FILM · 1955 · USA
All That Heaven Allows
- Directed by
- Douglas Sirk
- Runtime
- 89 min
- Studio
- Universal International Pictures
16 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
Two different social classes collide when Cary Scott, a wealthy upper-class widow, falls in love with her much younger and down-to-earth gardener, prompting disapproval and criticism from her children and country club friends.
Summary: TMDB
All facts (16)
- #001
Originally, Douglas Sirk wanted the film to end with Ron falling down a cliff after meeting Cary, leaving it open whether Ron survived. Producer Ross Hunter felt this ending was too depressing and disturbing for audiences, so he decided to go with the conventional happy ending we know.
- #002
The facade later cannibalized to create the front of Bates's house in Psycho (1960) can be seen a few houses up from Cary Scott's (Jane Wyman's) block.
- #003
Much of the film revolves around the fact that Jane Wyman's character is significantly older than Rock Hudson's. In reality, when they made this film, Jane Wyman was 38 and Rock Hudson was 30.
- #004
The deer that appears prominently in the film's final shot was affectionately called "Ketchup" by the crew.
- #005
The set was redesigned to imitate an upper-middle-class New England town. The film contains a single visible crane shot, in which the camera sweeps over the fictional town of Stoningham during the opening title sequence. Tracking and panning shots were frequently used in the interior scenes. The house where Jane Wyman's character lives (on the back part of Universal's "Colonial Street") was built on Universal property rented by Paramount Pictures for The Desperate Hours (1955); Universal altered its appearance for All That Heaven Allows (1955) and left it standing after filming. Four years later, beginning with the series' move from CBS to ABC for its 1959 season, it was altered again to be used as the Cleaver family's house on the TV show Leave It to Beaver (1957). The house remained the Cleaver house until the series ended in 1963, though at Universal it was known as the "Paramount House," not the "Cleaver House."
- #006
This film was selected for the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 1995.
- #007
In a modern interview, director Douglas Sirk stated that Universal saw All That Heaven Allows (1955) as a chance to repeat the success of his film Magnificent Obsession (1954). To that end, they reunited not only its stars Jane Wyman, Rock Hudson and Agnes Moorehead but most of the production crew as well. In the same interview, Sirk said that one of the most important influences of his childhood was Henry David Thoreau's Walden and that "the film is ultimately about that." He said Thoreau's themes of the natural man and the necessity of self-reliance are clearly visible in the character of "Ron Kirby." Referring to the film's title, Sirk confirmed that he found it ironic: "To my mind, heaven is stingy."
- #008
Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson) drives a 1946 Ford "Woody" station wagon. Sara Warren (Agnes Moorehead) drives a low-quality 1955 Ford Customline station wagon. Backup lights were still an option in 1955, and her car did not have them.
- #009
Screenwriter Peggy Thompson (Peg Fenwick) wrote the screenplay for All That Heaven Allows (1955), adapted from Edna L. Lee and Harry Lee's 394-page novel of the same name. Notes on various pages of a copy of the original screenplay held by the New York Public Library indicate that the script was written in August 1954. Some scenes in the screenplay differ from those in the finished film. For example, in the script Rock Hudson's character Ron Kirby lies on the grass eating his lunch, but in the film's final cut he eats lunch with Jane Wyman's character Cary Scott.
- #010
All That Heaven Allows (1955) inspired Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), in which a mature woman falls in love with an Arab man. It was spoofed by John Waters's Polyester (1981). Todd Haynes's Far from Heaven (2002) is a tribute to Douglas Sirk's work, especially All That Heaven Allows (1955) and Imitation of Life (1959). François Ozon's 8 Women (2002) (8 Femmes) features winter landscapes and deer reminiscent of this film.
- #011
This film is part of spine number 95 of the Criterion Collection.
- #012
It was included on the American Film Institute's 2002 list of 400 films nominated for the 100 Greatest Love Stories of America.
- #013
Italian actress Gia Scala made her feature film debut with All That Heaven Allows (1955). Scala was first brought to the United States in 1954 by Universal to test for the role of "Mary Magdalene" in The Galileans, a film the studio never ended up producing.
- #014
Wyman's character reads Thoreau's words about lives of quiet desperation. This line would later inspire the series Desperate Housewives, which set Wisteria Lane on Colonial Street, where this film's exterior scenes were shot.
- #015
In addition to Magnificent Obsession, Jane Wyman and Agnes Moorehead would also appear together in Pollyanna.
- #016
The film's cast includes one Oscar winner, Jane Wyman, and two Oscar nominees, Rock Hudson and Agnes Moorehead.
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