# My Fair Lady



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

It was dubbed over by a ghost singer named Marni Nixon and Audrey Hepburn didn't sing a note in the final version. Julie Andrews had done the part on broadway with Rex Harrison (Professor Higgins) for a while, but was not casted for the film b/c Hollywood wanted a bigger star to sell tickets and make more money (she hadn't made a movie yet, but was in the process of making Mary Poppins).


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## david johnson (Jun 25, 2007)

Marni Nixon was a great singer. I believe she sang the Maria parts in the movie version of West Side Story.


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

Audrey Hepburn would have acquitted herself more than honourably -


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## Tusker (Sep 25, 2018)

Hollywood can make some very conservative decisions. With all the money they spent on the lavish production, I imagine George Cukor was a little nervous about having two "non-singing" stars in his musical. 

As far as I am concerned, I can't imagine anybody but Rex Harrison pulling off "accustomed to her face" which is one of my favorite love ballads.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Mollie John said:


> Audrey Hepburn would have acquitted herself more than honourably -


Audrey Hepburn did sing in the film "Funny Face" opposite Fred Astaire.

I just saw My Fair Lady on stage for a third time - it's playing at the Lincoln Center (Vivian Beaumont) theatre. I saw Julie Andrews, but not Rex Harrison do it in 1957. I was 5.

And yes, Marni Nixon did the vocals in the film "West Side Story." She also did the vocals for Deborah Kerr in "The King and I."


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

I haven't seen the revival (and I wasn't alive when MY FAIR LADY was first on Broadway), but here is the guy who sings Freddie in it:






To be honest, I don't care at all for Rex Harrison (I find him charmless, and even his speaking voice annoys me). Ian Richardson does a good Higgins on the 1976 revival cast recording of MY FAIR LADY. I also think Jeremy Brett (Freddie in the movie) would have made an interesting Higgins.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Mollie John said:


> Audrey Hepburn would have acquitted herself more than honourably -


Wow. A member of the resistance in World War II, award-winning actress, and now a singer. She was an amazing woman.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

oops, wrong thread.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Bellinilover said:


> I haven't seen the revival (and I wasn't alive when MY FAIR LADY was first on Broadway), but here is the guy who sings Freddie in it:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I saw The Richardson production as well. It was quite good as I recall. I think I owned the cast album on vinyl.

I also have the studio recording with Jeremy Irons and Kiri Te Kanawa.

One odd thing about the current cast. The actor playing Higgins is two years younger than the actor playing Eliza (37 vs 39).

(Come to think of it, Hepburn did originate another little ditty - "Moon River.")


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

One of the few films I must have in my collection.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

david johnson said:


> Marni Nixon was a great singer. I believe she sang the Maria parts in the movie version of West Side Story.


Though we generally think of Marni Nixon as a dubber for film music, she was quite accomplished on the classical "new music" scene. My collection includes a Vienna Modern Masters CD ‎- VMM 3061 - on which she sings Schoenberg's _Pierrot Lunaire_, Op. 21, and a Nonesuch vinyl disc - H-71209 - on which she takes on songs by Charles Ives, Alexander Goehr, and Gerard Schürmann, accompanied on piano by the inimitable John McCabe.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

philoctetes said:


> One of the few films I must have in my collection.


As is The Sound of Music!


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