Roman Holiday (1953)

Director:

William Wyler

Writers (WGA):

Dalton Trumbo (story) (front Ian McLellan Hunter)
Ian McLellan Hunter (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

2 September 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Audrey Hepburn at her Oscar-winning best in an immortal comedy-romance!

Plot:

A bored and sheltered princess escapes her guardians and falls in love with an American newsman in Rome.

Plot Keywords:

Princess | American | Press Conference | Editor | Delivery Truck

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 11 nominations

Cast

Gregory Peck	...	Joe Bradley
Audrey Hepburn	...	Princess Ann
Eddie Albert	...	Irving Radovich
Hartley Power	...	Mr. Hennessy
Harcourt Williams	...	Ambassador
Margaret Rawlings	...	Countess Vereberg
Tullio Carminati	...	Gen. Provno
Paolo Carlini	...	Mario Delani
Claudio Ermelli	...	Giovanni
Paola Borboni	...	Charwoman
Alfredo Rizzo	...	Cab Driver
Laura Solari	...	Secretary
Gorella Gori	...	Shoe Seller
Heinz Hindrich	...	Dr. Bonnachoven
John Horne	...	Master of Ceremonies
Andrea Esterhazy	...	Embassy Staffer (as Count Andrea Esterhazy)
Ugo De Pascale	...	Embassy Staffer
Diane Lante	...	Lady in Waiting
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Armando Ambrogi	...	Man on Phone (uncredited)
Armando Annuale	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Maurizio Arena	...	Driver (uncredited)
Ugo Ballerini	...	Embassy Staffer (uncredited)
Bruno Baschiera	...	Embassy Staffer (uncredited)
Gildo Bocci	...	Flower Man (uncredited)
Alfred Browne	...	Correspondent (uncredited)
Princess Alma Cattaneo	...	Lady in Waiting (uncredited)
J. Cortes Cavanillas	...	Himself (uncredited)
John Cortay	...	Correspondent (uncredited)
Vittoria Crispo	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Ferdinando De Aldisio	...	Himself (uncredited)
Jan Dijksgraaf	...	Correspondent (uncredited)
Jacques Ferrier	...	Himself (uncredited)
Helen Fondra	...	Countess of Marstrand (uncredited)
Giovanni Fostini	...	Correspondent (uncredited)
Sytske Galema	...	Himself (uncredited)
Teresa Gauthier	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Sidney Gordon	...	Correspondent (uncredited)
Otto Gross	...	Himself (uncredited)
George Higgins	...	Correspondent (uncredited)
Edward Hitchcock	...	Chief of Correspondents (uncredited)
Stephen House	...	Himself (uncredited)
Adam Jennette	...	Correspondent (uncredited)
Kurt Klinger	...	Himself (uncredited)
Friedrich Lampe	...	Himself (uncredited)
Princess Lilamani	...	The Raikuuari (uncredited)
Mario Lucinni	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Luis Marino	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Richard McNamara	...	Correspondent (uncredited)
Rabindranath Mitter	...	The Maharajah (uncredited)
Luigi Moneta	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Maurice Montabre	...	Himself (uncredited)
Julio Moriones	...	Himself (uncredited)
Richard Neuhaus	...	Guard (uncredited)
Desiderio Nobile	...	Embassy Staffer (uncredited)
Giustino Olivieri	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Eric Oulton	...	Sir Hugo Macy de Farmington (uncredited)
Piero Pastore	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Giacomo Penza	...	Nuntius Altomonto (uncredited)
Mimmo Poli	...	Worker (uncredited)
Giuliano Raffaelli	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Dominique Rika	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Carlo Rizzo	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Piero Scanziani	...	Himself (uncredited)
Gianna Segale	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Octave Senoret	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Alcide Tico	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Marco Tulli	...	Stiff Dancer at the Ball (uncredited)
Patricia Varner	...	Teacher (uncredited)
Dianora Veiga	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Cesare Viori	...	Prince Istvan Barossy Nagyavaros (uncredited)
Tania Weber	...	Francesca (uncredited)
Hank Werbe	...	Correspondent (uncredited)
Catherine Wyler	...	Schoolgirl (uncredited)
Judy Wyler	...	Schoolgirl (uncredited)

Directed by
William Wyler

Writing credits (WGA)
Dalton Trumbo		(story) (front Ian McLellan Hunter)
Ian McLellan Hunter		(screenplay) and
John Dighton		(screenplay)
Ian McLellan Hunter		(front for Dalton Trumbo)

Produced by
Robert Wyler	....	associate producer
William Wyler	....	producer

Original Music by
Georges Auric

Cinematography by
Henri Alekan
Franz Planer		(as Frank F. Planer)

Film Editing by
Robert Swink

Art Direction by
Hal Pereira
Walter H. Tyler		(as Walter Tyler)

Costume Design by
Edith Head

Makeup Department
Alberto De Rossi	....	makeup supervisor
Wally Westmore	....	makeup supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Herbert Coleman	....	assistant director
Bernard Vorhaus	....	assistant director (as Piero Mussetta)

Art Department
Italo Tomassi	....	set designer (uncredited)

Sound Department
Joseph de Bretagne	....	sound recordist

Music Department
Leo Shuken	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Victor Young	....	composer: theme music (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Paramount Pictures

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1953) (USA) (theatrical)
• Paramount (1953) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Paramount (1954) (France) (theatrical)
• Paramount Pictures (1960) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1966) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Paramount Home Video (1983) (USA) (VHS)
• Paramount Home Video (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Filmmuseum Distributie (2004) (Netherlands) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Paramount (2006) (France) (DVD)
• Seven Films (2008) (Greece) (theatrical)
• ARC (????) (Japan) (DVD)
• CIC Victor Video (1988) (Japan) (VHS)
• CIC Victor Video (1994) (Japan) (VHS)
• CIC Vídeo (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)
• First Trading (2006) (Japan) (DVD)
• PSG (2007) (Japan) (DVD)
• Paramount Filmes do Brasil (200?) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2003) (Japan) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2004) (Japan) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2006) (Japan) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2008) (Japan) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (19??) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Paramount Home Video (19??) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Tone (????) (Japan) (DVD)

Runtime:

118 min | Portugal:117 min (cut version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (f) (original rating) | West Germany:6 (f) (re-rated) | South Korea:All | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Canada:G | Chile:TE | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #16114) | UK:U | USA:Passed

Filming Locations:

Bocca della Verita "Mouth of Truth", Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Piazza Bocca della Verita, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The Embassy Ball sequence featured real Italian nobility, who all donated their salaries to charity. The reporters at the end of the film were real too.

Goofs:

Continuity: As Anja surreptitiously speeds away from the embassy, stowed away in the back of a delivery truck, the crates that she hides behind change.

Quotes:

Princess Ann: At midnight, I'll turn into a pumpkin and drive away in my glass slipper.
Joe Bradley: And that will be the end of the fairy tale.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Little Mermaid (1989)

An enchanting light comedy…

Constantly advised, overprotected, and bored with her royal duties, Princess Anne, on holiday in Rome, evades her protectors and sneaks out at night to discover how the ordinary Italians live...

Exhausted from a claustrophobic schedule, she collapses in a public place…

Passing by is Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck), a newspaper reporter who was planning to interview the Princess the following day…

Not realizing who she is, he eventually takes her to his apartment where she spends the night on his couch…

After discovering her identity, Bradley charms the runaway princess for the exclusive story he visualizes writing… He calls his carefree photographer friend Eddie Albert and proposes to spend the day with her and experience everything she has always desired to…

Audrey Hepburn—the exquisite incognito princess who finds romance in the capital city of Italy— not only lets down her long tresses, but also gets a more fashionable cut, as she blossoms to embrace a life she knows she cannot keep…

Hepburn received an Oscar for Best Actress in recognition of her gamine charms and for her great acting ability…

If you like to remember Princess Anne at the café ordering champagne for lunch; smoking her "very first" cigarette; dancing on a barge on the Tiber River; hitting the royal agents with beer bottles; and testing the legend of 'The Mouth of Truth;' don't miss this delightful movie with three legendary stars…