The Rise and Fall of the Confederacy 1917?	The Tara Rumor (Gone with the Wind) 1939	Commandment Keeper Church 1940	To Live as a Free Man 1942?
Les Marines 1957	The Great Santini 1979	The Big Chill 1983	Daughters of the Dust 1992 (Filmed 1988)
The Prince of Tides 1991	Forrest Gump 1994	The War 1994	The Jungle Book 1994
Chasers 1994	Something to Talk About 1995	White Squall 1996	Last Dance 1996
Gone Fishin' 1997	G. I. Jane 1997	Animals 1997	Forces of Nature 1998
Rules of Engagement 2000		The Legend of Bagger Vance

 

Video Productions Filmed in Beaufort County

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PART II:
LOCAL MOVIE LORE

Beaufort's Hollywood Visitors

Beaufort "Goes Hollywood" Local Residents Meet the Stars

"Honorable Mention" Films About Beaufort ... But Not Filmed Here

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PART III:
TELEVISION PRODUCTIONS & COMMERCIALS
SHOT IN BEAUFORT COUNTY
AND
FILM LOCATIONS IN NEIGHBORING COUNTIES

PLUS
LIST OF SOURCES

Television Shows and TV Movies Shot in Beaufort County	Television Commercials Shot in Beaufort County
Music Videos Shot in Beaufort County	Film Locations in Neighboring Counties
List of Sources

PART I:

• The Meechum family’s gracious marshview home is Tidalholm (1 Laurens Street, a private residence). Tidalholm was built in 1853, and owes its spacious Beaufort style to renovations following the Storm of 1893 (the hurricane had blown the second-floor roof away). The house also was featured later in The Big Chill.

• Many of the military scenes were filmed on the Marine Corps Air Station (Main Gate at the intersection of U. S. Highway 21 and SC 116). The film crew also "blacked out" the windows of the Air Station gymnasium for the nighttime high school basketball game scene.

  The scene where Ben Meechum finds his drunken-and-distraught father under the oak tree took place in the open square in "The Point" (bordered by King, Pinckney, Laurens and Short Streets in the Beaufort Historic District). The Tidalholm property is adjacent to the Laurens Street- Short Street corner of the square.

  Square in "The Point" Photograph by Dennis Adams (August 15, 2002)

  
  

• The central location for The Big Chill -- as for The Great Santini -- was the historic home, Tidalholm. Starring actor Tom Berenger married his wife, Lisa (whom he had met in Beaufort during the filming), on the Tidalholm lawn.

• The jogging scene (with the "inside trading" dialog) was filmed on Bay Street, Downtown Beaufort.
  
  

  Photograph by Dennis Adams (August 13, 2002)

  Members of the cast and crew enjoyed meals at the Steamer Restaurant (168 Sea Island Parkway/Highway 21, Lady’s Island), which was also a favorite "spot" of The Prince of Tides star, Nick Nolte.

• The interior of the Beaufort County Records Management Department warehouse (end of Depot Road) became the Lowenstein apartment, both the interior and balcony.

• Barbra Streisand enjoyed the ice cream at Plum's (904 1/2 Bay Street, Downtown Beaufort).
  
  

  Manhattan apartment scenes were filmed in the Beaufort Arsenal (713 Craven Street). Photograph by Dennis Adams (August 13, 2002)		Star Nick Nolte dined at the Steamer Restaurant (168 Sea Island Parkway/Highway 21, Lady’s Island), to which he sometimes bicycled from downtown Beaufort. The Steamer was a favorite "spot" for the cast of The Big Chill, too. The gymnasium of the Technical College of the Lowcountry (921 Ribaut Road) served as a sound stage for filming the rape scene. Local residents marveled at the several large ventilation tubes coming from inside the gymnasium. Traffic stopped at times on Ribaut Road next to the building to control noise during filming.

• Barbra Streisand rented the home of Dr. Gene and Beth Grace (509 North Street, Downtown Beaufort; private residence) during the filming. She had a privacy screen erected around the house (which had a swimming pool) and added personal touches to the interior (bathroom carpeting, for example).

• Two Beaufort-area bridges along U. S. Highway 21 appeared in Forrest Gump’s transcontinental run. One was the Woods Memorial Bridge (Downtown Beaufort), the other 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 of Bubba’s mother was an existing house (private residence) on Alston Road, Lucy Point Creek (Lady’s Island at the end of Sams Point Road -- Highway 802).

• The film’s hurricane was simulated on the South Carolina Port Authority docking facility (a restricted-access facility in the town of Port Royal.
  
  
• Marleena Smalls played Bubba's mother (and her Beaufort County Sea Islander singing group, the Hallelujah Singers, were featured in the movie).
  
  

• Capt. Dale Dye, military advisor on the film, was also the advised the production, Rules of Engagement, in 1999.
  

• Major scenes were also filmed in neighboring Colleton County, among these:
  
  
• Those in the Gumps’ boarding house, a fully functional house -- with an upstairs bedroom, kitchen, etc. --- built on private property in Colleton County. Because it was not built to code, the structure had to be torn down after filming.
  
  
• The ancient oak tree seen in the film was located on the same property used for the Gump boarding house.
  
  
• The Vietnamese war scene of troops moving through rice patties was filmed on this site as well (It was also on this site where the one sequence was shot showing the troops moving through the rice (mountains and other Indochinese geographical features were "matted" in after filming).
  
  
• The principal's office scene with Forrest as a little boy was filmed at Hampton Elementary School in Walterboro.
  
  
• A Walterboro resident's antique cars were used in some scenes.

• The front exterior of the University of South Carolina at Beaufort’s Performing Arts Center [801 Carteret Street, Downtown Beaufort) became part of the fictional college campus where the Julia Roberts character attended classes. This was the same filming site for the Gump Medical Center in Forrest Gump

• One major segment of the movie was filmed in the interior of Michael Rainey Antiques, (702 Craven Street, Downtown Beaufort -- see photo). This small building, once attached to the Library, had served earlier as a meeting room for the cast and crew of Daughters of the Dust .
  
  
• The Library’s downstairs meeting room (next door to Rainey’s Antiques) served as a "green room" for cast and crew waiting between film "takes". Spring Creek Productions' contribution to the Library in appreciation for its assistance was allocated to purchase video copies of films made in and about Beaufort County and viewing equipment.

• The cast and crew of Something to Talk About used the parking lot of the Beaufort County Public Library (311 Scott Street, Downtown Beaufort) to place the mobile dressing room units of the movie's stars. The lot was closed to the public, although the Library remained open throughout the filming. Reporters from the national media made determined attempts to interview or videotape Julia Roberts, who was equally determined to avoid them. On her way to her dressing room trailer from the filming at the adjoining Michael Rainey Antiques building, Ms. Roberts would pass through the library building to "take cover" from the paparazzi waiting outside on the Craven Street - Scott Street intersection .

• Gadsby’s Restaurant (now Ollie's Downtown Restaurant; 822 Bay Street, Downtown Beaufort) was the set for a restaurant scene in which several local residents appeared as "extras".

• The "King Farm" scenes took place at Davant Plantation in Gillionsville, Jasper County
  (U. S. Highway 278 at S. C. Highway 462).

• Many of the people most essential to the film stayed at the Beaufort Inn (809 Port Republic Street, Downtown Beaufort) and the apartment of Nancy and Bill Rhett (private residence) next to Plum's restaurant (904 1/2 Bay Street, Downtown Beaufort).
  
  
• Other shoot location: Jasper County.

The Rhett House Inn (where Barbra Streisand stayed while scouting the area for The Prince of Tides) was another location for shooting. The inn is at 1009 Craven Street, Downtown Beaufort. Photograph by Dennis Adams (August 13, 2002)

Film crew briefly remade the Budget Print building (510 Carteret Street, Downtown Beaufort) into the movie’s bus terminal. The churchyard of St. Helena’s Episcopal Church (501 Church Street, Downtown Beaufort) was a filming site for White Squall. The church is a Beaufort landmark, built in 1724. Other film sites included: Murr’s Graphic and Printing (1012 Boundary Street, Downtown Beaufort), the Chocolate Tree (507 Carteret Street, Downtown Beaufort), and areas of Washington Street (Downtown Beaufort). White squall was filmed also in Charleston County.

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

• The parking lot of Carteret Street United Methodist Church (between Craven and King Streets) was clustered with Dreamworks Studio’s mobile units and a canteen tent throughout the production. The trailers also extended across Carteret Street to the end of Craven Street, where "The Castle" is located. Local residents would watch the golf cart shuttles that ran the area in hopes of spotting a celebrity from the movie.

• The south end of Hunting Island State Park doubled for Quang Tri Province of Vietnam; the earlier sequences of the film deals with Marine Corps platoons during the Vietnam War.

• Sgt. Chris Young, quoted by Marti Gatlin in The Beaufort Gazette, reported that he and about fifty other men who portrayed the film's Vietnam War-era Marines slept out on Hunting Island, "wore Marine uniforms (jungle fatigues) exactly like those worn in Vietnam, which presented problems because it was still cold, warm during the day but very cold at night. We carried gear like they did in 1968. They didn't let us shave or bathe, so we looked like we were in combat." Whenever it rained, the men tired to keep dry under shelters they made from their ponchos.

• Dale Dye, a retired Marine captain who had worked with Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan (1998), trained the film's Marine extras on Hunting Island, day and night. He shared his own Vietnam War memories with his trainees, as well as songs written by veterans of that war. Capt. Dye was also military advisor for Forrest Gump.
  
  
• The Yemen scenes -- thirty years later in the film's plot -- were filmed in Morocco.

VIDEO PRODUCTIONS
FILMED IN BEAUFORT COUNTY

... And They Were Called Marines: A Few Good Women [Beaufort, SC: Sandbar Productions/Good-To-Go Video, 1996]. "Since 1918," wrote the video's producers, "American women have served as members of the Corps." Today "those expecting to earn the eagle, globe, and anchor will have to take up the challenge of boot camp at Parris Island, SC" (where this 50-minute production was filmed).

Women Marine at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island Photograph by courtesy of Good-To-Go Video

• The Crucible: Making Marines for the 21st Century [Beaufort, SC: Sandbar Productions/Good-To-Go Video, 1998]. The prodcuers define "the Crucible" as "the critical culminating event occurring in the 11th week of Marine Corps boot camp ... 54 hours of trial ... with little sleep, less food, and over 40 miles of forced marches." It is a time "when the Marine Corps drives home the core values of honor, courage, and commitment." The 55-minute video was shot on location at the recruit depots at Parris Island, SC and San Diego, CA.

• Fierce Pride in Country and Corps [Beaufort, SC: Sandbar Productions/Good-To-Go Video, 1997]. The United States Marine Corps Band was established in 1801, and the Marine Barracks, 8th & I, Washington, D. C. is now home to the band, the the Marine Drum & Bugle Corps, the Marine Corps Color Guard and the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon. Scenes include basic training at Parris Island, SC.

• The Making of a Marine [Beaufort, SC: Sandbar Productions/Good-To-Go Video, 2000]. A 50-minute video of basic training from the "recruiting process to the unveiling of the Corps' newest Marines on graduation day," shot on location at the recruit training depots at Parris Island, SC and San Diego, CA.. Named Best-Mini-documentary by the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation.

• The Spirit of Old Beaufort [Beaufort, SC: Sandbar Productions/Good-To-Go Video, 1995]. A tour of Beaufort's historical and natural landmarks in words and song. (Approximately 30 minutes).