FILM · 1972 · UK
The Ruling Class
21 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (21)
- #001
Nigel Green died of an overdose of sleeping pills shortly after the production; it was ruled an accident, though some believe it was suicide, as Green was said to have been largely depressed during the shoot. It had already been decided that his dialogue would be replaced in the finished film by that of another actor, Graham Crowden.
- #002
According to the DVD commentary, Alastair Sim cast himself as the Bishop. He called his friend Peter O'Toole and suddenly told him that of course he would help him by taking the role. However eccentric it might be, no one was going to turn down the offer of such a wonderful character actor.
- #003
Alastair Sim modelled his characterization of Bishop Lampton on the Archbishop of All England (the leading religious figure of the Church of England), Michael Ramsey (later Baron Ramsey of Canterbury). Portraits of Ramsey in the National Gallery bear a resemblance to the physical aspects of Sim's character.
- #004
The film's writer, Peter Barnes, went to school in Stroud, just outside Bristol. There is also a mental hospital in the village of Barrow Gurney, just outside Bristol; "Barrow Gurney" has long been associated with mental illness in the local dialect. The naming of the central family in the play "Gurney" seems to be more than a coincidence.
- #005
In the DVD commentary, Peter O'Toole says that he did the horse-riding display during the hunt himself, because he owned a racehorse, Red Eric, a good horse that won several races and is now retired, and he dreamed of riding a real thoroughbred racehorse at a gallop.
- #006
The filming of the wedding required several takes because the actors found it impossible to keep their faces straight during the scene. This was partly due to the scene's comedy and partly to Alastair Sim, who did his best to make the other actors laugh when he himself was not being filmed. Carolyn Seymour had the advantage of having her face hidden under the veil.
- #007
Peter O'Toole performed Jack's leap from the cross himself.
- #008
Jack's (Peter O'Toole) first speech in the House of Lords as the Earl of Gurney ends with a near-perfect quotation of three passages from the King James Bible: Deuteronomy 20:3, Deuteronomy 20:4 and Ezekiel 7:9. ("Approach today to battle against your enemies. Let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them. For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity. I will recompense their way upon them and their doings. And they shall know that I am the Lord that smiteth.").
- #009
The English country house that serves as the setting for much of the film originally belonged to an outspoken opponent of capital punishment (Jack is an outspoken advocate of it).
- #010
It was banned by the South African apartheid censorship board.
- #011
Peter O'Toole and Michael Bryant had previously appeared together in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), in which Peter O'Toole starred and Michael Bryant played a German character.
- #012
Peter O'Toole's first scene appears after 20 minutes of the film.
- #013
Peter O'Toole had previously played a psychopathic Jack the Ripper-style killer in The Night of the Generals (1967).
- #014
Peter O'Toole and Coral Browne had previously appeared together in The Night of the Generals (1967).
- #015
The film was produced by Jack Hawkins, who does not appear in it.
- #016
Peter O'Toole and Arthur Lowe had previously appeared together in The Day They Robbed the Bank of England (1960).
- #017
This film is part of spine number 132 of the Criterion Collection.
- #018
Coral Browne, Harry Andrews and Arthur Lowe appeared the following year in Theatre of Blood (1973), and Jack Hawkins, who produced the film, also appeared in Theatre of Blood.
- #019
James Villiers (Dinsdale) and Graham Crowden (Truscott) appeared in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only (1981).
- #020
Peter O'Toole and Peter Medak were previously to have worked together on Figures in a Landscape (1970), but they were replaced by Robert Shaw and Joseph Losey respectively.
- #021
Peter O'Toole and Graham Crowden would later share the lead in the 1996 miniseries Gulliver's Travels, though they did not appear together on screen.
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