The Elephant Man (film) me hate acting." Because of the strain on the actor, he worked alternate days. Lynch originally wanted Jack Nance for the title character. "But it just wasn't in the cards," Lynch says; the role went to John Hurt after Brooks, Lynch and Sanger saw his performance in "The Naked Civil Servant" as Quentin Crisp. Lynch bookended the film with surrealist sequences centered around Merrick's mother and her death. Lynch used Samuel Barber’s "Adagio for Strings" to underline the end of the film and Merrick's own death. The film's composer, John Morris, argued against using the music, stating that "this piece
John L. Sullivan (elephant) John L. Sullivan (elephant) John L. Sullivan, (circa 1860 - April 1932), was a tuskless male Asian elephant that performed in the Adam Forepaugh circus and, later, in the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus. In the early days of its career, John L. (who was named after the boxer John L. Sullivan) performed a boxing act with his trainer, Eph Thompson. John would have a boxing glove placed at the end of his trunk to spar with Thompson. John stayed with the circus as the Forepaugh show joined with the Sells Brothers Circus, which then joined with the Ringling