My Fair Lady (1964)
- Starring:
- Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, (more)
- Director(s):
- George Cukor
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- G
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At one time the longest-running Broadway musical, My Fair Lady was adapted by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe from the George Bernard Shaw comedy Pygmalion. Outside Covent Garden on a rainy evening in 1912, dishevelled cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) meets linguistic expert Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison). After delivering a musical tirade against "verbal class distinction," Higgins tells his companion Colonel Pickering (Wilfred Hyde-White) that, within six months, he could transform Eliza into a proper lady, simply by teaching her proper English. The next morning, face and hands freshly scrubbed, Eliza presents herself on Higgins' doorstep, offering to pay him to teach her to be a lady. "It's almost irresistable," clucks Higgins. "She's so deliciously low. So horribly dirty." He turns his mission into a sporting proposition, making a bet with Pickering that he can accomplish his six-month miracle to turn Eliza into a lady. This is one of the all-time great movie musicals, featuring classic songs and the legendary performances of Harrison, repeating his stage role after Cary Grant wisely turned down the movie job, and Stanley Holloway as Eliza's dustman father. Julie Andrews originated the role of Eliza on Broadway but producer Jack Warner felt that Andrews, at the time unknown beyond Broadway, wasn't bankable; Hepburn's singing was dubbed by Marni Nixon, who also dubbed Natalie Wood in West Side Story (1961). Andrews instead made Mary Poppins, for which she was given the Best Actress Oscar, beating out Hepburn. The movie, however, won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Harrison, and five other Oscars, and it remains one of the all-time best movie musicals. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 172 mins
Complete Cast:
- Audrey Hepburn - Eliza Doolittle
- Stanley Holloway - Alfred P. Doolittle
- Gladys Cooper - Mrs. Higgins
- Theodore Bikel - Zoltan Karpathy
- John Holland - Butler
- John McLiam - Harry
- Geoffrey Steele - Taxi Driver
- Ben Wright - Footman at Ball
- Brendan Dillon - Leaning Man
- Nick Navarro - Dancer
- Laurie Main - Hoxton Man
- Frank Baker - Elegant Bystander
- John Mitchum - Ad Libs at Church
- Henry Daniell - Gregor of Transylvania
- Hilda Plowright - Bystander
- Alan Napier - Ambassador
- Victor Rogers - Policeman
- Grady Sutton - Dancer at Ball
- Allyson Daniell - Ad Libs at Ascot
- William Beckley - Footman
- Moyna MacGill - Lady Boxington
- John Alderson - Jamie
- Ayllene Gibbons - Fat Woman at Pub
- Roy Dean - Footman
- Barbara Pepper - Doolittle's Dance Partner
- Betty Blythe - Ad Lib at Ball
- Rex Harrison - Prof. Henry Higgins
- Wilfrid Hyde-White - Col. Pickering
- Jeremy Brett - Freddy Eynsford-Hill
- Mona Washbourne - Mrs. Pearce
- Isobel Elsom - Mrs. Eynsford-Hill
- Owen McGiveney - Man at Coffee Stand
- Walter Burke - Main Bystander
- Oscar Beregi - Greek Ambassador
- James O'Hara - Costermonger
- Diana Bourbon - Ascot Type
- Alma Lawton - Flower Girl
- Jack Greening - George
- Charles Fredericks - King
- David Robel - Cockney
- Gwendolyn Watts - Cook
- Queenie Leonard - Cockney Bystander
- Pat O'Moore - Man
- Maurice Dallimore - Selsey Man
- Marni Nixon - Eliza [singing]
- Colin Campbell - Ascot Gavotte
- Michael St. Clair - Bartender
- Ron Whelan - Algernon/Bartender
- Sam Harris - Guest at Ball
- Marjorie Bennett - Cockney with Pipe
- Lillian Kemble-Cooper - Lady Ambassador
- Bill Shirley - Freddy [singing]
- Director(s):
- George Cukor
- Writer(s):
- Alan Jay Lerner
- Producer(s):
- Herman Levin, Jack L. Warner
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- G(Excellent For Children)
- Closed Captioning:
- Check All Versions
- Subtitles:
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- 1998 - My Fair Lady - American Film Institute - 100 Greatest American Movies
- 1965 - My Fair Lady - British Academy of Film and Television Arts - Best Film - Any Source
- 1964 - My Fair Lady - Directors Guild of America - Best Director
- 1964 - My Fair Lady - Golden Globe - Best Picture - Musical or Comedy
- 1964 - My Fair Lady - Hollywood Foreign Press Association - Best Picture - Musical or Comedy
- 1964 - My Fair Lady - Hollywood Foreign Press Association - Best Director
- 1964 - My Fair Lady - Hollywood Foreign Press Association - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
- 1964 - My Fair Lady - New York Film Critics Circle - Best Actor
- 1964 - My Fair Lady - New York Film Critics Circle - Best Picture
