British born Jessica Tandy was replaced by British born Vivien Leigh in the role of the faded Southern Belle Blanch DuBois for the movie version of A Streetcar Named Desire and Julie Andrews got pushed aside in favor of Audrey Hepburn for My Fair Lady. Both actresses totally screwed. Or were they?
Tandy seemed content to act on the stage as her sporadic film appearances before and after her Broadway success with Streetcar attest to. Andrews however plunged headlong into movies starting in 1964. Jack Warner decided to go with Hepburn over Andrews, reasoning that she had more star power, despite the fact that Andrews had starred in the most successful television event of all time up to that point, Cinderella; had starred in the most successful Broadway musical of all time up to that point, My Fair Lady and the soundtrack album for which, plus appearances on Ed Sullivan performing songs from Camelot (which she was also starring in) had made her a household name, or, if you will, a star.
So what if Jack Warner hadn't made his infamous decision? We know that Walt Disney offered her Mary Poppins based on seeing her in Camelot and even waited for her to finish her run and have her first daughter before starting but Disney was only able to make the offer because she wasn't going to be busy making My Fair Lady.
So what if she had made My Fair Lady and not Mary Poppins? Would Audrey Hepburn have done Mary Poppins? Doubt it. Would Andrews have still done The Sound of Music? Probably. So what would have changed? Probably nothing. So why is it that that Warner decision is still so infamous? Still so hated? Maybe he did the right thing. Frankly, I've never been a fan of either movie and I really don't care that Hepburn isn't singing her own songs. And Andrews has, for me, an incredibly low order of sex appeal, making it hard to believe that Henry Higgins would suddenly be smitten with Eliza if played by Andrews. I can believe it more with Audrey Hepburn in the role. And Rex Harrison's Henry Higgins has even less appeal on all counts which is one of my main problems with My Fair Lady. Higgins, as played by Harrison, is such an unsympathetic pig, such an ego maniacal jackass, that I can't see anyone on Earth falling for him, under any conditions. Now if he had been played with more humor and charm by someone like Cary Grant, or to go with someone just starting at the time and closer to Hepburn in age, Peter O'Toole, then I could understand the motivations of the characters better. Then I could understand them falling for each other.
So Warner's decision? He didn't go far enough. He should have replaced Harrison too. Then I might actually have enjoyed it.
