The Heiress
Directed by:
William WylerCinematography:
Leo ToverComposer:
Aaron CoplandCast:
Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins, Vanessa Brown, Ray Collins, Mona Freeman, Betty Linley, Selena Royle, Sam Harris (more)Plots(1)
Directed with a keen sense of ambiguity by William Wyler, this film based on a hit stage adaptation of Henry James’s Washington Square pivots on a question of motive. When shy, fragile Catherine Sloper (Olivia de Havilland, in a heartbreaking, Oscar-winning turn), the daughter of a wealthy New York doctor, begins to receive calls from the handsome spendthrift Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift), she becomes possessed by the promise of romance. Are his smoldering professions of love sincere, as she believes they are? Or is Catherine’s calculating father (Ralph Richardson) correct in judging Morris a venal fortune seeker? A graceful drawing-room drama boasting Academy Award–winning costume design by Edith Head, The Heiress is also a piercing character study riven by emotional uncertainty and lacerating cruelty, in a triumph of classic Hollywood filmmaking at its most psychologically nuanced. (Criterion)
(more)Awards
- Winner
- Nominations
Academy Awards
- 1950 - Olivia de Havilland (Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role)
- 1950 - Aaron Copland (Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score))
- 1950 - Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Black-and-White)
- 1950 - Best Costume Design (Black-and-White)
- 1950 - Best Motion Picture of the Year
- 1950 - William Wyler (Best Achievement in Directing)
- 1950 - Ralph Richardson (Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role)
- 1950 - Leo Tover (Best Cinematography (Black-and-White))
Golden Globes
- 1950 - Olivia de Havilland (Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama)
- 1950 - William Wyler (Best Director)
- 1950 - Miriam Hopkins (Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture)
New York Film Critics Circle Awards
- 1949 - Olivia de Havilland (Best Actress)