Mrs. De Winter
Do we ever know what Joan Fontaine's character's first name is?
shareNo, never. In movie or book(s).
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MovieChat Forums > Rebecca (1940) Discussion > Mrs. De Winter
Someone on another site argued a case to believe it might be Mallory. Apparently the name signifies someone who is unfortunate (literally 'bad gold'). This was based on some text in the book where De Winter remarks that the name suits her character as well as that of her father, who was also unlucky.
I don't know if they have any real case there, but I thought I'd pass it along.
No. In fact, this has been a clue in crossword puzzles over the years, something like "movie in which we never learn the first name of the female lead." Now you know.
shareThere's rumours that in original drafts it was Daphne, which is the author's name. She says that it's uncommon and people often misspell it.
I like the mystery though, and the little references like when she says it is often misspelt. You almost never even notice that we don't know her name in the book since it is written in the first person narrative from her point of view.
shareDirector Alfred Hitchcock thought the character's name was "Daphne", although of course he didn't let that be used in the script. He was totally on board with DuMaurier's little mystery.
shareI wondered about this too.
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