Program Notes

It is no coincidence that producer Nunnally Johnson requested Franz Waxman as the composer for the film adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s Victorian melodrama My Cousin Rachel (20th Century Fox 1952). Director Henry Koster wanted to film another Du Maurier bestseller in the tradition of Rebecca. The production marked Richard Burton ‘s American screen debut, and earned him an Academy Award nomination. A Cornish gentleman dies in Italy after marrying a mysterious lady (Olivia de Havilland). When she comes to England she arouses the hostility, and love, of her husband’s foster son (Burton).