Sweet Bird of Youth

Sweet Bird of Youth is a 1962 American drama film starring Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, Shirley Knight, Madeleine Sherwood, Ed Begley, Rip Torn and Mildred Dunnock. Based on the 1959 play of the same name by Tennessee Williams, it focuses on the relationship between a drifter and a faded movie star. The film was adapted and directed by Richard Brooks. The film won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Ed Begley), and was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Geraldine Page) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Shirley Knight). The film version was sanitized, with Chance becoming a drifter rather than a gigolo for hire. The ending was also heavily altered from the explicit sexual mutilation scene depicted in the conclusion of the original stage version. Plot Handsome, young Chance Wayne returns to his hometown of St. Cloud, Mississippi accompanied by a considerably older film star, Alexandra Del Lago. She is needy and depressed, particularly about a film she has just finished making, and speaks of retiring from the acting world forever. Chance had gone to Hollywood to seek fame and fortune at the behest of St. Cloud's most powerful and influential citizen, "Boss" Finley, either too naive or unwilling to appreciate that Finley merely wants Chance, a waiter from the country club, to keep away from his beautiful daughter, Heavenly.