30 Fascinating Facts About The Classic 1989 Weepy Steel Magnolias

Following a group of women from a small southern US town as they cope with the death of someone very close to them, Steel Magnolias is a heartwarming tale that, despite receiving mixed reviews upon its release in November 1989, was a big box office success.

Featuring a stellar cast that includes Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis and Julia Roberts, it’s an extremely funny film that also tugs on the heartstrings. In fact, it was marketed under exactly this premise, opting for the tagline of “the funniest movie to ever make you cry.” Make sure you have a box of tissues at the ready as we present the following 30 fascinating facts about Steel Magnolias.

30. It’s based on a true story

Steel Magnolias was written by Robert Harling, who based it on his experience of his sister Susan dying from complications arising from type 1 diabetes. To process his grief, he reimagined the last three years of her life as a play, with encouragement from the acting class workshop he attended in New York City.

When the play gained critical acclaim, Ray Stark bought the film rights and began developing a movie adaptation with help from production designer Gene Callahan, an old friend from Louisiana.” Harling, Stark and Callahan were all committed to keeping the film as authentic as possible. But during the film’s shoot, a major Hollywood writers’ strike came into place, meaning that Harling was not allowed to get involved in any rewrites. Nevertheless, Harling visited the sets incognito so that he could stay involved with his passion project.

29. Julia Roberts was only the third choice to play Shelby

Julia Roberts was only the third choice to take on the role of Shelby, the young woman based on Harling’s sister Susan. She was only hired after Meg Ryan dropped out to star in When Harry Met Sally… And before even Ryan was considered, the then-teen star Winona Ryder was in line for the role. Fresh from her successes in Heathers and Beetlejuice in the previous year, Ryder was eventually deemed too young for the role.

In the end, it was Julia Roberts who most reminded Robert Harling of his late sister, as he recalled in a 2014 interview with the Daily Mail. “She walked into the room and that smile lit everything up and I said, ‘that’s my sister’, so she joined the party and she was magnificent,” he said.

28. Daryl Hannah had to prove she could be unattractive before she got the role
Alec Baldwin Is Indicted Again in ‘Rust’ Shooting
e was “too attractive” to play Annelle, a trainee beautician who is new to the area. But the Blade Runner and Splash star decided not to take no for an answer. When she turned up for an audition, she had disguised herself so entirely in character that she was unrecognisable to the crew or even the front door security.

Speaking to Turner Classic Movies, the director Herbert Ross noted that Daryl had never really played a “character role” before. “It was a real departure,” he noted, “and she sought out the role and convinced me and [producer] Ray Stark that she could handle the role.” Hannah also appeared in Crimes and Misdemeanours in the same year, taking the uncredited role of Lisa Crosley.

27. The film’s director at one point asked Dolly Parton if she “even knew how to act”

After singer-turned-actress Dolly Parton made a mistake with the delivery of one of her lines, the film’s director Herbert Ross asked her if she “even knew how to act.” Parton responded in the best way possible, telling the Footloose director: “no, but it’s your job to make me look like I can.” Herbert Ross was reportedly a challenging director to work with at the best of times, often criticising the performances of his stars – the 22-year-old Julia Roberts in particular.

But the actresses bonded over the gruelling regimen, and they would stand up for each other against Ross. Years later, Shirley MacLaine said in an interview with US Weekly: “I remember the day Herb said to Dolly Parton, ‘Why don’t you take some acting lessons?’ Equally shocked at the remark, Sally [Field] exclaimed: ‘You don’t say that to Dolly Parton! Dolly Parton is absolutely the funniest, wittiest and filthiest, and she will cut you to ribbons.’”

26. The hospital staff were all genuine medical professionals

Instead of using actors to play the hospital staff who attend to Shelby, filmmakers asked real doctors and nurses to fill the roles. Not only that, but the medical staff that appeared in the film were the same ones that cared for Robert Harling’s sister Susan during her final days. The nurse who turns off Shelby’s li