MJ asks a great question about Julie Andrews in My Fair
Lady. She questions my veracity in referencing Julie Andrews singing any songs
from that musical as it was Audrey Hepburn who played the role in the film.
Right?
Right you are, MJ. Audrey Hepburn did indeed play Eliza Doolittle in the film version. She beat out Julie Andrews for the part, which seemed unfair at the time, as Julie had created that role for the original Broadway production. It seemed like it would be the perfect fit for her to make the transition from stage to film, but it wasn’t to be. Audrey got the part instead, but couldn’t vocallyhandle the tricky Lerner and Loewe songs, so her singing voice was dubbed.
Meanwhile, since Julie had some unexpected free time on her hands, she went on to work for Walt Disney in her first feature film in the role of Mary Poppins…and subsequently won the Academy Award for best actress that year (1964).
As a side note, there is a film coming out this December about the making of Mary Poppins, “Saving Mr. Banks.” It stars Tom Hanks as Walt Disney and Emma Thompson as a resistant PL Travers who doesn’t want her character turned into a singing, animated character. I cannot wait to see it – early buzz (a friend of mine has already seen it) is that it’s practically perfect.
At any rate, that’s why I felt justified in attributing My Fair Lady lyrics to Julie Andrews.
Right you are, MJ. Audrey Hepburn did indeed play Eliza Doolittle in the film version. She beat out Julie Andrews for the part, which seemed unfair at the time, as Julie had created that role for the original Broadway production. It seemed like it would be the perfect fit for her to make the transition from stage to film, but it wasn’t to be. Audrey got the part instead, but couldn’t vocallyhandle the tricky Lerner and Loewe songs, so her singing voice was dubbed.
Meanwhile, since Julie had some unexpected free time on her hands, she went on to work for Walt Disney in her first feature film in the role of Mary Poppins…and subsequently won the Academy Award for best actress that year (1964).
As a side note, there is a film coming out this December about the making of Mary Poppins, “Saving Mr. Banks.” It stars Tom Hanks as Walt Disney and Emma Thompson as a resistant PL Travers who doesn’t want her character turned into a singing, animated character. I cannot wait to see it – early buzz (a friend of mine has already seen it) is that it’s practically perfect.
At any rate, that’s why I felt justified in attributing My Fair Lady lyrics to Julie Andrews.
Thanks, that was really interesting. And now I will be looking forward to seeing the movie as well.
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