This film is based on literature, specifically the epistolary novel “84, Charing Cross Road” by Helene Hanff, which recounts the true story of a friendship through letters that continued for about 20 years between herself and a man whom she never met. Helene (portrayed by Anne Bancroft) is an American living in New York; Frank (played by Anthony Hopkins) runs an antiquarian bookshop in London (His wife is played by Judi Dench in the film.)

The book was first adapted into a play, which had successful runs in London and New York. Then Mel Brooks, who also produced the film, bought the rights as a birthday present for his wife, actress Anne Bancroft. In the film and in life, the correspondence also included grocery deliveries from Helene to her friends at the bookstore in the years after World War II, when there were food shortages and austerity in England. Ironically, the site of the bookstore at 84 Charing Cross Road is now a McDonald’s.