Elizabeth Taylor in the film Suddenly Last Summer Suddenly, Last Summer is a play by Tennessee Williams. In 1959 the play was adapted as a movie directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and starring Elizabeth Taylor who was awarded best actress in leading role Dame Elizabeth Taylor, DBE, (born February 27, 1932) is an Academy Award winning actress. She has long resided in the United States (and was once a dual American citizen), but she has always been a British subject.