The Long, Hot Summer was the first film that Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward ever made together.

Robert Mitchum, Don Murray and Marlon Brando were considered for the role of Ben Quick.

Orson Welles wore a prosthetic nose for his role as Will Varner. The heat on the location shoot in Louisiana was so bad that Welles would often sweat and it would cause his fake nose to come loose.

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were married shortly after they completed filming The Long, Hot Summer. The marriage lasted over 50 years, until Newman's death in 2008.

The world premiere of The Long, Hot Summer was held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on March 5, 1958.

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward purchased a large brass bed in a local antiques shop during the location shoot in Louisiana. They kept the bed throughout their entire marriage.

Eva Marie Saint was originally cast as Clara, but had to bow out when she became pregnant.

Memorable Quotes from THE LONG, HOT SUMMER

BEN QUICK (Paul Newman): All right then, run, lady, and you keep on running. Buy yourself a bus ticket and disappear. Change your name, dye your hair, get lost - and then maybe, just maybe, you're gonna be safe from me.

BEN: Get out of character, lady. Come on, get way out.

CLARA (Joanne Woodward): You're too much like my father to suit me, and I'm an authority on him.

BEN: He's a wonderful old man.
CLARA: One wolf recognizes another.
BEN: Tame us. Make pets out of us. You could.

BEN: Miss Clara, you slam the door in a man's face before he even knocks on it.

BEN: (to Clara, referring to Alan) I respect him. I admire his manners and I admire the speeches he makes and I admire the big house he lives in. But if you're saving it all for him honey, you've got your account in the wrong bank.

BEN: Why don't nobody ever wanna talk with me peacable?

BEN: Life's very long and full of salesmanship, Miss Clara. You might buy something yet.

CLARA: I've spent my whole life around men who push and shove and shout and think they can make anything happen just by being aggressive. And I'm not anxious to have another one around the place.

BEN: Well, that's all right. I'm a quiet-living man, myself.
EULA (Lee Remick): Oh, I only know one reason for living quiet, that's if you're too old to live any other way.

WILL VARNER (Orson Welles): (referring to Ben Quick) Do you know what Quick means in this county? Hellfire. Ashes and char. Flame follows that man around like a dog. He's a barn burner.

MINNIE LITTLEJOHN (Angela Lansbury): I made plans, Will, matrimonial plans.
WILL: Now you ain't ever heard me say the word matrimony.
MINNIE: Well now, I'm willing to overlook that.

MINNIE: (to Will) Look, honey. It's no good you trying to tell me you're too old. I happen to be in a position to deny it.

WILL: (to Ben) I've been watching you. I like your push, yes. I like your style. I like your brass. It ain't too dissimilar from the way I operate.

ALAN STEWART (Richard Anderson): You don't believe in living in one place, Mr. Quick?
BEN: Well, my family moved. Not that they wanted to. They was encouraged by the local citizens.

ALAN: My people have stood off Indians, Yankees, carpetbaggers. The least they could expect of me is to stand up to a Varner.

WILL: Listen, I'm gonna get me some man in the Varner family, some good strong strappin' man Varners. That's what I want, Varners and more Varners. Yeah, more Varners still. Enough Varners to infest the countryside. I'm gonna see that happen, sister, before I die. I'm gonna accomplish that, yes ma'am, by means of that Quick, that big stud horse.

BEN: The world belongs to the meat eaters, Miss Clara, and if you have to take it raw, take it raw.

BEN: I can see my white shirt and my black tie and my Sunday manners didn't fool you for a minute. Well, that's right, ma'am, I'm a menace to the countryside. All a man's gotta do is just look at me sideways and his house goes up in fire. And here I am, living right here in the middle of your peaceable little town, right in your back yard, you might say. Guess that ought to keep you awake at night.

BEN: Well, I'll be damned.
WILL: More than probable, you will be. But first, you're going to church and get married, yeah, to my daughter.

WILL: (to Ben, referring to Clara) She has quality, quality. Which is as close as you and me will ever get to it.

CLARA: You are barking up the wrong girl, Mr. Quick.

WILL: (to Jody) You got hellfire and damnation in you, Jody Varner, but you got redemption too. When I think of the hate that put me in there and locked the door and set fire to it, and when I think of the love that wouldn't let me go... I got me a son again. I got me a good right arm - and a left.

MINNIE: Will Varner, I heard you was in that fire!
WILL: Simmer down, Minnie. You ain't a rich widow yet.

Compiled by Andrea Passafiume