My Fair Lady

My Fair Lady
Warner Bros., 1964, Color, 170 minutes, ****
Premiere release October, 1964
General release December, 1964


This is one of the big ones. Ranks right up there with "The Sound of Music" in terms of popularity. One of the very best of all the movies!

A very popular classic musical featuring unforgettable music by Lerner and Loewe. Audrey Hepburn is Liza Doolittle, a common flower girl in London. Rex Harrison is a phonics professor who claims he can take this common flower girl and transform her into a refined lady convincing enough to attend an embassy ball. It's mainly her accent, he claims, that determines her social standing. He does, indeed, transform her, but not without many trials and tribulations along the way. And not without falling in love with her.

A beautifully staged film, wonderful costumes, perfect performances from the entire cast. Stanley Holloway reprises his role from the stage production. Musical highlights are numerous, including "Wouldn't It Be Loverly," "I Could Have Danced All Night," "On the Street Where You Live," "Get Me to the Church On Time," and "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face." The "Ascot Gavotte" scene is one of the funniest scenes in any musical comedy, and is absolutely flawlessly executed by the wonderful Audrey Hepburn!

Produced by: Jack L. Warner
Directed by: George Cukor
Assistant Director: David Hall
Screenplay by: Alan Jay Lerner
Based upon the musical play as produced on the stage by Herman Levin, Book and Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, Music by Frederick Loewe
From a play by Bernard Shaw (Pygmalion)
Music Supervised and Conducted by: Andre Previn
Musical Score: Frederick Loewe
Lyrics by: Alan Jay Lerner
Music by: Frederick Loewe
Additional Music [for movie] by: Frederick Loewe
Vocal Arrangements by: Robert Tucker
Orchestrations by: Alexander Courage, Robert Franklyn, Al Woodbury
Choreography by: Hermes Pan
Costumes, Scenery and Production Designed by: Cecil Beaton
Art Director: Gene Allen
Set Decorator: George James Hopkins
Costume Design: Cecil Beaton
Makeup Supervisor: Gordon Bau
Supervising Hair Stylist: Jean Burt Reilly
Sound by: Francis J. Scheid, Murray Spivack
Director of Photography: Harry Stradling
Filmed in Technicolor, Super Panavision 70
Film Editor: William Ziegler

Academy Awards: Winner of 8 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor (Rex Harrison), Best Art Direction / Set Decoration, Color (Gene Allen, Cecil Beaton, George James Hopkins), Best Cinematography - Color (Harry Stradling), Best Costume Design, Color (Cecil Beaton), Best Director (Cukor), Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment (André Previn), Best Sound (George Groves), Nominated for: Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Stanley Holloway), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Gladys Cooper), Best Film Editing (William H. Ziegler), Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Alan Jay Lerner)

Cast: Audrey Hepburn [Eliza Doolittle], Rex Harrison [Professor Henry Higgins], Stanley Holloway [Alfred P. Doolittle], Wilfrid Hyde-White [Colonel Hugh Pickering], Gladys Cooper [Mrs. Higgins], Jeremy Brett [Freddy Eynsford-Hill], Theodore Bikel [Zoltan Karpathy], Mona Washbourne [Mrs. Pearce], Isobel Elsom [Mrs. Eynsford-Hill], John Alderson [Jamie], John McLiam [Harry], Ben Wrigley, Clive Halliday, Richard Peel, Eric Heath, James O'Hara [Costermongers], Kendrick Huxham, Frank Baker [Elegant Bystanders], Britannia Beatey [Daughter of Elegant Bystander], Walter Burke [Main Bystander], Queenie Leonard [Cockney Bystander], Laurie Main [Hoxton Man], Maurice Dallimore [Selsey Man], Owen McGiveney [Man at Coffee Stand], Marjorie Bennett [Cockney with Pipe], Beatrice Greenough [Grand Lady], Hilda Plowright [Bystander], Dinah Anne Rogers, Lois Battle [Maids], Jacqueline Squire [Parlor Maid], Gwendolyn Watts [Cook], Eugene Hoffman, Kai Farrelli [Jugglers], Raymond Foster, Joe Evans, Marie Busch, Mary Alexander, William Linkie, Henry Sweetman, Andrew Brown, Samuel Holmes, Thomas Dick, William Taylor, James Wood, Goldie Kleban, Elizabeth Aimers, Joy Tierney, Lenore Miller, Donna Day, Corinne Ross, David Robel [Cockneys], Iris Bristol, Alma Lawton [Flower Girls], Gigi Michel, Sandy Steffens, Sandy Edmundson, Marlene Marrow, Carol Merrill, Sue Bronson, Lea Genovese [Toffs], Jack Greening [George], Ron Whelan [Algernon the Bartender], John Holland [Butler], Roy Dean [Footman], Charles Fredericks [King], Lillian Kemble-Cooper [Lady Ambassador], Barbara Pepper [Doolittle's Dance Partner], Ayllene Gibbons [Fat Woman at Pub], Baroness Rothschild [Queen of Transylvania], Ben Wright [Footman at Ball], Oscar Beregi, Jr. [Greek Ambassador], Buddy Bryan [Prince], Grady Sutton, Orville Sherman, Harvey Dunn, Barbara Morrison, Natalie Core, Helen Albrecht, Diana Bourbon [Ascot Types], Moyna MacGill [Lady Boxington], Colin Campbell, Marjory Hawtrey, Paulle Clark, Allyson Daniell, Betty Blythe [Ad Libs at Ball], Nick Navarro [Dancer], Tom Cound, William Beckley [Footmen], Alan Napier [Ambassador], Geoffrey Steele [Taxi Driver], Jennifer Crier [Mrs. Higgins' Maid], Henry Daniell [Prince Gregor of Transylvania], Patrick O'Moore [Man], Victor Rogers [Policeman], Michael St. Clair [Bartender], Brendan Dillon [Leaning Man], Olive Reeves-Smith [Mrs. Hopkins], Miriam Schiller [Landlady], Elzada Wilson, Jeanne Carson, Buddy Shea, Jack Goldie, Sid Marion, Stanley Fraser, George Pelling, Colin Kenny, LaWana Backer, Monika Henreid, Anne Dore, Pauline Drake, Shirley Melline, Wendy Russell, Meg Brown, Clyde Howdy, Nick Wolcuff, Martin Eric, John Mitchum [Ad Libs at Church], Phyllis Kennedy [Cockney / Ad Lib at Church], Major Sam Harris [Guest at Ball], Marni Nixon ]Eliza Doolittle's singing voice], Bill Shirley [Freddy Eynsford-Hill's singing voice]

Musical Program: [0:00] Overture (played by Orchestra behind titles); [0:10] Why Can't the English (performed by Rex Harrison); [0:14] Wouldn't It Be Loverly (sung and danced by Audrey Hepburn and Costermonger Ensemble, Marni Nixon dubbing for Audrey Hepburn); [0:40] I'm an Ordinary Man (performed by Rex Harrison); [0:45] With a Little Bit of Luck (sung and danced by Stanley Holloway and Ensemble); [1:00] Just You Wait (sung by Audrey Hepburn and Charles Fredericks, Marni Nixon dubbing for Audrey Hepburn); [1:06] Servants' Chorus (Poor Professor Higgins, performed by Servant Ensemble); [1:13] The Rain in Spain (sung by Rex Harrison, Audrey Hepburn and Wilfrid Hyde-White, Marni Nixon dubbing for Audrey Hepburn); [1:17] I Could Have Danced All Night (sung by Marni Nixon dubbing for Audrey Hepburn, Mona Washbourne and Ensemble); [1:21] Ascot Gavotte (performed by Ensemble); [1:34] On the Street Where You Live (sung by Bill Shirley dubbing for Jeremy Brett); [1:41] Intermission; [1:52] You Did It (sung by Rex Harrison, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Mona Washbourne and Ensemble); [2:05] Just You Wait (reprised by Marni Nixon dubbing for Audrey Hepburn); [2:06] On the Street Where You Live (reprised by Bill Shirley dubbing for Jeremy Brett); [2:08] Show Me (sung by Marni Nixon dubbing for Audrey Hepburn and Bill Shirley dubbing for Jeremy Brett); [2:11] Wouldn't It Be Loverly (reprised by Marni Nixon and Costermonger Ensemble); [2:17] Get Me to the Church on Time (performed by Stanley Holloway and Ensemble); [2:26] A Hymn to Him (performed by Rex Harrison with Wilfrid Hyde-White); [2:38] Without You (performed by Rex Harrison and Marni Nixon dubbing for Audrey