The Greatest Mother of Them All

A Hollywood director, Sean Howard, lives with a teenage girl, Dolly, whose mother forced her into stripping when the girl was fifteen.

• Peter Finch as Sean Howard
• Alexandra Hay as Tricia Murdock
• Ann Sothern as Dolly Murdock
• Katherine Woodville as Eva Frazer
• Barry Russo as Gene Frazer

The film was inspired by the relationship between Errol Flynn and Beverly Aadland.

In October 1967, Robert Aldrich signed a four picture contract with ABC Pictures to make The Killing of Sister George, The Greatest Mother of 'Em All, Too Late the Hero and What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?[1]

In January 1969, it was reported Leon Griffiths was writing the script.[2] A. I. Bezzerides also worked on the script.[3]

ABC were reluctant to finance the feature after the box office failure of Aldrich's last film about Hollywood, The Legend of Lylah Clare. Aldrich decided to make a "long trailer" for the film, a 20-minute short to encourage them to provide the money. In particular, he wanted to demonstrate the ability of the girl he wanted to play the lead, Alexandra Hay.[4] "She carries the picture," he said.[5]

It was only the second time Aldrich tested for one of his pictures, the first being Ursula Andress and Richard Jaeckel on 4 for Texas (1963).[3]

Filming started in July 1969. There were two days of rehearsals and eight days of filming - five days of interiors at the Aldrich Studios and three days of exteriors at Zuma Beach, the Los Angeles Zoo, Sunset Strip and Griffith Park. The budget was given for $75,000.[3]

Aldrich said he deliberately used "very stylistic sets" to "reassure" the cast that "not one inch of this test footage would wind up in the movie."[5]

The film did not succeed in attracting finance for a feature. Aldrich said in 1972 they made the movie "just at the time that everybody was getting very sanctimonious about sex pictures... I think it's pretty good. But nobody wanted this thing about a broken-down Hollywood director who found a 16 year old girl and shacked up with her and had a heart attack, etc. We spent $90,000 getting it mounted to show people what it was all about, which I thought was an ingenious piece of showmanship, but nobody else agreed with me. I also think that it was very stupid timing. If I had been bright enough, I would have known that the cycle had passed. Whereas a year before that picture would have sold like hotcakes. So no more war pictures and no more "Hollywood" pictures for a while. I'm a sucker for them. I can't find any; and I'm trying not to look."[4]

• The Greatest Mother of Them All at IMDb
• Greatest Mother of Them All at BFI