In 1961, Columbia Pictures released a film version of A Raisin in the Sun featuring the original Broadway cast of Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Claudia McNeil, Diana Sands, Ivan Dixon, Louis Gossett, Jr. and John Fiedler. Produced by David Susskind and Philip Rose, Hansberry would write three versions of the screenplay that expanded on her vision and concerns but the first two were deemed too controversial and the final film instead closely follows the 1959 stage play, which had also been edited. For the final filmed screenplay, Hansberry would be nominated for best screenplay, 1961 by the Screen Writers Guild. The unfilmed original screenplay would be published more than 30 years later in 1992.
Ruby Dee won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress. Both Poitier and McNeil were nominated for Golden Globe Awards, and director Daniel Petrie received a special Gary Cooper Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
“A Raisin in the Sun.” Directed by Daniel Petrie. Film. Columbia Pictures, 1961. 127 min. (Digital release: Columbia Classics, 2002).
Additional Resources
“A Raisin in the Sun.” Directed by Bill Duke. PBS/American Playhouse, 1988. PBS/American Playhouse February 1, 1989. 171 minutes.
“A Raisin in the Sun.” Directed by Kenny Leon. Sony/ABC Television. 2008. February 25, 2008. 131 min.
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun and The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, edited by Robert Nemiroff. With a new Foreword by Jewell Handy Gresham-Nemiroff, a Note by Robert Nemiroff, and critical Essays by Amiri Baraka and Frank Rich. New York: Vintage Books, 1995.
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun: The Unfilmed Original Screenplay, edited by Robert Nemiroff. With a Foreword by Jewell Handy Gresham-Nemiroff, an Introduction by Margaret Wilkerson and with a Commentary by Spike Lee. New York: Signet, 1995.
Hansberry, Lorraine. Lorraine Hansberry: A Raisin in the Sun. 1969 full cast recording with Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Steve Mitchell, Diana Sands, Claudia McNeil, Zakes Mokae, Harold Scott, Sam Schacht, and Leonard Jackson. Caedmon Records: (TRS342, 1971)
Hansberry, Lorraine. Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. Thirtieth Anniversary Edition (Revised). Acting Edition. New York: Samuel French, Inc., 1989.
Hansberry, Lorraine. The Lorraine Hansberry Audio Collection. Includes full cast productions of the 1969 recording of A Raisin in the Sun and 1972 recording of To Be Young, Gifted, and Black. The final selection is Lorraine Hansberry Speaks Out, a collection of seven interviews and speeches recorded between 1959 and 1964. 6 hours. Harper Audio/Caedmon: Abridged edition (April 2009).
Hansberry, Lorraine. Lorraine Hansberry’s Original Play: A Raisin in the Sun, A Drama in Three Acts. Acting edition. New York: Samuel French, Inc., 1958.