The Inn of the Sixth Happiness be seen on the DVD. Since the film's release, the filmmakers have been criticised for casting Ingrid Bergman, a tall woman with a Swedish accent, as Gladys Aylward, who was in fact short and had a cockney accent. Likewise, the two male leads, British actor Robert Donat and Austrian actor Curt Jurgens were not even Chinese (though Jurgens' character is said to be half-Dutch). Singer Bill Elliott sang the hit song The Inn of the Sixth Happiness with the Cyril Stapleton Orchestra. The film was based on the biography "The Small Woman" (1957) by Alan Burgess. The real Gladys Aylward
The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1902–1970) was born in London. She was a former domestic in the household of Sir Francis Younghusband turned missionary in China and is best known for her work with children. Aylward became a Chinese citizen in 1936. Four years later, despite being in ill health herself, she led more than 100 children over the mountains to safety at the height of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-45). In 1958, the year of the film's release, she founded a children's home in Taiwan, which she continued to run until her death. Known in China as 真爱 (Zhēn'ài or Jen Ai) meaning true