Production
The first part of the picture was shot in Albemarle County, Virginia, doubling for Maryland, and utilizing the Belmont estate near the Keswick railroad station, which depicted the "Ardmore, Maryland" railway depot. The film begins with Jordan "Bick" Benedict, played by Hudson, arriving at Ardmore to purchase a stallion from the Lynnton family.
Much of the subsequent film, depicting "Reata", the Benedict ranch, was shot in and around the town of Marfa, Texas, and the remote, dry plains found nearby, with interiors filmed at the Warner Brothers studios in Burbank, California. The "Jett Rink Day" parade and airport festivities were filmed at the nearby Burbank Airport.
The fictional character Jett Rink was inspired partly by the extraordinary rags-to-riches life of the wildcatter oil tycoon Glenn Herbert McCarthy (1907–1988). Author Edna Ferber met McCarthy when she booked a room at his Shamrock Hotel (known as the Shamrock Hilton after 1955) in Houston, Texas, on which the fictional Emperador Hotel was based in the book and the film.
Australian actor Rod Taylor was cast after being seen in an episode of Studio 57, The Black Sheep's Daughter. It was one of his first Hollywood roles.
Read more about this topic: Giant (1956 film)
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