Mary Badham (born October 7, 1952) is an American actress who portrayed Jean Louise "Scout" Finch in ''
To Kill a Mockingbird
''To Kill a Mockingbird'' is a novel by the American author Harper Lee. It was published in 1960 and was instantly successful. In the United States, it is widely read in high schools and middle schools. ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' has become ...
'' (1962), for which she was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
At the time, Badham (aged 10) was the youngest actress ever nominated in this category.
Career
Mary Badham had no film acting experience before being cast in ''To Kill a Mockingbird''. The
Oscar
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People
* Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms.
* Oscar (Irish mythology) ...
in her category went to another child actress,
Patty Duke
Anna Marie "Patty" Duke (December 14, 1946 – March 29, 2016) was an American actress and mental health advocate. Over the course of her acting career, she was the recipient of an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, three Primetime Emmy Aw ...
for ''
The Miracle Worker
''The Miracle Worker'' refers to a broadcast, a play and various other adaptations of Helen Keller's 1903 autobiography '' The Story of My Life''. The first of these works was a 1957 ''Playhouse 90'' broadcast written by William Gibson and st ...
''. During filming, Badham became particularly close to actor
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the 12th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood ...
, who played Scout's father,
Atticus Finch
Atticus Finch is a fictional character in Harper Lee's Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel of 1960, ''To Kill a Mockingbird''. A preliminary version of the character also appears in the novel '' Go Set a Watchman'', written in the mid-1950s but not pub ...
; she kept in touch with him, always calling him "Atticus," until his death in 2003. Peck called her "Scout" in return.
[Mary Badham Official Website: "50th Anniversary"]
; accessed July 16, 2015.The Bewitchin' Pool
"The Bewitchin' Pool" is the 156th and last episode of the first incarnation of the American anthology television series ''The Twilight Zone''. (" Come Wander with Me", however, was the final episode to be filmed.) It originally aired on June 19, ...
", the final episode of the original ''Twilight Zone'' series. Due to technical issues, her voice in outdoor scenes was dubbed in post production
Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments.
Th ...
by adult voice actress
Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...
June Foray
June Foray (born June Lucille Forer; September 18, 1917 – July 26, 2017) was an American voice actress. She was best known as the voice of such animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Nell Fenwick, Lucifer from Disney' ...
. She also appeared in the films '' This Property Is Condemned'' and '' Let's Kill Uncle'' before retiring from the acting profession.[
In 2005, at the urging of actor/writer/director Cameron Watson, Badham came out of retirement to play an offbeat cameo opposite ]Keith Carradine
Keith Ian Carradine ( ; born August 8, 1949) is an American actor who has had success on stage, film, and television. He is known for his roles as Tom Frank in Robert Altman's film ''Nashville'', Wild Bill Hickok in the HBO series '' Deadwood ...
for his film, '' Our Very Own''. Watson stated he would not accept any other actress for the part. He had managed to contact her in Monroeville, Alabama
Monroeville is the county seat of Monroe County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census its population was 5,951.
Monroeville is known as the hometown of two prominent writers of the post-World War II period, Truman Capote and Harper Lee ...
, where she had been invited to attend a stage version of ''To Kill a Mockingbird''.[ Badham made her tour debut as a stage actor portraying Mrs. Dubose in the U.S. national tour of ]Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Benjamin Sorkin (born June 9, 1961) is an American playwright, screenwriter and film director. Born in New York City, he developed a passion for writing at an early age. Sorkin has earned an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, five Primetime ...
's stage adaptation of ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' on March 27, 2022.
Personal life
Badham is the younger sister of director John Badham
John MacDonald Badham (born August 25, 1939) is an English television and film director, best known for his films ''Saturday Night Fever'' (1977), ''Dracula'' (1979), ''Blue Thunder'' (1983), ''WarGames'' (1983), ''Short Circuit'' (1986), and ...
.[
, Badham was an art restorer and a college testing coordinator. She is married to Richard W. Wilt, dean of Library and Educational Support Services at ]Lehigh Carbon Community College
Lehigh Carbon Community College (LCCC), often pronounced "L-tri-C," is a public community college in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The school serves as the primary granter of associate degre ...
, and the mother of two children. She has traveled around the world recalling her experiences making ''To Kill a Mockingbird'', while expounding the book's messages of tolerance and compassion.[
In 2012, she attended a screening of ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' with President ]Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
at the White House to mark the 50th anniversary of its release.[ In 2015, she defended the release of ]Harper Lee
Nelle Harper Lee (April 28, 1926February 19, 2016) was an American novelist best known for her 1960 novel ''To Kill a Mockingbird''. It won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize and has become a classic of modern American literature. Lee has received numero ...
's first draft of ''Go Set a Watchman
''Go Set a Watchman'' is a novel written by Harper Lee before her Pulitzer Prize-winning ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' (1960), her only other published novel. Although ''Go Set a Watchman'' was initially promoted as a sequel by its publisher, it i ...
'' and its portrayal of an older, more bigoted,
Filmography
See also
* List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees - Best Supporting Actress, Youngest Nominees
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Badham, Mary
1952 births
Living people
Actresses from Birmingham, Alabama
American child actresses
American film actresses