Inherit the Wind, motion picture about a public school teacher who is put on trial for teaching the theory of evolution, based loosely on the Scopes Trial of 1925. The movie is based on a 1955 play of the same name, written Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. Released in 1960, the film stars Spencer Tracy as Henry Drummond, the teacher’s lawyer, and Fredric March as prosecuting attorney Matthew Harrison Brady. Brady contends that teaching the theory of evolution conflicts with the Bible’s account of the creation of the universe, while Drummond argues that the Bible’s version of creation is not necessarily true. During the trial, the teacher (played by Dick York) tries to continue romancing a preacher’s daughter. Gene Kelly plays a cynical newspaper reporter, who is supposed to resemble H. L. Mencken.

Director

• Stanley Kramer

Cast

• Fredric March (Matthew Harrison Brady)
• Spencer Tracy (Henry Drummond)
• Gene Kelly (E. K. Hornbeck)
• Florence Eldridge (Mrs. Brady)
• Dick York (Bertram T. Cates)
• Donna Anderson (Rachel Brown)
• Harry Morgan (Judge)
• Elliot Reid (Davenport)
• Philip Coolidge (Mayor)
• Claude Akins (Reverend Brown)
• Paul Hartman (Meeker)
• Jimmy Boyd (Howard)
• Noah Beery, Jr. (Stebbins)
• Gordon Polk (Sillers)
• Ray Teal (Dunlap)
• Norman Fell (Radio announcer)
• Hope Summers (Mrs. Krebs)
• Renee Godfrey (Mrs. Stebbins)

Quotes

• Brady: “I do not think about things I do not think about.”
• Drummond: “Do you ever think about things that you do think about?”