My Fair Lady (1964)
- Starring:
- Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, (more)
- Director(s):
- George Cukor
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- G
- Category:
- Music & Performing Arts
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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:
- 173 mins
Complete Cast:
- Audrey Hepburn - Eliza Doolittle
- Stanley Holloway - Alfred P. Doolittle
- Gladys Cooper - Mrs. Higgins
- Theodore Bikel - Zoltan Karpathy
- John Holland - Butler
- John Mitchum - Ad Libs at Church
- Grady Sutton - Dancer at Ball
- Ben Wright - Footman at Ball
- Moyna MacGill - Lady Boxington
- Barbara Pepper - Doolittle's Dance Partner
- Lillian Kemble-Cooper - Lady Ambassador
- Roy Dean - Footman
- Gwendolyn Watts - Cook
- Queenie Leonard - Cockney Bystander
- Bill Shirley - Freddy [singing]
- Maurice Dallimore - Selsey Man
- Ayllene Gibbons - Fat Woman at Pub
- Victor Rogers - Policeman
- William Beckley - Footman
- Diana Bourbon - Ascot Type
- Alma Lawton - Flower Girl
- John McLiam - Harry
- Jack Greening - George
- Oscar Beregi - Greek Ambassador
- John Alderson - Jamie
- David Robel - Cockney
- Rex Harrison - Prof. Henry Higgins
- Wilfrid Hyde-White - Col. Pickering
- Jeremy Brett - Freddy Eynsford-Hill
- Mona Washbourne - Mrs. Pearce
- Henry Daniell - Gregor of Transylvania
- Michael St. Clair - Bartender
- Walter Burke - Main Bystander
- Colin Campbell - Ascot Gavotte
- Geoffrey Steele - Taxi Driver
- Owen McGiveney - Man at Coffee Stand
- Sam Harris - Guest at Ball
- Ron Whelan - Algernon/Bartender
- Alan Napier - Ambassador
- Brendan Dillon - Leaning Man
- Betty Blythe - Ad Lib at Ball
- James O'Hara - Costermonger
- Pat O'Moore - Man
- Marni Nixon - Eliza [singing]
- Nick Navarro - Dancer
- Laurie Main - Hoxton Man
- Frank Baker - Elegant Bystander
- Isobel Elsom - Mrs. Eynsford-Hill
- Marjorie Bennett - Cockney with Pipe
- Allyson Daniell - Ad Libs at Ascot
- Charles Fredericks - King
- Hilda Plowright - Bystander
- Director(s):
- George Cukor
- Writer(s):
- Alan Jay Lerner
- Producer(s):
- Jack L. Warner
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- G(Excellent For Children)
- Categories:
- Music & Performing Arts
- 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 - Golden Globe - Best Picture - Musical or Comedy
- 1964 - My Fair Lady - Golden Globe - Best Director
- 1964 - My Fair Lady - Golden Globe - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
- 1964 - My Fair Lady - New York Film Critics Circle - Best Picture
- 1964 - My Fair Lady - New York Film Critics Circle - Best Actor
