Question about Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady.

I think her performance was worthy of a nomination, but not the win. There was so much backlash at the time for Jack Warner overlooking Andrews as Eliza and casting a big movie star. The truth is, he needed one big film name to carry the expensive project. It was either replace Andrews or replace Harrison. He went after Cary Grant at first, and one would assume that if Grant had said yes, Julie Andrews would have played Eliza and not Mary Poppins on screen.

So I'm glad things worked out the way they did. Also, the competition that year was as follows:

Julie Andrews - Mary Poppins (winner)
Anne Bancroft - The Pumpkin Eater
Sophia Loren - Marriage, Italian Style
Debbie Reynolds - The Unsinkable Molly Brown
Kim Stanley - Seance On a Wet Afternoon

I haven't seen The Pumpkin Eater or Marriage, Italian Style, but I've seen the others, all worthy nominees.

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I like Debbie Reynolds very much, but I don't think she is at all good in THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN. She pushes much too hard in a very dull movie. Audrey, an unfortunate victim of a crazy backlash that year, should have been nominated over her in my opinion.

"Btw, was Julie Andrews's Oscar win part sympathy? I would hate to think that I received some votes out of pity because I was passed over for a role."

Less sympathy than solidarity. It probably helped that Sophia, Anne and Audrey had already won Oscars and that Kim's movie was on the obscure side.

I think Warners (it probably had more to do with Lerner) should have used Audrey's OK vocals on Wouldn't It Be Loverly? and Just You Wait (and their reprises). There might have been less initial aversion to her performance.

Earlier this year, I saw a screening of MFL on a giant screen at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. It was my first time seeing the film in its entirety since I was a kid. As a kid my focus was largely on Audrey. I mean, why wouldn't it be? Such a beautiful screen presence and, wow, those costumes and, of course, the "prettier" of the songs. But seeing the film as an adult was a revelation I (and the entire capacity audience) were entirely in the palm of Rex Harrison's palm. One of the funniest and smartest screen performances I've ever seen. And one perfectly modulated for the screen. I know he had the benefit of playing the role on stage hundreds (thousands?) of times, but it was clearly perfect casting and as charming and beautiful as Hepburn is, he totally outshone her. If, as bestbars has suggested, Jack Warner had to have one star in the film, I'm glad that we got to keep Rex Harrison over Julie. I can't imagine the film being 1/10th of what it was with Cary Grant or anyone else for that matter.

Disney waited on Julie Andrews to make Mary Poppins due to her pregnancy, correct? Is there any chance they would've waited again if she had done My Fair Lady, or was the movie needed to be made right then?

Also, just curious, was it publicly known that Audrey didn't do her own singing back when the movie first premiered? I thought I remember hearing about how Marni Nixon was sworn to secrecy at the time, but maybe I'm making things up. This topic really fascinates me, for some reason.

I was 10 and I knew that Hepburn had been dubbed and by whom, and--supposedly--that Warner tried to keep it a secret. My mother knew it and she was a stereotypical, lower middle class, 60s housewife in a small, South Florida town, not someone with inside info.

The problem with MFL was not just the tremendous affection the public had for Julie Andrews because of her appearances on Ed Sullivan and the phenomenal success of her original cast recordings. And it wasn't just that Hepburn (also beloved) was dubbed. In my opinion, the problem (compared to Deborah Kerr in THE KING AND I) was that the dubbing is so jarring. Every time Marnie Nixon sings, the viewer is reminded that Hepburn has stopped; the latter even LOOKS uncomfortable to me, though I'll admit that might be my imagination.

best12, your analogy of stunt doubling is apt, but I hope they don't give Oscars to the leads of action movies, at least not as a rule. When an actor is playing a vehicle role in a musical, then I think not singing the lion's share of the part should in fact disqualify him or her from nomination. If Hepburn had been dubbed for "Moon River", so what? But as Eliza Doolittle? How much "performance" is left?

Updated On: 12/14/13 at 08:34 PM

I definitely think Audrey deserved a nomination. I've always thought so. Never mind the singing -- look how well she holds her own in some of the dramatic scenes, like the fight with Higgins after the ball, or the confrontation with him at his mother's house. I agree with everyone who said Harrison is brilliant, but she goes up against him fearlessly.

This was the first Audrey Hepburn movie I ever saw (I was 11 or so), and I was deeply impressed by her performance. I still am, nearly three decades later. Her Eliza was one of my ideals of what a strong, gutsy woman looks like.

Both Audrey Hepburn and Natalie Wood were dubbed after the fact. Each actress pre-recorded their own vocals and performed on camera to their own tracks. Marni came in after the fact and re-dubbed the singing.

Only Deborah Kerr knew in advance that she would be dubbed by Marni in The King and I, and the two worked closely together prior to recording, during, and after, to make sure it was believable ... which is probably why I think it's the most successful of Marni's dubbed roles. There are times where it's very hard to tell the difference even when you know a switch is coming. I also think that helped them plan the technical recording of it better.

When you hear a switch in My Fair Lady or West Side Story, some of it has to do with the physical recording ... the room ambience doesn't match, the volume isn't quite right, the echo (or lack of it) doesn't fit the words that come before it, etc. That doesn't help the illusion any.

All in all, I think Marni did a great job of matching Audrey, and there are only a few instances where I hear a noticeable switch.

Oh, as far as privacy goes, yes, Marni was sworn to secrecy. And it wasn't publicly acknowledged or discussed for many years, even if people "knew." It was never confirmed back then.

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Good lord, no. You're talking about her added notes at the end of Do Re Mi? She did that herself, working it out with the music director. It wasn't written that way, but they both thought it was a good idea. And it was!

Kurt's high note at the end of his solo in So Long, Farewell was dubbed by Charmian Carr's younger sister Darlene Carr, who sang on all the group singing sections in the movie. They had a few extra kids for the recording to make them sound fuller, and Darlene Carr was one of them. She sang Kurt's high note. She also was the singing voice of the Girl at the end of Disney's The Jungle Book, where Mowgli goes after her, etc.

Darlene Carr, "ghost singer" in The Sound of Music:

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Thanks for all the background info, best12! Although I don't find Hepburn entirely comfortable in the musical numbers, I didn't mean to blame the bad dubbing primarily on Hepburn OR Nixon. My point is that the entire effort is a failure on the part of everyone involved--and probably the greatest blame lies with the studio techs.

I still have trouble wrapping my mind around the image of Kerr and Nixon standing side by side in a recording booth, singing alternate notes. THAT was indeed an achievement!

Best 12, I think I remember in Hepburn's bio the author said that by the time the film was released there was virtually nothing left of Audrey's vocals and the author blames this fact on why she wasn't nominated. And that a nom would have been wrong for that reason. It's, of course, one writer's opinion. And perhaps a justification.
And I disagree that Hepburn was one note. She did employ a lot of her own personality in her roles, but she was subtle and touching in so many of her early movies.

I'm not sure how true it is, but Julie Andrews not being included in the CAMELOT movie was reportedly because of a feud with Richard Harris from when they were in HAWAII together. They originaly wanted both leads to reprise their stage roles, but Richard Burton wasn't available, so Harris was cast instead and Julie opted out.

She was of course replaced by Vanessa Redgrave, who I think does marvelously.