Although better known for his comedies, many of them parodies of movie genres, Mel Brooks has also been executive producer of a number of acclaimed dramas. 84 Charing Cross Road (1987), which he produced for his wife Anne Bancroft, was one such project. Brooks had bought the rights to the story for her as a birthday present. Cast opposite her was Anthony Hopkins, who had already played opposite Bancroft in her cameo in The Elephant Man (1980), which was produced by Brooks. They had also acted together, again briefly, in Young Winston (1972), in which she played the title character’s famous mother, Lady Jennie Churchill, and he appeared as British Prime Minister David Lloyd George. Hopkins “adored” the 84 Charing Cross Road screenplay by Hugh Whitemore and was eager to make the movie.
The story is based on the 1970 autobiographical book of the same name by New Yorker Helene Hanff, a playwright, magazine author, and scripter of many early television dramas. The book detailed the 20-year correspondence between her and Frank Doel, staff member of the antiquarian bookshop Marks & Co. Hanff, in search of long out-of-print classics and obscure British titles unavailable in the States, contacted the company at the titular London address in 1949 after seeing an ad for it in the Saturday Review of Literature. (Charing Cross Road, in fact, is known for its many booksellers.)
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