Magnani made her American film debut with The Rose Tattoo and Hollywood repaid her with a well-deserved Oscar. If the role of Serafina seems to have been created with Magnani in mind, it was: Tennessee Williams wrote the original play for her, although she was too unsure of her English to appear on the American stage. In a small bayou town, Serafina wears widowhood like a mantle, living in remembered passions and stifling her own boisterous eccentricity. Alvaro Manziacavallo (Burt Lancaster), a joyful lummox with a full heart and a full bottle, cajoles Serafina out of this morbid adoration, releasing her explosive emotions with his own.