FILM · 1951 · USA
A Streetcar Named Desire
- Directed by
- Elia Kazan
- Runtime
- 122 min
- Studio
- Charles K. Feldman Group, Warner Bros. Pictures
29 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
A disturbed, aging Southern belle moves in with her sister for solace — but being face-to-face with her brutish brother-in-law accelerates her downward spiral.
Summary: TMDB
All facts (29)
- #001
As the film progresses, the Kowalskis' apartment appears to shrink, reinforcing the impression of Blanche's growing claustrophobia.
- #002
The Catholic Legion of Decency threatened to reduce the film's box-office prospects with a Condemned rating. Elia Kazan made a last-ditch effort to ensure the uncut version would be seen by the public. He asked Warner Bros. to try releasing the film in both his own director's version and the edited version, each clearly labeled so audiences could choose for themselves. Warners said no, and Kazan later campaigned for his director's cut to be shown at the Venice Film Festival. Warners refused again, because the Legion insisted that only its approved version be released and the studio did not want to risk a Condemned rating that would hurt the film's ticket revenue. As a result, Kazan's version would not be seen until Warners restored the film in 1993.
- #003
There were conflicts on set between Vivien Leigh and her fellow actors. Leigh was the only major cast member who did not come from the Broadway production, and she was a classically trained actress, whereas most of the other actors had trained in the "Stanislavski Method." Despite this, Leigh was determined to paint a good picture and create a great performance. She was reported to be eager to go to the set every day and was usually the last lead actor to leave at the end of the day.
- #004
Vivien Leigh, who in real life suffered from bipolar disorder, later had difficulty separating her real life from that of Blanche DuBois.
- #005
At the time, form-fitting T-shirts could not be bought, so Marlon Brando's shirt had to be washed several times and then sewn at the back so that it would look tight across the actor's chest.
- #006
Although Vivien Leigh initially thought Marlon Brando was impressed and found him incredibly stuffy and serious, the two soon became friends and the actors worked together without problems.
- #007
During her birthday dinner, Blanche begins to tell a joke that Stanley interrupts. In the play, she finishes the joke, which is about an old maid who has a parrot with a great deal of profanity in its vocabulary. The joke continues: "The only way to silence the parrot was to cover its cage with a cloth so it would think it was night and go to sleep. One morning, when the priest came to visit the woman right after she had uncovered the cage, she immediately had to cover it again. The priest came in and heard the parrot say, 'Damn, that was a short day!'".
- #008
Composer Alex North wrote and recorded the first jazz-oriented film score for a dramatic film. The music served to color the sound of the film's steamy New Orleans setting. The score became a well-deserved landmark in film music history and paved the way for a great deal of film jazz music.
- #009
Nine members of the original Broadway cast (Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, Karl Malden, Rudy Bond, Nick Dennis, Peg Hillias, Richard Garrick, Ann Dere and Edna Thomas) reprised their roles in the film, a highly unusual decision at the time and even today, when original stage casts are almost entirely replaced for film versions. However, Vivien Leigh, who had played Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939), was chosen to play Blanche DuBois instead of Jessica Tandy in order to add "star power" to the picture (Marlon Brando had not yet achieved full stardom in films; Leigh was to be billed first in the film's credits).
- #010
Of all the cuts proposed by the Production Code censors, the one Elia Kazan and Tennessee Williams most adamantly opposed was the removal of Blanche's rape. Kazan threatened to leave the production if the scene was deleted. And in a letter to Joseph Breen, director of the Production Code office, in August 1950, Williams wrote: "Stanley's rape of Blanche is a very important, integral fact in the play; without it the play loses its meaning; it means the violation of the sensitive, delicate and fragile by the savage and cruel forces of modern society. It is a poetic plea for understanding…".
- #011
Vivien Leigh, who was only 36 during filming, had to be made up to look older.
- #012
At the start of filming there was some animosity between Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando, but these conflicts had nothing to do with acting style. Brando was annoyed by Leigh's typically English mannerisms and stuffiness. The two acting giants eventually became friends as filming progressed. Brando's perfect impersonation of Leigh's then-husband Laurence Olivier in Henry V helped a great deal to break the ice between them.
- #013
Marlon Brando was paid a fairly large $75,000 for his work, partly because of insider word praising his acting style as the most revolutionary thing seen in Hollywood since the talkies. Vivien Leigh received a salary of $100,000, which made her the highest-paid British film actress of the day.
- #014
Elia Kazan worked closely with the production designer to create the original, grimy look. They had the walls of Stanley and Stella's apartment built in small sections that could be removed, so that when Blanche felt more confined and threatened in the Kowalskis' home, the walls could literally move in and create claustrophobic tension in the space.
- #015
Jessica Tandy, who had created the role on Broadway, was initially planned to play Blanche. After Olivia de Havilland turned the role down, it was given to Vivien Leigh because Leigh had more box-office appeal. De Havilland declined the role because her then-husband Marcus Goodrich advised her not to play it.
- #016
When the film's preview was held in Santa Barbara in 1951, director Elia Kazan's date was Marilyn Monroe, then a little-known contract star, and he introduced her to her future husband Arthur Miller.
- #017
With Karl Malden winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and Kim Hunter winning Best Supporting Actress, it was the first time a single film won both supporting acting categories.
- #018
For the London stage production, Vivien Leigh bleached her famous dark curls. Throughout the film, however, she wore bleached wigs because Blanche DuBois needed to have hair that looked unkempt and to resemble someone who had lived a hard life. Because Leigh did not trust American hairdressers, she sent her wigs by airmail to London to be cleaned and styled by wig maker and theatrical impresario Stanley Hall.
- #019
When Vivien Leigh joined New York's tight-knit company for rehearsals, she initially felt completely at sea. Director Elia Kazan managed to make use of her feelings of alienation and disorientation to enrich her performance.
- #020
In an interview years later, Kim Hunter said Marlon Brando claimed he sought inspiration for his performance by thinking about how his father tended to treat everyone in the family home during Brando's childhood.
- #021
By the time the film was made, the Desire streetcar line had been converted to buses, though streetcars were still in use elsewhere in the city. For the opening scenes of Blanche's arrival in the city, authorities were able to lend the production a car bearing the destination sign "Desire."
- #022
The entire play takes place in the Kowalskis' apartment and the courtyard in front of it. The film adds more locations, including a bus stop, a bowling alley, a dance hall, a pier and Stanley's factory.
- #023
Early in development, William Wyler had expressed interest in adapting the play with Bette Davis in the role of Blanche.
- #024
Elia Kazan initially resisted the idea of directing the film adaptation, feeling he had achieved everything he wanted with the stage version. He took the job only after Tennessee Williams begged him to.
- #025
At a test screening, Elia Kazan and producer Charlie Feldman were shocked: the audience laughed at Blanche DuBois. Ever observant of his actors, Kazan discovered that the laughter came specifically during the scene in which the Young Collector responds to Blanche's bold, yearning advance toward him from her doorway. Kazan removed Wright King's reaction shots, which had suppressed the unwanted laughter.
- #026
Robert Mitchum was offered the role of Stanley Kowalski, but RKO would not let him take it.
- #027
Despite giving the definitive portrayal of Stanley Kowalski, Marlon Brando said he personally hated the character. It should be added, however, that Brando was an eccentric who enjoyed misleading people and playing jokes.
- #028
While Vivien Leigh played Blanche, her real-life husband Laurence Olivier was also in Hollywood, filming Carrie (1952) opposite Jennifer Jones and directed by William Wyler. The famous couple once had dinner with Marlon Brando.
- #029
In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked it as the 47th Greatest Film of All Time.
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