A film adaptation was made in 1968, starring Alan Arkin, Sondra Locke and Cicely Tyson.
A stage adaptation of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter premiered on March 30, 2005, at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. The show ran until April 24 of that year, then toured. The play was an Alliance Theater presentation done in association with The Acting Company out of New York. The play, adapted by Rebecca Gilman, was directed by Doug Hughes.[22][23][24]
British artist Joe Simpson made McCullers's book the centerpiece of his 2014 painting, The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter. The painting shows two characters each reading the book on the London Underground; it is one of his ongoing series of paintings entitled, "London".[25]
A radio dramatization was broadcast in two parts by BBC Radio 4 on 15 and 22 March 2020.[26]
