Author Patrick Dennis, who had a brief appearance in the film as a tourist, wrote the best-selling novel Auntie Mame, which was adapted into the very successful Broadway play and 1958 film of the same name (see above), in which Russell played the title role.Ĭontemporary news items from Apr 1966 through early 1968 stated that the film initially was to be produced by Jacques Mapes for Ross Hunter Productions as a Universal Pictures release. Pollifax and 'Johnny Farrell' to escape but does not defect. Another difference between the novel and the film is that, in the novel 'Sgt. Pollifax then decides to follow one of her early dreams of becoming a spy. Pollifax, who, in the novel, is feeling useless and contemplating suicide until she is advised by her doctor that she still has time to reach for her dreams. The film roughly follows the novel, although the novel provides some background on Mrs. Emily Pollifax,' who became an on-call spy for the CIA during the Cold War. Pollifax, which was the basis for the film, was the first in a series of fourteen novels published between 19 featuring the character of New Jersey widow 'Mrs. Another difference between the novel and the. McKnight was an occasionally used writing pseudonym of the actress.ĭorothy Gilman's The Unexpected Mrs. Information in Russell's autobiography and various modern sources confirm that C. Although few contemporary sources, aside from NYT and Filmfacts, mentioned Russell's writing connection to the film, information in the AMPAS Library production file for the 1956 film The Unguarded Moment (see below) confirms that Russell originally wrote the original story for that film under the C. McKnight, the name credited with the film's screenplay, is actually a pseudonym for actress Rosalind Russell. Set decorator William Kuehl's surname was misspelled 'Keuhl' in the onscreen credits. The end credits include the following statement: 'Research for this film was done from a documentary picture-'The Three Faces of Communism' which was filmed in present day occupied Albania.' No additional information about that documentary has been found.

The working title of the film was The Unexpected Mrs.

The unexpected mrs pollifax