The 1959 Audrey Hepburn and Alfred Hitchcock movie that never was: “I was so excited”

In 1959, Alfred Hitchcock planned to adapt Henry Cecil’s novel *No Bail for the Judge* with Audrey Hepburn in the lead, but the film was never made. Their collaboration would have brought together a director at the height of his suspense career and one of Hollywood’s most popular stars, making its disappearance a notable “what if” in both careers.

Hepburn said she adored the script and was excited enough to ask Hitchcock to send over the contracts. She was to play a London barrister defending her father, a judge wrongly accused of murder, with Laurence Harvey cast as a crook who helps her gather evidence. The reason the project collapsed remains unconfirmed; suggested explanations include Hepburn’s pregnancy and a scene involving an attempted sexual assault.