mary of scotland is a 1936 rko film starring katharine hepburn as the 16th-century ruler mary, queen of scots. directed by john ford, it is an adaptation of the 1933 maxwell anderson play. the screenplay was written by dudley nichols. it is largely in blank verse. ginger rogers wanted to play this role and made a convincing screen test, but rko rejected her request to be cast in the part feeling that the role was not suitable to miss rogers' image.