Orpheus Descending is a 1990 American television film starring Vanessa Redgrave

Vanessa Redgrave

Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...

 and directed by Peter Hall. It is an adaptation of Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams

Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...

' play-of-the-same-name

Orpheus Descending

Orpheus Descending is a play by Tennessee Williams. It was first presented on Broadway in 1957 where it enjoyed a brief run with only modest success. The play is basically a rewrite of an earlier play by Williams called Battle of Angels, which was written in 1940, but had been closed on its opening...

. Hall had directed Redgrave in an acclaimed Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 production of the play a year earlier. The stage actors such as Redgrave, Kevin Anderson and Brad Sullivan

Brad Sullivan

Brad Sullivan was an American actor known for character roles in television and on film and stage.-Early life and career:...

 reprised their roles for the film.

Plot

Lady Torrance (Redgrave) is introduced as a disillusioned character, her Sicilian

Sicilian

Sicily is an autonomous Italian island. The adjectival form Sicilian can also refer to:* Sicilian language* Sicilian Baroque, baroque architecture in 17th & 18th centuries on Sicily...

 father was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...

 and she's been trapped in a miserable marriage for twenty years. Her tyrannical and bigoted husband is struck down by cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

. Then Lady Torrance meets the orpheuse, a young man named Val Xavier (Kevin Anderson), an Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

-inspired drifter. A romantic entanglement ensues as Lady Torrance puts behind the misery of marriage behind her and finds passion and happiness with Val.

Cast

• Vanessa Redgrave
  Vanessa Redgrave
  Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
  
   as Lady Torrance
• Kevin Anderson as Val Xavier
• Brad Sullivan
  Brad Sullivan
  Brad Sullivan was an American actor known for character roles in television and on film and stage.-Early life and career:...
  
  as Jabe Torrance
• Manning Redwood as Talbot
• Sloane Shelton as Beulah
• Patti Allison as Dolly Hamma
• Pat McNamara as Peewee
• Michael McCarty as Dog Hamma