To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Director: Robert Mulligan
Notable cast: Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Robert Duvall

To Kill a Mockingbird was adapted into a 1962 film directed by Robert Mulligan and starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, Mary Badham as Scout, and Robert Duvall as Boo Radley. The film was both popular and critically successful. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won three, including a Best Actor Award for Gregory Peck. In adapting the novel for the film, screenwriter Horton Foote made several edits that reduced the roles of female characters. Calpurnia has a significantly smaller role in the film. The film also substantially reduces Mrs. Dubose’s role, combines Miss Maudie and Miss Rachel into one character, and removes Aunt Alexandra entirely from the film along with the two teachers, Miss Caroline and Miss Gates. Even Scout moves aside somewhat as the main character, as the film focuses more centrally on Atticus. Despite these changes Harper Lee was pleased with the film’s ability to capture her characters, and gave Gregory Peck, who played Atticus, a pocket watch that had belonged to own father, who had also been a lawyer for Black defendants.