Magnum Editions: Elizabeth Taylor on the set of “Suddenly Last Summer”, 1959

Burt Glinn’s work on the set of Suddenly Last Summer, a 1959 movie adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ one-act play of the same name – offers a window onto a production that was fraught with tension. Twenty-five-year-old Elizabeth Taylor starred alongside Katharine Hepburn and Montgomery Clift. The movie was Taylor’s first job after the death of her third husband, Mike Todd, in a plane crash. Just months after Todd’s death, Taylor had married Eddie Fisher and found herself at the center of a scandal. Clift was, during filming, self medicating with alcohol and drugs following a car accident three years before. Glinn followed the cast and crew from Shepperton Studios in London to S’Agaro in Spain, photographing the then-25-year-old Taylor at work and behind the scenes. In spite of the tumultuous production, and mixed reviews, Taylor and Hepburn both received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress for their work on the film.