Mary Badham, actress best known as Jean Louise "Scout" Finch in the film "To Kill a Mockingbird," will be guest speaker at Lehigh Carbon Community College at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 15. The reading, in Berrier Hall gymnasium, is free and open to the public. Badham will read from "Mockingbird," as well as Harper Lee's recently released "Go Set a Watchman."

"To Kill a Mockingbird" is widely regarded as a masterpiece regarding its story of a young girl growing up in 1936 Mobile, Alabama, and her experiences with racism, tolerance and compassion.The talk is part of the college's 50th anniversary celebration events and will take place during the American Library Association's Banned Books Week, an annual celebration of the freedom to read.Badham had no prior acting experience when she was chosen from a pool of 4,000 to play Scout.She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, at the time the youngest actress (age 10) ever nominated in this category.After "To Kill a Mockingbird" in 1962, she appeared in two other films, "This Property is Condemned" in 1966, with Robert Redford and Natalie Wood, and "Let's Kill Uncle," 1966. Badham also played Sport Sharewood in "The Bewitchin' Pool," the final episode of the original Twilight Zone series.In 2005, she came out of retirement to play an offbeat cameo opposite Keith Carradine for his film "Our Very Own."Currently, Badham is an art restorer and a married mother of two. She has traveled extensively promoting Mockingbird and giving talks about its impact in literature.For more information, contact Robyn Haja, information services librarian, at 610-799-1150 or

rhaja@lccc.edu.