FILM · 1963 · UK
Tom Jones
36 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (36)
- #001
Welsh singer Tom Jones (born Thomas John Woodward) took his professional stage name from the title character of this film.
- #002
This was the last film President John F. Kennedy watched, during a stop in Palm Beach, Florida, on his way to Dallas, Texas (17 November 1963).
- #003
Hugh Griffith was reportedly drunk for much of the production; the scene in which he falls from his horse was unplanned, and many believed he was saved only because he was drunk. The film includes every frame of the footage before the rescuers entered the frame to save him.
- #004
Much of the scene in which Tom Jones and Mrs. Waters dine together was improvised over the three hours of shooting, and the actors felt the effects of the meal for days.
- #005
Albert Finney felt the lead role was not serious enough and agreed to play it only if he received a producing credit; he later traded the credit for a share of the profits. It made him a millionaire.
- #006
After Hugh Griffith accidentally struck several cast and crew members with a riding crop, Tony Richardson had him specially outfitted to reduce the pain.
- #007
The British Board of Film Censors cut twelve seconds from the film to remove the cockfighting scene. Depicting this particular form of animal cruelty is illegal in British films.
- #008
Director Tony Richardson was unhappy with the final product despite winning the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director. Richardson wrote in his autobiography: "I felt the film was lacking and failed in a great deal of its execution. I can't achieve that kind of success - everyone should have it - but whenever anyone gushes to me about Tom Jones, I always feel a little ashamed inside."
- #009
The famous eating scene, in which Tom Jones and Mrs. Waters express their desire for each other by turning it into a great feast, took three hours to shoot. Buckets were conveniently placed out of camera range to accommodate the actors, who kept vomiting from eating.
- #010
Although the first reviews in London were not very favourable, audiences discovered the film on their own and made it a major hit before it opened in the United States.
- #011
This was David Warner's first cinematic appearance.
- #012
The hunting scene posed particular problems because local hunters refused to cooperate, assuming the film would take an anti-hunting stance. The crew had to scour the countryside to find hunting dogs that people were willing to sell or rent. Tony Richardson ultimately wanted to show the dogs tearing the deer apart, so the team tried to keep the hounds hungry, in keeping with hunting tradition. Local hunters who got word of the plan entered the kennel the night before and fed the dogs their fill. When the time came to shoot the scene, all the dogs did was sniff at the carcasses of the dead deer the crew had bought. They had to reshoot the scene three days later. The crew then stuffed the carcass with beef liver to make the dogs attack.
- #013
This is the only film with three nominees for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars. The award went to Margaret Rutherford for The V.I.P.S (1963).
- #014
Wilfrid Lawson and Hugh Griffith were drinking buddies and troublemakers. During location shooting in the seaside town of Weymouth, they dangled a barman upside down out of a window.
- #015
The production of Tom Jones (1963) was something of a family affair. During production, director Tony Richardson was the son-in-law of Rachel Kempson, who played Bridget Allworthy, and the brother-in-law of Lynn Redgrave, who played Susan. Both relationships came from Richardson's marriage to Vanessa Redgrave from 1962 to 1967. Edith Evans, who played Miss Western, also had a long-standing relationship with Michael Redgrave, who was married to Rachel Kempson and was the father of Lynn Redgrave, and who was reportedly an occasional sexual partner of director Richardson.
- #016
The death of David Warner (who made his film debut here) on 24 July 2022 left Julian Glover (who also made his film debut here) as the only surviving credited actor.
- #017
Filming ended with studio work in London. By then, the cast and crew were overwhelmed by the hard work and the many shortcuts. Tony Richardson and his company believed the film would be a major disappointment. When the head of United Artists' UK office saw the first cut, he predicted disaster.
- #018
As an undergraduate art student, Jeffrey Boam considered this one of the best screenplays ever written and held that view throughout his own career. But when he met Tony Richardson and expressed his admiration, Boam was baffled by the uncomfortable, even disturbing response Richardson gave him. Boam had no way of knowing Richardson's belief that the film was a failed execution and that audiences had simply been lucky.
- #019
It was included on the American Film Institute's 1998 list of 400 films nominated for the 100 Best American Films.
- #020
It is one of nine films in cinema history to be nominated for five Oscars for acting. The others are Mrs. Miniver (1942), All About Eve (1950), From Here to Eternity (1953), On the Waterfront (1954), Peyton Place (1957), Bonnie and Clyde (1967), The Godfather Part II (1974) and Network (1976). This film and Peyton Place (1957) are the only ones that did not win at least one award in any of the acting categories.
- #021
Tom Jones marked Julian Glover's first cinematic appearance.
- #022
Among the estates where the film was shot were Nettlecoombe, then a girls' school, and Cranborne, which included a garden maze.
- #023
The places where the cast and crew stayed during filming included a castle, an estate that also contained England's first scientific pig farm, and a haunted house in Wiltshire.
- #024
David Warner and Susannah York would later play Bob and Mrs. Cratchit in A Christmas Carol (1984). Albert Finney and Edith Evans would appear together again in "Scrooge" (1970).
- #025
The film's cast includes one Oscar winner, Hugh Griffith, and six Oscar nominees: Diane Cilento, Albert Finney, Susannah York, Lynn Redgrave, Dame Edith Evans and Joyce Redman.
- #026
Susannah York and David Warner would later play Superman's biological Kryptonian parents, though not in the same production. York played Lara Lar-Van in Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980), and Warner played Jor-El in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993).
- #027
The film contains Diane Cilento's only Oscar-nominated performance.
- #028
Hugh Griffith was the only person that year to be nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for a film that was also nominated for Best Picture.
- #029
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an 81% approval rating based on 43 reviews, with an average score of 7.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "A wildly irreverent adaptation of the novel, bolstered by Albert Finney's fearless performance and striking visuals."
- #030
David Tomlinson and Joan Greenwood appeared together again 15 years later in The Water Babies (1978).
- #031
It was the only film that year to be nominated for both the Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress Oscars.
- #032
When Tom first arrives in London, we briefly see the coat of arms of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters hanging upside down.
- #033
Derived from a literary classic, the film retained many elements of Tony Richardson's free style and was a major popular success that earned him several Oscars and numerous nominations, yet he was unhappy with Hollywood filmmaking.
- #034
The film won the awards for Best British Film and Best Film from Any Source.
- #035
The film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #910.
- #036
The cast includes two actors who appeared in different films of the James Bond/007 series: Julian Glover in For Your Eyes Only (1981) and Albert Finney in Skyfall (2012).
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