Beaufort is the Lowcountry’s own little Hollywood

Not only is Beaufort historic, it’s also the site of many movies.

Filmed and released in 1979.

Cast: Robert Duvall, Michael O’Keefe, Blythe Danner.

▪  Based on the novel by Lowcountry resident Pat Conroy.

▪  The Meechum family’s marshview home is Tidalholm, a private residence in the historic Old Point neighborhood.

▪  Many of the military scenes were filmed at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort. Beaufort Middle School was used for scenes of a nighttime basketball game, a prom and the first day of school.

Filmed and released in 1983.

Cast: Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Mary Kay Place, Meg Tilly, JoBeth Williams.

▪  The central location for “The Big Chill” was Tidalholm.

▪  The jogging scene with Kevin Kline was filmed on Bay Street in downtown Beaufort.

Filmed in 1990, released in 1991.

Cast: Nick Nolte, Barbra Streisand, Blythe Danner, Kate Nelligan.

▪  Based on the novel by Pat Conroy.

▪  The beach scenes were filmed on Fripp Island.

▪  Aerial shots that pan across the marshes in the opening scene are of the Beaufort River, near the J.E. McTeer Bridge.

▪  Part of the Beaufort Arsenal was used as George Carlin’s apartment.

Filmed in 1993, released in 1994.

Cast: Tom Hanks, Sally Fields, Robin Wright Penn, Gary Sinise.

▪  The front of the University of South Carolina Beaufort Performing Arts Center in downtown Beaufort depict the Gump Medical Center that Forrest Gump endows.

▪  Two Beaufort-area bridges along U.S. 21 appear in Forrest Gump’s transcontinental run. One is the Woods Memorial Bridge in downtown Beaufort. The other is the Chowan Creek Bridge between Lady’s Island and St. Helena Island. A sign on the Chowan Creek Bridge read: “Welcome to Mississippi.”

▪  The house where Bubba Blue’s mother lived is an existing private home on Lady’s Island.

▪  The hurricane in the film was simulated on the South Carolina Port Authority’s docking facility in the Town of Port Royal.

▪  Beaufort resident Marleena Smalls plays Bubba’s mother, and her singing group, the Hallelujah Singers, are featured in the movie.

▪  Most of the Vietnam scenes were filmed on Fripp Island — the mountains are computer simulations — and the scenes of Forrest carrying the bodies of the dead and wounded were shot at the Hunting Island lagoon.

Filmed and released in 1994.

Cast: Jason Scott Lee, Cary Elwes, Lena Headey, Sam Neill, John Cleese.

▪  Lush, subtropical Fripp Island, a residential community built on a barrier island, became Rudyard Kipling’s jungles of India.

Filmed in 1993, released in 1994.

Cast: Tom Berenger, William McNamara, Erika Eleniak, Crispin Glover, Dean Stockwell, Gary Busey, Marilu Henner, Dennis Hopper.

▪  Harold’s Country Club Bar and Grill in Yemassee was a filming location.

Filmed in 1994 and 1995, released in 1995.

Cast: Julia Roberts, Robert Duvall, Gena Rowlands, Kyra Sedgwick, Dennis Quaid.

▪  The University of South Carolina Beaufort’s Performing Arts Center in downtown Beaufort is part of the fictional college campus where the character played by Julia Roberts attends classes.

▪  A major segment of the movie was filmed in the interior of Michael Rainey Antiques in downtown Beaufort.

▪  The Gadsby Tavern (now Kathleen’s) in downtown Beaufort was the setting for a restaurant scene in which several local residents appear as extras.

Filmed in 1995, released in 1996

Cast: Jeff Bridges, Caroline Goodall, John Savage, Scott Wolf, Jeremy Sisto.

▪  The Budget Print building in downtown Beaufort was made into a bus terminal for the movie.

▪  The churchyard of St. Helena’s Episcopal Church in downtown Beaufort appears in some scenes.

Filmed in 1995, released in 1996.

Cast: Sharon Stone, Rob Morrow, Randy Quaid, Peter Gallagher.

▪  Several scenes were shot at The Castle, a private home in downtown Beaufort, as well as at Hunting Island State Park.

▪  The state prison facility in Ridgeland in Jasper County was the location of the film’s prison scenes.

Filmed in 1996, released in 1997.

Cast: Demi Moore, Viggo Mortensen, Anne Bancroft, Jason Beghe.

▪  The sequence in which Demi Moore’s character is treated harshly as a prisoner of war in a training exercise was filmed at Hunting Island State Park.

Filmed in 1998, released in 1999.

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Ben Affleck, Joe Don Baker, David Strickland, Blythe Danner, Maura Tierney. Directed by Bronwen Hughes.

▪  The Castle, a historic private home in downtown Beaufort, was used as the bride’s parents’ house and site of the wedding. To enhance the color of the grass on the shady lawn, the production crew sprayed green paint over the grass.

▪  About 100 local people, dressed in their Sunday best, were used as extras in a wedding scene.

Filmed in 1999, released in 2000.

Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, Jim Delaney, Ben Kingsley, Blair Underwood, Anne Archer.

▪  A casting call in February 1999 at the Holiday Inn of Beaufort sought extras to portray U. S. Marines and Vietnamese characters.

▪  The south end of Hunting Island State Park was the setting for scenes depicting Quang Tri Province of Vietnam.

Filmed in 1999, released in 2000.

Cast: Will Smith, Matt Damon, Charlize Theron, Bruce McGill, J. Michael Moncrief.

▪  Many of the film’s golf scenes were filmed at the Colleton River Course in Bluffton.

▪  Seabrook Village served as the location for the birthplace of Bagger Vance, the character played by Will Smith.

This story was originally published March 25, 2016 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Beaufort is the Lowcountry’s own little Hollywood."