For his first assignment while under contract as a screenwriter for MGM, Vidal was asked to adapt a 1955 television play by Paddy Chayevsky for the big screen. Chayevsky’s Marty (1955), also starring Ernest Borgnine, had just won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Actor for Borgnine. MGM hoped to repeat this success and used the film as a vehicle for two stars it had recently put under contract, Bette Davis and Rod Taylor. Vidal’s work on the script focused on the working-class parents (Davis and Borgnine) of Debbie Reynolds’ bride-to-be, developing and deepening their relationship and adding complexity to a family dynamic brought to the brink by the vision of extravagant nuptials. In 2007, the film was transformed into a musical, with a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by John Bucchino.