Adaptations of Wuthering Heights

This is a list of adaptations of Wuthering Heights, which was Emily Brontë's only novel. It was first published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, and a posthumous second edition was edited by her sister Charlotte.

Film, television and radio

1920–1940

• 1920: The earliest version of Wuthering Heights is filmed in England, directed by A.V. Bramble. It is unknown if any prints still exist.
• 1939: Wuthering Heights, starring Merle Oberon as Catherine Earnshaw Linton, Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff, David Niven as Edgar Linton, Flora Robson as Ellen Dean, Donald Crisp as Dr. Kenneth, Geraldine Fitzgerald as Isabella Linton and Leo G. Carroll as the recalcitrant servant Joseph. The film was adapted by Charles MacArthur, Ben Hecht and John Huston. It was directed by William Wyler, in black and white. This adaptation, like many others, eliminated the second generation's story (young Cathy, Linton and Hareton). It won the 1939 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film and was nominated for the 1939 Academy Award for Best Picture.

1940–1960

• A 1950 CBS television adaptation called Studio One: Wuthering Heights starring Charlton Heston.
• A 1953 adaptation on BBC Television was scripted by Nigel Kneale, directed by Rudolph Cartier and starred Richard Todd as Heathcliff and Yvonne Mitchell as Catherine. This version does not survive in the BBC archives. According to Kneale, it was made simply because Todd had turned up at the BBC one day and said that he wanted to play Heathcliff for them; Kneale was forced to write the script in only a week as the adaptation was rushed into production.
• A 1954 Spanish-language adaptation filmed in Mexico by Luis Buñuel, titled Abismos de Pasión.
• A 1958 adaptation aired on CBS television as part of the series DuPont Show of the Month starring Rosemary Harris as Cathy, Richard Burton as Heathcliff, and Patty Duke as young Cathy. This long-lost version was found in 2019 by Jane Klain, the research manager at the Paley Center for Media. The only kinescope made of the broadcast was found among the archives of the late television historian J. Fred MacDonald that had recently been acquired by the Library of Congress. TCM aired the program for the first time since its 1958 broadcast at 8 P.M. on December 6, 2019.
• A 1959 adaptation aired on ABC television in Australia, using Nigel Kneale's script. Broadcast live in Sydney, a kinescope was made of the broadcast and shown in Melbourne at a later date. It is not known if the kinescope recording still exists.

1960–1980

• In 1962, BBC Television screened a new production of their 1953 version. This was again produced by Rudolph Cartier and has been preserved in the archives. Kneale's adaptation concentrates on the first half of the novel, removing the second generation of Earnshaws and Lintons entirely. Claire Bloom played Catherine and Keith Michell played Heathcliff.
• 1966:Dil Diya Dard Liya, a Bollywood movie starring Dileep Kumar, Pran, and Waheeda Rehman.
• 1967: Wuthering Heights, a BBC miniseries starring Ian McShane as Heathcliff and Angela Scoular as Cathy
• 1970: Wuthering Heights starring Timothy Dalton as Heathcliff and Anna Calder-Marshall as Catherine (the elder). It does not cover the whole story.
• 1970: Monty Python's Flying Circus – the second episode of the second series featured a sketch "The Semaphore Version of Wuthering Heights", which had the actors communicating via semaphore flags.
• 1971: The gothic soap opera Dark Shadows used the story as inspiration for its final storyline, episodes 1186 to 1245.
• 1978: Another BBC adaptation, Wuthering Heights, directed by Peter J. Hammond and produced by Jonathan Powell, with screenplays by Hugh Leonard and David Snodin. Ken Hutchison played Heathcliff and Kay Adshead played Cathy. This adaptation covers the whole story, and has been reissued on DVD.
• 1979: A spoken word album of Wuthering Heights featuring Judith Anderson, Claire Bloom, James Mason, George Rose, and Gordon Gould, was released and subsequently nominated for a 1979 Grammy Award in the category of Best Spoken Word Album.

1980–2000

• 1985: French film adaptation Hurlevent by Jacques Rivette.
• 1988: Japanese film Onimaru (Arashi ga oka) by Yoshishige Yoshida.
• 1991: A Filipino film adaptation Hihintayin Kita Sa Langit by Carlos Sigiuon-Renya, screenplay by Raquel Villavicencio, starring Richard Gomez and Dawn Zulueta. It was reprised in 2007 with an English title, The Promise, starring Richard Gutiérrez and Angel Locsín.
• 1992: Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights starring Juliette Binoche in two roles, Catherine Earnshaw and her daughter, and Ralph Fiennes as Heathcliff.
• A theatrical adaptation by Michael Napier Brown was performed at the Royal Theatre in Northampton in 1994.
• 1996: An adaptation by Gillian Hiscott for theatre, toured theatres in Northern UK and the Midlands, published by Cressrelles.
• 1998: Wuthering Heights, an adaptation by Neil McKay for London Weekend Television directed by David Skynner and starring Sarah Smart as Catherine (the younger), Orla Brady as the elder Catherine and Robert Cavanah as Heathcliff. Also broadcast by PBS television as part of Masterpiece Theatre.

2000–present

• 2000: The Radio Tales series produced the drama The Ghost of Wuthering Heights, which adapted the ghost story elements of Emily Brontë's classic novel for National Public Radio and XM Satellite Radio.
• 2002: Sparkhouse for the BBC. A modern take on the story with the gender roles reversed, adapted by Sally Wainwright, directed by Robin Shepperd and starring Sarah Smart and Joseph McFadden.
• 2003: Wuthering Heights for MTV. It starred Erika Christensen, Mike Vogel, and Christopher Masterson.
• 2004: Cime tempestose, an Italian television adaptation directed by Fabrizio Costa, starring Alessio Boni and Anita Caprioli.
• 2007 The Promise is a Philippine adaptation directed by Mike Tuviera and starring Richard Gutierrez and Angel Locsin.
• 2009: ITV adaptation of Wuthering Heights, first broadcast on PBS as part of its Masterpiece Classic programming and broadcast later in the year on ITV1 and STV, starring Tom Hardy as Heathcliff and Charlotte Riley as Catherine.
• 2009: A Bollywood musical version of Wuthering Heights toured the UK in Spring 2009, starring Youkit Patel and Pushpinder Chani.
• 2011: Wuthering Heights, a film version directed by Andrea Arnold, starring Kaya Scodelario as Catherine and James Howson as Heathcliff.
• 2012: Walang Hanggan (My Eternal), a 2012 drama based on Wuthering Heights and Hihintayin Kita sa Langit which aired on ABS-CBN from 16 January - 26 October 2012. The series became a big phenomenal hit in the Philippines.
• 2015: Wuthering High School is a modern version of the novel, set in Malibu.
• 2015: W.H. Academy, a web-series which sets the story at a college in the 21st century.

Opera and theatre

• Bernard Herrmann wrote an opera based on the novel between 1943 and 1951. The libretto was by radio play writer Lucille Fletcher, who was Herrmann's wife when he started writing the opera, but was no longer his wife by the time he finished. The opera was recorded in full in London in 1966, with the composer conducting the Pro Arte Orchestra. It featured the soprano Morag Beaton in the role of Cathy, and baritone Donald Bell as Heathcliff. The recording was re-released in 1972 by Unicorn-Kanchana records, and later transferred to CD. However, the opera was not produced in an operatic venue until 1982, by Portland Opera (and even this was an abridged version that omitted 30–40 minutes of the music and changed the ending). Renée Fleming recorded the aria "I have dreamt" in 1998.
• On 16 July 1958 Carlisle Floyd's opera Wuthering Heights premiered at the Santa Fe Opera with Phyllis Curtin as Catherine Earnshaw and Robert Trehy as Heathcliff. A revised version of the work is performed the following year at the New York City Opera with Curtin, Patricia Neway, and Richard Cassilly.
• In 1966 a musical Hindi-language film adaptation was released in India entitled Dil Diya Dard Liya. Its story and characters were clearly based upon Wuthering Heights. It starred Dilip Kumar (Heathcliff), Waheeda Rehman (Cathy), Pran (Hindley), Rehman (Edgar) and Shyama (Isabella). Names, locations and many plot developments were adapted to suit Indian audiences.
• 1987: Austrian drama adaptation Krankheit oder Moderne Frauen by Elfriede Jelinek.
• Bernard J. Taylor wrote a musical Wuthering Heights, recorded in 1992 as a concept album starring Lesley Garrett, Dave Willetts, Bonnie Langford and Clive Carter, and first performed in 1994. It has been translated into German, Romanian and Polish.
• 1992: Heights by Vince Foxall, La Mama Theatre, Melbourne, Australia
• The all-female Japanese opera company, Takarazuka Revue, has their own interpretation of the story, the musical drama is first performed in the 1970s and the most recently production is in 1998, starring Yōka Wao.
• Sir Cliff Richard starred in the self commissioned Heathcliff in the 1990s. Not well received by many older fans of the singer, it portrayed the very brutal side of the character. The album of the libretto was recorded by Cliff Richard and Olivia Newton-John.
• 2001 saw the composition of Claude-Michel Schönberg's first ballet score, Wuthering Heights. This production was performed by the United Kingdom's Northern Ballet Theatre Company in September 2002. A 2-CD soundtrack was released under the First Night label in 2004.
• In 2008 Mark Ryan launched a dramatic musical adaptation of Wuthering Heights, narrated by Beowulf and Sexy Beast star Ray Winstone. He composed, sang and produced the tracks with Robb Vallier, and also directed the video for the song "Women" filmed especially for the website and featuring Jennifer Korbee, Jessica Keenan Wynn and Katie Boerk.

Further reading

• "Wuthering Heights" on Film and Television: A Journey Across Time and Cultures by Valerie V. Hazette, 2016, Intellect Books - discusses screen adaptations, including British, French, Mexican, Japanese versions