The Fountainhead was written in 1943 by Ayn Rand and was adapted by Hollywood in 1949. The book follows a young architect’s battle to practice what the public sees as modern architecture, which he believes to be superior, despite an establishment centered on tradition-worship.

Patricia Neal was born in Packard, Kentucky, on January 20, 1926. She is the daughter of William Burdette and Eura Petrey Neal. Neal grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she attended Knoxville High School and then continued her studies of acting at Northwestern University. Her first job was on Broadway as an understudy and eventually became a leading lady on the stage. In 1947, Neal won a Tony Award for her role in the Broadway play, Another Part of the Forest. Neal then moved to motion pictures and some of her first roles were in the movies The Voice of the Turtle, The Hasty Heart, and The Fountainhead. Neal won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1963 for her role in the movie Hud starring Neal and Paul Newman. She continued to work until up until her death on August 10, 2010.

Neal had a well-known affair during the filming of this movie with her co-star Gary Cooper. She ended the affair in 1951 and married Roald Dahl in 1953. The couples were married for over thirty years and produced five children. Neal and Dahl divorced in 1983.