The Corn is Green (1938) is a semi-autobiographical play by Welsh writer Emlyn Williams. The play starred Ethel Barrymore as L. C. Moffat, a strong-willed Welsh schoolteacher in a rough-hewn mining town under whose tutelage an illiterate teenager eventually graduates with honors.

In 1945 the play was made into a movie with Bette Davis playing Moffat, despite the obvious discrepancies in age between Davis, who was 36, and the character of Moffat, who was supposed to be in her 50's. To help her look the part, Davis had to wear a "fat suit" that added 30 pounds of weight, and a gray wig. At the time, Davis was Warner Brothers' biggest star, and was given the role in the hopes that she would make it a box-office success.

Originally Richard Waring was cast to play her student, Morgan Evans, but he was drafted to serve in World War II. Instead, John Dall was cast, who was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his efforts, as was Joan Lorring, who played Bessie, the girl who seduces Morgan and almost derails his academic success. Years later, Davis would reprise her role for the stage in a off-Broadway play called Mrs. Moffat.

Though most of the 1945 version was filmed on a soundstage, when the play was again remade in 1979, this time as a made-for-television movie starring Katharine Hepburn as Moffat, it was filmed on location in Wales. George Cukor directed to favorable reviews.

External links

• The Corn is Green (1945) at iMDB.com (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037614/)
• The Corn is Green (1979) at iMDB.com (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079000/)