The movie Julie Andrews regrets not being asked to star in: “I felt sad I would never have the chance”
The unfortunate part of being an actor is that you’re often faced with considerable competition from other stars, and even when you think you’re in with a fighting chance of getting a role, sometimes you just get unlucky.
Julie Andrews found this out the hard way, back before she’d properly broken into Hollywood and was still making her name on stage.
There was one role she had her heart set on bringing to the big screen – but she had to sit and watch someone else swoop in and take it. It must have really stung. When you’ve poured so much of yourself into a character, it starts to feel like they’re a bit of you. So seeing someone else step into those shoes must have felt a bit like they’re stealing something that was never theirs to begin with.
The English actor had found success on Broadway and the West End as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady during the late 1950s, originating the role in the beloved musical, which, in turn, is adapted from George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. Andrews starred alongside Rex Harrison in both versions, and the production became a massive hit, bolstering Andrews’ career as a musical icon.
At this point in her career, though, Andrews hadn’t appeared in any movies – she was a theatre star – so when a film version was being discussed, the actor thought this might be her chance to break through. Sadly, she was mistaken.
In her book Home Work, Andrews explained, “I passed the Warner Bros Studio, where the film of My Fair Lady had just commenced shooting, with Audrey Hepburn playing the role of Eliza Doolittle opposite Rex Harrison and Stanley Holloway, both of whom had been in the stage production with me on Broadway. Though I totally understood why Audrey had been chosen for the role (I’d never made a movie, and was a relative unknown compared to her worldwide fame), I felt sad that I would never have the chance to put my version of Eliza on film.”
Andrews was clearly crushed that Hepburn was given the chance to bring the role to life instead of her, but she couldn’t be too disappointed. Luckily, that same year, the actor was cast in the leading role of a brand new Disney movie, Mary Poppins, which would become her ticket to the big leagues.
So, while Hepburn had a go at bringing Eliza Doolittle to the silver screen, Andrews made her film debut as the magical nanny and won an Oscar for her performance. Mary Poppins was the highest-grossing movie of 1964, and it truly kick-started Andrews’ career as a film star. The following year, she appeared in The Sound of Music, another huge success that catapulted her to even greater fame.
Still, she would’ve loved to have played Eliza on film, adding, “In those days, archival tapes of an original stage production were still a thing of the future.”.
Not much video evidence of Andrews’ portrayal of the Cockney flower seller exists, but at least she can rest easy in the knowledge that she is the original Eliza Doolittle, and without her, Hepburn likely wouldn’t have been able to do the character such justice.
