6. Holly Golightly Was First Written As "Connie Gustafson" - Breakfast At Tiffany's
When Truman Capote was first putting
Breakfast at Tiffany's together, he started writing the now iconic Holly Golightly character - played by the beautiful Audrey Hepburn in the movie version in one of her most memorable roles - under a different name entirely: Connie Gustafson. That's not a gag or anything - he really did call her Connie Gustafson, a name which makes her sounds like she's been conjured up to be the butt of endless jokes. Holly Golightly is, of course, one of the most recognisable names in the realms of both literature and cinema, whereas Connie Gustafson doesn't feel all that memorable at all. It feels, in fact, like the name of a secondary character, not the central protagonist of a landmark novel. Which is why, I imagine, Capote eventually changed it to something that better matched Holly's personality - he certainly ended up making the right decision, hm?