My Fair Lady (film) My Fair Lady (film) My Fair Lady is a 1964 American musical film adapted from the Lerner and Loewe eponymous stage musical based on the 1913 stage play "Pygmalion" by George Bernard Shaw. With a screenplay by Alan Jay Lerner and directed by George Cukor, the film depicts a poor Cockney flower seller named Eliza Doolittle who overhears an arrogant phonetics professor, Henry Higgins, as he casually wagers that he could teach her to speak "proper" English, thereby making her presentable in the high society of Edwardian London. The film stars Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle and Rex Harrison as
Audrey Hepburn part because producer Jack L. Warner thought Hepburn or Elizabeth Taylor were more "bankable" propositions. Hepburn initially asked Warner to give the role to Andrews but was eventually cast. Further friction was created when, although non-singer Hepburn had sung in "Funny Face" and had lengthy vocal preparation for the role in "My Fair Lady", her vocals were dubbed by Marni Nixon, whose voice was considered more suitable to the role. Hepburn was initially upset and walked off the set when informed. The press further played up the fabricated rivalry between Hepburn and Andrews, when the latter won an Academy Award