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      • 'Steel Magnolias' was based on a true story Actor and writer Robert Harling wrote the play based on the true story of his sister, Susan Harling Robinson, who died from complications with diabetes.
      www.southernliving.com/culture/steel-magnolias-movie-facts
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  2. Jul 28, 2017 · The Heartbreaking Real-Life Story Behind 'Steel Magnolias'. We caught up with writer Robert Harling for a look back at his iconic play, which debuted off-Broadway 30 years ago. It's been 30 years since Steel Magnolias, the play that inspired the iconic film by the same name, opened off-Broadway.

    • 'Steel Magnolias' Was Based on A True Story
    • The Movie Offered Healing
    • The Film Gave Back to Others
    • It Took 10 Days to Write
    • It Was Originally A Short Story
    • The Author's Sister Inspired A Famous Scene
    • Others Were Considered to Play Shelby
    • Hollywood Royalty Wanted in
    • Harling Wrote Truvy For Another Actress
    • 'Steel Magnolias' Led to 'Soapdish'

    Actor and writer Robert Harling wrote the play based on the true story of his sister, Susan Harling Robinson, who died from complications with diabetes.

    Harling wanted his mother to leave the set when they filmed Julia Roberts's death scene, but his mother insisted on staying so she could see Julia get up and walk away after the director yelled cut. "I said, 'I can't believe you put yourself through that,'" Harling recalled saying to his mother in an interview with the Huffington Post. "But Julia h...

    The nursesand other hospital staff seen in Julia Roberts' life-support scenes are actual medical professionals who tended to Harling's sister in her final days.

    "The events that inspired it were so powerful that, after I found the story arena, it just poured out into my typewriter in a 24/7 tsunami of Southernness," Harling told Garden & Gun in 2013 about the speedy writing process. "I had no idea what I'd written. I asked the first person I gave it to if it even looked like a play. I wasn't really sure. A...

    Harling originally wanted to turn his sister's life into a short story, but it quickly turned into a play because he wanted its Southernness to come out. "I was missing the sound of the wonderful vernacular," he told Todayin 2014. "It became a play because I wanted to hear the dialogue. And that was it."

    When Harling hit a patch of writer's block while working on the play, he channeled his sister for one of its most famous scenes. "I said, 'What would Susan do?' and what Susan would do would be outrageous," he told Today. "She would do something completely inappropriate and totally out of the box." The result is that at Shelby's funeral, when her m...

    Originally, Winona Ryder was considered for the part of Shelby, but producers decided she was too young. Instead, they settled on Meg Ryan, who committed to the role before dropping out for a little film called When Harry Met Sally. That's when Julia Roberts stepped in. "She walked into the room and that smile lit everything up, and I said 'That's ...

    Elizabeth Taylor went to see Steel Magnolias during its off-Broadway run, and thanks to her rave review, Hollywood legend Bette Davis called up Harlingand started a push to be cast in the film as Ouiser. She also thought that Katharine Hepburn could make a fantastic Clairee and Elizabeth Taylor would be perfect as M'Lynn. Harling said that Davis ev...

    While Dolly Parton was perfect in the role of beauty shop owner Truvy, the role was actually writtenfor someone else entirely—Margo Martindale. Harling and Martindale were friends in real life and he wrote the part for her. She originated the role of Truvy in the play's off-Broadway debut.

    After long days on set in Natchitoches, Louisiana, the cast would gather together to play games and chat. One night, according to the Huffington Post, Harling asked each actress to name the role she'd most like to play. Sally Field said she always played "really noble, earnest women that wear crummy clothes. For once I'd like to play a b---h that g...

    • 1 min
    • The title was inspired by real life. Harling said the title, "Steel Magnolias," is the perfect description for the women it profiles: They're both delicate like a flower, but also hard as steel.
    • Harling wrote the play in 10 days. Many writers take months or years to write a play. But Harling wrote "Steel Magnolias" in only 10 days. "Ten days later, that's all it took because I had lived the story."
    • It was originally going to be a short story. Harling said when he began putting his sister's story down in writing, it began as a short story. "But I was missing the sound of the wonderful vernacular," he said.
    • Harling at first thought his story was a drama. When the play was first in rehearsal, Harling says they thought it was strictly a drama, since they were performing a dark, emotional story.
  3. Jul 24, 2022 · Hear the true stories behind Steel Magnolias from creator Robert Harling. By. Rebecca Angel Baer. Updated on July 24, 2022. In This Article. Steel Magnolias' Real-Life Characters. From the Stage to the Silver Screen. Finding the Perfect Cast. The Legacy of Steel Magnolias.

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    • The original play was written in 10 days. For "Steel Magnolias" writer Robert Harling, he didn't have to go far to find inspiration for the script. The film version of "Steel Magnolias" was based on Harling's play, which in turn was based on the events of Harling's real life.
    • Steel Magnolias wasn't written as a comedy. Though "Steel Magnolias" ends with tragedy, there are plenty of funny moments sprinkled throughout. However, despite the many one-liners, Robert Harling actually didn't set out to write a comedy.
    • The role of Truvy was written for Margo Martindale. Margo Martindale was exactly who writer Robert Harling had in mind when we wrote the role of Truvy, which is why she originated the character in the play.
    • All of Hollywood's top stars wanted to be in the film. When it was announced that "Steel Magnolias" was going to be turned into a film, many of Hollywood's top leading ladies flocked to go see the play, as Margo Martindale recalled on "Live with Kelly and Ryan."
  4. Jul 15, 2019 · Steel Magnolias is based on a true story. The screenwriter Robert Harling’s sister died of diabetic complications after giving birth in the 1980s, shortly before Harling composed the...

  5. Steel Magnolias is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross and starring Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis, and Julia Roberts. The screenplay by Robert Harling is based on his 1987 play of the same name about the bond a group of women share in a small-town Southern community, and how ...

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