All Your Favourite Actors Have Appeared In A Wuthering Heights Adaptation

You would be forgiven if you started reading Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and got overwhelmed by the character roster and the multigeneration plot. This, I say as a die-hard The Count Of Monte Cristo fan (another revenge drama that’s famously difficult to read because of how convoluted it can get at times). Even more overwhelming is the task of adapting a book like this into a movie: you have to make your audiences develop a bond with the Heathcliff and Catherine generation characters, keep them seated through to not get confused by the family tumbleweed of who courts whom and who harbours animosity with whom, and then wave goodbye to much of the cast and  introduce a whole new generation of their kids literally midway into movie. Whew, that was a lot pack in one sentence even.

So it makes sense that film adaptations of the movie have almost always been disappointing. But hey, directors have tried. With, maybe the exception of Emerald Fennel, who cut out the whole second half of the book (and removed a major character) to make it more palatable for audiences in her latest adaptation. Then again, this article isn’t a review, you can check that out below.

Anyway, back to the topic. So Wuthering Heights adaptations are a tricky task, but that hasn’t stopped directors from trying to bring it to the silver screen. And the best part? So many some of the most successful actors around the globe found their breakout roles as characters in the revenge drama. And that's not even limited to Hollywood. Here are the ones that you should check out if the Jacob Elordi-starrer didn't sit right with you (or impressed you).

Ralph Fiennes in Wuthering Heights (1992)

Long before Ralph Fiennes was Voldemort, he was Heathcliff in his debut film role. Peter Kosminsky’s 1992 movie tries to cram the full story into just an hour and 45 minutes, which makes everything feel terribly rushed and emotionally empty. Still, Fiennes’ Heathcliff has enough to steal the show with his flashes of (rather disturbing) intensity, like when he obsessively tallies Cathy’s time with him versus the Lintons. The real torment begins after Cathy dies, when Heathcliff is forced to confront her identical daughter daily, who in a brilliant but disturbing detail, is played by Catherine actor Juliet Binoche.
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video

Tom Hardy in Wuthering Heights (2009)

For a compact yet full-bodied blast of the Wuthering Heights experience, the 2009 adaptation starring Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley delivers exactly what you want; yearning, emotional damage, and the happy realisation that the main lead actually ended up together in real life. Hardy’s Heathcliff broods so aggressively you half expect thunder to follow him indoors. He looks like he hasn’t slept, eaten, or known peace in years. There’s something deeply physical about his performance; even as a polished aristocrat, he feels like an out-of-place feral creature in a waistcoat. Riley’s Cathy running through the rain, pregnant and desperate for her teenage love actually fits really well with her character (and the mess that is teenage love). Their chemistry works because it’s just so obsessive, and slightly unhinged. Heathcliff would approve.

Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video

Dilip Kumar in Dil Diya Dard Liya (1966), Arzoo (1950), and Hulchul (1951)

So, yeah. Dilip Kumar has played Heathcliff. Three times actually. Dil Diya Dard Liya is the closest direct adaptation, with Kumar embodying the tortured orphan rising through suffering and revenge. His performance leans into quiet anguish, yet you feel every emotional wound. Even in Arzoo and Hulchul, the Wuthering Heights DNA is unmistakable; brooding outsider, obsessive love, self-destruction and everyone paying the price. Kumar understood Heathcliff at an instinctive level.

Where to watch: ZEE5, YouTube

Matthew Macfadyen in Wuthering Heights (1998)

Long before Matthew Macfadyen was everyone's favourite dramatic walker Mr Darcy (or Tom Wambsgans), he was Wuthering Heights' Hareton, the son of Hindley and Frances and ward of Heathcliff in the second half of the drama. Also, this 1998 TV version by David Skynner is actually not a bad adaptation at all. If anything, it leans hard into the story’s cruelty, with Robert Cavanah bringing out just how terrible a person Heathcliff actually is. Visually, the film is lush in that late-90s BBC way; dramatic lighting, theatrical performances, and ghosts who look fantastic under moonlight.

Where to watch: YouTube

Rajesh Khanna in Oonche Log (1985)

Rajesh Khanna’s Oonche Log is Heathcliff filtered through peak '80s Bollywood melodrama. It was a remake of the Pakistani film Dahleez, which in turn was a remake of the Dilip Kumar starrer Dil Diya Dard Liya. Playing the brooding outsider wronged by class and circumstance, Khanna brings simmering resentment and wounded pride to the role. Like Heathcliff, his Raju builds his identity around rejection and revenge, carrying emotional scars like trophies. The film would end up tanking at the box office, but hey, it's got a pretty decent R. D. Burman soundtrack.

Where to watch: YouTube

Kaya Scodelario in Wuthering Heights (2011)

Andrea Arnold’s 2011 version is the anti-period drama period drama. It strips away polish and replaces it with mud, wind, and emotional brutality (talk about being true to the title of the book). Kaya Scodelario’s Cathy feels less like a literary figure and more like an impulsive teenager making terrible decisions in keeping with her age and time. But wait, the highlight of this adaptation was Arnold’s choice of casting a black actor, James Howson, as Heathcliff, reinforcing his outsider status in a society built on exclusion. Their relationship is raw in the sense that they're not poetic soulmates, but two damaged people clinging to each other because no one else will have them. 

Where to watch: Apple TV

Sir Laurence Olivier in Wuthering Heights (1939)

You might not know Sir Laurence Olivier, but this right here is the gold standard of Wuthering Heights adaptations, and Sir Olivier made a whole career out of acting in adaptations and period pieces. Like Fennell's work, William Wyler’s 1939 version cuts huge portions of the novel, but what remains is electric. Laurence Olivier’s Heathcliff shines in the black and white movie: his stern and emotionally constipated take on the character in the most compelling way possible. You understand instantly why Cathy destroys her life for him. In fact, Olivier’s Heathcliff is the blueprint for every toxic fictional man audiences still romanticize today.

Where to watch: YouTube