Other actresses briefly considered for the role of Leslie Benedict in Giant were Audrey Hepburn and Marlene Dietrich.

Real-life Texans in the cast include Chill Wills, Pilar Del Rey and Fran Bennett. George Stevens also gave small roles to former cowboy stars Monte Hale, Max Terhune and Sheb Wooley.

During location shooting in Texas, Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor stayed in rented houses across the street from each other, which allowed them the opportunity to socialize more and become close friends.

By the film's end, 23-year-old Taylor and 29-year-old Hudson were playing the parents of Carroll Baker, 24; Dennis Hopper, 19, and Fran Bennett, 20. Baker played the youngest of the three.

For his scenes as the older Bick, Hudson wore a 50-pound belt under his costume.

One night during location shooting, Mercedes McCambridge and James Dean were so mad at Stevens they sat up consuming a jar of peanut butter, a box of crackers, six Milky Ways and 12 Cokes.

Off-screen, Dean called McCambridge "Madama," his character's nickname for her in Giant.

Before McCambridge did her first location scenes, Dean tried to steal her hat for himself.

During location shooting for Giant, Warner Bros. gave the principal cast members battered old Chevies to drive around. Dean was so frustrated with the film, he drove his out of town and shot out the windows with a BB gun. That was the last straw for Warner's. After previous complaints about the actor's speeding, the studio took his car away from him. When he got Mercedes to drive through the country slowly as he sat on the hood of her car shooting rabbits, Warner's took her car away, too.

Although Taylor has always said she was not involved with either of her co-stars, during location shooting, her husband, Michael Wilding, invited two strippers to their home for an evening while the children were visiting Taylor's parents. The strippers later sold their story to Confidential magazine, which ran it after the film had been completed. Although Taylor said at the time that she would not let the scandal destroy her marriage, the two would divorce in 1957.

The painting hanging in the Reata mansion is now displayed, with a plaque explaining its part in the film, in San Antonio's Menger Hotel.

Giant came in for an estimated cost of $5.4 million. It brought in $14 in grosses domestically, with an estimated international gross of $25 million. It would remain Warner Bros.' highest grossing release until Superman (1978).

To promote the film, Taylor, Hudson and Stevens put their hand- and footprints in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theater at the premiere.

Memorable Quotes from GIANT

"You all think that the glory happened here in the East, don't you, with Valley Forge and Bunker Hill? Do you know about San Jacinto? Have you heard about the Alamo?" -- Rock Hudson, as Bick Benedict

"Just remember, one of these days, that bourbon's gonna kill you."
"Okay, it'll be me or it. One of us has to go." -- Hudson, as Bick Benedict, and Chill Wills, as Uncle Bawley

"Well, there's one thing you got to say for cattle...boy, you put your brand on one of them, you're gonna know where it's at!" -- Mercedes McCambridge, as Luz Benedict

"You're my wife, Mrs. Jordan Benedict, and I'm asking you right now -- when are you going to settle down and behave like everybody else? It's none of your business, fixing the world. Why don't you join a club!" -- Hudson, as Bick, objecting because his wife -- Elizabeth Taylor, as Leslie Benedict, has visited poor Mexican-Americans

"You sure do look pretty, Miss Leslie. Pert nigh good enough to eat!" -- James Dean, as Jett Rink, to Taylor, as Leslie Benedict

"Money isn't everything, Jett."
"Not when you've got it." -- Taylor, as Leslie, and Dean, as Jett Rink

"Everybody thought I had a duster. Y'all thought ol' Spindletop Burke and Burnett was all the oil there was, didn't ya? Well, I'm here to tell you that it ain't, boy! It's here, and there ain't a dang thing you gonna do about it! My well came in big, so big, Bick and there's more down there and there's bigger wells. I'm rich, Bick. I'm a rich 'un. I'm a rich boy. Me, I'm gonna have more money than you ever thought you could have -- you and all the rest of you stinkin' sons of...Benedicts!" -- Dean, after his well comes in

"Bick, you shoulda shot that fella a long time ago. Now he's too rich to kill" -- Wills, as Uncle Bawley, speaking to Hudson, about Dean

"You want to know something, Leslie? If I live to be 90, I will never figure you out." -- Hudson to Taylor

Compiled by Frank Miller