Claim: Elizabeth Taylor was a film actress.

A Place in the Sun is a 1951 American drama film based on the 1925 novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser and the 1926 play , also titled An American Tragedy . It tells the story of a working-class young man who is entangled with two women ; one who works in his wealthy uncle 's factory and the other a beautiful socialite . Another adaptation of the novel had been filmed once before , as An American Tragedy , in 1931 .   A Place in the Sun was directed by George Stevens from a screenplay by Harry Brown and Michael Wilson , and stars Montgomery Clift , Elizabeth Taylor , and Shelley Winters ; its supporting actors included Anne Revere , and Raymond Burr .   The film was a critical and commercial success , winning six Academy Awards and the first ever Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture -- Drama . In 1991 , A Place in the Sun was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being `` culturally , historically , or aesthetically significant '' .