Dame Julie Andrews has had a prosperous acting career spanning over seven decades. Her lengthy list of accolades includes an Academy Award, three Grammys, two Emmys and various other awards. From Mary Poppins to The Sound of Music, Andrews took the 1960s by storm with her fabulous acting and singing performances as a leading woman.
Before she became involved in the film industry, Andrews made her stage debut in London's West End. At only 20 years old, Andrews was cast as My Fair Lady's Eliza Doolittle and continued to work on the show for three years. But when it came time to cast for the film adaptation, Andrews wasn't considered for bringing her character to the big screen.
Warner Brothers Wanted Audrey Hepburn for My Fair Lady
The 1964 musical film My Fair Lady was based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play Pygmalion and Lerner and Loewe's 1956 stage musical. The film follows impoverished flower seller Eliza Doolittle, who has a distinct Cockney accent. Rex Harrison's character Henry Higgins, a London-based professor of phonetics, decides to give Eliza speech lessons and convinces his friend that she could eventually pass as a duchess at an Embassy ball.
My Fair Lady is filled with countless recognizable tunes, like "I Could Have Danced All Night" and "Wouldn't It Be Loverly." Andrews would have succeeded in the part with her impressive singing chops, but Jack Warner, former president of Warner Brothers, had someone else in mind. Warner cast classic Hollywood film star Audrey Hepburn as Eliza, even though most of her vocal parts were dubbed by ghost singer Marni Nixon, who also lent her voice to Natalie Wood in the 1961 West Side Story film adaptation. According to Variety, Andrews would have "spat in someone's eye" if they had asked her to record songs for My Fair Lady.
Julie Andrews Won an Oscar That Year for Mary Poppins
According to The Hollywood Reporter, lyricist Alan Jay Lerner had his eye on Andrews for My Fair Lady's film adaptation. "I so wanted you to do it, Julie, but they wanted a name," Lerner shared. This was in reference to Hepburn's status in the film industry compared to Andrew's. My Fair Lady was coincidentally released the same year as Mary Poppins. This resulted in some competition at the award shows between the two films. Andrews took home Best Actress for Mary Poppins, while Hepburn wasn't even nominated for My Fair Lady.
Along with her Oscar, Andrews also accepted a Golden Globe for her role in Mary Poppins. Andrews joked in her acceptance speech, "And, finally, my thanks to a man who made a wonderful movie and who made all this possible in the first place, Mr. Jack Warner." The audience found her comment hilarious since Warner had rejected her for My Fair Lady. Leave it to a Broadway queen to politely throw shade.