Once Andrews was on board, Wise bought the rights to both Lawrence's 1945 autobiography "A Star Danced" and her widower's 1954 memoir "Gertrude Lawrence as Mrs. A." Max Lamb did extensive research, including numerous interviews with people who actually had known Lawrence. Wise and Lamb believed the interviews provided a more accurate account than the material in the books, so the interviews became the basis of the screenplay. Wise felt it was important to hire a British screenwriter, and he decided on William Fairchild. The contrast between text in the books and the stories from the interviews found its way into the script, which initially had an animated Lawrence telling the story while the live version played out what (more or less) really happened. Eventually, Fairchild suggested Lawrence's story be told in (color) flashback while she watched a (black-and-white) documentary about her life, thus allowing the real Lawrence, who is seen on a set that is designed to be a screening room, to comment on the veracity of the fictionalized Lawrence in the film within the film.