have been a Best Actress nominee: Jean Louise "Scout" Finch, who narrates the film as an unseen adult (voiced by Kim Stanley), is the real center of the story, an appealing 6-year-old tomboy more at home in her signature overalls or rolling around inside an old tire than in a "darn old dress."

From page to stage

Owing more to the novel than to the movie but with its own original perspective on the material, the recent stage version of "To Kill a Mockingbird" was scripted by the much-lauded Aaron Sorkin, whose witty, fast-paced dialog has enlivened "The West Wing" (a series he created), "The Social Network" and many other films and television programs.

The play made its Broadway debut in 2018, with Jeff Daniels in the role of Atticus Finch. For the touring production that will be at the Orpheum Aug. 16-21, the role of Atticus will be tackled by Richard Thomas, known for his portrayal of "John-Boy" on five seasons of "The Waltons" in the 1970s.

Mary Badham.
Mary Badham.

Badham acknowledges she likely was recruited for the 34-city tour of the Broadway play because her "historic connection" to the story offered publicists "an angle" to help promote the show. "But they were really taking a big chance with me, because with film, you can do it over again, but when you're in the theater, it's out there, what's done is done, there's no taking it back."

She said the experience has been joyful as well as educational. "We've really bonded. We take care of one another. And we realize the importance of this. This is not just any play, this is 'To Kill a Mockingbird.'"

In the production at the Orpheum, Scout is played by Melanie Moore, who is 20 (an adult is needed because of the rigors of the tour and because the play skips around in time). Asked if she offered any advice to her successor as Scout, Badham scoffed.

"I've seen so many little Scouts through the years, and Jems, and they're all so different, I wouldn't even think I had anything to offer them."

'To Kill a Mockingbird'

The Orpheum, 203 S. Main. 

7:30 p.m. Aug. 16-19; 2 and 8 p.m. Aug. 20; 1 and 6:30 p.m.  Aug. 21

Tickets: $29-$125

For tickets and more information, visit orpheum-memphis.com.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: 'To Kill a Mockingbird': Original Scout part of touring Broadway show