Why Ava Gardner turned down ‘The Graduate’
The New Hollywood era gave us many classic movies which remain beloved pieces of American cinema, from Easy Rider to Harold and Maude. But who can forget The Graduate? Directed by Mike Nichols, who’d released his debut feature, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, just one year before, the film was an instant success.
With its iconic Simon and Garfunkel soundtrack and quotable lines (“Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me… aren’t you?), The Graduate remains an enduring staple of every cinephile’s DVD collection. The movie tells the tale of Dustin Hoffman’s Ben Braddock, who finds himself drifting aimlessly through life (and his swimming pool) after graduating from college. When he meets the older Mrs Robinson, played magnificently by Ann Bancroft, Ben embarks on a life-changing affair.
Slick, humorous and resonant, The Graduate tapped into an era of cinematic change when themes such as sexuality and self-discovery were becoming more widespread. Censorship had recently eased, leading filmmakers to use explicit imagery or considerably more daring narrative choices with fewer repercussions. Inspired by the laxness of European and art house cinema, it was now less taboo to show nudity, too, and The Graduate took full advantage.
While nudity isn’t rampant in the film, we briefly see Mrs Robinson’s bare breasts, as well as a dancer wearing very little, such as nipple tassels, at a bar. Yet the inclusion of nudity actually shaped the casting of the film, with one Hollywood star turning down the role out of the refusal to bare her naked body.
Ava Gardner, one of Golden-era Hollywood’s finest stars, was considered for the part which would inevitably go to Bancroft. After starring in movies like The Night of the Iguana and The Killers, she had firmly established herself as an icon of the silver screen. When she was asked to star in The Graduate, she was 45, realistically reflecting the age of Mrs Robinson. Interestingly, Bancroft was just 35, only five years older than Hoffman.
However, it was the suggestion that she would have to show her breasts that turned Gardner off the role, even when Nichols posited that a body double could be used instead – something that Bancroft chose to do. As soon as Nichols met Gardner, he knew she wasn’t right for the part anyway, mentally sticking with Bancroft as his number one.
He recalled his meeting with Gardner in the book Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations, written by Peter Evans. Nichols revealed, “Theatrical and over the top, she sat at a little French desk with a telephone, she went through every movie star cliché. She said, ‘All right, let’s talk about your movie. First of all, I strip for nobody.’”
It seemed like Gardner wasn’t truly set on the project, and luckily, Nichols wasn’t phased by this. Bancroft gave one of her greatest performances in The Graduate, and it is hard to imagine anyone else doing such a perfect job as Mrs Robinson.
