Audrey Hepburn A-Z: C is for...
C is for...Cukor!
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Audrey Hepburn only worked with George Cukor, famed 'women's pictures' director, only once in her career in 1964 for the epic musical adaptation of My Fair Lady.
Audrey Hepburn was officially cast as Eliza Doolittle in the big screen production of My Fair Lady in 1963, with the news announced to the public that June.
It caused a mild ruckus, because, unlike Rex Harrison and Stanley Holloway, who were pulled from the Broadway production, Julie Andrews was not reprising her role as Eliza Doolittle. We'll get to that later, though.
Audrey was eager to play the role because she knew that if she hadn't taken it, it would just go to another movie star, not Julie Andrews, so why not her? She received a million-dollar salary, only the second time this had happened in Hollywood (following Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra), and before filming began, wrote to Cukor saying that "I pray every day to be as good as the role."
Audrey threw herself into rehearsals: singing, dancing, speaking with a Cockney accent; into costume preparation (with costume designer Cecil Beaton); and into impressing her co-stars (Rex Harrison reportedly didn't think someone of Audrey's blue-blooded pedigree could accurately portray someone like Eliza, but by the end of production, he adored her and considered her one of his favourite co-stars).
Perhaps one of the most well-known backstage stories from the set was that Audrey's singing voice was replaced by hidden heavyweight Marni Nixon and that nobody, Cukor included, had the guts to tell her that her voice had been dubbed. Cukor reportedly let it slip himself, when filming the 'Wouldn't it Be Loverly' scene, and he didn't realize that Audrey's version was playing instead of Nixon's. He told her that everyone was applauding her because they "thought" it was her. "It was me," she replied.
When she was finally told that her vocals would be dubbed, Audrey did something she'd never done before: she walked off the set and went home. Then she came back the next day and apologized. Filming continued into the fall of 1963, and when news of President Kennedy's assassination reached the set, Cukor later said that he was too distraught to break the news to the cast and crew. Audrey instead tearfully offered to do it, as it was a theatre tradition for the leading actor or actress to break news to the company.
Anyways, filming continued and eventually wrapped, and when the film premiered in October 1964, Audrey received praise for her performance (though many questioned her Cockney accent and they all noticed it wasn't her singing). An Oscar nomination surely would follow, right?
On February 23, 1965, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science announced the nominations for the films of 1964. My Fair Lady earned 12 nominations in total: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Best Scoring of Music - Adaptation or Treatment, Best Sound, Best Art Direction - Color, Best Cinematography - Color, Best Costume Design - Color, and Best Film Editing.
Audrey had failed to receive a nomination for Best Actress, but the original Eliza Doolittle, Julie Andrews, received one for Mary Poppins (which she would go on to win, and thank Jack Warner for not casting her in My Fair Lady, freeing her up for Walt Disney).
George wrote to Audrey after the nominations were announced, including a telegram from Katharine Hepburn with words of encouragement. The letter was recently revealed to the public and said, "It's bound to tickle you. (Lest her handwriting drive you up the wall, Irene has deciphered it.) Here is the Voice of Experience. She's been through this kind of thing. It touched me because it's shot through with such warmth of feeling for you, and such high regard.
Dearest, dearest Audrey, you're lovely, talented, intelligent, distinguished, capable only of beautiful behaviour. You're possessed of all the graces and virtues including the rarest of all- simple kindness and plain goodness.
I hope all this praise doesn't make you become insufferable."
Audrey wrote to George after she failed to receive an Oscar nomination for the part, saying, "As for the whole nomination mishmash – I think I am the only one not in the dark. Everybody seems to search for an explanation. It seems to me it is all very simple—my performance was not up to snuff... Because My Fair Lady meant so terribly much to me, I had sort of secretly hoped for a nomination but never never counted on the Oscar. Therefore, disappointed I is, but not astounded like my chums seem to be. What does amaze me is the hullabaloo which ensued and the constant pressure...to get me to come to California on the big night."
Audrey did end up attending the Oscars that year, presenting the award for Best Actor to Rex Harrison, and celebrating with the producers and cast when the film won Best Picture.
Audrey and George had wanted to work together again, possibly on a film version of Oliver! (it was later made in 1968 without either's participation), but alas, it never worked out for them. Later in her career, by then mostly-retired and appearing sporadically in Hollywood, Audrey paid tribute to her directors, including Cukor, saying how much they had molded her into the actress she became.
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Did you like My Fair Lady? I admit, it needed time to grow on me, but now I enjoy it.
Come back soon for the letter D!
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