page_title: Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights)
section_title: Depictions
hierarchical_section_title: Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights) / Depictions
caption_attribution_description: Photo of Sir Laurence Olivier knighted 1947-page 144 and Merle Oberon from the 1939 film Wuthering Heights.
context_page_description: Heathcliff is a fictional character in Emily Brontë's 1847 novel Wuthering Heights. Owing to the novel's enduring fame and popularity, he is often regarded as an archetype of the tortured antihero whose all-consuming rage, jealousy and anger destroy both him and those around him.
  He is better known for being a romantic hero due to his youthful love for Catherine Earnshaw, than for his final years of vengeance in the second half of the novel, during which he grows into a bitter, haunted man, and for a number of incidents in his early life that suggest that he was an upset and sometimes malicious individual from the beginning. His complicated, mesmerizing, consumable, and altogether bizarre nature makes him a rare character, with components of both the hero and villain.
context_section_description: In 1939, Laurence Olivier portrayed Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, directed by William Wyler. Olivier received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his performance.
  In 1970, Timothy Dalton portrayed Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, directed by Robert Fuest.
  Ralph Fiennes's portrayal of Heathcliff in 1992's Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights marked the second film adaptation to attempt to involve Hareton and Cathy in the story as well. The first attempt was made in a 1920 silent film now believed to be lost. ITV's 1998 TV drama, which had Robert Cavanah in the starring role, also told the full story.
  In 1997, Cliff Richard played Heathcliff in a stage musical. Focusing mainly on the life of Heathcliff, his quest to win Cathy Helen Hobson, and his life after her death. The music is by John Farrar and lyrics are by Sir Tim Rice. Cliff Richard released the movie Heathcliff in 1997 and it was such a success that he brought it to the Birmingham stage in 1998.
  Masterpiece Theatre presented a 2009 two-part series of Wuthering Heights starring English actor Tom Hardy as Heathcliff. In this version, the second-generation characters play a key role, and the telling of the story begins and ends with them.
  In 2011, director Andrea Arnold directed a film adaptation starring James Howson as Heathcliff.
caption: Heathcliff (played by Olivier) and Catherine as portrayed in the 1939 film
exif: {}