Studio: An Atlantic/Kushner-Locke Production for the NBC Television Network
Running time: 95 minutes
Sweet Bird of Youth (1989)
“In the sultry heart of the deep south, the desires of an aging actress (Elizabeth Taylor) and the passions of an eager young actor (Mark Harmon) erupt into a desperate affair. She can satisfy his ambition for celebrity, his youth and virility are her last grasp at a past full of glamour and fame. Their reckless romance spirals into a struggle of lusts and longings as he seduces the woman who may drive them apart. Their ultimate fates are sealed when each must face their private desires in the darkness of a torrid southern night.” [From the VHS]
Cast
Alexandra Del Lago/The Princess Kosmonopolis: Elizabeth Taylor
Chance Wayne: Mark Harmon
Boss Finley: Rip Torn
Miss Lucy: Varie Perrine
Heavenly Finley: Cheryl Paris
Tom Junior: Kevin Greer
Aunt Nonnie: Ronnie Claire Edwards
Crew
Director: Nicolas Roeg
Executive Producers: Donald Kushner, Peter Locke and Linda Yellen
Screenwriter: Gavin Lambert
Based on the Play by: Tennessee Williams
Cinematographer: Francis Kenny
Editor: Pamela Malouf
Miss Taylor’s Costumes: Nolan Miller
Did You Know?
Sweet Bird of Youth was one of the plays Elizabeth considered for her serious stage debut before settling on The Little Foxes. After forming The Elizabeth Theatre Group, she would again flirt with the idea of playing Alexandra del Lago on stage, this time opposite her General Hospital co-star Anthony Geary.
In the film, her fourth adaptation of a Tennessee Williams play, Elizabeth stars as fading movie queen Alexandra del Lago. “I’m a great success at playing has-beens,” she joked, having played a string of divas staging comebacks (The Mirror Crack'd, There Must Be a Pony).
Elizabeth’s son, Michael Wilding Jr., appears in Sweet Bird of Youth as Morton Frasier, a producer who tries to convince Elizabeth’s character to appear in a film. “In the scene we’re on the telephone, so I just played one side of the conversation,” Micahel explained in an interview at the time. “I’m looking forward to seeing the scene put together. When I got the part I thought it would be fun to work with her, but I guess she filmed her part several weeks later. I’ve yet to act in a scene with her.”
In the 1980s, Michael could be seen on the small screen on two long-running series, Guiding Light and Dallas, and he also played Jesus in the TV miniseries A.D. (1985).
Elizabeth hosted a wrap party for the film’s entire cast and crew at her Bel-Air home on Nimes Road. “She was such fun,” her co-star, Mark Harmon, recalled.
