Why didn't they let Audrey Hepburn sing in My Fair Lady?
When Audrey Hepburn (Eliza Doolittle) was first informed that her voice wasn't strong enough and that she would have to be dubbed, she walked out. She returned the next day and, in a typically graceful Hepburn gesture, apologized to everybody for her "wicked behavior."
Audrey Hepburn had the star power the studio wanted for their adaption of My Fair Lady, and she received approximately 1.1 million dollars for the role – even more than Elizabeth Taylor had for 1963's Cleopatra.
Why was Julie Andrews not chosen for My Fair Lady?
According to The Hollywood Reporter, lyricist Alan Jay Lerner had his eye on Andrews for My Fair Lady's film adaptation. "I so wanted you to do it, Julie, but they wanted a name," Lerner shared. This was in reference to Hepburn's status in the film industry compared to Andrew's.
Did Audrey Hepburn sing her parts in My Fair Lady?
Hepburn got the part over Julie Andrews for the role of Eliza Doolittle, despite the fact she couldn't sing. She took singing lessons in an attempt to improve, but still couldn't cut it. As a result, Marni Nixon was drafted in to perform the vocals instead.
My Fair Lady 1964 - The Making of My Fair Lady Then & Now
Who sang for Eliza in My Fair Lady?
As the voice of Maria in 'West Side Story' and Eliza Doolittle in 'My Fair Lady', Marni Nixon should have been one of Hollywood's biggest stars. Instead, other actors got the credit and she became American cinema's 'most unsung singer', writes Alexandra Pollard.
Marni Nixon was Hollywood's great unsung singer. She dubbed the voices of Audrey Hepburn in 'My Fair Lady', Deborah Kerr in 'The King and I' and Natalie Wood in 'West Side Story'.
My Fair Lady, American musical film, released in 1964, that was adapted from the long-running Broadway musical of the same name and proved to be a great popular and critical success. The movie, which starred Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn, won eight Academy Awards, including that for best picture.
How old was Julie Andrews when she was in My Fair Lady?
When My Fair Lady opened on Broadway 60 years ago—on Mar. 15, 1956—TIME's reviewer called it “a delight” and noted that “Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews play Higgins and Eliza to perfection.” As related by the article, the then-20-year-old Andrews had been singing since the age of 8.
However, when studio executives informed her that Elizabeth Taylor would play Eliza Doolittle if she didn't accept it, Hepburn decided to take the job. Although the actress was admired for her girl next door beauty and classy composure, her singing voice proved subpar for the film.
My Fair Lady also won Academy Awards for Best Actor (Rex Harrison), Color Art Direction-Set Decoration (Gene Allen, Cecil Beaton, and George James Hopkins), Color Cinematography (Harry Stradling), Color Costume Design (Cecil Beaton), Directing (George Cukor), Music – Scoring of Music, adaptation or treatment (Andre ...
Why didn't Audrey Hepburn win an Oscar for My Fair Lady?
Warner didn't think she was "known" enough as a movie actress. Many felt that this snub, as well as Audrey Hepburn's singing being dubbed, led to Hepburn's not being nominated for the Best Actress for the Oscar nomination.
Doolittle, though, is always assumed to have been an entirely fictional character; the romantic dream, initially, of the playwright George Bernard Shaw and then, later, the heroine of the hit Lerner and Loewe musical, My Fair Lady.
How old was Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's?
Audrey Hepburn was thirty-one years old when playing Holly. Holly Golightly wears the same dresses all the way through the movie, simply changing the accessories to give each outfit a different look.
She was married to Ferrer until 1968, and during the marriage, Hepburn gave birth to her first child. In 1969, Hepburn married a psychiatrist named Andrea Dotti. She gave birth to her second child in 1970. According to a profile in People Magazine, Hepburn had five miscarriages during her lifetime.
It has come to my attention that a substantial number of people do not realise that the title of My Fair Lady is a pun. It's a play on the way a Lisson Grove-raised flower girl like Eliza Doolittle might pronounce Mayfair, if she wasn't really a cockney at all but merely a Hollywood actor pretending to be one.
The entire movie was filmed at Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, California, from August to December 1963. Principal filming took place on six stages of the studio, specifically 4, 7, 8, 11, 16, and 26.
The record for most wins is four, held by Katharine Hepburn. Frances McDormand has won three times, and twelve other actresses have won the award twice. Meryl Streep has received the most nominations in the category—seventeen—and has won twice.
A child actress and singer, Andrews appeared in the West End in 1948 and made her Broadway debut in The Boy Friend (1954). Billed as "Britain's youngest prima donna", she rose to prominence in Broadway musicals starring as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady (1956) and Queen Guinevere in Camelot (1960).
Cast in the lead of the musical, as Dr. Henry Higgins, was legendary leading man Rex Harrison. Opposite him, as Eliza Doolittle, was a young (age 21) Julie Andrews, who just a season before had been a sensation in Broadway's “The Boyfriend.” Rounding out the cast was Stanley Holloway and Cathleen Nesbitt.
My Fair Lady infamously dubbed Hepburn's vocals with Marni Nixon's. In spite of all the Hollywood drama, things seemingly worked out for the best. Shortly after, Andrews was cast in Disney's smash hit Mary Poppins — which succeeded My Fair Lady in both box office earnings and Oscars nominations and trophies in 1964.
