My Fair Lady (1964)
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95% of critics liked it
(40 reviews) -
87% of users liked it
(166,248 ratings)
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… More 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, Rovi
- Directed By
- George Cukor, Scott Heming
- Genres
- Kids & Family, Musical & Performing Arts, Comedy
- In Theaters
- Dec 25, 1964 Wide
- Studio
- Warner Bros. Pictures
Critic Reviews
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Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic
Despite all reservations expressed, I must make clear that his fantastically successful show has been converted into a generally entertaining film.
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Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune
A marvelous restoration of the 30-year-old musical, precisely the kind of high-class popular entertainment that Hollywood can't seem to make these days.
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Robert J. Landry, Variety
A stunningly effective screen entertainment.
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Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Lerner and Loewe's musical masterwork, reimagined for film by director George Cukor.
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Geoff Andrew, Time Out
Hepburn is clearly awkward as the Cockney Eliza in the first half, and in general the adaptation is a little too reverential to really come alive.
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Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Audrey Hepburn
as Eliza Doolittle
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Rex Harrison
as Prof. Henry Higgins
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Stanley Holloway
as Alfred P. Doolittle
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Wilfrid Hyde-White
as Col. Pickering
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Gladys Cooper
as Mrs. Higgins
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Jeremy Brett
as Freddy Eynsford-Hill
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Theodore Bikel
as Zoltan Karpathy
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Mona Washbourne
as Mrs. Pearce
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John Holland
as Butler
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John Alderson
as Jamie
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Frank Baker
as Elegant Bystander
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William Beckley
as Footman
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Marjorie Bennett
as Cockney with Pipe
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Oscar Beregi Sr.
as Greek Ambassador
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Betty Blythe
as Ad Lib at Ball
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Walter Burke
as Main Bystander
- Robert Coote
- Natalie Core
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Maurice Dallimore
as Selsey Man
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Henry Daniell
as Gregor of Transylvania
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Roy Dean
as Footman
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Brendan Dillon
as Leaning Man
- Pauline Drake
- Harvey B. Dunn
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Isobel Elsom
as Mrs. Eynsford-Hill
- Martin Eric
- Joe Evans
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Charles E. Fredericks
as King
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Sam Harris
as Guest at Ball
- Monika Henreid
- Clyde Howdy
- Kendrick Huxham
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Lillian Kemble-Cooper
as Lady Ambassador
- Phyllis Kennedy
- Colin Kenny
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Alma Lawton
as Flower Girl
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Queenie Leonard
as Cockney Bystander
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Moyna MacGill
as Lady Boxington
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Laurie Main
as Hoxton Man
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Owen McGiveney
as Man at Coffee Stand
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John McLiam
as Harry
- Carol Merrill
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John Mitchum
as Ad Libs at Church
- Barbara Morrison
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Alan Napier
as Ambassador
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Marni Nixon
as Eliza [singing]
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Pat O'Moore
as Man
- Richard Peel
- George Pelling
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Barbara Pepper
as Doolittle's Dance Partner
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Hilda Plowright
as Bystander
- Jack Raine
- Dinah Anne Rogers
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Victor Rogers
as Policeman
- Wendy Russell
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Bill Shirley
as Freddy [singing]
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Geoffrey Steele
as Taxi Driver
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Grady Sutton
as Dancer at Ball
- William Taylor
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Gwendolyn Watts
as Cook
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Ron Whelan
as Algernon/Bartender
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Ben Wright
as Footman at Ball
- Ben Wrigley
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Diana Bourbon
as Ascot Type
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Colin Campbell
as Ascot Gavotte
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Nick Navarro
as Dancer
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Michael St. Clair
as Bartender
- James Wood
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David Robel
as Cockney
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Ayllene Gibbons
as Fat Woman at Pub
- Sid Marion
- Orville Sherman
- Paulle Clark
- Tom Cound
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Allyson Daniell
as Ad Libs at Ascot
- Anne Dore
- Raymond Foster
- Stanley Fraser
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Jack Greening
as George
- Eric Heath
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James O'Hara
as Costermonger
- Nick Wolcuff
- Andrew Brown
- Andrea Libman
- Whoopi Goldberg
- Chantal Strand
- Brittney Irvin
- Jim Byrnes
- Shannon Chan-Kent
- Christopher Gaze
- Christopher Plummer
- Mackenzie Gray
- French Tickner
- Marilyn Lightstone



