My Fair Lady (1964)

Director:

George Cukor

Writers:

Alan Jay Lerner (book)
George Bernard Shaw (play)
(more)

Release Date:

25 December 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Family | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

The loverliest motion picture of them all!

Plot:

A misogynistic and snobbish phonetics professor agrees to a wager that he can take a flower girl and make her presentable in high society.

Plot Keywords:

Fish Out Of Water | Male Female Relationship | Aristocrat | Price Of Fame | Cinderella Story

Awards:

Won 8 Oscars. Another 12 wins & 10 nominations

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 Holland	...	Butler
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Elizabeth Aimers	...	Cockney (uncredited)
Helen Albrecht	...	Ascot extra (uncredited)
John Alderson	...	Jamie (uncredited)
Mary Alexander	...	Cockney (uncredited)
LaWana Backer	...	Ad lib at Church (uncredited)
Frank Baker	...	Elegant bystander (uncredited)
Lois Battle	...	Second Maid (uncredited)
Brittania Beatey	...	Daughter of elegant bystander (uncredited)
William Beckley	...	Footman (uncredited)
Marjorie Bennett	...	Cockney with Pipe (uncredited)
Oscar Beregi Jr.	...	Greek Ambassador (uncredited)
Betty Blythe	...	Lady at Ball (uncredited)
Diana Bourbon	...	Ascot extra (uncredited)
Iris Bristol	...	Flower Girl (uncredited)
Sue Bronson	...	Toff (uncredited)
Andy Brown	...	Cockney (uncredited)
Meg Brown	...	Ad lib at Church (uncredited)
Buddy Bryant	...	Prince of Transylvania (uncredited)
Walter Burke	...	Bystander who warns Eliza (uncredited)
Bea Marie Busch	...	Cockney (uncredited)
Colin Campbell	...	Ascot Gavotte (uncredited)
Jeannie Carson	...	Ad lib at Church (uncredited)
Paulle Clark	...	Ad lib at Ascot (uncredited)
Natalie Core	...	Ascot extra (uncredited)
Tom Cound	...	Footman (uncredited)
Jennifer Crier	...	Mrs. Higgins' Maid (uncredited)
Maurice Dallimore	...	Selsey Man (uncredited)
Allison Daniell	...	Ad lib at Ascot (uncredited)
Henry Daniell	...	Ambassador (uncredited)
Donna Day	...	Cockney (uncredited)
Roy Dean	...	Footman (uncredited)
Thomas Dick	...	Cockney (uncredited)
Brendan Dillon	...	Leading Man (uncredited)
Anne Dore	...	Ad lib at Church (uncredited)
Pauline Drake	...	Ad lib at Church (uncredited)
Harvey B. Dunn	...	Ascot extra (uncredited)
Sandy Edmundson	...	Toff (uncredited)
Joe Evans	...	Cockney (uncredited)
Kai Farelli	...	Juggler (uncredited)
Raymond Foster	...	Cockney (uncredited)
Raymond Foster	...	Bit part (uncredited)
Stanley Fraser	...	Ad lib at Church (uncredited)
Charles E. Fredericks	...	King George V, in fantasy sequence (uncredited)
Lea Genovese	...	Toff (uncredited)
Ayllene Gibbons	...	Fat Woman at Pub (uncredited)
Jack Goldie	...	Ad lib at Church (uncredited)
Jack Greening	...	George (uncredited)
Beatrice Grenough	...	Grans Lady (uncredited)
Clive Halliday	...	Costermonger (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	Guest at Ball (uncredited)
Marjory Hawtrey	...	Ad lib at Ascot (uncredited)
Eric Heath	...	Costermonger (uncredited)
Monika Henreid	...	Ad lib at Church (uncredited)
Eugene Hoffman	...	Juggler (uncredited)
Samuel Holmes	...	Cockney (uncredited)
James W. Horan	...	(uncredited)
Clyde Howdy	...	Ad lib at Church (uncredited)
Kendrick Huxham	...	Elegant bystander (uncredited)
Lillian Kemble-Cooper	...	Lady Ambassador (uncredited)
Phyllis Kennedy	...	Cockney (uncredited)
Colin Kenny	...	Ad lib at Church (uncredited)
Goldie Kleban	...	Cockney (uncredited)
Peter Ladefoged	...	Voice of linguistics lesson (uncredited)
Alma Lawton	...	Flower Girl (uncredited)
Queenie Leonard	...	Cockney Bystander (uncredited)
William Linkie	...	Cockney (uncredited)
Moyna MacGill	...	Lady Boxington (uncredited)
Laurie Main	...	Hoxton Man not Hoston (uncredited)
Sidney Marion	...	Ad lib at Church (uncredited)
Eric Martin	...	Ad lib at Church (uncredited)
Owen McGiveney	...	Man at Coffee Stand (uncredited)
John McLiam	...	Harry (uncredited)
Shirley Melline	...	Ad lib at Church (uncredited)
Carol Merrill	...	Toff (uncredited)
Gigi Michel	...	Toff (uncredited)
Lenore Miller	...	Cockney (uncredited)
John Mitchum	...	Ad lib at Church (uncredited)
Barbara Morrison	...	Ascot extra (uncredited)
Marlene Morrow	...	Toff (uncredited)
Alan Napier	...	Gentleman escorting Eliza to the Queen (uncredited)
Nick Navarro	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Marni Nixon	...	Eliza Doolittle (singing voice) (uncredited)
James O'Hara	...	Costermonger (uncredited)
Patrick O'Moore	...	Man (uncredited)
Richard Peel	...	Costermonger (uncredited)
George Pelling	...	Ad lib at Church (uncredited)
Barbara Pepper	...	Doolittle's Dance Partner (uncredited)
Hilda Plowright	...	Bystander (uncredited)
Jack Raine	...	Extra (uncredited)
Olive Reeves-Smith	...	Mrs. Hopkins (uncredited)
Christopher Riordan	...	Suitor at Ball (uncredited)
David Robel	...	Cockney (uncredited)
Dinah Anne Rogers	...	First Maid (uncredited)
Victor Rogers	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Corinne Ross	...	Cockney (uncredited)
Baroness Rothschild	...	Queen of Transylvania (uncredited)
Wendy Russell	...	Ad lib at Church (uncredited)
Kenny Salvatt	...	Racegoer in 'Ascot Gavotte' Sequence (uncredited)
Miriam Schiller	...	Landlady (uncredited)
Buddy Shea	...	Ad lib at Church (uncredited)
Orville Sherman	...	Ascot extra (uncredited)
Bill Shirley	...	Freddy Eynsford-Hill (singing voice) (uncredited)
Jacqueline Squire	...	Parlor Maid (uncredited)
Michael St. Clair	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Geoffrey Steele	...	Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Sandy Steffens	...	Toff (uncredited)
Grady Sutton	...	Ascot Extra / Guest at Ball (uncredited)
Henry Sweetman	...	Cockney (uncredited)
William Taylor	...	Cockney (uncredited)
Joy Tierney	...	Cockney (uncredited)
Gwendolyn Watts	...	Cook (uncredited)
Ron Whelan	...	Algernon / Bartender (uncredited)
Elzada Wilson	...	Ad lib at Church (uncredited)
Nick Wolcum	...	Ad lib at Church (uncredited)
James Wood	...	Cockney (uncredited)
Ben Wright	...	Footman at Ball (uncredited)
Ben Wrigley	...	Costermonger (uncredited)

Directed by
George Cukor

Writing credits
Alan Jay Lerner		(book of musical play)
George Bernard Shaw		(play) (as Bernard Shaw)
Alan Jay Lerner		(screenplay)

Produced by
James C. Katz	....	producer (1994 restoration)
Jack L. Warner	....	producer

Original Music by
Frederick Loewe

Cinematography by
Harry Stradling Sr.		(director of photography) (as Harry Stradling)

Film Editing by
William H. Ziegler		(as William Ziegler)

Production Design by
Cecil Beaton
Gene Allen		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Gene Allen
Cecil Beaton		(uncredited)

Set Decoration by
George James Hopkins

Costume Design by
Cecil Beaton
Michael Neuwirth		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Gordon Bau	....	makeup supervisor
Jean Burt Reilly	....	supervising hair stylist
Dean Cole	....	hair stylist (uncredited)
Frank McCoy	....	makeup artist (uncredited)
Robert J. Schiffer	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Sergei Petschnikoff	....	unit manager
Rudi Fehr	....	post-production supervisor (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
David Hall	....	assistant director

Art Department
Cecil Beaton	....	scenery designer

Sound Department
David Behle	....	sound recordist: restoration
Douglas Greenfield	....	stereo sound consultant: Dolby (restoration)
Brian Kane	....	transfer supervisor (restoration)
Jack Keller	....	sound recordist: restoration
Robert J. Litt	....	sound mixer (restoration) (as Robert Litt)
Francis J. Scheid	....	sound
Murray Spivack	....	sound
George Groves	....	sound recordist: studio (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Jay Cox	....	optical and title (1994 restoration)
Tetsuo Kawano	....	optical and title (1994 restoration)
Brad Kuehn	....	digital supervisor (1994 restoration)
Kevin Lingenfelser	....	digital artist: Cinesite (1994 restoration)
Alan G. Markowitz	....	optical and title (1994 restoration) (as Alan Markowitz)
Jerry Pooler	....	digital artist (1994 restoration)
P. Christopher Reyna	....	optical and title (1994 restoration) (as Christopher Reyna)
Thomas J. Smith	....	digital artist (1994 restoration)

Camera and Electrical Department
Gerald Perry Finnerman	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Frank Flanagan	....	gaffer (uncredited)
Michael A. Jones	....	rigging gaffer (uncredited)
Mel Traxel	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Robert Willoughby	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Eleanor Abbey	....	costumer (uncredited)
Dave Berman	....	assistant costume designer (uncredited)
Geoffrey Brown	....	costumer (uncredited)
Norma Brown	....	costumer (uncredited)
Betty Huff	....	costumer (uncredited)
Anne Laune	....	costumer (uncredited)
Bob Richards	....	costumer (uncredited)
Gerda Robinson	....	costume design coordinator (uncredited)
Joe Wiatt	....	costumer (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Joe Gonzalez	....	negative cutter (restoration)
William Pine	....	color timer (restoration) (as Bill Pine)
Boyd Steer	....	negative cutter (restoration)
John F. Burnett	....	assistant film editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Alexander Courage	....	orchestrator
Robert Franklyn	....	orchestrator
Frederick Loewe	....	composer: additional music
André Previn	....	conductor (as Andre Previn)
André Previn	....	music supervisor (as Andre Previn)
Robert Tucker	....	vocal arranger
Albert Woodbury	....	orchestrator (as Al Woodbury)
Bill Shirley	....	singing voice: Jeremy Brett (uncredited)

Other crew
Gil Gagnon	....	production coordinator (restoration)
Robert A. Harris	....	restoration
Michael Hyatt	....	technical assistant
Joanne Lawson	....	assistant: Mr. Harris (restoration)
Greg Leigy	....	technical assistant (restoration)
Herman Levin	....	stage producer: musical play
Hermes Pan	....	choreographer
Leah Barnes	....	milliner (uncredited)
Max Bercutt	....	unit publicist (uncredited)
Carl Combs	....	unit publicist (uncredited)
Wayne Fitzgerald	....	title designer (uncredited)
Peter Ladefoged	....	advisor: phonetics (uncredited)
Mort Lichter	....	unit publicist (uncredited)
Sergei Petschnikoff	....	production administrator (uncredited)
Susan Seton	....	dialogue director (uncredited)

Thanks
Gene Allen	....	special thanks (restored version)

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1964) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1964) (France) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. Films (1964) (Finland) (theatrical)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1973) (USA) (TV) (original airing) (pan/scan)
• CBS/Fox (1990) (USA) (VHS) (pan/scan)
• CBS/Fox (1991) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• CBS/Fox (1992) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Fox Video (1994) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1994) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• CBS Video (1995) (USA) (VHS)
• Fox Video (1995) (USA) (VHS)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (1996) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Encore Entertainment (1998) (UK) (video) (laserdisc)
• Paramount Home Video (2001) (USA) (VHS)
• Abril Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (VHS)
• MGM/CBS Home Video (1980) (USA) (video)
• Oy Europa Vision AB (1995) (Finland) (VHS)
• Oy Fox Films (1977) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Sandrew Metronome Distribution (1999) (Finland) (DVD)
• Showtime (????) (Finland) (video)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (Finland) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1980) (1982) (1991) (1996) (2002) (Finland) (TV)

Other Companies

• DeLuxe Laboratories  65mm preservation interpositive by
• Warner Bros. Studio Services  re-recording facilities: restoration (as Warner Hollywood Studios)
• Goldwyn Sound Facility  re-recording facilities: restoration
• Cinesite  main title and additional scenes digitally restored at
• Imagica USA Inc.  optical and title restoration by
• I.C.E. Negative Cutting  negative cutting: restoration
• Pacific Title  titles: restoration
• Eastman Kodak  restoration produced on film by
• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Film Archive, The  special thanks: restoration
• Boston Light & Sound  special thanks: restoration
• Four Seasons Hotel, Bevely Hills, LA  special thanks: restoration
• Panavision  special thanks: restoration
• Pro-Tek Film Preservation Vault  special thanks: restoration

Runtime:

170 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (RCA Sound Recording) (70 mm prints) | 4-Track Stereo (35 mm magnetic prints) | DTS (re-release) | Dolby Digital (re-release) | Mono (16 mm prints) | Mono (35 mm optical prints)

Certification:

South Korea:All | Iceland:L | Brazil:Livre | Canada:PG (video rating) | USA:Approved (PCA #20570) (original rating) | USA:G (re-rating) (1970) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Chile:TE | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:U | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The 1994 restoration by Robert A. Harris used a variety of methods to return the film to its original condition. The opening credits were digitally re-created using pieces of surviving frames. A few shots were digitally restored by scanning the 65mm negative or separation masters and output back to VistaVision (and enlarged back to 65mm). Some shots were simply re-composited via separation masters. Despite this, most of the film was able to be restored directly from the camera negative. For the sound, only the six-track magnetic print master (used to add sound to 70mm prints) survived. This was digitally restored and used to create a new six-track mix (faithful to the original version), as well as new Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 mixes for modern sound systems.

Goofs:

Continuity: Higgins arm on the back of the chair during 'Let A Woman In Your Life'.

Quotes:

Professor Henry Higgins: Marry Freddy! What an infantile idea, what a heartless, wicked, brainless thing to do. She'll regret it. She'll regret it! It's doomed before they even take the vow.
[sings]
Professor Henry Higgins: I can see her now, "Mrs. Freddy Einsford-Hill," in a wretched little flat above a store. I can see her now! Not a penny in the till, and a bill-collector beating at the door! She'll try to teach the things *I* taught her... and end up selling flowers instead...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Dead Like Me: Send in the Clown (#2.1)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

The Flower Market

Wonderful, but I missed Julie Andrews

I thought the music was wonderful. I thought Audrey Hepburn was just adorable and so full of energy and grace and just fascinating to watch. Rex Harrison was an absolutely perfect Professor Higgins and never wavered or changed character. My problem (a minor one) is with the ending and with the dubbing.

The story is brilliant of course, taken from George Bernard Shaw's acclaimed play Pygmalion, although materially altered to fit the requirements of a musical comedy. The contrast of the unschooled street urchin Liza Doolittle and the stuffy, self-possessed confirmed bachelor, a kind of nineteenth century British man of science, wonderfully accomplished in his profession, but blind to himself when it comes to relationships with other people, made for a most interesting match. And the delusive dream of a man forming his own perfect woman (which is the basis of the Pygmalion legend) works so very well with a conceited linguist tutoring a cockney girl. The entire concept is a work of genius with the drunken father and the objectifying Col. Pickering and the very right Mrs. Pierce.

But there are some problems. Freddy is needed of course as another "objectifying" character to make it clear just how desirable Eliza really is and how foolish and blind Professor Higgins is in not seeing this--in theory, of course, because in practice with Audrey Hepburn or Julie Andrews as Eliza, this would seem entirely unnecessary. And indeed without Freddy we do not have the beautiful "On the Street Where You Live." But even with him Prof. Higgins does not see, and indeed even at the resolution of the story, he still does not see, as he asks for his slippers. If this were presented to current London and Broadway audiences it would never play the way it was written. Professor Higgins would need to see the light and he would have to get his own slippers!

The dubbing and the need for it is curious. There is no doubt that Marni Nixon, who did the singing, has a beautiful and commanding voice, and we are the better for having heard her, but why is the dubbing so obvious? It's almost as if Miss Hepburn is saying to the audience: they said it would be better if Miss Nixon sings instead of me because her voice is stronger and so very well trained. And so Hepburn does not completely lip-sync some of the opening words of songs as though to remind us that she is not singing. And the contrast between her delicate voice and then the sudden power of Marni Nixon's is obvious. Beyond this is the question of why Julie Andrews, who has a voice to match that of Miss Nixon, and charisma and charm at least in the same ballpark as Miss Hepburn, wasn't asked to play the part that she knew so very well from her experience on the stage. Still, as another reviewer has so acutely noted, if she had been asked, we would have missed her in Mary Poppins, which was made the same year. I should also note that Hepburn was 33 or 34 years old when this was made (although she looked almost ten years younger). Nonetheless she was playing the part of "a good girl, I am," whom Pickering identifies in his call to Scotland Yard as being 21 years old.

Curious. But all is forgiven because Audrey Hepburn is just so beautiful, so elegant and so delightful in the part. I especially loved her in the opening scene in her soiled clothes and hat and her sour voice. By the way, I have heard Julie Andrews sing the part, although I never saw her on the stage, and the way she "meow's" Eliza's accent, like a cat's claw on a chalk board, is really amazing. (Get the CD.)

This is one of the best movie musicals ever made, a sheer delight highlighted not only by Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn, but by Stanley Holloway as the Liza's lovable rascal father and Wilfrid Hyde-White as the very understanding and very properly British Col. Pickering with opulent direction by the great George Cukor. The sets and production numbers are gorgeous. But see it for Audrey Hepburn, one of the great stars of the silver screen in one of her most memorable roles.