The Big Country left Jean Simmons traumatised on set Gregory Peck stormed off
The Big Country, which is on BBC 2 today, is considered one of the greatest Westerns ever made.
The Oscar-winning film starring Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston and Burl Ives was the favourite movie of sitting US President Eisenhower, who screened the picture at the White House for four consecutive nights.
However, shooting the story of a New Englander arriving in the Old West to a family feud was no easy feat at all for the actors.
Jean Simmons was “so traumatised” by her experience on the 1958 movie that she ended up not talking about it until the late 1980s.
When the actress finally opened up, she revealed: “We'd have our lines learned, then receive a rewrite, stay up all night learning the new version, then receive yet another rewrite the following morning. It made the acting damned near impossible."
