May 29, 1961 –
Daniel Petrie’s film adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry’s stage play, A Raisin in the Sun, starring Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, John Fiedler, and Ivan Dixon opened in NYC, on this date.
There was a tense and antagonistic relationship between Sidney Poitier and Claudia McNeil during the making of this film. The tension between the actor and actress had first developed when they played these parts in the play on Broadway. McNeil felt that film should adopt her character’s point-of-view, a stance supported by the Playwright Lorraine Hansberry, while Poitier believed his character’s struggles should be the focal point of the film. The actor and actress’ distaste for one another never quite diminished, and Poitier wrote many years later that he believed that McNeil hated him.
The Haus of Dcaligari 