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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).

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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Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 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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Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Quotes:

George: Now that's it! You can take over a few classes from the older men, but until you start plowing pertinent wives, you really aren't working. The broad, inviting avenue to man's job is through his wife, and don't you forget it.
Nick: And I'll be your wife has the broadest, most inviting avenue of the whole damn campus.
[long pause]
Nick: Her father president and all.
Martha: [derogatorily, to George] Hey, swamp! Hey swampy!
George: Yes, Martha? Can I get you something?
Martha: Ah, well, sure. You can, um, light my cigarette, if you're of a mind to.
George: No. There are limits. I mean, a man can put up with only so much without he descends a rung or two on the old evolutionary ladder, which is up your line. Now, I will hold your hand when it's dark and you're afraid of the boogeyman and I will tote your gin bottles out after midnight so no one can see but I will not light your cigarette. And that, as they say, is that.
Martha: Jesus.
George: Good. Better. Best. Bested.
Honey: I dance like the wind.
George: Martha is 108... years old. She weighs somewhat more than that.
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Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Facts
Although the title was obviously inspired by the song "Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf?" (sung in the Disney cartoon The Three Little Pigs), Warner Bros. was unable to negotiate use of tune, so when characters sing the title phrase it is illogically set to melody of the public domain folk song "Here We Go 'round the Mulberry Bush."
In this film, Elizabeth Taylor does an exaggerated impression of Bette Davis saying a line from Beyond the Forest: "What a dump!" In an interview with Barbara Walters, Bette Davis said that in the film, she really did not deliver the line in such an exaggerated manner. She said it in a more subtle, low-key manner, but it has passed into legend that she said it the way Elizabeth Taylor's delivered it in this film. During the Barbara Walters interview, the clip of Bette Davis delivering the line from Beyond the Forest was shown to prove that Davis was correct. However, since people expected Bette Davis to deliver the line the way Elizabeth Taylor had, she always opened her in-person, one woman show by saying the line in a campy, exaggerated manner: "WHAT ... A... DUMP!!!". It always brought down the house. "I imitated the imitators", Davis said.
The fourth of eleven films that Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton starred in together.
A copy of Virginia Woolf's 'To the Lighthouse' can be seen on the bookshelf above the liquor bottles.
Sandy Dennis, who was pregnant at the time of filming, suffered a miscarriage on the set.
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