Why the real Gladys Aylward despised her own Hollywood biographical film
In short: The 1958 film The Inn of the Sixth Happiness turned missionary Gladys Aylward into a global icon, yet she was mortified by the production. From casting choices to fictionalized romances, Hollywood took immense liberties with her life, transforming a grueling, dangerous reality into a polished, inaccurate cinematic spectacle.
The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, directed by Mark Robson, tells the story of Gladys Aylward, a British woman who traveled to China to serve as a missionary. While the film achieved commercial success, grossing $700,000 in the UK in 1959, the real Aylward was deeply critical of its inaccuracies. She found the casting of the tall, Swedish Ingrid Bergman to be a poor representation of her own small stature, dark hair, and Cockney accent. Furthermore, she felt the film insulted the Chinese heritage of her associate, Captain Lin Nan, by portraying him as half-European.
The film frequently traded historical reality for dramatic convenience. Aylward’s arduous, complex journey across Russia and China was simplified into a straightforward train ride, and her life-long commitment to orphans was distorted by a fictionalized romance. In the film, her character leaves the children to pursue a relationship with the captain, whereas in reality, Aylward never kissed a man and dedicated her entire life to the care of orphans, even founding a children's home in Taiwan in 1958 that she operated until her death in 1970.
Even the film's title was a departure from the truth. The inn Aylward actually ran was named the Inn of the Eight Happinesses, reflecting the auspicious nature of the number eight in Chinese culture. While the film depicted her leading 100 children to safety in 1938, it omitted the harrowing physical toll of the journey. In reality, the exhausted missionary arrived at her destination delirious with typhus and fever. Despite these embellishments, the film remains a notable piece of 1958 cinema, featuring the final performance of Robert Donat, who passed away months before the premiere.
Ultimately, the production highlights the tension between biographical truth and Hollywood storytelling. While the film earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Director and a Special Golden Globe, it remains a contentious legacy for the woman it sought to honor. Aylward’s life, marked by genuine sacrifice and cultural integration, was reduced to a narrative that prioritized romantic subplots and sanitized heroism over the gritty, complex reality of her missionary work.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: The Inn of the Sixth Happiness
- Also: Wikidata — The Inn of the Sixth Happiness – Original Film Soundtrack · CC0
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