Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Overview:

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) was a Drama - Film Adaptation Film directed by Mike Nichols and produced by Ernest Lehman.

SYNOPSIS

Here is a blistering dissection of the compromises, hidden and not-so-hidden animosities, and ultimate acceptance that make marriage merely a detente in the war between men and women. Nichols's debut as director couldn't have been more auspicious as he applied theatrical experience to Albee's scandalous Broadway success and managed the notoriously combative Burtons to their finest work on-screen. The bitter recriminations begin shortly after 2 a.m. and end at dawn as a tweedy, ineffectual professor and his braying wife (Burton and Taylor) welcome the preppy new prof and his wispy wife (Segal and Dennis) to their home for a nightcap. The following hours are a foul-mouthed, drunken brawl of lust and disappointments that ends with the knowledge that the characters need the emotional roughhousing simply to feel anything at all. An astonishing feat for the actors, the director, and for cinematographer Wexler, who makes his camera waltz and duck punches.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

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Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2013.

Academy Awards 1966 --- Ceremony Number 39 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best ActorRichard BurtonNominated
Best Supporting ActorGeorge SegalNominated
Best ActressElizabeth TaylorWon
Best Supporting ActressSandy DennisWon
Best Art DirectionArt Direction: Richard Sylbert; Set Decoration: George James HopkinsWon
Best CinematographyHaskell WexlerWon
Best Costume DesignIrene SharaffWon
Best DirectorMike NicholsNominated
Best Film EditingSam O'SteenNominated
Best Music - ScoringAlex NorthNominated
Best PictureErnest Lehman, ProducerNominated
Best WritingErnest LehmanNominated
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BlogHub Articles:

IOU: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

By Google profile on Jun 9, 2011 From Out of the Past - A Classic Film Blog

About MeBlogger, Out of the Past - A Classic Film Blog and more. Please add my Google profile to your circles. Who I Owe: My good friend Kevin gave me a copy of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) eons ago. It was so long ago I don't remember why he gave it to me. It could be for various reason... Read full article


IOU: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

By Raquel Stecher on Nov 30, -0001 From Out of the Past - A Classic Film Blog

Who I Owe: My good friend Kevin gave me a copy of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) eons ago. It was so long ago I don't remember why he gave it to me. It could be for various reasons. He got a newer enhanced version of the DVD and passed down his older version to me (I've gotten several really... Read full article


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Quotes from

Martha: Well, you're going bald.
George: So are you.


George: You take the trouble to construct a civilization, to build a society based on the principles of... of principle. You make government and art and realize that they are, must be, both the same. You bring things to the saddest of all points, to the point where there is something to lose. Then, all at once, through all the music, through all the sensible sounds of men building, attempting, comes the Dies Irae. And what is it? What does the trumpet sound? Up yours.


Martha: You make me puke.
George: That wasn't a very nice thing to say, Martha.


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Facts about

In her A&E Biography special, Elizabeth Taylor remarked that her performance as Martha remains her personal best.
Richard Burton celebrated his 40th birthday on the set of the film where spouse Elizabeth Taylor presented him with a white 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado.
According to director Mike Nichols, producer/screenwriter Ernest Lehman had written a different ending for the film where George and Martha's son had hung himself in the closet years before. Nichols refused to shoot it.
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Best Actress Oscar 1966






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National Film Registry

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Released 1966
Inducted 2013
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Also directed by Mike Nichols




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Also produced by Ernest Lehman


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Also released in 1966




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