Shot With Crimson - Facts

 The book starts in the summer 1917. The narrator is Daphne du Maurier when she was a young girl and visited Milton Hall, the house that inspired her idea of Manderley.

Dame Daphne du Maurier (13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont.

The Hall was used by the military during both world wars. In the First World War, an auxiliary hospital was set up in the house. During the Second World War, part of the house and the stable block were occupied by the Czechoslovak Army and later Special Operations Executive  Milton Hall near Peterborough, is the largest private house in Cambridgeshire. In 1917 when the hall housed an auxiliary hospital, Daphne du Maurier made the first of several visits to Milton at the age of ten along with her mother and two sisters. It is clear from correspondence in later life between du Maurier and the 10th Earl that the happiness and freedom experienced during these childhood visits made an impact on the future writer which she never forgot. She told Lord Fitzwilliam that when she wrote Rebecca 20 years later, the interior of Manderley was based on her recollection of the rooms and 'big house feel' of Milton in the First World War.

In 1939 Josephine Tey is travelling to California where Marta is. Elizabeth MacKintosh (25 July 1896 – 13 February 1952), known by the pen name Josephine Tey, was a Scottish author. She is known for her Inspector Alan Grant series. 

She travels to America on the Queen Mary from Southampton. RMS Queen Mary is a former British ocean liner that operated primarily on the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line. 

On the ship she runs into Alma Reville, Alfred Hitchcock's wife. Alma Lucy Reville, Lady Hitchcock (14 August 1899 – 6 July 1982) was an English screenwriter and film editor. The wife of filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock, she collaborated with her husband on such films as Shadow of a Doubt, Suspicion.

Her daughter travels with her as well as Alma's mother, Lucy Reville. Patricia Alma Hitchcock O'Connell (7 July 1928 – 9 August 2021) was a British-American actress and producer. She was the only child of English director Alfred Hitchcock and film editor Alma Reville, and had small roles in several of her father's films, with her most substantial appearance being in Strangers on a Train (1951).

One of Josephine's books was made into a film by Hitchcok, named Young and Innocent. Josephine was not happy with the result. Young and Innocent is a 1937 British crime thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Nova Pilbeam and Derrick De Marney. Based on the 1936 novel A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey, the film is about a young man on the run from a murder charge who enlists the help of a woman who must put herself at risk for his cause. 

Hitchcock is filming Rebecca during the action of the novel. Rebecca is a 1940 American romantic psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It was Hitchcock's first American project.

David Selznick is the producer of the film. David O. Selznick (born David Selznick; May 10, 1902 – June 22, 1965) was an American film producer, screenwriter and film studio executive who produced Gone with the Wind (1939) and Rebecca (1940), both of which earned him an Academy Award for Best Picture. 

The first choice of actor to play Maxim was Ronald Colman, but he refused to play a murderer. Ronald Charles Colman (9 February 1891 – 19 May 1958) was an English actor who started his career in theatre and silent film in his native country, then emigrated to the United States, where he had a highly successful Hollywood film career. 

 

Vivien Leigh wanted to be in the film, and she was tested twice. Despite campaigning hard to star opposite her then-fiance (and later husband) [Laurence Olivier], Leigh ultimately did not get the part. Producer David O. Selznick, director Alfred Hitchcock, and others felt that Leigh's strong, striking, and sophisticated personality made her unsuited for the meek, shy, and insecure character of the second Mrs. de Winter. 

The chosen actors were Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, and Judith Anderson. 

Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director.

Josephine says that Laurence Olivier was in her play Queen of Scots. Queen of Scots is a three-act historical drama written by Elizabeth Mackintosh under her pseudonym Gordon Daviot (better known as the mystery novelist Josephine Tey). Josephine Tey under her pen name Gordon Daviot. It premiered at the New Theatre in London, directed by John Gielgud, and famously starred Laurence Olivier as Lord Bothwell alongside Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies as Mary, Queen of Scots.

Joan Fontaine played Mrs de Winter. Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (October 22, 1917 – December 15, 2013), known professionally as Joan Fontaine, was a British-American actress best known for her film roles during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Fontaine's luck changed one night at a dinner party when she found herself seated next to producer David O. Selznick. Selznick and she began discussing the Daphne du Maurier novel Rebecca, and Selznick asked her to audition for the part of the unnamed heroine. She endured a grueling six-month series of film tests along with hundreds of other actresses before securing the part sometime before her 22nd birthday.

Selznick wanted Nova Pilbeam as Mrs de Winter at first. Nova Margery Pilbeam (15 November 1919 – 17 July 2015) was an English film and stage actress. She played leading roles in two Alfred Hitchcock films of the 1930s, and made her last film in 1948.

Joan Fontaine had just married Brian Aherne. William Brian de Lacy Aherne (2 May 1902 – 10 February 1986) was an English actor of stage, screen, radio and television, who enjoyed a long and varied career in Britain and the United States. From 1939 to 1945, Aherne was married to actress Joan Fontaine; the marriage ended in divorce.

Dame Frances Margaret Anderson (10 February 1897 – 3 January 1992), known professionally as Judith Anderson, was an Australian actress who had a successful career in stage, film, and television. Anderson received a career boost when she was cast in Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940). 

On the ship Josephine sees Bob Hope. Lester Townes "Bob" Hope (né Leslie Townes Hope; May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-born American comedian, actor, musician, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. 

Hitchock filmed Jamaica Inn, starred by Charles Laughton. Jamaica Inn is a 1939 British adventure thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and adapted from Daphne du Maurier's 1936 novel of the same name. It is the first of three of du Maurier's works that Hitchcock adapted (the others were her novel Rebecca and short story "The Birds"). It stars Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara in her first major screen role. 

Marta is in Culver City. Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, In the 1920s, Culver City became a center for film and later television production. It was best known as the home of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios from 1924 to 1986. From 1932 to 1986, it was the headquarters for the Hughes Aircraft Company. National Public Radio West and Sony Pictures Entertainment have headquarters in the city.

Josephine travels to Californio on the Super Chief, the train which was nicknamed the Train of the Stars. The Super Chief was one of the named passenger trains and the flagship of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The then-modern streamliner was touted in its heyday as "The Train of the Stars" because it often carried celebrities between Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California.

On the train she sees Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. 

William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901 – November 16, 1960) was an American actor often referred to as the "King of Hollywood ". He appeared in more than 60 motion pictures across a variety of genres during a 37-year career.

Carole Lombard (born Jane Alice Peters; October 6, 1908 – January 16, 1942) was an American actress, particularly noted for her energetic, often off-beat roles in screwball comedies. In 1939, Carole Lombard reached a major personal milestone by marrying fellow megastar Clark Gable on March 29, 1939, following his finalized divorce. 

In England Archie goes to Milton Hall to investigate Evelyn's murder. The closes town to Milton Hall is Peterborough. Peterborough is a city in eastern England. It’s known for the 12th- and 13th-century Peterborough Cathedral, with its Gothic facade. 

Marta and Josephine stay in Westwood in Beverly Hills. Westwood is a commercial and residential neighbourhood in the northern central portion of the Westside region of the city of Los Angeles.

Josephine and Marta travel to POint Lobos State Park in Monterey that would be used in the film as Cornwall or Montecarlo. Point Lobos and the Point Lobos State Natural Reserve is a state park in Central California, on the Pacific coast between the Carmel highlands and Big Sur. 

Gibson Beach was used for the scene where Mrs de Winter loses the dog. 

In London George Devine directed an adaptation of Rebecca for the stage. George Alexander Cassady Devine CBE (20 November 1910 – 20 January 1966) was an English theatrical manager, director, teacher, and actor based in London from the early 1930s until his death. Devine also directed a successful production of a stage version of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca at the Queen's Theatre in 1939.

The actors in the play were Celia Johnson as Mrs de Winter, Owen Nares as Maxim and Margaret Rutherford as Mrs Danvers. 

Dame Celia Elizabeth Johnson (18 December 1908 – 26 April 1982) was an English actress, whose career included stage, television and film. Her theatre career flourished with her portrayals of Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice (1940) and the second Mrs. de Winter in Rebecca (1940); the production of the latter was halted when the theatre was destroyed by a Luftwaffe bomb in September 1940.

Owen Ramsay Nares (11 August 1888 – 30 July 1943) was an English stage and film actor. 

Dame Margaret Taylor Rutherford (11 May 1892 – 22 May 1972) was an English actress of stage, films and television. A theatrical success during the war years included her part as the sinister housekeeper Mrs. Danvers in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca at the Queen's Theatre in 1940.