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) Brothers Circus. Old John, as he came to be known, stayed on with the circus after he retired from performing. He babysat for the performers' children, did heavy lifting, and led the elephant herd to and from the show grounds and train. On 9 April 1922, John, with Dexter Fellows, began a 53 mile pilgrimage from Madison Square Garden to the Elephant Hotel in Somers, New York, to pay tribute to Old Bet, the first elephant in America. John arrived on 13 April 1922. He laid a wreath on the monument to Old Bet. He died of old age or