My Fair Lady was adapted from the stage musical of the same name, which was based on the George Bernard Shaw play, Pygmalion (1914). The show debuted on Broadway on 15 Mar 1956 with Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison in the lead roles of “Eliza Doolitte” and “Henry Higgins,” and received the 1957 Tony Award for Best Musical. Its popularity continued into the next decade, when a 27 Sep 1961 NYT article announced that Warner Bros. Pictures had put forth an offer to purchase screen rights from CBS for an unprecedented sum of $5.5 million cash, plus 47.5% of all gross receipts exceeding $20 million. To cover the rights to Pygmalion, Warner Bros. also proposed donating five percent of the distributor gross to George Bernard Shaw’s estate. In a 30 Sep 1961 NYT article, Broadway composer Jule Styne observed that interest in United Artists’ upcoming production of West Side Story (1961, see entry) likely changed the entertainment industry’s negative view of screen musicals, which were considered unprofitable overseas. The deal represented the largest amount ever paid for source material, beating out the previous $2.27 million record set by Twentieth Century-Fox for South Pacific (1958, see entry). The 28 Sep 1961 LAT indicated that the studio remained confident, estimating the film would easily earn $40 million against a total production cost of $10 million.
       Despite having originated the character onstage to great acclaim, various contemporary sources suggested that Julie Andrews was not asked to play Eliza in the film. Andrews went on to star in Mary Poppins (1964, see entries), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Warner Bros. president Jack. L. Warner instead signed Audrey Hepburn in May 1962, willingly agreeing to her request for $1 million—what the 1 Nov 1964 NYT identified as her largest salary to date. A 16 May 1962 LAT item indicated that Richard Burton was nearly cast as Henry Higgins, with Peter O’Toole and Cary Grant also in consideration. In a 22 Jul 1973 interview, Grant told the NYT that he turned down the role because he felt he would be unable to match Rex Harrison’s Tony Award-winning performance. On 26 Oct 1962, NYT announced that Harrison had agreed to recreate the character for the screen, and Stanley Holloway also returned to play Eliza’s father, “Alfred Doolittle”—a role that was once considered for James Cagney.
       A 13 Jul 1962 DV item reported the recent addition of director George Cukor, who would begin preparations following his commitment to The Bobo (1967, see entry), which he ultimately did not direct. During this time, My Fair Lady closed its run on Broadway on 29 Sep 1962, after 2,717 performances. Cecil Beaton, who designed original costumes for the stage show, was charged with overseeing costumes, scenery, and production design for the film. A 23 Jan 1963 Var item noted that art director Gene Allen had scouted locations in London, England, but decided against filming overseas, barring select exteriors and second unit work. Harry Stradling had replaced director of photography Franz Planer , who died two weeks earlier. Coincidentally, Stradling photographed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s 1939 adaptation of Pygmalion (see entry).
       That summer, the 5 Jun 1963 NYT reported that rehearsals were set to begin 17 Jun 1963. After nearly two months, principal photography began 13 Aug 1963 at the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, CA, and continued into winter of that year. Various sources reported that the production budget had ballooned to a figure between $12 million and $15 million, making it the most expensive Warner Bros. production up to that time. The 6 Oct 1963 LAT stated that Stages 1, 2, and 7 were used for the interior of Higgins’ four-story home, the exterior of “Wimpole Street,” and “Covent Garden.” A 14 Aug 1963 article by the same publication stated that Cukor hoped to shoot the picture chronologically, in order to follow Eliza’s transformation.
       Several contemporary sources suggested that Hepburn, who previously sang onscreen in Funny Face (1957, see entry) and Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961, see entry), joined the project under the impression that she would provide her own vocals. According to a 29 Sep 1963 NYT article, she studied with a coach, while the 6 Oct 1963 LAT stated that she recorded all of Eliza’s songs, whether or not they would be used in the final film. Ultimately, studio executives deemed Hepburn’s singing unsuitable, and her vocals were dubbed by Marni Nixon, whose soprano voice had come to be recognized as the double for many actresses, most notably Deborah Kerr in The King and I (1956, see entry) and Natalie Wood in West Side Story. By contrast, an article in the 15 Aug 1994 NYT reported that Rex Harrison insisted on performing each of his musical numbers live, in single takes, using a wireless lavalier microphone hidden in the knot of his necktie.
       During production, a 5 Nov 1963 DV item reported the injury and hospitalization of dancer Darlene Hunter, who is not credited onscreen.
       Although release was not planned until fall of 1964, anticipation for the film was high, as the 14 Mar 1964 NYT reported advanced ticket sales for the New York City engagement had already exceeded $450,000. The world premiere took place 21 Oct 1964 at New York City’s Criterion Theatre, followed by a West Coast debut the following week at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, CA. Both events served as benefit galas; the 28 Oct 1964 Var stated that the Criterion had collected more than $100,000 for the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital. According to a 21 Nov 1963 NYT item, the picture would later expand to fifty key cities in both 35mm and 70mm formats, with ticket prices scaled to help recoup costs.
       Like its theatrical predecessor, My Fair Lady was a critical and commercial triumph. Three months after its release, the 27 Jan 1965 Var reported an international gross of $8.85 million from forty-five North American theaters and eighteen countries.
       The film swept the Academy Awards for that year, winning for Art Directing (Color), Cinematography (Color), Costume Design (Color), Sound, Music (Scoring of Music—adaptation or treatment), Actor (Rex Harrison), Director, and Best Picture, with additional nominations for Film Editing, Writing (Screenplay—based on material from another medium), Actor in a Supporting Role (Stanley Holloway), and Actress in a Supporting Role (Gladys Cooper). Although critics praised Hepburn’s performance, the 24 Feb 1965 DV speculated that her dubbed vocals likely led to her omission from the nominations. My Fair Lady ranked #91 on AFI’s 1998 list of “100 Years…100 Movies,” and #8 on the list of the greatest movie musicals.
       Thirty years after its release, CBS commissioned a $750,000 restoration by film conservationists James C. Katz and Robert A. Harris. According to the 15 Aug 1994 NYT, rights to the property had reverted back to CBS in 1971, at which point most of the acquired material was abandoned in a vault in Van Nuys, CA. Along with the severely damaged original negative, Katz and Harris unearthed early rehearsal recordings of Hepburn singing “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” and “Show Me.” For these sequences, Marni Nixon’s dub was replaced with Hepburn’s original voice by splicing pieces of the audio and matching them to her onscreen performance. The restoration of the theatrical cut was screened at a benefit at the Ziegfield Theatre on 19 Sep 1994, with the Hepburn version of “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” superimposed over end credits. Public screenings began 21 Sep 1994, and the lost archival material has been included on all subsequent home video releases. In 2015, Harris was hired to complete a digital restoration for the film’s fiftieth anniversary theatrical re-issue and release on Blu-ray disc.
       Playwright George Bernard Shaw is credited onscreen as “Bernard Shaw.”