Oscar Memories: Elizas Julie Andrews and Audrey Hepburn and the film version of “My Fair Lady”

Julie Andrews originated the role of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady on Broadway and played the role for two years to great acclaim. The show’s cast recording was also a huge seller. But when it came to the film adaptation, Andrews shockingly wasn’t even in the running. Even though her next show, Camelot, was also a huge hit, Warner Bros. chose Audrey Hepburn to play Eliza because she was already an Oscar-winning box office draw.

At around the same time, Walt Disney saw Andrews in Camelot and cast her to be the lead in Mary Poppins – her first feature film.

Both films were blockbuster hits and found themselves competing against each other during awards season. Andrews won the Golden Globe over Hepburn. When it came time for the Oscars, Hepburn was egregiously not even nominated.

She suffered backlash because her singing voice was dubbed by Marnie Nixon who had a gorgeous soprano range. Andrews went on to win the Oscar for Poppins while Fair Lady took best picture and leading man Rex Harrison took best actor. Harrison, who had starred on Broadway opposite Andrews, was presented his Oscar by Hepburn and in his brief speech, he thanked both his “fair ladies.”

I love Hepburn as Eliza – she is magnificent. We all know she can sing sweetly as she famously did in Breakfast at Tiffanys with Moon River but she had a more limited vocal range that was not a soprano. But she worked hard on the songs and as you can see in the clips below, she does a fine job.

I’ve also included in the videos Andrews’ appearance on The Dick Cavett Show where she sang Wouldn’t It Be Loverly? You can’t help but think about what could have been had she been able to star in the film.