Suddenly Last Summer (Film)

Joseph Mankiewicz's film version of a Tennessee Williams one-act play, Suddenly Last Summer (1959), turned out to be one of the better adaptations of his work. The script was adapted by Gore Vidal and Williams, who did little to tone down the risque content matter that was not mainstream fare in the late 50s. And the Film's two stars Katherine Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor were both nominated for Academy Awards for their roles. The production designer did in an Academy Award for Mrs, Venable's (Hepburn) verdant New Orleans garden. Montgomery Cliff was cast as in a crucial role as Dr. Krukowitz at the behest of Hepburn and according lore-barely made it through the shoot-popping pills and showing up drunk on the set. A surprising success for a seemingly mainstream production.