My Fair Lady (1964)
by Claire J Rottenberg
Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's "My Fair Lady"
is one of only two Tony winning Best Musicals to also
become an Academy Award winning Best Picture. The
play ran on Broadway for six and a half years and it
has had three Broadway revivals since it ended its
first run in 1962. Both the book of the play and the
screenplay were written by Alan Jay Lerner.
Only Rex Harrison and Stanley Holloway recreated
their stage roles in the movie version of "My Fair
Lady." Rex Harrison won both the Tony award and the
Academy Award for his perfect performance as
Professor Henry Higgins. Although Stanley Holloway
did not win either award, he did have the honor of
being nominated for both awards as Best Supporting
(or Featured) Actor. Overall, the Broadway version of
"My Fair Lady" won 6 Tony awards out of 9 nominations
and the film version won 8 Academy Awards out of 12
nominations.
Following the example of "West Side Story," singing
voices were dubbed for the female lead (Marni Nixon
for Audrey Hepburn) and for one supporting role. All
of the songs from the original play were included in
the movie version and no new songs were added.
"My Fair Lady" was the second Lerner and Loewe movie
musical to win an Academy Award as Best Picture.
"Gigi," an original musical made for the movies, won
in 1958. No other composers have had more than one
Oscar winning movie musical.