Additional Information
In the searing drama WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?, a college professor and his wife play vicious emotional games with their unsuspecting evening guests. George (Richard Burton) is an alcoholic college professor; Martha (Oscar-winner Elizabeth Taylor) is his virago of a wife. George and Martha know just how to push each other's buttons, with George having a special advantage: he need only mention the couple's son to send Martha into orbit. This evening, the couple's guests are Nick (George Segal), a junior professor, and Honey (Sandy Dennis), Nick's child-like wife. After an evening of sadistic (and sometimes perversely hilarious) 'fun and games', the truth about George and Martha's son comes to light.
In 1966, WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? went farther than any previous big-studio film in its use of profanity and sexual implication (it was the first American film to feature the expletive 'goddamn'). Thanks to the box-office clout of stars Taylor and Burton, not to mention the titillation factor of hearing all those naughty words on the big screen, the film was a hit, and it won 5 Oscars, including awards for Taylor and Dennis, though it lost Best Picture to A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS. First-time director Mike Nichols lost the Oscar, but this movie gave him a perfect transition from his stage work and established him as a hot young Hollywood director, leading to his acclaimed (and Oscar-winning) work on his next movie, THE GRADUATE.
