CinemaLit - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

May 31 - Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), 129 minutes, directed by Mike Nichols, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal, and Sandy Dennis.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? had the makings of a flop. Everyone seemed ill-suited to it. Producer Jack Warner was nervous about its profanity and commercial potential. Mike Nichols had never directed a film before. Screenwriter Ernest Lehman had just written The Sound of Music, a film light years away from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in tone. Taylor was too young by more than ten years as Martha, the embittered foul-mouthed wife of George, an underachieving college professor (Richard Burton, also cast against expectations). Turns out Martha liberated Taylor like no other role. She delivers a volcanic performance that earned her an Oscar, while the additional virtues of this film are too numerous to recount here. With so much going against it, the brilliant Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? emerged as something of a cinematic miracle.

May 2024 CinemaLit - Elizabeth Taylor: Actress and Superstar

Very few embodied the twentieth century invention of the movie star more than Elizabeth Taylor. From her breakthrough role in National Velvet in 1944 at age 12, to her death in 2011 at 79, she was the subject of public and media fascination like no one else. The great fuss made over her beauty, marriages, health crises, jet setting, dazzling jewels, and late life dedication to people with AIDS often eclipsed her very real talent and artistry as an actress. CinemaLit curator and host Matthew Kennedy’s new book, from Oxford University Press, examines and appreciates her epic film career up close. In May, we will be screening four of her most consequential films, each capturing her extraordinary star charisma and powerhouse acting at different phases of her career: from Oxford University Press, examines and appreciates her epic film career up close. In May, we will be screening four of her most consequential films, each capturing her extraordinary star charisma and powerhouse acting at different phases of her career: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), A Place in the Sun (1951), National Velvet (1944), and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966).

Former CinemaLit host Michael Fox will interview Matt Kennedy on May 3 after the screening of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and acclaimed film critic and historian David Thomson (The New Biographical Dictionary of Film) will join us on May 10 as guest co-host for A Place in The Sun.

Host or Publisher Mechanics' Institute