MovieChat Forums > The Loved One (1965) Discussion > Was the Sir Francis Hinsley character ba...

Was the Sir Francis Hinsley character based on James Whale?

posted 14 years ago by BoomerMovieFan
3 replies | jump to latest

Both ficticious art director Sir Francis and real life director James Whale committed suicide for similar reasons. Both died in a pool; although a depressed Sir Francis hangs himself and James Whale drowned. Whale's suicide said he did so to end his physical suffering.

Sir Francis was buried in TLO's Whispering Glades. Whale is buried in Forest Lawn, the basis for Whispering Glades.

Both were gay. While James Whale was "out", Sir Francis and his British compatriots are shown as crypto-gay in both THE LOVED ONE book and the movie.

THE LOVED ONE's original author, Evelyn Waugh, was definitely in a position to know James Whale and his "set". James Whale's story was told in the movie GODS AND MONSTERS (1998).

None of this is mentioned in the IMDB Trivia section for this movie, GODS AND MONSTERS, nor James Whale. I couldn't find any reference in a Google search, so I am wondering, what do posters on this message board think?

[–] fhh68 14 years ago

James Whale died in 1957 and the novel was published in 1948, so the suicides could only be a coincidence. I was recently at Forest Lawn Glendale looking for a grave, and the people there called him your loved one when they gave me the cooridinates of the grave.

[–] BoomerMovieFan 14 years ago

Thank you, I did not know the novel was published in 1948. I thought it was published only a couple of years before the picture.

I'll just consider it a strange coincidence, as you suggest.

[–] rob-949 8 years ago

Perhaps not based upon, but influenced by.

The book is updated in many ways to the times it was made in.