The Rose Tattoo is a Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams

Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...

 play. It opened on Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 in February 1951, and a film adaptation was released in 1954. It tells the story of an Italian-American widow

Widow

A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...

 in Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

 who has allowed herself to withdraw from the world after her husband's death, and expects her daughter to do the same.

The film was adapted by Williams and Hal Kanter

Hal Kanter

Hal Kanter was a writer, producer and director, principally for comedy actors such as Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, and Elvis Presley , for both feature films and television...

 and directed by Daniel Mann

Daniel Mann

Daniel Mann, also known as Daniel Chugerman , was an American film and television director.Daniel Mann was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was a stage actor since childhood, and attended Erasmus Hall High School, New York's Professional Children's School and the Neighborhood Playhouse...

, starring Anna Magnani

Anna Magnani

Anna Magnani was an Italian stage and film actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress, along with four other international awards, for her portrayal of a Sicilian widow in The Rose Tattoo....

, Burt Lancaster

Burt Lancaster

Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...

, Marisa Pavan

Marisa Pavan

Marisa Pavan is an Italian-born actress who first became famous as the twin sister to movie star Pier Angeli before achieving movie stardom on her own...

 and Jo Van Fleet

Jo Van Fleet

Jo Van Fleet was an American theatre and film actress.-Career:Van Fleet established herself as a notable dramatic actress on Broadway over several years, winning a Tony Award in 1954 for her skill in a difficult role, playing an unsympathetic, even abusive character, in Horton Foote's The Trip to...

.

On May 12th 1957, The Pike Theatre staged "The Rose Tattoo" with Anna Manahan as the lead and the Irish scenic artist Reginald Gray as the set designer.