The opening credits of Rosemary’s Baby are a quiet marvel: Mia Farrow hums a wordless lullaby as curly pink lettering appears over the New York skyline.
The lettering comes from the cover of Ira Levin’s 1967 novel. Title designer Wayne Fitzgerald executed the sequence under Stephen Frankfurt, who also oversaw the “Pray for Rosemary’s Baby” campaign.
A faded Paramount logo gives way to a slow pan across a beige, dingy Manhattan skyline. Cinematographer William Fraker’s camera seems to wander before settling on the peaked Gothic roof of the fictional Bramford, whose exteriors were supplied by the Dakota on Central Park West.
Farrow plays newlywed Rosemary Woodhouse, whose pregnancy becomes frightening as her neighbors take an intense interest in her and her actor husband, Guy, played by John Cassavetes. During production, Frank Sinatra had Farrow served with divorce papers in front of the cast and crew.
Composer Krzysztof Komeda received a Golden Globe nomination for the score. Director Roman Polanski asked Farrow to hum the theme herself and later wrote, “To my surprise and delight, she proved able to hum quite well.”