The only novel ever written by Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights was first published in London in 1847 by Thomas Cautley Newby, appearing as the first two volumes of a three-volume set that included Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey. While the book, on being published, received mixed reviews condemned for its portrayal of amoral passion, it has since then, been adapted, several times over, for television, and the big screen. Needless to say, the book subsequently became an English literary classic.
Born on July 30, 1818, Emily Brontë, never knew the extent of the fame she achieved with the novel, having died a year after its publication, aged 30.
As the literary world remembers the English author on her 201st birth anniversary, here's looking at a few times her stellar novel was adapted for the big screen.
Wuthering Heights (1939): The earliest surviving adaptation of the gothic novel starred Merle Oberon as Catherine Earnshaw Linton, Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff and David Niven as Edgar Linton among others. The film was adapted by Charles MacArthur, Ben Hecht and John Huston. It was directed by William Wyler, in black and white. It won the 1939 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film and was nominated for the 1939 Academy Award for Best Picture.
Wuthering Heights (1953 and 1959): This BBC Television adaptation was scripted by Nigel Kneale, directed by Rudolph Cartier and starred Richard Todd as Heathcliff and Yvonne Mitchell as Catherine. While this version does not exist anymore, in 1959, an adaptation was aired on ABC television in Australia, using Nigel Kneale's script.
Dil Diya Dard Liya (1966): The Bollywood film based on Emily Brontë's celebrated novel was directed by Abdul Rashid Kardar and Dilip Kumar. The film stars Dilip Kumar, Waheeda Rehman, Pran, Rehman, Shyama and Johnny Walker.
Wuthering Heights (1970): Directed by Robert Fuest and starring Anna Calder-Marshall and Timothy Dalton, the film depicts only the first sixteen chapters concluding with Catherine Earnshaw Linton's death and omits the trials of her daughter, Hindley's son, and Heathcliff's son.
Wuthering Heights (2009): The ITV adaptation of Brontë 's novel was first broadcast on PBS as part of its Masterpiece Classic programming and broadcast later in the year on ITV1 and STV. It starred Tom Hardy as Heathcliff and Charlotte Riley as Catherine.
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