page_title: The Dunwich Horror (film)
section_title: Casting
hierarchical_section_title: The Dunwich Horror (film) / Production / Casting
caption_attribution_description: English: Dean Stockwell and Sandra Dee in press photo for The Dunwich Horror from American International Pictures
context_page_description: The Dunwich Horror is a 1970 American supernatural horror film directed by Daniel Haller, and starring Sandra Dee, Dean Stockwell, and Ed Begley. A loose adaptation of the short story of the same name by H.P. Lovecraft, the film concerns a young female graduate student who is targeted by a man attempting to use her in an occult ritual taken from the Necronomicon. The screenplay was co-written by Curtis Hanson, while Roger Corman served as an executive producer on the film.
  The film's distributor, American International Pictures, had tentatively planned an adaptation of the Lovecraft story in 1963. Executive producer Corman hired Haller to direct, as he had previously directed several features for him, including Devil's Angels. Though set in the fictional town of Arkham, Massachusetts, principal photography of The Dunwich Horror took place in and around Mendocino, California in the spring of 1969. The film marked Sandra Dee's first adult role, following the break in her contract with Universal Pictures, and she envisioned the picture as a major departure from the films she had appeared in as a child actor, in which she had been presented in a very wholesome way.
context_section_description: Sandra Dee was cast in the lead role of Nancy in April 1969, and paid $65,000 plus 5% of the profits. The role was Dee's first major part after the lapse of her years-long contract with Universal Pictures, and she saw it as a notable change of pace in her career. Dissatisfied with her previous work (Dee referred to her past 25 films with Universal as "all rotten"), she stated: "The reason I decided to do Dunwich was because I couldn't put the script down once I started reading it. I had read so many that I had to plow through, just because I promised someone. Even if this movie turns out be a complete disaster, I guarantee it will change my image." However, Dee refused to be nude in the film's final sequence, which was written in the screenplay.
  Originally, Peter Fonda was cast in the role of Wilbur Whateley, but he backed out of the project and was replaced by Dean Stockwell. Both Stockwell and Dee were former child actors. This was the last film of actor Ed Begley, who died three months after its theatrical release.
caption: Dean Stockwell and Sandra Dee in a publicity still for the film
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