My Fair Lady
Original movie poster
Directed by	George Cukor
Produced by	Jack L. Warner
Written by	Alan Jay Lerner George Bernard Shaw
Starring	Audrey Hepburn Rex Harrison Stanley Holloway Wilfrid Hyde-White Gladys Cooper Jeremy Brett
Music by	Frederick Loewe Andre Previn (music supervisor/conductor)
Cinematography	Harry Stradling Sr.
Editing by	William H. Ziegler
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	United States December 25, 1964  Japan December 26, 1964  United Kingdom January 21, 1965  Hong Kong April 22, 1965
Running time	170 min.
Language	English
Budget	$17,000,000
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

My Fair Lady is a 1964 film adaptation of the stage musical, My Fair Lady, based in turn on the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. The film was directed by George Cukor and stars Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (537x755, 99 KB) Original Movie Poster, illustration by Bob Peak This image is of a movie poster, and the copyright for it is most likely owned by either the publisher of the movie or the studio which produced the movie in... George Dewey Cukor (July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director. ... This article is about Jack Warner, the head of Warner Brothers. ... Alan Jay Lerner (August 31, 1918 – June 14, 1986) was an American Broadway lyricist and librettist. ... George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856–2 November 1950) was a world-renowned Irish author. ... Audrey Hepburn (May 4, 1929) – January 20, 1993) was an English Academy Award-, Tony Award-, Grammy Award-, and Emmy Award-winning film and stage actress, fashion icon, and humanitarian. ... Sir Reginald Rex Carey Harrison, KBE (5 March 1908 – 2 June 1990) was an Academy Award- and Tony Award-winning English theatre and film actor. ... Stanley Augustus Holloway (October 1, 1890 - January 30, 1982) was an English actor and entertainer famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred Doolittle in My Fair Lady. ... Wilfrid Hyde-White (May 12, 1903 – May 6, 1991) was a British character actor. ... Dame Gladys Constance Cooper DBE (18 December 1888 – 17 November 1971) was an Oscar-nominated English actress. ... Peter Jeremy William Huggins (November 3, 1933 – September 12, 1995), better known as Jeremy Brett, was an English actor famous for his portrayal of the detective Sherlock Holmes in the British television series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. ... Frederic Loewe, an Austrian-American composer (June 10, 1901 - February 14, 1988) worked with lyricist Alan J. Lerner in musical theater. ... Andr Previn (born April 6, 1929) is a prominent pianist, orchestral conductor, and composer. ... Harry Stradling Sr. ... “WB” redirects here. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... is the 359th day of the year (360th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also Nintendo emulator: 1964 (emulator). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Japan. ... is the 360th day of the year (361st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also Nintendo emulator: 1964 (emulator). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Hong_Kong. ... is the 112th day of the year (113th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Also Nintendo emulator: 1964 (emulator). ... My Fair Lady is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, based on George Bernard Shaws Pygmalion. ... Play cover, depicting Mrs Campbell as Eliza Pygmalion (1913) is a play by George Bernard Shaw based on Ovids tale of Pygmalion. ... George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856–2 November 1950) was a world-renowned Irish author. ... George Dewey Cukor (July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director. ... Audrey Hepburn (May 4, 1929) – January 20, 1993) was an English Academy Award-, Tony Award-, Grammy Award-, and Emmy Award-winning film and stage actress, fashion icon, and humanitarian. ... Sir Reginald Rex Carey Harrison, KBE (5 March 1908 – 2 June 1990) was an Academy Award- and Tony Award-winning English theatre and film actor. ...

The film won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director. Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremony in the world. ...

Plot

Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison), an arrogant, irascible professor of phonetics, boasts to a new acquaintance, Colonel Pickering (Wilfrid Hyde-White), that he can teach any woman to speak so "properly" that he could pass her off as a duchess. The person whom he is shown thus teaching is one Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn), a young woman with a strong Cockney accent who is selling flowers on the street. Having overheard Higgins's boast, Eliza finds her way to the professor's house and offers to pay for speech lessons, so that she can work in a flower shop. Pickering is intrigued and wagers that Higgins cannot back up his claim; Higgins takes Eliza on free of charge as a challenge to his skills. Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone meaning sound or voice) is the study of the sounds of human speech. ... Wilfrid Hyde-White (May 12, 1903 – May 6, 1991) was a British character actor. ... The term duke is a title of nobility which refers to the sovereign male ruler of a Continental European duchy, to a nobleman of the highest grade of the British peerage, or to the highest rank of nobility in various other European countries, including Spain and France (in Italy, principe... St Mary-le-Bow The term cockney is often used to refer to working-class people of London, particularly east London, and the slang used by these people. ... For other uses, see Flower (disambiguation). ...

Eliza's father, Alfred P. Doolittle (Stanley Holloway), a dustman, arrives three days later, ostensibly to protect his daughter's virtue, but in reality simply to extract some money from Higgins, and is bought off with £5. Higgins is impressed by the man's genuineness, his natural gift for language, and especially his brazen lack of morals (Doolittle explains, "Can't afford 'em!"). Stanley Augustus Holloway (October 1, 1890 - January 30, 1982) was an English actor and entertainer famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred Doolittle in My Fair Lady. ... A trash collector is a person employed by a city or by a private company who goes to houses and/or businesses collecting and hauling away unwanted items which others would consider to be trash or garbage, but which may serve secondary uses. ... For other uses, see Money (disambiguation). ...

Eliza goes through many forms of speech training, such as speaking with marbles in her mouth and trying to recite the sentence "In Hertford, Hereford, Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen" without dropping the 'h', and to say "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain" rather than "The rine in spine sties minely in the pline". At first, she makes no progress (due to Higgins's harsh approach to teaching), but just as she, Higgins, and Pickering are exhausted and about to give up, Higgins softens his attitude and gives an eloquent speech about the beauty and history behind the English language. Eliza tries one more time and finally "gets it"; she instantly begins to speak with an impeccable upper class accent. For other uses, see Mouth (disambiguation). ... Hertford (standard pronunciations /hɑtֽfəd/ and /hɑֽfəd/; local pronunciation /[h]ɑːʔֽfəd/) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is in the East Hertfordshire district of that county. ... For other uses, see Hereford (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Hampshire (disambiguation). ... Look up H, h in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In education, teachers are those who teach students or pupils, often a course of study or a practical skill. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...

Higgins takes her on her first public appearance to Ascot Racecourse, where she makes a good impression with her stilted, but genteel manners, only to shock everyone by a sudden and vulgar lapse into Cockney: "C'mon Dover, move your bloomin' arse!". Higgins, who dislikes the pretentiousness of the upper class, partly conceals a grin behind his hand, as if to say "I wish I had said that!" Ascot Racecourse is a racecourse, located in the village of Ascot in the English county of Berkshire used for thoroughbred horse racing. ... A euphemism is the substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener;[1] or in the case of doublespeak, to make it less troublesome for the speaker. ... Arse is an English term referring to the buttocks, first recorded circa 1400 (in arce-hoole) and is commonly used in English speaking countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, parts of Canada and former parts of the British Empire. ...

The bet is won when Eliza successfully poses as a mysterious lady of patently noble rank at an embassy ball, despite the unexpected presence of a Hungarian phonetics expert trained by Higgins. Higgins's callous treatment of Eliza afterwards, especially his indifference to her future prospects, leads her to walk out on him, leaving him mystified by her ingratitude. Putting aside his resentment about the intrusion on his life and toward women in general, Higgins finds Eliza the next day and attempts to talk her into coming back to him. During a testy exchange, Higgins's ego gets the better of him, and his former student rejects him. A ball is a formal dance. ...

Higgins makes his way home, stubbornly predicting that Eliza will be ruined without him and come crawling back. However, his bravado collapses and he comes to the horrified realization that he has "grown accustomed to her face". He is reduced to playing an old phonograph recording of her voice lessons. To Higgins's great delight, Eliza chooses that moment to return to him. The last words are from Higgins: "Eliza? ... Where the devil are my slippers?" This differs from the original play's resolution (see Pygmalion ending). Tonearm redirects here. ... Play cover, depicting Mrs Campbell as Eliza Pygmalion (1913) is a play by George Bernard Shaw based on Ovids tale of Pygmalion. ...

Production

This section does not cite any references or sources. (February 2007) Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Andrews versus Hepburn

It was never assumed that the lead role in the film would go to Julie Andrews, who had played Eliza in the stage version to great critical acclaim. Audrey Hepburn was cast instead (despite lobbying from screenwriter Alan Jay Lerner), because Jack Warner of Warner Brothers wanted a box office star, and at the time Andrews was an untested screen presence. Elizabeth Taylor reportedly fought long and hard for the role as well. The casting controversy did little to hurt Hepburn's career. Andrews' subsequent Academy Award for Mary Poppins - and the lack of a nomination for Hepburn - was seen by many as vindication for Julie Andrews, though both actresses denied that there was ever any animosity between them. Years later, when Warner Bros. offered Andrews the role of Guinevere in the film adaptation of the Lerner & Lowe musical Camelot (which she also originated to great acclaim on Broadway), Andrews asked for a cool $7 million, and as a consequence, politely declined the offer. Vanessa Redgrave took the role, although she was quoted as saying that, had Julie Andrews wanted to play the role, she certainly would have. Dame Julie Elizabeth Andrews, DBE (born Julia Elizabeth Wells[1] on 1 October 1935[2]) is an award-winning English actress, singer, author and cultural icon. ... Alan Jay Lerner (August 31, 1918 – June 14, 1986) was an American Broadway lyricist and librettist. ... This article is about Jack Warner, the head of Warner Brothers. ... Warner Bros. ... For other persons named Elizabeth Taylor, see Elizabeth Taylor (disambiguation). ... Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremony in the world. ... For the 2004 stage musical, see Mary Poppins (musical). ... For other uses, see Guinevere (disambiguation). ... This article is about the mythical castle. ...

Dubbing

Hepburn's singing was judged inadequate, however, and she was dubbed by Marni Nixon. Some of Hepburn's original vocal performances for the film were released in the 1990s, affording her fans an opportunity to judge whether the dubbing was necessary. Less well known is the dubbing of Jeremy Brett's songs (as Freddy) by Bill Shirley^[1]. Marni Nixon (born February 22, 1930) is a singer whose renown for dubbing the singing voices of featured actresses in movies earned her the sobriquet The Ghostess with the Mostess. She was born Margaret McEathron in Altadena, California and began singing at a young age in choruses. ... Peter Jeremy William Huggins (November 3, 1933 – September 12, 1995), better known as Jeremy Brett, was an English actor famous for his portrayal of the detective Sherlock Holmes in the British television series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. ...

No dubbing was done for Rex Harrison, even though he spoke most of his lyrics instead of singing them. In addition, the actor declined to pre-record his musical numbers for the film, explaining that he had never sung the songs the same way twice and thus couldn't convincingly lip-sync to a playback during filming (as musical stars had been doing in Hollywood since the dawn of talking pictures). In order to permit Harrison to sing his songs live during filming, the Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department, under the direction of George Groves, implanted a wireless microphone in Harrison's neckties, marking the first time in film history that one was used to record sound during filming. André Previn then conducted the final version of the music to the voice recording. The sound department earned an Academy Award for its efforts. A sound film (or talkie) is a motion picture with synchronized sound, as opposed to a silent movie. ... A wireless microphone, as the name implies, is a microphone without a physical cable connecting it directly to the sound recording or amplifying equipment with which it is associated. ...

Copyright issues

The head of CBS put up the money for the original Broadway production in exchange for the rights to the cast album (through Columbia Records). When Warner bought the film rights in February 1962 for the then-unprecedented sum of $5 million, it was agreed that the rights to the film would revert to CBS seven years after its release. Columbia Records is the oldest brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888, and was the first record company to produce pre-recorded records as opposed to blank cylinders. ...

Warner owned the film's original copyright, but it was renewed by CBS due to the 1972 rights reversion. Currently, Warner owns the DVD rights to the film (under license from CBS), while CBS Television Distribution owns the television rights, this makes My Fair Lady the only theatrical film whose ancillary rights are owned by CBS that is not distributed by CBS Home Entertainment. CBS Television Distribution is a United States and Global television distribution company, a merger of the television distribution arms of CBS Paramount Domestic Television, CBS Paramount International Television and King World. ... CBS Home Entertainment (formerly CBS Video Enterprises) is the home video entertainment arm of CBS, Inc. ...

A VHS release by Paramount Pictures in 2001 is currently out of print. Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and distribution company, based in Hollywood, California. ...

Musical Numbers

Act One

• Overture (conducted by Previn)
• Why Can't The English? (Harrison)
• Wouldn't It Be Loverly (Nixon)
• An Ordinary Man (Harrison)
• With A Little Bit of Luck (Holloway)
• Just You Wait (Hepburn/Nixon)
• Servants Chorus
• The Rain in Spain (Hepburn/Nixon and Harrison)
• I Could Have Danced All Night (Hepburn/Nixon)
• Ascot Gavotte
• Ascot Gavotte [reprise]
• On the Street Where You Live (Shirley)
• Intermission

Act Two Wouldnt It Be Loverly is a popular song by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, written for the 1956 Broadway play My Fair Lady. ... The Rain in Spain is a popular song. ... I Could Have Danced All Night is a song which originated from the musical My Fair Lady and was supposedly sung by Audrey Hepburn in the film version of the musical. ... A gavotte dance in Brittany, France, 1878 The gavotte (also gavot or gavote) originated as a French folk dance, taking its name from the Gavot people of the Pays de Gap region of Dauphiné, where the dance originated. ... On the Street Where You Live is a popular song. ...

• Transylvanian March
• Embassy Waltz
• You Did It (Hyde-White and Harrison)
• Just You Wait [reprise] (Hepburn)
• On The Street Where You Live (Shirley)
• Show Me (Shirley and Nixon)
• Get Me to The Church on Time (Holloway)
• A Hymn to Him (Harrison and Hyde-White)
• Without You (Hepburn/Nixon)
• I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face (Harrison)
• Finale
• Exit Music

Ive Grown Accustomed to Her Face is a song from the 1956 musical My Fair Lady, with music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. ...

Awards

Sir Reginald Rex Carey Harrison, KBE (5 March 1908 – 2 June 1990) was an Academy Award- and Tony Award-winning English theatre and film actor. ... Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton (January 14, 1904 – January 18, 1980) was an English fashion and portrait photographer and a stage and costume designer for films and the theatre. ... Harry Stradling Sr. ... Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton (January 14, 1904 – January 18, 1980) was an English fashion and portrait photographer and a stage and costume designer for films and the theatre. ... George Dewey Cukor (July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director. ... André Previn (born April 6, 1929)¹ is a prominent pianist, orchestral conductor, and composer. ... This article is about Jack Warner, the head of Warner Brothers. ... // Who he was Sound pioneer George R. Groves (1901 - 1976) George Robert Groves (1901 - 1976) was a film sound pioneer who played a significant role in developing the technology that brought sound to the silent screen. ...

Academy Awards - 1964

Wins:

• Best Picture - Jack L. Warner
• Best Director - George Cukor
• Best Actor - Rex Harrison
• Best Cinematography - Harry Stradling
• Best Sound - George R. Groves, Warner Brothers Studio
• Best Music Score - Andre Previn
• Best Art Direction - Gene Allen, Cecil Beaton and George James Hopkins
• Best Costume Design - Cecil Beaton

Nominations: ©A.M.P.A.S.® The Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is one of the Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to artists working in the motion picture industry. ... The Academy Award for Directing is one of the awards given to directors working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. ... Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. ... Charles Rosher the first recipient in 1928 The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is awarded each year to a cinematographer for his work in one particular motion picture. ... Harry Stradling Sr. ... The Academy Award for Sound Mixing is an Academy Award that recognizes the finest or most aesthetic sound mixing or recording, and is generally awarded to the production sound mixers and re-recording mixers of the winning film. ... The Academy Award for Original Music Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer. ... The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. ... Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton (January 14, 1904 – January 18, 1980) was an English fashion and portrait photographer and a stage and costume designer for films and the theatre. ... This Academy Award was first given for movies made in 1948 when separate awards were given for black-and-white and color movies. ...

• Best Adapted Screenplay - Alan Jay Lerner
• Best Film Editing - William Ziegler
• Best Supporting Actor - Stanley Holloway
• Best Supporting Actress - Gladys Cooper

My Fair Lady also won the BAFTA Best Film. The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. ... Alan Jay Lerner (August 31, 1918 – June 14, 1986) was an American Broadway lyricist and librettist. ... The Academy Award for Film Editing was first given for films issued in 1934. ... The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is one of the awards given to male actors working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. ... Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. ... This page lists the winners of the BAFTA Award for Best Film for each year, along with the nominees. ...

It ranks at #91 on the American Film Institute list of the greatest American movies of all time and in 2006 it ranked #8 on their list of best musicals. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The first of the AFI 100 Years. ... Part of the AFI 100 Years. ...

Restoration

By the 1990s, the original film elements had fallen into disrepair from heavy printing and there was fear of total deterioration. Film restorers Robert A. Harris and James C. Katz, in conjunction with 20th Century Fox (whose home video division previously held the rights to the CBS library including My Fair Lady), were brought in to save the film. They succeeded in preserving the film's image quality for future generations. A 30th anniversary re-issue in 1994 by Fox reinforced the film's popularity. Robert A. Harris is a film historian and preservationist who has restored and reconstructed a number of classic films. ... James C. Katz is a film historian and preservationist who has restored and reconstructed a number of classic films. ... Twentieth (20th) Century Fox Film Corporation (known from 1935 to 1985 as Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation) is one of the six major American film studios. ...

Past animated remake

In 1995 Fox executives gave animation directors/producers Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, then newly appointed as the creative heads of Fox Animation Studios, the choice between creating an animated re-make of either My Fair Lady or the 1956 Fox film Anastasia. Bluth and Goldman chose to make the animated film Anastasia, which became the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film in 1997. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Gary Goldman (born November 17, 1944 in Oakland, California) is American animator, director, and producer. ... Fox Animation Studios was a short-lived traditional animation studio, a division of 20th Century Fox, headed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. ... Anastasia is a 1956 film which tells the true story of a young, confused woman in France after the Russian Revolution who, backed by the Russian emigre community, attempts to pass herself off as Anastasia Nicolaievna Romanova, the daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. ... Anastasia is an American Academy Award-nominated animated feature film produced and directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman at Fox Animation Studios, and was released on November 14, 1997 by Twentieth Century Fox. ... Walt Disney Feature Animation (WDFA) is the animation studio that makes up a key element of The Walt Disney Company. ...

2009/2010 remake starring Keira Knightley

In early June 2008 it was reported that a remake in the work starring Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Carribean, Bend it Like Beckham Atonement) as Eliza Doolittle was in pre-production for a release in either 2009 or 2010.

References

For the in-memory database management system, see In-memory database. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

My Fair Lady

• My Fair Lady Official Fox site for the film.
• My Fair Lady at the Internet Movie Database
• George Groves - the Oscar-Winning, Movie Sound Pioneer Making of My Fair Lady soundtrack
• Complete list of actors who were considered for roles
• Large collection of film stills, news photos and publicity material (French language)