10 Based On True Story Movies That Never Happened

10. 12 Angry Men's "Real" Court Case Was Made Up

Sidney Lumet's unforgettable 1957 courtroom drama 12 Angry Men was penned by screenwriter Reginald Rose, having been adapted from his own 1954 play of the same name.

Rose claimed that the script was inspired by an actual jury trial he served on, though recent research suggests that's actually not true at all.

The film famously involves Henry Fonda's passionate juror Davis swaying a jury to acquit an 18-year old defendant of murder on the basis of reasonable doubt, but a new biography about Rose casts doubt upon any real-life inspiration.

Though Rose has never named the case that apparently influenced his story, Professor Phil Rosenzweig's new book "Reginald Rose and the Journey of 12 Angry Men" identifies it as 1954's "The People v. William Viragh," a case that Rose never served on.

While the case in the film has superficial similarities to the real case - they were both murder trials - Rosenzweig surmises that, at best, Rose was part of the jury pool but ultimately rejected, as he wasn't listed as one of the actual 12 jurors.

As much as we'd all love to believe that 12 Angry Men, a testament to one person's ability to enact real change, is rooted in reality, Rosenzweig ultimately concluded of Rose, "As a good dramatist, he used his imagination."