Ms. Taylor became part of a team with Richard Burton, but unlike Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, they did not produce an enduring pairing or great pictures.

He checked in at the old Chateau Elysee, on Franklin Avenue. Clark Gable and Katharine Hepburn had once stayed there, but when Haggis arrived it was a run-down church retreat called the Manor Hotel.

At the Billy Rose Theater Division of the New York Public Library, would-be Cyranos can peruse notes and telegrams Katharine Hepburn received from her many admirers.