AllMovie

The Last Leaf borrows the title of an O. Henry yarn, but it's actually an original for television, written by Ross Claiborn and Frances Banks. Evelyn Varden stars as a "steel magnolia" Southern matriarch who decides to hold her own funeral while she's still alive and very much present. If her greedy relatives know what's good for them, they'll show up for this grim charade. Sally Moffatt and Eve McVeigh costar in this 60-minute drama, which originally aired November 30, 1956 on NBC's Matinee Theatre. A color kinescope of The Last Leaf was later syndicated as part of the TV anthology Cameo Theatre.