Clarence Darrow, 1922, by Herzog
Clarence Darrow is annually voted America’s greatest lawyer by his contemporary peers. He is most familiar to the public through Spencer Tracy’s portrayal of his fictional clone, named Henry Drummond, in the celebrated film of the play Inherit the Wind, based on Darrow’s famous defense of the theory of evolution in the so-called Scopes “Monkey Trial” of 1925.
Freedom of thought was just one of the great progressive lawyer’s causes however, and the Scopes trial was far from his greatest triumph. An orator, humanist, philosopher, and poet—as well as cynic and humorist—Darrow was a controversial and conflicted man who turned law into art, but seldom allowed ethics to get in the way of winning a case. Nearly a century after he delivered them in mesmerizing oratory, Darrow’s words continue to frame public discussion about our civil liberties and our religious and civic life.
Darrow’s life and riveting courtroom style are explored by Jack Marshall and Paul Morella, co-authors of the solo play Clarence Darrow: A Passion for Justice. Marshall, a lawyer, author, ethicist, and lecturer who co-edited The Words and Writings of Clarence Darrow with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Ed Larson, tells the story of this fascinating, flawed man, his greatest triumphs, and his influence today. Morella, who has portrayed the lawyer on stage for a decade, re-enacts his most dramatic courtroom moments.
Other Connections
Henry Drummond (Spencer Tracy’s film version of Clarence Darrow) confronts his courtroom opponent Matthew Harrison Brady (a fictionalized William Jennings Bryan played by Fredric March) with an impassioned argument for intellectual freedom in this scene from Inherit the Wind. Take a look at the real Clarence Darrow at 75 in this excerpt from a 1932 interview.
