Roman Holiday

Crown Princess Ann is on a tightly-scheduled tour of European capital cities for her unnamed nation. After an especially hard day in Rome, her doctor gives her an injection and advises: "Best thing I know is to do exactly what you wish for awhile." She secretly leaves the embassy to explore the city and, as the drug takes effect, falls asleep atop a low wall, where Joe Bradley, an American reporter, finds her. Not recognizing her, he thinks she is intoxicated and takes her to his apartment to sleep it off.

Joe oversleeps and misses the princess's scheduled press conference, but claims to his editor, Hennessy, that he attended. Hennessy shows him a news item about the cancellation of the press conference due to the princess's "sudden illness". Joe realizes the woman in his apartment is the princess from the newspaper photograph, and asks Hennessy what he would pay for an exclusive interview with her. Hennessy offers $5000, and counters with a $500 bet that Joe will not be able to get it.

File:Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck on Vespa in Roman Holiday trailer.jpg scooter]]

Joe calls his photographer friend, Irving Radovich, and offers to show "Anya" around Rome, without revealing that he is a reporter and that he knows her true identity. Ann cites an important appointment and leaves. Joe follows and sees her explore an outdoor market, buy shoes, and get her long hair cut short. Joe contrives to meet her on the Spanish Steps and convinces her to spend the day with him, taking her to a street café to meet up with Irving, who takes pictures with a camera concealed in his cigarette lighter. Ann claims to be playing truant from school. When Ann clumsily drives a Vespa through Roman traffic with Joe as a passenger, they are arrested, but Joe and Irving show their "fake" press passes and are released. They tour the Colosseum. Joe then takes Ann to the Mouth of Truth and tells her the legend attached to it: if a liar puts their hand in the mouth, it will be bitten off. After Ann tries it after hesitating, it is Joe's turn, and he startles her by pretending that his hand has been cut off.

As they attend a dance on a boat that her barber had invited her to, agents from Ann's government try to forcibly take her back. Ann joins Joe, Irving, and the barber to fight them, and smashes a guitar over one of the pursuers heads. When Joe is knocked into the river, Ann jumps in after him. They swim away and kiss as they sit shivering on the riverbank. While drying their wet clothes at Joe's apartment, a radio bulletin says that the people of Ann's country are concerned that her illness may be serious. Ann asks Joe to drive her to a corner near the embassy, where they kiss again. She bids him a tearful farewell.

Upon her return, the princess replies to those attempting to remind her of her duty, "Were I not completely aware of my duty to my family and my country, I would not have come home tonight...or indeed ever again."

Joe tells a disbelieving Hennessy that he did not get the story, but tells Irving he cannot stop him from selling the photographs. Joe and Irving attend the rescheduled press conference, to Ann's surprise. She asserts her faith in relations between nations just as between people, and Joe assures her that her faith is not misplaced. When asked which city she most enjoyed visiting, she begins to say it would be difficult before declaring "Rome. By all means, Rome." Other photographers take pictures with their large press cameras, while Irving makes a show of using his cigarette lighter. Ann speaks briefly with each journalist, and Irving presents her with his photographs as a memento of Rome. Joe remains behind after everyone else leaves, before walking from the room.

{{Cast listing|

• Gregory Peck as Joe Bradley
• Audrey Hepburn as Princess Ann
• Eddie Albert as Irving Radovich
• Hartley Power as Hennessy, Joe's editor
• Harcourt Williams as the Ambassador of Princess Ann's country
• Margaret Rawlings as Countess Vereberg, Ann's principal lady-in-waiting
• Tullio Carminati as General Provno
• Paolo Carlini as Mario Delani
• Claudio Ermelli as Giovanni
• Paola Borboni as charwoman
• Alfredo Rizzo as taxi driver
• Laura Solari as secretary
• Gorella Gori as shoe seller
• Hans Hinrich as Dr. Bonnachoven (uncredited)

}}

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Wyler first offered the role to Hollywood favorite Cary Grant. Grant declined,Jaynes, Barbara Grant; Trachtenberg, Robert. [https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/76185 Cary Grant: A Class Apart]. [https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/76185]. Burbank, California: Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and Turner Entertainment. 2004. believing he was too old to play Hepburn's character's love interest, though he would do so ten years later in Charade. Other sources say Grant declined because he knew all of the attention would be centered on the princess.DVD special feature Peck's contract gave him solo star billing, with newcomer Hepburn listed much less prominently in the credits. Halfway through the filming, Peck suggested to Wyler that he elevate her to equal billing—an almost unheard-of gesture in Hollywood.{{cite book |last=Fishgall |first=Gary |title=Gregory Peck: A Biography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NJId3XPaeR0C&q=peck%20hepburn%20%22roman%20holiday%22&pg=PA174 |date=2002 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-6848-5290-4 |page=173 |access-date=30 November 2022 |archive-date=November 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127195536/https://books.google.com/books?id=NJId3XPaeR0C&q=peck%20hepburn%20%22roman%20holiday%22&pg=PA174 |url-status=live}}

Wyler had initially considered Elizabeth Taylor and Jean Simmons for the princess role, but both were unavailable."Remembering Roman Holiday", special feature on the DVD On 18 September 1951, director Thorold Dickinson made a screen test with Hepburn and sent it to director William Wyler, who was in Rome preparing Roman Holiday. Wyler wrote to Dickinson, saying that "as a result of the test, a number of the producers at Paramount have expressed interest in casting her."[https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/letter-made-audrey-hepburn-star BFI Film Forever, January 22, 2014: The letter that made Audrey Hepburn a star] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019033824/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/letter-made-audrey-hepburn-star |date=19 October 2021 }}. Retrieved April 20, 2015. Roman Holiday was not Hepburn's first acting role, as she had appeared in Dutch and British films from 1948 and on stage, but it was her first major film role and her first appearance in an American film. Wyler wanted an "anti-Italian" actress who was different from the curvy Italian stars of that era: She was perfect; his new star had, in words attributed to Wyler, "no arse, no tits, no tight-fitting clothes, no high heels. In short a Martian. She will be a sensation."{{cite book |last=Levy |first=Shawn |title=Dolce Vita Confidential |year=2016 |publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson |location=London |isbn=978-1-4746-0615-8 |page=112}}

File:Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday trailer 2.jpg in the Piazza di Spagna]]

The Italian Ministry of Tourism had originally refused permission for the movie to be filmed in Rome on the grounds that it would "degrade Italians".{{cite book| first=Stijn |last=Colpaert |chapter=What has happened to the centre? Cinematic representations of post-war Rome |title=City + Cinema: Essays on the Specificity of Location in Film |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9789521518652/page/70/mode/2up?q=roman+holiday |year=2007 |publisher=Datutop |location=Tampere |isbn=978-95215-1865-2 |page=71 |editor1-last=Griffiths |editor1-first=Gareth |editor2-last=Chudoba |editor2-first=Minna}} Once the matter was resolved, filming took place entirely in Rome and in the studios of Cinecittà. Wyler wanted to shoot the film in color, but doing so on location was so expensive that it had to be done in black and white.{{cite web |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/4096/roman-holiday#articles-reviews |title=Roman Holiday (1953) - Articles |website=Turner Classic Movies |access-date=June 26, 2024 |archive-date=February 3, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203103610/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/4096/Roman-Holiday/articles.html |url-status=live}}

Locations include:

• Mouth of Truth, Piazza Bocca della Verità, Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin
• Caffè Rocca, Piazza della Rotonda and Pantheon
• Castel Sant'Angelo
• Trevi Fountain
• Piazza Venezia
• Piazza di Spagna
• Spanish Steps
• Trinità dei Monti
• Colosseum
• Tiber river
• Via Margutta 51, the location of Joe's apartment where he hosts Princess Ann
• Via dei Fori Imperiali
• Via della Stamperia 85, the barber shop where Ann has her hair cut
• Palazzo Colonna Gallery, shown in the final scenes of the princess's press appearance
• Palazzo Brancaccio, the princess' ornate Roman bedroom.

The film opened the 14th Venice International Film Festival on August 20, 1953.{{cite magazine|title=Venice Pix Fete Preems With Par Film; Redtape Irks U.S. Majors|magazine=Variety|date=August 26, 1953|last=Hawkins|first=R. F. |page=2|url=https://archive.org/details/variety191-1953-08/page/n195/mode/1up?view=theater|access-date=March 12, 2024|via=Internet Archive}} It opened at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on August 27, 1953, grossing $165,000 in its first week.{{cite magazine|title=Heat Fails to Wilt B'Way Grosses|magazine=Variety|date=September 2, 1953|page=9|url=http://www.archive.org/stream/variety191-1953-09#page/n8/mode/1up|access-date=September 24, 2019|via=Archive.org}} The film also opened the same week in two theatres in Portland, Oregon, on a double bill with Murder Without Tears, grossing $14,000.{{cite magazine |title='Holiday' Smash $14,000, Port.Ace |magazine=Variety |date=September 2, 1953 |page=8 |url=http://www.archive.org/stream/variety191-1953-09#page/n7/mode/1up |access-date=September 24, 2019 |via=Archive.org}}

The film received critical acclaim from reviewers of its initial release.{{Cite news |last=Luban |first=Milton |date=August 27, 2019 |title='Roman Holiday': THR's 1953 Review |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/roman-holiday-review-movie-1953-2-1234508/ |access-date=March 4, 2025 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |quote=The critical acclaim and word-of-mouth praise that is bound to come should help make it a box office bonanza.}} Milton Luban of The Hollywood Reporter said the movie "proves a charming, laugh-provoking affair that often explodes into hilarity... it has a delightful screenplay that sparkles with wit and outrageous humor that at times comes close to slapstick" and that the "cinematographers do a fine job of incorporating Roman landmarks into the storyline".{{cite news|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/roman-holiday-review-movie-1953-1234508|title='Roman Holiday': THR's 1953 Review|newspaper=The Hollywood Reporter|first=Miton|last=Luban|date=August 27, 2019|access-date= December 23, 2020|archive-date=25 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025091454/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/roman-holiday-review-movie-1953-1234508|url-status=live}} The New York Times observed that it was "a natural, tender and amusing yarn" with "laughs that leave the spirits soaring".{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1953/08/28/archives/roman-holiday-at-music-hall-is-modern-fairy-tale-starring-peck-and.html |title=' Roman Holiday' at Music Hall Is Modern Fairy Tale Starring Peck and Audrey Hepburn |first=A. |last=W |date=August 28, 1953 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-date=November 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201106222056/https://www.nytimes.com/1953/08/28/archives/roman-holiday-at-music-hall-is-modern-fairy-tale-starring-peck-and.html |url-status=live}}

Roman Holiday was the second most popular film at the US box office during September 1953 behind From Here to Eternity, grossing almost $1 million.{{cite magazine| title=12 Biggest Pix Grossers in September Paced by 'Eternity' ('Robe' Excluded)| magazine=Variety| date=October 7, 1953| page=4| url=https://archive.org/stream/variety192-1953-10#page/n3/mode/1up| access-date=September 23, 2019| via=Archive.org}} It earned an estimated $3 million at the United States and Canadian box office during its first few months of release,{{cite magazine| title=Top Grossers of 1953| magazine=Variety| date=January 13, 1954}} and a total of $5 million.{{Cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=Tony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8G7CEAAAQBAJ&dq=USIA+Hollywood+Eastern+Europe++television+1990s&pg=PA110 |title=Cinematic Cold War: The American and Soviet Struggle for Hearts and Minds |last2=Youngblood |first2=Denise J. |date=2014-08-15 |publisher=University Press of Kansas |isbn=978-0-7006-2020-3 |pages=108–110 |language=en}} While the domestic box office disappointed Paramount, it was very successful elsewhere, including the UK, where the film benefited from both the current romance between Princess Margaret and commoner Peter Townsend—"No film studio could have bought such publicity", Alexander Walker wrote—and a fad for Italian culture.{{cite book |last=Walker |first=Alexander |title=Audrey: Her Real Story |publisher=Macmillan |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-3121-8046-1 |pages=83–87 |chapter=8: Loves and Hates |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g1b_sUYLROMC&q=townsend&pg=PA83 |access-date=December 3, 2020 |archive-date=September 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220915022848/https://books.google.com/books?id=g1b_sUYLROMC&q=townsend&pg=PA83 |url-status=live }} It earned around $12 milion in the overseas market.

Due to the film's popularity, both Peck and Hepburn were approached about filming a sequel, but this project never got off the ground.

The film has been well received, with a 95% rating at Rotten Tomatoes, based on 63 reviews with an average rating of 8.50/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "With Audrey Hepburn luminous in her American debut, Roman Holiday is as funny as it is beautiful, and sets the standard for the modern romantic comedy."{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/roman_holiday |title=Roman Holiday (1953) |access-date= February 8, 2023 |website=Rotten Tomatoes |archive-date= June 24, 2016 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20160624154120/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/roman_holiday |url-status=live}} It is considered a classic by twenty-first-century viewers and reviewers.{{cite web |last=Berardinelli |first=James |title=Roman Holiday |url=https://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/roman-holiday |date=May 6, 2021|access-date=October 9, 2022 |website=Reelviews Movie Reviews |language=en}} Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian noted that the film is a "modern fairytale whose two leads have a charm and innocence that irradiate the whole movie", giving the film five out of five.{{cite news |date=July 18, 2013 |title=Roman Holiday review – charm and innocence by the bucketload |url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jul/18/roman-holiday-review |access-date=October 9, 2022 |newspaper=The Guardian|first=Peter |last=Bradshaw |location=London |language=en}} Empire concluded that the film is a "timeless, exuberant classic, with Hepburn's naïve sense of fun and perfectly charming performance matched equally by Peck's louche and charismatic worldy American".{{Cite web |title=Roman Holiday |url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/roman-holiday-review/ |access-date=October 9, 2022 |website=Empire|date=January 2005 }} James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film three and a half stars out of four, calling the movie a "staple of the romantic comedy fan's library", and "remains one of only a few black-and-white movies that modern audiences willingly watch".

The film was very popular outside of the United States. As late as of 1990, it was cited as the favorite foreign film of all time for Japanese audiences.

The February 2020 issue of New York Magazine lists Roman Holiday as among "The Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars."{{cite news|title=The Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars|url=https://www.vulture.com/article/best-oscar-best-picture-losers.html|magazine=New York Magazine|access-date=March 17, 2025}}

• The Academy Award for Best Story was initially given to Ian McLellan Hunter, since he took story credit on behalf of Dalton Trumbo (who was blacklisted). The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences later credited the win to Trumbo, and in 1993 Trumbo's widow, Cleo, received her late husband's Oscar.{{cite news |first=Dennis |last=McLellan |title=Christopher Trumbo dies at 70; screen and TV writer whose father was blacklisted |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-christopher-trumbo-20110112-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=2011-01-12 |access-date=January 26, 2011 |archive-date=January 19, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110119114217/http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/12/local/la-me-christopher-trumbo-20110112 |url-status=live}}
• In 1999, Roman Holiday was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
• The American Film Institute lists the film at No. 4 in its AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions, and at No. 4 in the romantic comedy category in its AFI's 10 Top 10.

A number of films were later claimed to be based on Roman Holiday, or likened to it. They include

the Malayalam Kilukkam (1991),{{cite news |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/malayalam/movies/photo-features/mollywood-movies-that-ran-for-more-than-300-days/photostory/49802155.cms |title=Mollywood movies that ran for more than 300 days |newspaper=The Times of India |location=Mumbai |access-date=October 15, 2021 |archive-date=October 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211030084158/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/malayalam/movies/photo-features/mollywood-movies-that-ran-for-more-than-300-days/photostory/49802155.cms |url-status=live}} the Tamil-language May Madham (1994),{{cite web |url=http://www.vikatan.com/timepassvikatan/2016-mar-19/cinema/116914-sutta-padam-roman-holiday-%E2%80%98may-madham.art |title=சுட்ட படம் |trans-title=Stolen film |work=Ananda Vikatan |date=19 March 2016 |access-date= January 5, 2017 |language=ta |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170105113430/http://www.vikatan.com/timepassvikatan/2016-mar-19/cinema/116914-sutta-padam-roman-holiday-%E2%80%98may-madham.art |archive-date= January 5, 2017| url-access=subscription}} and Notting Hill (1999) - which a review described as "a 90's London-set version of Roman Holiday"Derek Elley (30 April 1999). [https://variety.com/1999/film/reviews/notting-hill-1200457114 "Notting Hill"]. Variety. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129113217/https://variety.com/1999/film/reviews/notting-hill-1200457114/ |date=November 29, 2020}}

When Lewis Gilbert was making The Adventurers for Paramount, he said Charles Bludhorn, whose company owned the studio, wanted the director to make a musical remake of Roman Holiday with songs by the Sherman Brothers. Gilbert agreed but said Paramount then got "cold feet" and the film was cancelled. The director went on to make Seven Nights in Japan (1976), which was in the style of Roman Holiday.{{cite web|website=British Entertainment History Project|title=Interview with Lewis Gilbert Side 13|url=https://historyproject.org.uk/interview/lewis-gilbert|year=1996}} Paramount Pictures has since licensed three musical adaptations of Roman Holiday: Toho's Japanese version of 1998;{{cite web| url=https://www.playbill.com/article/musical-adaptation-of-roman-holiday-coming-to-tokyo-oct-98-com-72577| title=Musical Adaptation of Roman Holiday Coming to Tokyo Oct. '98 |magazine=Playbill |date=December 22, 1997| access-date= September 18, 2015 |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308023121/https://www.playbill.com/news/article/musical-adaptation-of-roman-holiday-coming-to-tokyo-oct.-98-72577#sthash.9ldurMGL.dpuf |url-status=live}} Teatro Sistina's Vacanze romane (2004), using the Cole Porter score, supplemented with music by Armando Trovajoli, which has since toured Italy and Spain;{{cite web |url=http://www.ilsistina.it/event/vacanze-romane/ |title=VACANZE ROMANE dal 21 ottobre |access-date=September 18, 2015 |archive-date=May 7, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507063819/http://www.ilsistina.it/event/vacanze-romane/ |website=L'Accademia Sistina}} and the American stage version of 2012, described as a jukebox musical using the songs of Cole Porter.{{cite web |url=http://www.guthrietheater.org/plays_events/plays/roman_holiday |title=Roman Holiday |access-date=June 24, 2012 |archive-date=April 15, 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415010737/http://www.guthrietheater.org/plays_events/plays/roman_holiday |website=Guthrie Theater |url-status=live}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category|Roman Holiday (film)}}

{{Wikiquote}}

• {{AFI film|50997}}
• {{IMDb title|0046250|Roman Holiday}}
• {{TCMDb title|id=4096}}
• {{Metacritic film|title=Roman Holiday}}
• {{rotten-tomatoes|roman_holiday|Roman Holiday}}

{{William Wyler}}

{{Dalton Trumbo}}

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Category:1953 films

Category:1953 romantic comedy films

Category:1950s American films

Category:1950s English-language films

Category:American black-and-white films

Category:American romantic comedy films

Category:Fictional princesses

Category:Films about journalists

Category:Films about princesses

Category:Films about royalty

Category:Films directed by William Wyler

Category:Films featuring a Best Actress Academy Award–winning performance

Category:Films featuring a Best Drama Actress Golden Globe–winning performance

Category:Films scored by Georges Auric

Category:Films set in Rome

Category:Films shot in Rome

Category:Films that won the Academy Award for Best Story

Category:Films that won the Best Costume Design Academy Award

Category:Films with screenplays by Dalton Trumbo

Category:Paramount Pictures films

Category:United States National Film Registry films

Category:Films about interclass romance

Category:English-language romantic comedy films