My Fair Lady

Although there was an uproar that Julie Andrews was not cast as Eliza Doolittle, Audrey Hepburn was perfect in the role. The rest of the cast included mostly Broadway and London theater performers and Rex Harrison recreated his Tony winning role of Henry Higgins.

Audrey Hepburn did not sing in "My Fair Lady" and her singing voice was dubbed by Marni Nixon, who also sang for Natalie Wood in "West Side Story." Bill Shirley sang "On the Street Where You Live" instead of the actor, Jeremy Brett, who played the part of Freddie.

Audrey Hepburn(1929-1993)

Audrey Kathleen Ruston was born in Brussels in 1929, but by the time she was 10, she had lived in Brussels, London and the Netherlands. She studied ballet for almost nine years when she decide to become a model at age 19. She was spotted by a producer who signed her for a bit part in a Dutch film, "Nederlands in 7 lessen." The role was followed by other small parts in films.

In 1951, Hepburn landed the lead role in the Broadway play, "Gigi," and she won the Theater World award for her performance. Two years later, she was hired to play the lead in the film, "Roman Holiday." That film catapulted Hepburn to fame and she earned an Academy Award for Best Actress.

Hepburn returned to Broadway in 1954 and she won a Tony award for her performance in "Ondine." That same year, she was again nominated for an Academy Award, this time for "Sabrina." Hepburn went on to star in many successful and acclaimed films and she received three more Academy Award nominations ("The Nun's Story," 1959; "Breakfast at Tiffany's," 1961; "Wait Until Dark," 1967).

By the late 1960s, Hepburn had decided to retire from show business, although she did occasionally still appear in films. From 1988 until her death in 1993, Hepburn devoted her time to poor people in Latin America and Africa, working as a special ambassador to Unicef. She died in 1993 from abdominal cancer.

Rex Harrison(1908-1990)

Reginald Carey Harrison was born in Lancashire, England in 1908. He began his theater career in 1924 in Liverpool and soon advanced to roles in plays on London's West End.

Harrison's film career began in England in 1930 with "The Great Game," but it took 16 years before he made his first US film, "Anna and the King of Siam." Harrison continued making films, but he only appeared in two movie musicals - "My Fair Lady" in 1964 and "Doctor Doolittle" in 1967. He won his only Academy Award for his perfect performance as Henry Higgins in "My Fair Lady."

In between making movies, Harrison continued to appear in plays, both on Broadway and in London. He won two Best Actor Tony awards - first, in 1949 for "Anne of the Thousand Days" and the second one in 1957 for "My Fair Lady."

Harrison's last film was "A Time to Die" in 1982 and his last television appearance was in 1986 in the TV movie, "Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna." He was appearing in a play when he died of pancreatic cancer in 1990.