The original play "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" by Tennessee Williams opened at the Morosco Theater in New York City on March 24, 1955, ran for six hundred ninety-four performances and was nominated for the 1956 Tony Award for the Best Play. The play also won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 1955.
Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood were criticized for being too old to play their respective characters.
Robert Wagner reportedly had one of the crew at Granada Television fired during shooting for looking inappropriately at his wife Natalie Wood.