The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw hours of Westerns per week, and Walsh felt that a spoof of the genre would be a good choice for the studio, especially with the new CinemaScope process to properly display the desolate background of a lawless town in the American West. Fox decided to make the film and decided to give Walsh majority of the control over the movie's production. The studio still wanted Clifton Webb to play Jonathan Tibbs, the lead character, but Walsh preferred British actor Kenneth More. Moore had become popular in films such as "Genevieve" (1953) and "The Admirable Crichton" (1957), and Walsh felt he
The Admirable Crichton as Crichton, Hubert Bruce at the Earl of Loam and Fay Bainter as Lady Mary Lasenby. In 1985 the play was staged at the Royal Exchange, Manchester with Hugh Quarshie as Crichton, Janet McTeer as Lady Mary Lasenby, Amanda Donohoe as Lady Catherine Lasenby and Avril Elgar as Mrs Perkins. The play was revived in London in 1989 with Edward Fox as Crichton, and the newly knighted Rex Harrison as Lord Loam. Harrison's mentor Gerald Du Maurier played the nephew in the original production. A spoof version was made for series 3 of "Round the Horne". It was called "