The Subject Was Roses is a film based on Frank D. Gilroy’s 1964 Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name. The film stars Martin Sheen, Patricia Neal, and Jack Albertson.

Patricia Neal was born in Packard, Kentucky, on January 20, 1926. She is the daughter of William Burdette and Eura Petrey Neal. Neal grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she attended Knoxville High School and then continued her studies of acting at Northwestern University. Her first job was on Broadway as an understudy and eventually became a leading lady on the stage. In 1947, Neal won a Tony Award for her role in the Broadway play Another Part of the Forest. Neal then moved to motion pictures and some of her first roles were in the movies The Voice of the Turtle, The Hasty Heart, and The Fountainhead. Neal won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1963 for her role in the movie Hud starring Neal and Paul Newman. She continued to work until up until her death on August 10, 2010.