Films, Television & Music Videos Made On Long Island: Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

Although 1958's Cat On A Hot Tin Roof is rooted in Tennessee Williams’ distinctly Southern world of family tension, inheritance, and emotional repression, the film’s path to the screen has several interesting ties to New York—and Long Island in particular. During the postwar period, Long Island served as a creative retreat for numerous playwrights, screenwriters, and actors working between Broadway and Hollywood, and Williams himself frequently spent extended time in New York. The film was adapted from a play that premiered on Broadway in 1955, at a time when many of the actors and theater professionals connected to the production resided or summered on Long Island’s North Shore, then considered something of an artistic enclave for post-Broadway regrouping.

The Long Island–Hollywood pipeline was especially strong in the 1950s, and the careers of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof stars Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor intersected with the region. Newman, who spent significant time in New York early in his career, appeared at several Long Island venues—including Guild Hall in East Hampton—over the decades, while Taylor was part of a family that frequently vacationed in the Hamptons and maintained social ties throughout the North Shore’s arts and philanthropic circles. Per the film itself, part of it was documented as being filmed at the Coleman Estate in Muttontown.

Researched by Darren Paltrowitz on November 14, 2025.