My Fair Lady again in the part of Higgins. The casting of Audrey Hepburn instead of Julie Andrews as Eliza was controversial, partly because theatregoers regarded Andrews as perfect for the part and partly because Hepburn's singing voice was dubbed (by Marni Nixon). Jack L. Warner, the head of Warner Bros., which produced the film, wanted "a star with a great deal of name recognition", but since Julie Andrews did not have any film experience, he thought a movie with her would not be as successful. (Andrews went on to star in "Mary Poppins" that same year for which she won both the
Marni Nixon supply the star's singing voice for the film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "The King and I" and the next year she again worked with Kerr to dub her voice in "An Affair to Remember". That year, she also sang for Sophia Loren in "Boy on a Dolphin". In 1960, she dubbed Janet Leigh's voice in "Pepe" and had an on-screen chorus role in "Can-Can". In 1961's "West Side Story", the studio kept her work on the film (as the singing voice of Natalie Wood's Maria) a secret from the actress, and Nixon also dubbed Rita Moreno's singing in the