My Fair Lady Overview:

My Fair Lady (1964) was a Drama - Family Film directed by George Cukor and produced by Jack L. Warner.

The film was based on the musical of the same name written by Alan Jay Lerner performed at the Mark Hellinger Theatre, NY, & Broadhurst Theatre, NY & Broadway Theatre, NY from Mar 15, 1956 - Sep 29, 1962.

SYNOPSIS

Lerner and Loewe's Broadway success comes to the screen with a ravishing Hepburn in the title role made famous onstage by Julie Andrews and Harrison repeating the character of Dr. Henry Higgins. The now-familiar story of the Cockney market girl who conquers society as well as her mentor's heart is beautifully realized by Cukor, assisted by sets and costumes designed by famed photographer Cecil Beaton (the Ascot Races sequence is a virtual runway fashion show of Beaton's glamorous handiwork), and the invisible Marni Nixon as Hepburn's singing voice. Memorable songs include: "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," "The Rain in Spain Stays Mainly in the Plain," and "You Did It!" among many others. This quintessential film musical was based on Shaw's 1913 play, Pygmalion. The 30th anniversary video includes a fully restored print, the original theatrical trailer, promotional film, and CBS news footage of the star-studded premiere.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

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Academy Awards 1964 --- Ceremony Number 37 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best ActorRex HarrisonWon
Best Supporting ActorStanley HollowayNominated
Best Supporting ActressGladys CooperNominated
Best Art DirectionArt Direction: Gene Allen, Cecil Beaton; Set Decoration: George James HopkinsWon
Best CinematographyHarry StradlingWon
Best Costume DesignCecil BeatonWon
Best DirectorGeorge CukorWon
Best Film EditingWilliam ZieglerNominated
Best Music - ScoringAndre PrevinWon
Best PictureJack L. Warner, ProducerWon
Best WritingAlan Jay LernerNominated
.

BlogHub Articles:

Silver Screen Standards: Eliza?s Voice in My Fair Lady (1964)

By Jennifer Garlen on Aug 10, 2021 From Classic Movie Hub Blog

Silver Screen Standards: Eliza?s Voice in My Fair Lady (1964) The socio-economic and geographical markers of dialect loom large in George Bernard Shaw?s influential play, Pygmalion, its 1938 film adaptation, and the splashy musical version that stars Audrey Hepburn as the fair lady of its title.... Read full article


Win Tickets to see ?TCM Big Screen Classics: My Fair Lady? (Giveaway runs now through Feb 2)

By Annmarie Gatti on Jan 21, 2019 From Classic Movie Hub Blog

Win tickets to see ?My Fair Lady? on the Big Screen! In Select Cinemas Nationwide Sun Feb 17 and Wed Feb 20 ?Aowh, wouldn’t it be lover-ly.? CMH continues with?our?4th year of our partnership with Fathom Events?- with the 2nd?of our 14 movie ticket giveaways for 2019, courtesy of Fathom Events... Read full article


My Fair Lady (1964)

By Beatrice on Apr 29, 2018 From Flickers in Time

My Fair Lady Directed by George Cukor Written by Alan Jay Lerner from a play by George Bernard Shaw 1964/USA Warner Bros. Repeat viewing/Netflix rental One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die Beautiful music, great acting, gorgeous production values. ?Who could ask for anything more? Profe... Read full article


31 Days of Oscar Blogathon 2015 (Week 3: The Crafts) : My Fair Lady and the Outstanding Costumes of Cecil Beaton

By The Wonderful World of Cinema on Feb 18, 2015 From The Wonderful World of Cinema

I have to say that Cecil Beaton is my favourite photographer, but he was also an incredible costume designer. He created the costumes of 14 movies:?Kipps, Dangerous Moonlight, On Approval, The Young Mr. Pitt, Anna Karenina (1948), An Ideal Husband, Beware of Pity, Dandy Dick,?The Truth about Women,?... Read full article


My Fair Lady (1964)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Jan 19, 2014 From 4 Star Films

Adapted from the play?Pygmalion, originally written by George Bernard Shaw,?My Fair Lady?stars Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. It follows a speech therapist (Harrison) as he tries to win a bet with an old?acquaintance?that he can pass off a poor flower girl as a duchess. He takes Eliza Doolittle (H... Read full article


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Quotes from

Eliza Doolittle: I'm a good girl, I am!


Professor Henry Higgins: Mother!
Mrs. Higgins: What is it, Henry? What's happened?
Professor Henry Higgins: [quietly, bewildered] She's gone.
Mrs. Higgins: Well, of course, dear, what did you expect?
Professor Henry Higgins: What... what am I to do?
Mrs. Higgins: Do without, I suppose.
[pause]
Professor Henry Higgins: And so I shall! If the Higgins oxygen burns up her little lungs, let her seek some stuffiness that suits her. She's an owl sickened by a few days of my sunshine. Very well, let her go, I can do without her. I can do without anyone. I have my own soul! My own spark of divine fire!
[storms outs]
Mrs. Higgins: Bravo, Eliza.


Professor Henry Higgins: The question is not whether I've treated you rudely but whether you've ever heard me treat anyone else better.


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Facts about

Audrey Hepburn later admitted she would never have accepted the role of Eliza Dolittle if she had known that producer Jack L. Warner intended to have nearly all of her singing dubbed. After making "My Fair Lady", Audrey Hepburn resolved not to appear in another film musical unless she could do the singing on her own.
"My Fair Lady" is the only Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe stage musical to have been filmed totally complete, with no omission of any songs from the stage version (or dialogue, for that matter). There are even some added lyrics to the song "You Did It", in which Higgins goes more into detail about the speech "expert" Zoltan Karpathy's evaluation of Eliza at the ball, that were not in the stage version. My Fair Lady, West Side Story, and South Pacific may be the most complete film adaptations of Broadway musicals ever made.
When Eliza Dolittle demands to see what Henry Higgins has been writing about her, in the beginning of the film, he shows her his notebook, which she cannot read. The notation in the notebook is "Visible Speech", a phonetic notation invented by Alexander Melville Bell (father of Alexander Graham Bell) and extended and used heavily by Henry Sweet, a real-life phonetician and apparently the basis of the Henry Higgins character.
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Best Picture Oscar 1964






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