The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex - Cast

Cast

• Bette Davis as Queen Elizabeth I
• Errol Flynn as Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
• Olivia de Havilland as Lady Penelope Gray
• Donald Crisp as Francis Bacon
• Alan Hale, Sr. as Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone
• Henry Daniell as Sir Robert Cecil
• Vincent Price as Sir Walter Raleigh
• Henry Stephenson as Lord Burghley
• James Stephenson as Sir Thomas Egerton
• Nanette Fabray as Mistress Margaret Radcliffe (as Nanette Fabares)
• Ralph Forbes as Lord Knollys
• Robert Warwick as Lord Mountjoy
• Leo G. Carroll as Sir Edward Coke

Davis recounted later in life her difficulties in making the film. She had been very enthusiastic about the challenge of playing Elizabeth (in 1955, she would play her as an old woman in The Virgin Queen). She had lobbied for Laurence Olivier to play the part of Essex, but Warner Brothers, nervous at giving the part to an actor who was relatively unknown in the United States, instead cast Errol Flynn, who was at the height of his success. Davis felt he was not equal to the task, and also believed from past experience that his casual attitude to his work would be reflected in his performance. For her own part, she studied the life of Elizabeth, worked hard to adopt a passable accent, and shaved her hairline to achieve a greater resemblance.