In the late 1890s, the ambitious, innocent Carrie arrives in Chicago’s South Side and stays with her nagging, dullish married sister. She then runs for help to traveling salesman Charles Drouet. She soon becomes his mistress, but falls in love with married restaurant manager George Hurstwood.
Acting
Olivier's Hurstwood—dignity crumbling in real time, devastating.
Production
1890s Chicago recreated with sweaty, coal-soaked authenticity.
Direction
Wyler's unflinching gaze at American dream corrosion.
Director
William Wyler
Laurence Olivier
George Hurstwood
Jennifer Jones
Carrie Meeber
Miriam Hopkins
Julie Hurstwood
Eddie Albert
Charles Drouet
Basil Ruysdael
Mr. Fitzgerald
Ray Teal
Allen - Bondsman
Barry Kelley
Slawson
Sara Berner
Mrs. Oransky
William Reynolds
George Hurstwood, Jr.
Mary Murphy
Jessica Hurstwood
Harry Hayden
O'Brien
Charles Halton
Factory Foreman
Walter Baldwin
Mr. Meeber - Carrie's Father
Dorothy Adams
Mrs. Meeber - Carrie's Mother
Jacqueline deWit
Carrie's Sister Minnie
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Sister Carrie (1900) was Dreiser's scandalous debut—so controversial libraries banned it for depicting a 'fallen woman' who doesn't suffer enough.
Olivier reportedly despised the role, calling it 'a piece of cheese'—yet his self-loathing arguably perfects Hurstwood's desperation.
US
