The Yearling is a
1946The year 1946 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*November 21 - William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives premieres in New York featuring an ensemble cast including Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell.*December 20 - Frank Capra's It's a...
family filmA family film is a film genre that is designed to appeal to a variety of age groups and, thus, families. To attract these diverse audiences, film makers often create works that operate simultaneously on several levels of appeal...
drama made by MGM. It was directed by
Clarence BrownClarence Brown was an American film director.-Early life:Born in Clinton, Massachusetts, to a cotton manufacturer, Brown moved to the South when he was eleven. He attended the University of Tennessee, graduating at the age of 19 with two degrees in engineering...
and produced by
Sidney FranklinSidney Franklin was an Academy Award-winning American film director and producer.His credits as director include:*Smilin' Through *Beverly of Graustark *The Last of Mrs...
. The
screenplayA screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. A play for television is known as a teleplay.- Format and style :...
was by
Paul OsbornPaul Osborn was a playwright and screenwriter most well known for writing the screen adaptation of East of Eden as well as South Pacific, The Yearling, The World of Susie Wong and Sayonara.- Career :...
and
John Lee MahinJohn Lee Mahin was a prolific screenwriter and producer.He was active in films from the 1930s to the 1970s. He worked on such films as Scarface and The Wizard of Oz, but his name does not appear on the credits to the latter film.He was a friend and frequent collaborator of director Victor Fleming...
(uncredited), adapted from the
novel of the same nameThe Yearling is a 1946 family film drama made by MGM. It was directed by Clarence Brown and produced by Sidney Franklin. The screenplay was by Paul Osborn and John Lee Mahin , adapted from the novel of the same name by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings...
by
Marjorie Kinnan RawlingsMarjorie Kinnan Rawlings was an American author who lived in rural Florida and wrote novels with rural themes and settings. Her best known work, The Yearling, about a boy who adopts an orphaned fawn, won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1939 and was later made into a movie, also known as The...
. It tells the story of a boy who adopts a fawn as a pet and stars
Gregory PeckGregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1990s...
,
Jane WymanJane Wyman was an American character actress of stage, film and television. She began her film career in the 1930s, and was a prolific performer for two decades...
,
Claude Jarman Jr.Claude Jarman, Jr. is an Academy Award-winning American former child film actor.Jarman was discovered in a nationwide talent search by MGM Studios, and was cast as the lead actor in the film The Yearling . His performance received glowing reviews and he was awarded with an Academy Juvenile Award...
,
Chill WillsChill Theodore Wills was an American film actor and singer in the Avalon Boys Quartet.- Biography :...
and
Forrest TuckerForrest Tucker was an American actor in both movies and television from the 1940s to the 1980s. Tucker, who stood and weighed , appeared in nearly 100 action films in the 1940s and 1950s.-Early life:...
.
The Yearling won
Academy AwardsThe Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. The formal ceremony at which the awards are presented is...
for
Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, ColorThe Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
(
Cedric GibbonsAustin Cedric Gibbons was an Irish American art director who was one of the most important and influential in the field in the history of American film. He also made a great impact on motion picture theater architecture through the 1930s to 1950s, the period considered the golden-era of theater...
,
Paul GroessePaul Groesse was a Hungarian-born American art director. He won three Academy Awards and was nominated for another eight in the category Best Art Direction.-Academy Awards:...
,
Edwin B. WillisEdwin Booth Willis was an award-winning motion picture set designer and decorator. Willis worked exclusively at MGM studios for his entire career. During his career as a set designer Willis worked on over 600 separate productions...
) and
Best Cinematography, ColorThe Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture....
and was nominated for
Best Actor in a Leading RolePerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(Gregory Peck),
Best Actress in a Leading RolePerformance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(Jane Wyman),
Best DirectorThe Academy Award for Achievement in Directing is one of the Awards of Merit presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to directors working in the motion picture industry...
,
Best Film EditingThe Academy Award for Film Editing is one of the annual awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; it was first given for films released in 1934. The name of this award is occasionally changed; in 2008, it was listed as the Academy Award for Achievement in Film Editing. The New York...
and
Best PictureThe Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible...
.
The Yearling is a
1946The year 1946 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*November 21 - William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives premieres in New York featuring an ensemble cast including Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell.*December 20 - Frank Capra's It's a...
family filmA family film is a film genre that is designed to appeal to a variety of age groups and, thus, families. To attract these diverse audiences, film makers often create works that operate simultaneously on several levels of appeal...
drama made by MGM. It was directed by
Clarence BrownClarence Brown was an American film director.-Early life:Born in Clinton, Massachusetts, to a cotton manufacturer, Brown moved to the South when he was eleven. He attended the University of Tennessee, graduating at the age of 19 with two degrees in engineering...
and produced by
Sidney FranklinSidney Franklin was an Academy Award-winning American film director and producer.His credits as director include:*Smilin' Through *Beverly of Graustark *The Last of Mrs...
. The
screenplayA screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. A play for television is known as a teleplay.- Format and style :...
was by
Paul OsbornPaul Osborn was a playwright and screenwriter most well known for writing the screen adaptation of East of Eden as well as South Pacific, The Yearling, The World of Susie Wong and Sayonara.- Career :...
and
John Lee MahinJohn Lee Mahin was a prolific screenwriter and producer.He was active in films from the 1930s to the 1970s. He worked on such films as Scarface and The Wizard of Oz, but his name does not appear on the credits to the latter film.He was a friend and frequent collaborator of director Victor Fleming...
(uncredited), adapted from the
novel of the same nameThe Yearling is a 1946 family film drama made by MGM. It was directed by Clarence Brown and produced by Sidney Franklin. The screenplay was by Paul Osborn and John Lee Mahin , adapted from the novel of the same name by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings...
by
Marjorie Kinnan RawlingsMarjorie Kinnan Rawlings was an American author who lived in rural Florida and wrote novels with rural themes and settings. Her best known work, The Yearling, about a boy who adopts an orphaned fawn, won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1939 and was later made into a movie, also known as The...
. It tells the story of a boy who adopts a fawn as a pet and stars
Gregory PeckGregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1990s...
,
Jane WymanJane Wyman was an American character actress of stage, film and television. She began her film career in the 1930s, and was a prolific performer for two decades...
,
Claude Jarman Jr.Claude Jarman, Jr. is an Academy Award-winning American former child film actor.Jarman was discovered in a nationwide talent search by MGM Studios, and was cast as the lead actor in the film The Yearling . His performance received glowing reviews and he was awarded with an Academy Juvenile Award...
,
Chill WillsChill Theodore Wills was an American film actor and singer in the Avalon Boys Quartet.- Biography :...
and
Forrest TuckerForrest Tucker was an American actor in both movies and television from the 1940s to the 1980s. Tucker, who stood and weighed , appeared in nearly 100 action films in the 1940s and 1950s.-Early life:...
.
The Yearling won
Academy AwardsThe Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. The formal ceremony at which the awards are presented is...
for
Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, ColorThe Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
(
Cedric GibbonsAustin Cedric Gibbons was an Irish American art director who was one of the most important and influential in the field in the history of American film. He also made a great impact on motion picture theater architecture through the 1930s to 1950s, the period considered the golden-era of theater...
,
Paul GroessePaul Groesse was a Hungarian-born American art director. He won three Academy Awards and was nominated for another eight in the category Best Art Direction.-Academy Awards:...
,
Edwin B. WillisEdwin Booth Willis was an award-winning motion picture set designer and decorator. Willis worked exclusively at MGM studios for his entire career. During his career as a set designer Willis worked on over 600 separate productions...
) and
Best Cinematography, ColorThe Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture....
and was nominated for
Best Actor in a Leading RolePerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(Gregory Peck),
Best Actress in a Leading RolePerformance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(Jane Wyman),
Best DirectorThe Academy Award for Achievement in Directing is one of the Awards of Merit presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to directors working in the motion picture industry...
,
Best Film EditingThe Academy Award for Film Editing is one of the annual awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; it was first given for films released in 1934. The name of this award is occasionally changed; in 2008, it was listed as the Academy Award for Achievement in Film Editing. The New York...
and
Best PictureThe Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible...
. Jarman Jr., who gets the most screen time, was awarded a special "
Juvenile OscarThis Academy Award, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, is an honorary acting award. It is officially called either the "Special Award" or the Special Juvenile Academy Award. It was first awarded by the Academy for work in 1934 and continued sporadically until 1960. The...
".
The film was remade as a
television movieA television movie is a feature film that is produced for and originally distributed by a...
by
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
in 1994 starring
Peter StraussPeter Strauss is an American television and movie actor, perhaps best known for his roles in several television miniseries in the 1970s. He won an Emmy Award for his role on the 1979 made-for-television movie The Jericho Mile...
,
Jean SmartJean E. Smart is an American film, television, and stage actress. She is known for her comedic roles, one of the best known being her role as Charlene Frazier Stillfield on the CBS sitcom Designing Women. She later gained critical acclaim for dramatic work, with her portrayal of Martha Logan on 24...
and
Wil HorneffWilliam Samuel "Wil" Horneff is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Rick Heller in Born to Be Wild....
as Penny, Ory and Jody Baxter respectively.
Plot
The Yearling is a timeless
Pulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by Hungarian-American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City....
winning story with earthy dialect about the Baxter family set in the south in the middle of a slew of southern escapades. The Baxter son, Jody Baxter, asks for something more than their comfortable home, a pet, in fact a fawn named Flag.
Penny Baxter, once a Confederate soldier, (
Gregory PeckGregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1990s...
) and his wife, Orry (
Jane WymanJane Wyman was an American character actress of stage, film and television. She began her film career in the 1930s, and was a prolific performer for two decades...
), are pioneer farmers near
Lake George, FloridaLake George or Lake Welaka is a broad and shallow lake on the St. Johns River in the U.S. state of Florida. It is six miles wide and eleven miles long, with an average depth of 8 feet . The west side of the lake is encompassed in the Ocala National Forest. Three major spring groups flow into...
, in 1878, 13 years after the American Civil War. Their son Jody (
Claude Jarman Jr.Claude Jarman, Jr. is an Academy Award-winning American former child film actor.Jarman was discovered in a nationwide talent search by MGM Studios, and was cast as the lead actor in the film The Yearling . His performance received glowing reviews and he was awarded with an Academy Juvenile Award...
), a boy in his pre-teen years, is their only surviving child. Jody has a wonderful relationship with his warm and loving pa. Orry, however, is still haunted by the deaths of the three other children of the family; she is very somber and hard-hearted and is (strangely) afraid that Jody will end up dying if she shows her parental love to him. Jody finds her somewhat unloving and unreasonable.
With all of his siblings dead and buried, Jody longs for a pet to play with and take care of. Penny is sympathetic and understanding, but Orry is rather disgusted. One day, when a rattler bites Penny, they kill a doe and use its organs to draw out the poison. Jody asks to adopt the doe's orphaned fawn; Penny permits it but warns Jody that the fawn will have to be set free when it grows up.
Jody goes to ask his frail friend Fodderwing to name the fawn only to find he has recently died. However Fodderwing's brother says he always said that if he had a Fawn he would name him Flag, for the critter's waving white tail.
Soon, he and Flag are inseparable. One year later, Flag grows up and becomes a total nuisance to the household and farm; it eats newly-grown corn, destroys fences, and tramples on tobacco crops. Penny orders Jody to take the deer out into the woods and kill it with a rifle. Jody takes the deer out, but does not have the courage to kill it; he orders the deer to go away and never return instead. But Flag comes back to their property. Finally, Orry (who Jody believes had always hated his pet) takes the gun and shoots it but only wounds the deer. Penny orders Jody to put the deer out of its misery. Rather than let his pet deer be in agonizing pain, he follows his father's orders.
The loss of Jody's beloved pet deer proves too much for him to handle; overwhelmed with anger and despair, he runs away from home. Three days later, he is rescued by a friendly boat captain and returns home. He and Penny quickly make up, and Penny tells him that Orry had been out searching for him. Just before Jody goes to bed, Orry returns and sees that he is back. She becomes filled with happiness and emotion, knowing that her huge fear of losing her last child is now over. She happily runs into Jody's room and showers him with more affection than she ever gave him. She is no longer afraid to show her parental love to him.
Cast
- Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1990s...
- Ezra 'Penny' Baxter
- Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman was an American character actress of stage, film and television. She began her film career in the 1930s, and was a prolific performer for two decades...
- Orry Baxter
- Claude Jarman Jr.
Claude Jarman, Jr. is an Academy Award-winning American former child film actor.Jarman was discovered in a nationwide talent search by MGM Studios, and was cast as the lead actor in the film The Yearling . His performance received glowing reviews and he was awarded with an Academy Juvenile Award...
- Jody
- Chill Wills
Chill Theodore Wills was an American film actor and singer in the Avalon Boys Quartet.- Biography :...
- Buck Forrester
- Clem Bevans
Clem Bevans was a character actor best remembered for playing old coots....
- Pa Forrester
- Margaret Wycherly
Margaret Wycherly was an English stage and film actress.-Early life:Wycherley was born in London, England of American parents. She was married to writer Bayard Veiller in 1901...
- Ma Forrester
- Henry Travers
-Personal life:Travers was born Travers John Heagerty in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England, the son of Daniel Heagerty, an Irish doctor from Cork. The family were only in Prudhoe for a couple of years, moving there from Woodburn in about 1866 and then moving on to Tweedmouth at...
- Mr. Boyles
- Forrest Tucker
Forrest Tucker was an American actor in both movies and television from the 1940s to the 1980s. Tucker, who stood and weighed , appeared in nearly 100 action films in the 1940s and 1950s.-Early life:...
- Lem Forrester
- Donn Gift - Fodderwing
Production
The movie was filmed on location in the
Juniper Prairie WildernessThe Juniper Prairie Wilderness is a protected wilderness area in the Ocala National Forest in Florida, USA.-Area description:The Juniper Prairie Wilderness was established in 1984 and covers an area of about 54 square kilometers...
. A hiking trail in the area ("The Yearling Trail") is named after the story and gives access to sites where the family whose stories inspired the novel lived.