Quaker Jessamyn West published The Friendly Persuasion in 1945. Inspired by her childhood in Indiana and stories about her great great grandparents, it consisted of a series of stories about the Birdwells, a family of Quakers living in the Hoosier State during the Civil War era. Although the book did not earn a place on the New York Times Best Seller List for the year, it attracted a devoted fan base, including director William Wyler.

West sold the rights to her novel to Frank Capra's Liberty Films in 1946. He assigned the adaptation to writer Michael Wilson, who completed it later that year. Initially, Capra announced it as a vehicle for Bing Crosby and Jean Arthur. Although he later announced plans to star James Stewart or Spencer Tracy, the film never went into production. Eventually, Paramount bought the rights, which included Wilson's script.

Monogram Pictures, one of Hollywood's most prominent Poverty Row studios, started trying to get into big-budget production in the post-war years. Initially, they created the Allied Artists unit to produce more upscale films in 1946. Then they restructured in 1953, dropping the Monogram name altogether. Although the studio maintained some of the low-budget productions from its Monogram days, producer Walter Mirisch pushed them to strike deals with major filmmakers like William Wyler, John Huston and Billy Wilder.

Wyler was nearing the end of his contract with Paramount Pictures and was considering options when Allied Artists approached him about doing a film. Their offer of profit participation and creative control was more than any other studio would come up with so he went with them. He suggested an adaptation of The Friendly Persuasion, which he had dreamed of filming for eight years, ever since reading Wilson's script while under contract at Paramount. The Civil War was a popular topic in Hollywood at the time, as studios tried to re-capture the magic of Gone with the Wind (1939) to lure back fans lost to television. AA approved the production with an initial budget of $1.5 million, to be shot on location in the novel's setting, Indiana.

By the time Wyler and AA bought the rights to West's novel, Wilson had been blacklisted for refusing to name names in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Instead, Wyler convinced West to work on the shooting script with his brother Robert. She would later describe her job as recording "the story of what the camera sees."

Wyler had always thought Gary Cooper the perfect actor to play Jess Birdwell. In fact, Cooper's commitments to other films had kept Wyler from making the film while at Paramount. Although the actor was reluctant to undertake his first father role, he finally gave in after West took him to a Society of Friends prayer meeting. The stillness made him think he could capture the character's spiritual nature.

Wyler's dream casting for Cooper's wife was Katharine Hepburn, but she wasn't available. Vivien Leigh was also committed to other projects, while Ingrid Bergman was not yet ready to return to Hollywood after the scandal created when she left her husband and child for director Roberto Rossellini. Other actresses discussed for the female lead included Margaret Sullavan, Mary Martin, Teresa Wright, Martha Scott, Jane Russell and Eva Marie Saint. Wyler actually tested Maureen O'Hara and Eleanor Parker before casting Dorothy McGuire.

Cooper complained that his fans would be disappointed if his character didn't take up arms in the Civil War. He argued that they would expect him to do something. West suggested, "You will furnish them with the refreshing picture of a strong man refraining."

Wyler also had a problem with both the original novel's and the Wilson screenplay's failure to confront Jess Birdwell with the horrors of the Civil War. He convinced West to make the war more of a plot point in Friendly Persuasion and show Jess tempted to forgo his religious pacifism and enter the battle.

To give Cooper more to do, West gave him a Methodist best friend in the movie with a more worldly approach to life. Wyler cast character actor Robert Middleton, who had just played the most brutish of the three escaped convicts in the director's The Desperate Hours (1955). He also cast the child from that film, Richard Eyer, as the Birdwells' younger son.

After seeing East of Eden (1955), Wyler wanted to cast James Dean as the Birdwells' elder son, but Dean's management would not consider his accepting a supporting role in Friendly Persuasion.

While scouting talent in New York, Wyler saw several young actors for the role of Cooper's conflicted son. Actor John Kerr, who had originated the role of Tom in the Broadway production of Tea and Sympathy, was a frontrunner but his managers convinced him to sign a two-picture deal with MGM instead. Wyler also met with Anthony Perkins, who had only done one previous film, The Actress (1953); he had taken over for Kerr in Tea and Sympathy and had done some television work. Wyler was so impressed with Perkins's insights into the character and his reading that he cast him without bothering to make a screen test.

At the time he went to see Wyler, Perkins was in discussions for the lead in an upcoming Broadway play. He was at an impasse with the producers over the standard clause that allows actors to be fired for any reason during the first two weeks of rehearsal, so he went to read for Wyler. After he was offered the role in Friendly Persuasion, the play's producers gave into his demands, but he went with the film anyway. The play eventually would close before reaching New York.

For the role of the Birdwells' teenaged daughter, Mattie, Wyler tested Susan Strasberg, but then signed Phyllis Love, whose only previous film was the independent juvenile delinquency drama So Young So Bad (1950). She took a leave-of-absence from her role as the ingénue in the Broadway production of William Inge's Bus Stop to make the film. Her love interest, Peter Mark Richman, had appeared on Broadway in End as a Man. (The film version was called The Strange One, 1957.) Friendly Persuasion would mark his screen debut.

Before shooting Friendly Persuasion, Wyler insisted on rehearsing the actors to get the proper sense of family and other relationships. He coached them through several readings of the script, a practice he would continue with individual scenes after shooting started.

by Frank Miller

Sources:
Jessamyn West, To See the Dream