The Legend of Nance Dude Screenplay is based on the novel by Maurice Stanley, which tells of a true crime that happened in Western North Carolina in 1913. On a cold February morning a woman known as Nance Dude took her granddaughter out of their home and up the side of a mountain. She returned later that day without the child. What Nance did with the child shocked the community, and the story has become a legend in the mountains. Actress Julie Harris ("East of Eden," "Requiem for a Heavyweight," "Lucifer's Child"), read an earlier draft of the screenplay. She said, in a letter reproduced in the book, "Of course, I would love to play Nance -- anytime, anywhere."