Mary Badham: From Scout... to Mrs. Dubose

 

In 1962 Mary Badham was a child star, charming audiences across America with her portrayal of Scout in the film version of To Kill A Mockingbird (TKAM). She was only 10 years old and was nominated for an Oscar for this role. In fact, she still holds the record for the youngest person to be nominated for this award.

I recently rewatched the movie and I was enthralled with Mary’s performance. She was so natural, believable, and plucky as Scout. For me personally, when child actors are trying too hard to act it comes across as disingenuous. I’d much prefer the raw talent of a child, like Mary, in the hands of a skilled director (Robert Mulligan) and a supportive scene partner (Gregory Peck). And Mary had no acting experience prior to being discovered at an open call for the movie in her hometown of Birmingham, Alabama. She just had that “special something” at the audition so the talent scout greenlit her for a screentest and the rest is history.

After the huge success of TKAM, Mary continued acting in Hollywood for a few more years, my personal favorite role as Sport in the final episode of the original Twilight Zone series called “The Bewitchin’ Pool”. But at 14 years of age, she retired from acting. Until now… Over 60 years later, Mary is once again performing in TKAM, but this time in the national tour of the Broadway production.

I was lucky enough to speak with Mary over the phone during their run in Indianapolis a couple of weeks ago. And we talked for an hour! I was in TKAM heaven. Here’s some of our conversation:

I’m so excited to speak with you and have so many questions. BUT I will try my best to be succinct. Let’s discuss the timeline for a moment. I know you were 10 years old when you filmed the TKAM movie, and you were nominated for an Academy Award for your portrayal of Scout. What happened after that?

I was just a kid, so I moved back to Birmingham after filming the movie. But there was a lot of flying back and forth from Los Angeles for the next few years for auditions and other acting jobs. It was difficult though because after having lived in California, I just didn’t fit in Alabama anymore. There was so much unrest and change happening in the 1960s, and there was a lot of change happening in me too.

I did a few more acting jobs after TKAM but I was starting to grow out of the roles I was accustomed to auditioning for and the scripts I started to get didn’t feel appropriate anymore. The movie industry was also going through big changes in the 1960’s and I just didn’t want to be a part of it anymore. So I retired at age fourteen.

My Mom and Dad were big on education. It was very important to them that I would always be able to stand on my own two feet and be able to take care of myself. I ended up going to boarding school in the middle of the desert in Arizona to finish schooling. And I loved it!

What is it about TKAM that still resonates with audiences?

I think it still resonates with audiences because we are dealing with these themes and issues more than ever: Mental illness; Prescription drug addiction; Racial bigotry; Single parenting households. It’s important for us to continue having these conversations and working towards finding solutions. I feel like my whole life has been about TKAM. My job seems to be keeping this story alive from 1962 until now.

It’s been over 60 years since you played Scout in the iconic film version of TKAM. And now you are playing Mrs. Dubose, the very angry, morphine-addicted, and racist next-door neighbor, on this critically acclaimed national tour of the play. Was this role expanded for this version of the play? I recall it was a very small role in the movie and I don’t remember us necessarily knowing she was racist.

Yes, her character is more developed in this version. You learn about her pain and how she became the way she is. The characters of Calpurnia and Tom have also been given voices for the first time. This helps pull Atticus away from his rose-colored glasses and puts him in the real world, with all of life's lessons that we still have not learned.

I read about how close you and Gregory Peck were and that you stayed in touch all those years afterwards. Tell us a little about that relationship. And did you keep in touch with anyone else from the movie?

Gregory Peck was like a father to me. I've always called him Atticus and he's always called me kiddo. There were lots of lunches and visits over the years. I even traveled with him some during the tour of his one-man show across America. I lost both of my parents when I was young, so he filled a big void for me as a parent figure. As a matter of fact so did Brock Peters who played Tom in the movie. I loved those two men so very much. For a while Phillip Alford, who played Jem, and I stayed in touch. We used to be at the same speaking engagements to talk about TKAM and the movie. A behind the scenes look at things, and to continue bringing awareness to the issues this movie and book dealt with and still does. But one day he just told me he can't do this anymore. And that was that. He wanted his life to go in a different direction.

Well I could talk to you all day but I know you’re a busy woman. Let’s finish up with some “Lightning Round Questions”. First thing that comes to your mind, no overthinking!

Text or Talk:  Text for communication. Talk if it’s a friend and we need to catch-up.

Favorite beverage of choice:   Milk!

Do you believe in ghosts or the supernatural:   I do! I believe in guardian angels. They’ve saved my life more than once.

Favorite thing you like to do in each city on this tour:  I love big botanical gardens! If the city has one then I'm going to go and see it.

Anything you haven’t done yet that you really want to do? Bucket List kinda thing:  I've always wanted to buy an old chateau in France and retire there with all of my old friends.

Biggest lesson you learned from Scout:  Scout taught me not to be afraid of being me!

Mary Badham