Local Brunswick Beauty Kitty Hightower Stands Out
In the mid-1950s, Brunswick briefly became something else entirely—not just a port city of marshes and everyday routine—but a working film location. Polished, deliberate, and attentive to detail. When The View from Pompey’s Head arrived, Twentieth Century-Fox did not simply bring cameras: it brought a full production apparatus South.
At the center were Richard Egan and Dana Wynter, rising stars whose presence lent selective locations like the Oglethorpe Hotel and nearby streets a distinctly cosmopolitan air. Wynter, already celebrated for her elegance and named among London’s best-dressed actresses, carried that reputation easily into coastal Georgia. Wardrobe fitters referred to her as “the girl with the flawless figure,” noting proportions so precise they asked whether she had ever modeled. Locals watched tailored silhouettes move through columned porches and brick sidewalks more familiar with workwear than couture.
Marshes of Glynn Libraries Special Collections, colorized by Josh Dukes
Richard Egan and Dana Wynter between takes at the Oglethorpe Hotel during June 1955 location filming for The View from Pompey’s Head, as Twentieth Century-Fox transformed downtown Brunswick into a working film set.
Filming extended into Old City Hall, across the causeways, and onto the islands—each location selected for its visual strength as much as its narrative utility. Sound stages were improvised at The King and Prince, generators were shipped in from California, and the Golden Isles adjusted briefly to the rhythms of a professional film crew.
As glamourous as Hollywood’s presence here may have been, filming was not sustained by visiting stars alone. It depended on local participation.
Kitty Hightower, a Brunswick native selected as Wynter’s stand-in, moved easily between camera marks and daily life.
Marshes of Glynn Libraries Special Collections, colorized by Josh Dukes
Kitty Hightower, a Brunswick local, stands in for Dana Wynter during location filming of The View from Pompey’s Head on the porch of the Oglethorpe Hotel, June 1955. Hightower’s role as a stand-in required exact alignment with wardrobe, posture, and blocking—an essential but largely unseen part of the film’s visual construction.
Her wardrobe, posture, and bearing were calibrated to meet the film’s visual requirements—precisely the work a stand-in is meant to perform. In that sense, Hightower represented exactly what Fox required: people and places that met cinematic standards without alteration. The camera focused elsewhere, but the illusion depended on women like her—local, capable, and visually exact.
Brunswick may have been chosen to imitate the imaginary Pompey’s Head, but it was chosen based on its own merits. And even by Hollywood standards, the city played its role quite well.
Local historian and digital photo restoration artist Josh Dukes is the co-author of Brunswick: Past & Present, available at local retailers and online at joshdukesofficial.com.
