Encore: Mary Badham Returns to Her Hometown for Role in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’

By Donna Cornelius

Most audience members who see the stage version of “To Kill a Mockingbird” will recognize the man playing the role of lawyer Atticus Finch: the Emmy Award-winning Richard Thomas, who’s probably best known as John-Boy on the TV series “The Waltons.”

But when the play comes to Birmingham this month, there’s another cast member who likely will be even more familiar to locals. She’s hometown girl Mary Badham, who was Scout Finch in the movie version of Harper Lee’s famous novel and is now taking on the part of Mrs. Henry Dubose, the Finches’ elderly, unlovable neighbor.

The American Theatre Guild is presenting Academy Award winner Aaron Sorkin’s new play, which is part of the 2023-2024 Broadway in Birmingham series. It will run at the BJCC Concert Hall Nov. 14 to 19.

Lee’s novel, which came out in 1960, won the Pulitzer Prize the following year. Set in fictional Maycomb, Alabama – which mirrored Lee’s hometown of Monroeville – “To Kill a Mockingbird” is both a coming-of-age story and a hard look at prejudice and the coexistence of good and evil in a small Southern town.

On the play’s national tour, Badham is getting used to life on the road. She was a bit sleep-deprived and in between doing loads of laundry but still, just like any properly brought-up Southerner, good-natured and pleasant when she talked about her experiences from Dayton, Ohio, the play’s recent stop.

“I grew up in Southside above the steel mills,” she said. “My grandmother’s house and our house, which sadly is no longer standing, were as you came up 33rd Street.” Nearby was Independent Presbyterian Church, which her family attended.

She went to kindergarten at a school in English Village. Later, she was a student at the Brooke Hill School, which merged with Birmingham University School in 1975 to become The Altamont School.

Family Trait

As a child, Badham had no ambition to become an actress, but other family members made their marks on stage and screen. Her mother, also named Mary, acted in Town & Gown Theatre productions, appeared in operas and had her own radio show. Her brother, John Badham, went on to direct movies including “Saturday Night Fever” and “War Games.”

It was longtime Town & Gown director James Hatcher who suggested young Mary try out for the role of Scout, Atticus’ daughter, whose perspective on the story is foremost as the tale unfolds.

“James Hatcher let the movie people use the theater for auditions when they were in town,” Badham said. “He told my mother about the auditions, and she said that I didn’t know anything about acting.”

Badham’s father, Henry, wasn’t enthusiastic about the plan.

“He said no at first, but my mother said, ‘What are the chances that the child will actually get the part?’” Badham said, laughing.

She not only was chosen to play Scout but turned in such a memorable performance that at age 10, she became the youngest person to be nominated for an Academy Award for a supporting role.

While Badham said she didn’t know much about “To Kill of Mockingbird” before getting the role, she could identify with the character.

“Our lives were similar,” she said.

In Sorkin’s play, Badham plays a character very different from Scout. The book version of Mrs. Dubose is an unlikeable old lady who’s addicted to morphine due to illness but wants to break the addiction before she dies. In the movie, she’s seen on her front porch haranguing Scout before gallant Atticus comes along and smooths things over by complimenting her garden. In the play, Mrs. Dubose’s lines include some offensive words, which Badham struggled with at first.

“Ruth White, who played Mrs. Dubose in the movie, was always in costume when I saw her,” Badham said. “I wouldn’t have recognized her if I’d seen her off the set.”

Life on the Set

Badham traveled to California for the movie’s filming, which took about five months. Maycomb was brought to life on a Universal Studios set in Hollywood.

“The best memories I have of that time are of the friends I made both behind and in front of the camera,” she said. “Everyone was so sweet. Our student welfare worker guarded me with her life.”

One particular scene that she remembers fondly is of Atticus reading to Scout at bedtime.

“It was such a sweet scene,” she said.

She said Philip Alford, who played Scout’s older brother, Jem, was another Birmingham resident. The two didn’t know each other before TKAM, but Alford “lived right down the street from Town & Gown,” Badham said.

John Megna, who played the Finch children’s friend, Dill, was from New York .

“He was actually actress Connie Stevens’ half-brother, and she was instrumental in taking care of him,” Badham said.

The young actress from Alabama formed a strong bond with Gregory Peck, who won the Best Actor Academy Award for his role as Atticus, and his family. Their friendship lasted until Peck’s death in 2003.

Other notable cast members in the movie were Robert Duvall, who made his screen debut as the mysterious Boo Radley; character actor William Windom, who played the prosecutor in the trial of Tom Robinson, whom Atticus defended; and Alice Ghostley, later a recurring character on TV’s “Bewitched,” who took the role of neighborhood gossip Stephanie Crawford. 

After “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Badham acted in other movies and TV shows. She and her husband, Dick, both went to the University of Arizona. Today, they live on a farm in Virginia and have two children and three grandchildren.

“I’ve done a number of films and just finished one called ‘Was Once a Hero,’” Badham said. “But this is my first stage role. I had to learn about theater, because it’s so different from film. Now I’ve totally adapted to the gypsy life.”

She’s promoted TKAM’s message about social injustice across the U.S. for the National Endowment of the Arts and in two White House appearances. She received a U.S. Speaker and Specialist Grant to participate in programs about “To Kill a Mockingbird” in Russia.

Most of her family now lives in Huntsville, rather than Birmingham, but she said she still has “dear friends” in the Magic City. 

Badham said she hopes those who come to see the play when it’s in town – as well as audiences across the country – will take the story’s message to heart.

“The beauty of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is also the sad part of it,” she said. “These issues that it discusses are still so relevant today: single parenting, mental illness, racial issues, addiction. This is a tiny little book with all the life lessons we still haven’t learned.

“I hope people will look at these different issues and try to make things better. The purpose of the play isn’t just to entertain but to educate.”

Tickets to Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” are available for purchase at BroadwayInBirmingham.com, Ticketmaster.com and the BJCC Central Ticket Office. Show times are 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 14, 15 and 16; 2 p.m. on Nov. 18; 8 p.m. on Nov. 17 and 18; and 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Nov. 19. For more information about the play, visit tokillamockingbirdbroadway.com or follow the production on social media.