Fourteen Hours - Cast Notes

Cast Notes

Richard Basehart's performance impressed Federico Fellini, who subsequently cast him in his 1954 film La Strada.

Basehart's wife, costume designer Stephanie Klein, was diagnosed with a brain tumor during filming of Fourteen Hours in May and June 1950, and died following brain surgery during production of the film that July.

Grace Kelly made her film debut in Fourteen Hours, beating out Anne Bancroft for the role. Kelly was noticed during a visit to the set by Gary Cooper, who subsequently starred with her in High Noon. Cooper was charmed by Kelly and said that she was "different from all these sexballs we've been seeing so much of." However, her performance in Fourteen Hours was not noticed by critics, and did not lead to her receiving other film acting roles. She returned to television and stage work after her performance in the film.

A nonprofessional performer named Richard Lacovara doubled for Basehart in long shots on the ledge, which had been enlarged to minimize risk of falling. Lacovara was protected by a canvas life belt hidden under his costume, connected to a lifeline, Even with the double, Basehart still had to endure over 300 hours of standing on the ledge with little movement during the fifty days of shooting in New York, even though he had a sprained ankle and his legs were ravaged by poison oak contracted on the grounds of his Coldwater Canyon home.

Barbara Bel Geddes, who played Basehart's love interest, did not appear in another film until Vertigo, seven years later in 1958.

Hathaway hired over 300 actors to play bit parts and extras in the film, much of which was filmed on lower Broadway in Manhattan. Among actors performing in uncredited roles were Ossie Davis and Harvey Lembeck, playing taxi drivers, as well as Joyce Van Patten, Brad Dexter, who subsequently appeared in The Magnificent Seven (1960), John Cassavetes and Robert Keith's 20-year-old son Brian Keith. Other uncredited and bit players included Richard Beymer, who played the lead in West Side Story a few years later, Willard Waterman as a hotel clerk, future Broadway star Janice Rule, and character actors Leif Erickson and John Randolph.