finally admits that she murdered Nanny for having had the affair with her husband, whom she later intended to blackmail. Lottie staged the death as a suicide. Cast Production Development 20th Century Fox bought the film rights to Patrick Quentin's 1952 novel Black Widow. Studio head Darryl Zanuck assigned the project to Nunnally Johnson, who worked on it after writing the script for How to Marry a Millionaire (1953). Johnson then made his debut as director on Night People (1954) starring Gregory Peck, and Peck was announced as the Black Widow male lead, which was, however, eventually played—after being passed on by William Holden—by Van Helflin. Johnson said the film would be the "All About Eve of suspense pictures." He later said it "was just a thriller, wasn't any great harm done in the thing, a thriller that I liked, because I like thrillers." Johnson had offered the role of flamboyant stage actress Carlotta Marin to stage actress Tallulah Bankhead, Johnson's first choice for the role, then to Joan Crawford, who was not interested. Bankhead had declined the role as too small; it was successfully offered to Ginger Rogers (whose role in Johnson's 1952 production We're Not Married! had also been declined by Bankhead). Rogers was accorded top billing in Black Widow. Johnson's first choice for the role of Nanny Ordway, 20th-Century-Fox-contractee Maggie McNamara, was cast in the role but soon sidelined by illness, with her Three Coins in the Fountain co-star Jean Peters being expected to replace her. However, the role of Nanny Ordway would ultimately afford a brief cinematic comeback to former child star (at 20th Century Fox) Peggy Ann Garner. Johnson had tested Garner for Black Widow on the recommendation of cinematographer Charles G. Clarke who, while overseeing location footage for Black Widow in New York City, had happened to cross paths with Garner, with whom he had worked on Junior Miss nine years earlier. Johnson said he took Garner "much to my regret... she was a tiresome little girl. Tiresome woman." Johnson did successfully recruit George Raft, known for his gangster roles, to play against type as an investigating police officer. Shooting According to Johnson, Raft would show up on set word-perfect and looking no older at age fifty-four than he had at age thirty-nine. Johnson said Raft "learns his lines very well... he's not an actor in particular. He was a personality that was very