Black Widow
1954 · 95 min
Directed by Nunnally Johnson. Written by Nunnally Johnson. Starring Van Heflin, Reginald Gardiner, Gene Tierney, Peggy Ann Garner.
When a young stage hopeful is found dead, suspicion falls on her mentor, a successful Broadway producer.
Audiences 57% · streaming on Tubi
How it got made
20th Century Fox bought the film rights to Patrick Quentin's 1952 novel Black Widow. Studio head Darryl Zanuck assigned the project to Nunnally Johnson, who worked on it after writing the script for How to Marry a Millionaire (1953). Johnson then made his debut as director on Night People (1954) starring Gregory Peck, and Peck was announced as the Black Widow male lead, which was, however, eventually played—after being passed on by William Holden—by Van Heflin. Johnson said the film would be the "All About Eve of suspense pictures." He later said it "was just a thriller, wasn't any great harm done in the thing, a thriller that I liked, because I like thrillers."
Johnson had offered the role of flamboyant stage actress Carlotta Marin to stage actress Tallulah Bankhead, Johnson's first choice for the role, then to Joan Crawford, who was not interested. Bankhead had declined the role as too small; it was successfully offered to Ginger Rogers (whose role in Johnson's 1952 production We're Not Married! had also been declined by Bankhead). Rogers was accorded top billing in Black Widow.
Johnson's first choice for the role of Nanny Ordway, 20th-Century-Fox-contractee Maggie McNamara, was cast in the role but soon sidelined by illness, with her Three Coins in the Fountain co-star Jean Peters being expected to replace her. However, the role of Nanny Ordway would ultimately afford a brief cinematic comeback to former child star (at 20th Century Fox) Peggy Ann Garner. Johnson had tested Garner for Black Widow on the recommendation of cinematographer Charles G. Clarke who, while overseeing location footage for Black Widow in New York City, had happened to cross paths with Garner, with whom he had worked on Junior Miss nine years earlier. Johnson said he took Garner "much to my regret... she was a tiresome little girl. Tiresome woman."