Editing Demopolis, Alabama (section)

==In popular culture==
[[File:Lyon Hall in 2011.JPG|thumb|[[Lyon Hall (Demopolis, Alabama)|Lyon Hall]] in 2011. It was built in 1853. It, along with Bluff Hall, served as inspiration for "Lionnet" in ''The Little Foxes''.]]

The Marx and Newhouse families of Demopolis were reputedly the inspiration for ''[[The Little Foxes]]'', a Broadway play.  The melodrama was written by [[Lillian Hellman]], whose maternal ancestors were all natives of Demopolis.  It was first performed in 1939, with Alabama-born actress [[Tallulah Bankhead]] in the lead role of Regina. This production ran a year on Broadway.  The [[The Little Foxes (film)|1941 film version]] was directed by [[William Wyler]] and starred [[Bette Davis]], [[Herbert Marshall]] and [[Teresa Wright]]. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture in 1941.  In 1949 the play was adapted into an opera by [[Marc Blitzstein]], under the title ''Regina''.<ref name="demopolisfam">{{cite web|url=http://www.hellmanwyler.com/demopolis_stories.htm |title=Demopolis Stories of Hellman and Wyler |year=2009 |publisher=The Hellman Wyler Festival |access-date=May 28, 2011 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728051000/http://www.hellmanwyler.com/demopolis_stories.htm |archive-date=July 28, 2011 |df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="southernlittrail">{{cite web|url=http://www.southernliterarytrail.org/demopolis.html |title=Demopolis: Lillian Hellman |publisher=Southern Literary Trail |access-date=May 28, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005051610/http://www.southernliterarytrail.org/demopolis.html |archive-date=October 5, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Local women's history celebrated |first=Jason |last=Cannon |url=http://www.demopolistimes.com/2011/03/23/local-women%E2%80%99s-history-celebrated/ |newspaper=The Demopolis Times |date=March 23, 2011 |access-date=May 28, 2011}}</ref>

Lillian Hellman's 1946 play, ''[[Another Part of the Forest]]'', was also loosely based on her Demopolis ancestors.<ref name="southernlittrail"/>

The 1949 film ''[[The Fighting Kentuckian]]'' is set in Demopolis and tells a story about an interaction with the original French settlers.  The basic plot features two Kentuckians returning from service with Andrew Jackson's forces in the [[War of 1812]].  Their unit passes through the port of [[Mobile, Alabama]], where John Breen, played by [[John Wayne]], meets the pretty Fleurette De Marchand, played by [[Vera Ralston]], from Demopolis.  He makes sure the unit passes through Demopolis on its way back home and he stays there as the unit leaves.  He discovers that De Marchand is about to marry a wealthy riverman and a love triangle ensues, with Breen eventually winning out.<ref name="fighting">{{cite web|url=http://www.vernonjohns.org/snuffy1186/fighting.html |title=The Fighting Kentuckian (1949) |work=Historical Movies in Chronological Order |publisher=Vernon Johns Society |access-date=May 28, 2011 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118073652/http://www.vernonjohns.org/snuffy1186/fighting.html |archive-date=January 18, 2012}}</ref>

The 2015 play ''Alabama Story'' has a subplot featuring the characters Joshua Moore and Lily Whitfield, who grew up in Demopolis as childhood friends on Lily's father's cotton plantation, now estranged.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bykennethjones.com/alabama-story-new-play-books-race-censorship-american-character/ |title='Alabama Story': A New Play About Books, Race, Censorship and the American Character |date=January 2, 2020 |website=By Kenneth Jones |language=en-US |access-date=January 29, 2020}}</ref>