Comprehensive information and links about Roman Holiday

Roman Holiday is a 1953 romantic comedy film which tells the story of Princess Ann, a young royal who runs away during a state visit to Rome and befriends Joe Bradley, a cynical expatriate American reporter who first just wants an exclusive story about a princess gone AWOL but finds himself falling in love with her. The film is also known for its Vespa footage, much praised by classic scooter enthusiasts the world over.

The film is most notable for introducing American movie audiences to Belgian-born actress Audrey Hepburn, who would win the Academy Award for Best Actress as Anya. Gregory Peck and Eddie Albert co-star.

The original meaning of the term as given, for example, in [1] is a scene of debauchery or carnage.

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Credits

The movie was written by John Dighton and, fronting for Hollywood Blacklist author Dalton Trumbo, Ian McLellan Hunter. (Trumbo's name was digitally restored to the film's credits when it was released on DVD in 2003.)

Princess Ann is a royal princess and heir to the throne of an unnamed country. She is officially touring several European capitals, and so arrives in Rome, where her visit is widely publicized. One night, she is very agitated and expresses her tiredness of her official role. The court doctor gives her an injection in order to calm her down, but she nevertheless secretly leaves her country's embassy in Rome and goes out alone to explore the city.

She ends up falling asleep on a public bench where Joe Bradley, an expatriate American reporter, sees her but does not recognize her. He offers her money so that she can take a taxi and return home safely, but Anya Smith, as she introduces herself, is so sleepy that she is unable to talk to the taxi driver.

Bradley finally decides to take her to his apartment so that she can spend the night in a safe place. The next morning, Bradley leaves the sleeping woman alone and arrives late at his office where his boss asks him if he has conducted the scheduled interview of the princess during the morning.

"Audrey Hepburn breaks character during a practical joke Gregory Peck plays during filming of the "Mouth of Truth" sequence." Audrey Hepburn breaks character during a practical joke Gregory Peck plays during filming of the "Mouth of Truth" sequence.

Bradley first lies and gives details of the alleged interview until his boss announces to him that the princess has suddenly fallen ill and has cancelled all interviews. He then shows a picture of her to Bradley, who suddenly recognizes the young woman whom he left sleeping in his apartment...

Miscellaneous

One of the most famous scenes in the movie is when Gregory Peck puts his hand into the "Mouth of Truth", a stone face in Rome that legend says will bite it off if you tell a lie. In the film, when he pulls his hand out it is missing, causing AnyaHepburn to scream. He then pops his hand out of his sleeve and laughs. Audrey Hepburn's shriek wasn't acting—Peck had decided to pull the gag he had once seen Red Skelton do, and had not told his costar of it before. A now-legendary screen test resulted in Hepburn being cast as Ann. After performing a scene from the film, the director called "cut" but the cameraman actually left the camera rolling as the young actress chatted with the director. The candid footage of Hepburn that resulted won her the role.

which would have seen Anya and Joe reunite; the idea never came to fruition. The original film was remade for television in the early 1980s.

The movie was filmed in Rome, on location and at Cinecittà Studios.

It is sometimes stated that was Hepburn's first American acting job. In fact, she appeared at least once on US television in 1952 -- a

In 1999 the film was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.