FILM · 1959 · UK
Suddenly, Last Summer
39 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (39)
- #001
After years of alcoholism and prescription drug use, Montgomery Clift was deemed uninsurable due to chronic health problems. He would normally have been fired and replaced, but his close friend Dame Elizabeth Taylor saved his job by insisting she would not make the film without him.
- #002
Peter O'Toole gave a disastrous screen test. Things went so badly that producer Sam Spiegel, who produced both films, did not want to work with O'Toole again while he was being considered for the lead in Lawrence of Arabia (1962).
- #003
While performing Catherine Holly's harrowing monologue, Dame Elizabeth Taylor (who had recently been widowed) reportedly drew on her feelings about her husband's death to create the acclaimed performance. However, after completing the first take she could not stop crying, so only one take was shot.
- #004
Screenwriter Gore Vidal credits the film's success to film critic Bosley Crowther. Crowther wrote a harsh review condemning the film as the work of depraved people obsessed with rape, incest, homosexuality and cannibalism, among other qualities. Vidal believes the publicity around such salacious details caused audiences to flock to the film in droves.
- #005
Montgomery Clift found the role extremely difficult and had to shoot most of his scenes in small increments. Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz was greatly annoyed by this and repeatedly asked producer Sam Spiegel to fire Clift.
- #006
According to Mercedes McCambridge, she rode to the film's London set in the same car as Montgomery Clift. He always insisted the driver stop at Wormwood Scrubs prison so he could shout at the convicts behind bars through the car window.
- #007
A promotional photograph of Elizabeth Taylor in a white swimsuit caused such a stir that the film nearly ended up being banned.
- #008
Dame Elizabeth Taylor chose this as her first film after her contract with MGM ended. She used her power as a box-office record-breaking actress to insist that Montgomery Clift also be cast.
- #009
PCA head Geoffrey Shurlock told producer Sam Spiegel that the film would be denied its seal of approval because of the lead character's homosexuality, explicit cannibalism and the blasphemous attitude toward God voiced by Sebastian and his mother. Spiegel deleted unspecified scenes and removed all explicit references to homosexuality and cannibalism to obtain the code's approval. Approval was finally granted after the matter was brought before the MPAA.
- #010
Eddie Fisher, who was married to Dame Elizabeth Taylor at the time of the film's release, appears uncredited as one of the street children begging Taylor for a bite of bread.
- #011
Playwright Tennessee Williams was not a fan of this film and hated the reworking of his material.
- #012
Screenwriter Gore Vidal and playwright Tennessee Williams's partner Frank Merlo can both be seen briefly among those watching Montgomery Clift's work in the opening scene.
- #013
All of the film's promotional materials were removed in Spain, where it was shot, at the request of the Spanish government. Understandably, the authorities did not care for the depiction of a young man being killed by a mob.
- #014
Patricia Neal had played the lead role to great acclaim in the London stage production. Even though her agent did not submit her for the job, she was certain the role would be given to her in the film adaptation. She was shocked to learn the part had been given to Dame Elizabeth Taylor.
- #015
Tennessee Williams underwent psychoanalysis and in fact suffered from depression and addiction. His plays often featured characters dealing with various emotional problems and psychoses. The subject addressed in this story is clearly covert incest syndrome, a form of abuse in which a parent seeks from a child the emotional support normally sought from a romantic partner.
- #016
Vivien Leigh had turned down the role of Violet Venable before Katharine Hepburn was cast.
- #017
Tennessee Williams's two earlier film adaptations, A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), had hinted at homosexuality that was explicit in the plays. This one goes a bit further but is still quite timid in its explicitness because of the Production Code. Since Sebastian's fate (that is, murder) showed the dangers of living a homosexual life, they were somewhat more tolerant of this adaptation.
- #018
This was not a happy production for Katharine Hepburn. It kept her away from her partner Spencer Tracy, who was critically ill at the time (years of drinking, smoking and pill use had begun to take their toll on him); she disliked director Joseph L. Mankiewicz's preference for Dame Elizabeth Taylor and his treatment of Montgomery Clift, and she also hated this film's final shot of her, filmed under harsh light and without makeup.
- #019
This is one of five films to receive two Best Actress Oscar nominations. In this case, Katharine Hepburn and Dame Elizabeth Taylor were nominated. The other four films are All About Eve (1950), for which Anne Baxter and Bette Davis were nominated; The Turning Point (1977), for which Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine were nominated; Terms of Endearment (1983), for which Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger were nominated; and Thelma & Louise (1991), for which Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon were nominated. Among the actresses in question, MacLaine is the only one to have won the Best Actress Oscar, for Terms of Endearment in 1984.
- #020
Because Hollywood censorship at the time allowed Sebastian's homosexuality to be only implied, the first hints emerge about half an hour into the film, when Violet and Dr. Cukrowicz meet Mrs. Holly and George in the study. There, artworks depicting nude and semi-nude men are visible, but the matter becomes more direct when the doctor says Sebastian probably "liked" Catherine, at which George snickers at the absurdity.
- #021
It is one of the few classic films that treats smoking as an addiction capable of affecting the smoker's mood or attitude.
- #022
Although Tennessee Williams received praise on the screen, he had nothing to do with this film other than writing the source stage play.
- #023
Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz later admitted that he considered the source material poorly constructed and based on popular psychology.
- #024
Location shooting took place along the Costa Brava in Spain. An article published in The Daily Mail in 1960 stated that the village and old castle depicted in the film were the village of Bagur in Catalonia, Spain.
- #025
It is the only film in which Dame Elizabeth Taylor and Katharine Hepburn competed against a co-star for the Best Actress Oscar. The award, however, went to Simone Signoret.
- #026
Malcolm Arnold was initially hired to write the music, but he found the material so disturbing that he withdrew from the project.
- #027
The state mental hospital is called "Lion's View," which was also the name of the Knoxville, Tennessee mental hospital where Tennessee Williams's sister Rose was confined and lobotomized.
- #028
It was shot over a period of five months.
- #029
It is the second of four films adapted from Tennessee Williams plays to star Dame Elizabeth Taylor. The others are Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Boom! (1968) and Sweet Bird of Youth (1989).
- #030
The film was also nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration.
- #031
Suddenly, Last Summer (1993), starring Dame Maggie Smith, Natasha Richardson, Richard E. Grant and Rob Lowe, was re-adapted for BBC Television. In America, this television film aired on PBS as part of the Great Performances series.
- #032
Katharine Hepburn and Dame Elizabeth Taylor were the second pair of actresses nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for the same film. This first happened with Anne Baxter and Bette Davis in All About Eve (1950). Both films were directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
- #033
(At the 34th minute) Top-billed Dame Elizabeth Taylor makes her first appearance.
- #034
In the French-dubbed version, Katharine Hepburn's character's name was inexplicably changed from "Violet Venable" to "Valérie Venable."
- #035
Margaret Leighton was considered for the role of Mrs. Violet Venable.
- #036
Like Tennessee Williams, screenwriter Gore Vidal had a family member who was lobotomized without her consent: Rosemary Kennedy. Vidal and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy shared the same stepfather, Hugh D. Auchincloss (a wealthy businessman who was married to Vidal's mother Nina and later to Jackie's mother Janet at different periods of his life). Jackie's sister-in-law Rosemary Kennedy, who had mild intellectual disabilities and behavioral problems in childhood, was secretly lobotomized in 1941 at the age of 23 on her father's orders. The procedure left the once energetic and cheerful young woman unable to walk, speak or control her bladder. Her institutionalization and lobotomy remained a secret well kept for decades, even by most family members, but became fully public knowledge in the mid-1980s.
- #037
Note the young blond intern played by actor David Cameron, who bears an uncanny resemblance to actor Robert Redford.
- #038
In the Italian post-synchronized version of this film, the actors and actresses were dubbed by: Lydia Simoneschi (Dame Elizabeth Taylor), Andreina Pagnani (Katharine Hepburn), Giuseppe Rinaldi (Montgomery Clift), Giorgio Capecchi (Albert Dekker), Rosetta Calavetta (Mercedes McCambridge), Massimo Turci (Gary Raymond) and Wanda Tettoni (Mavis Villiers).
- #039
In the French post-synchronized version of Suddenly, Last Summer, the actors and actresses were dubbed by Claude Winter (Dame Elizabeth Taylor), Claire Guibert (Katharine Hepburn), Bernard Noël (Montgomery Clift), Serge Nadaud (Albert Dekker), Claude Daltys (Mercedes McCambridge), Jean-Pierre Duclos (Gary Raymond), Lita Recio (Mavis Villiers), Hélène Tossy (Joan Young) and Michel Gudin (David Cameron).
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