<P> Screenwriter John Michael Hayes was hired on the condition that he would not watch the early version nor read its script, with all the plot details coming from a briefing with Hitchcock . Only the opening scenes of the script were ready when filming begun, and Hayes had to send by airmail the subsequent script pages as he finished them . </P> <P> Hitchcock again brought James Stewart to be his protagonist as he was considering the actor a creative partner, and Paramount wanted a sense of continuity between his works . The director requested blonde Doris Day for the main female role as he liked her performance in Storm Warning, though associate producer Herbert Coleman was reluctant on Day, whom he only knew as a singer . Coleman strongly suggested that the more serious blonde actresses like Lana Turner, Grace Kelly, or Kim Novak be cast in the role, or a suitable brunette, like Jane Russell, Gene Tierney, or Ava Gardner . However, Day was eventually cast in the female lead . </P> <P> Hitchcock's frequent composer Bernard Herrmann wrote the "background" film score; however, the performance of Arthur Benjamin's Storm Clouds Cantata, conducted by Herrmann, is used as source music for the climax of the film . In addition, Doris Day's character is a well - known, now retired, professional singer . At two points in the film, she sings the Livingston and Evans song "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)", which won the 1956 Best Song Oscar under the alternate title "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)". The song reached number two on the US pop charts and number one in the UK . </P> <P> Herrmann was given the option of composing a new cantata to be performed during the film's climax . However, he found Arthur Benjamin's cantata Storm Clouds from the original 1934 film to be so well suited to the film that he declined, although he did expand the orchestration, and insert several repeats to make the sequence longer . Herrmann can be seen conducting the London Symphony Orchestra with mezzo - soprano Barbara Howitt and chorus during the Royal Albert Hall scenes . The sequence in Royal Albert Hall runs for 12 minutes without any dialogue from the beginning of Storm Clouds Cantata until the climax when Doris Day's character screams . </P>

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