What Ever Happened to the “My Fair Lady” Cast? Inside Their Lives After the Musical Adaptation Premiered 62 Years Ago
What Ever Happened to the “My Fair Lady” Cast? Inside Their Lives After the Musical Adaptation Premiered 62 Years Ago
Kelly AllenWed, October 21, 2026 at 11:30 AM UTC
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Rex Harrison, Audrey Hepburn and Wilfrid Hyde-White in ‘My Fair Lady’Credit: CBS via Getty -
My Fair Lady premiered on Oct. 21, 1964
The movie adaptation of the stage musical starred Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison and Wilfrid Hyde-White, among others
The cast maintained successful careers in entertainment after My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a tale of societal perception.
The movie musical, which premiered on Oct. 21, 1964, is based on the hit stage show of the same name. The film stars Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle, a London-based street flower seller who becomes the project of a phonetics professor’s (Rex Harrison) wager to make her present as a duchess in high society by altering her speech. In addition to Harrison and Stanley Holloway, who both starred in the musical production, the film’s cast included Wilfrid Hyde-White, Gladys Cooper and Jeremy Brett.
Directed by George Cukor, the film won eight Academy Awards, including for Best Picture. However, the film’s casting stirred up some controversy, as Julie Andrews portrayed Eliza in the stage production. The film’s producers favored Hepburn for the Breakfast at Tiffany’s star’s movie experience, which Andrews lacked at the time, per Variety.
Here’s what happened to the cast of My Fair Lady after they starred in the movie adaptation of the hit stage musical.
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Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle
Audrey Hepburn in 1964; Audrey Hepburn in 1991Credit: Warner Brothers/Getty; Oscar Abolafia/TPLP/Getty
Hepburn had already solidified her status as a beguiling movie star in hits from Roman Holiday (1953) to Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) prior to depicting Eliza in My Fair Lady. After starring in the adaptation, she continued to star in a few more films, including How to Steal a Million (1966), Two for the Road (1967) and Always (1989).
Following My Fair Lady, Hepburn married her second husband, Andrea Dotti, on Jan. 18, 1969, in a town hall ceremony in Switzerland. They welcomed a son, Luca, in February 1970.
Hepburn was first married to Mel Ferrer in 1954, with whom she welcomed son Sean Ferrer in July 1960.
During Hepburn’s second marriage, she scaled back on work. “I never said I was quitting— ‘Goodbye, that’s it!’—and I won’t make any promises about continuing,” she told PEOPLE in 1976. “I love doing pictures, but I enjoy the luxury of a married life more.”
The couple divorced in 1982, and Hepburn eventually entered a long-term relationship with businessman Robert Wolders. They were together until Hepburn died of cancer on Jan. 20, 1993, at 63 years old.
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Rex Harrison as Professor Henry Higgins
Rex Harrison in 1964; Rex Harrison in 1987Credit: CBS via Getty; Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty
Harrison played phonetics expert Professor Henry Higgins, who trains Eliza to speak English well enough to pass for a duchess, in both the stage musical and film — for which he won a Tony Award in 1957 and an Academy Award in 1964, respectively. He also returned to the role in the 1981 Broadway revival of My Fair Lady.
After My Fair Lady, Harrison maintained a decades-long career in theater and film. On the stage, he appeared in The Kingfisher (1978-79), Heartbreak House (1983-84) and The Circle (1989-90), which marked his final stage appearance. Some of his biggest film roles afterwards included Doctor Dolittle (1967), The Honey Pot (1967) and the accompanying Kingfisher TV film (1983).
“There’s always a struggle, a striving for something bigger than yourself in all forms of art,” Harrison once said, per The New York Times. “And even if you don’t achieve greatness — even if you fail, which we all must — everything you do in your work is somehow connected with your attitude toward life, your deepest secret feelings.’’
Harrison was married several times. According to The New York Times, he first married Marjorie Noel Collette Thomas in 1934 and welcomed a son, Noel, with her. He then married actress Lilli Palmer in 1943, with whom he shared son Carey, followed by actress Kay Kendall in 1957. In 1962, he married actress Rachel Roberts before marrying Elizabeth Rees Harris in the early 1970s. All of his marriages ended in divorce, apart from with Kendall, who died in 1959, per the publication.
On June 2, 1990, Harrison died of pancreatic cancer at 82 years old, per The New York Times. He was survived by his sixth wife, Mercia Tinker, whom he had been married to since 1978, and his two sons.
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Wilfrid Hyde-White as Colonel Hugh Pickering
Wilfrid Hyde-White in 1964; Wilfrid Hyde-White in 1976Credit: CBS via Getty; FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty
Hyde-White played Col. Hugh Pickering, a linguist with whom Higgins makes a bet about Eliza’s transformation via speech.
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Hyde-White held many film and TV roles following his portrayal of Pickering. Some of his film projects included Fragment of Fear (1970) and The Cherry Picker (1974). On TV, he appeared in shows like Columbo (1972-76), Laverne & Shirley (1980), The Associates (1979-80), Buck Rodgers in the 25th Century (1981) and Filthy Rich (1983).
Hyde-White was known for his whimsical performances, which he told The New York Times had “firm drollery.” “It is allowed to look leisurely, but actually my technique is hidebound by method,” he told the publication in the 1950s. “I really don’t take chances onstage. My style of acting is made up of certain tricks acquired over many years.”
He died on May 6, 1991, of congestive heart failure, per The New York Times. He was 87 years old and survived by his wife, Ethel Koreman, whom he married in 1957, along with his two sons, Alex and Michael, and daughter, Juliet, per the publication.
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Stanley Holloway as Alfred P. Doolittle
Stanley Holloway in 1964; Stanley Holloway in 1977Credit: Warner Brothers/Getty; Julian Kevin Zakaras/Fairfax Media via Getty
As Alfred P. Doolittle, in both the stage musical and film, Holloway played Eliza’s father.
After gaining wide recognition in My Fair Lady, Holloway said, “From then on, well, just let’s say I was able to pick and choose my parts and that was very pleasant at my age,” per The New York Times.
Holloway appeared in many film roles, including In Harms Way (1965), The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1973). He also appeared in a few TV roles, including Blandings Castle (1967) and Thingumybob (1968), in addition to his previous stage work.
He died on Jan. 31, 1982, at 91 years old, per The New York Times.
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Gladys Cooper as Mrs. Higgins
Gladys Cooper in 1964; Gladys Cooper in 1971Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection; Central Press/Getty
Cooper starred in My Fair Lady as Higgins’ mother, whom the professor tests Eliza’s language work on.
Following My Fair Lady, Cooper continued to star in the TV series The Rogues, from 1964 through 1965. She kept building her decades-long career in entertainment, which stretched back to 1913, through film and TV roles, including on the series Emergency-Ward 10 (1965) and movies like The Happiest Millionaire (1967) and A Nice Girl Like Me (1970).
The Rebecca star married her third husband Phillip Merivale in 1937, following her divorce from her second husband, Sir Neville Pearson, whom she wed in 1928, and first husband, Henry Buckmaster, whom she wed in 1908, per The New York Times and Encylopedia.com. She shared two kids, John and Joan, with Buckmaster, and a daughter, Sally, with Pearson.
On Nov. 17, 1971, Cooper died at 82 years old after suffering from pneumonia, per The New York Times.
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Jeremy Brett as Freddy Eynsford-Hill
Jeremy Brett in 1963; Jeremy Brett in 1982Credit: Keystone Features/Getty; Jeff Goode/Toronto Star via Getty
Brett portrayed Freddy Eynsford-Hill, a young, upper-class man who falls in love with Eliza.
Brett became best known for depicting Det. Sherlock Holmes in several TV shows and TV movies following My Fair Lady. Apart from that iconic role, he took on many other TV projects, including appearing in The Three Musketeers (1966-67), A Legacy (1975) and Rebecca (1979).
Brett was married to his second wife, TV producer Joan Wilson, from 1978 until her death in 1985, per The New York Times. Previously, he was married to actress Anna Massey in 1958, with whom he had a son, Daniel, per the publication.
Brett died on Sept. 12, 1995, of heart failure at the age of 59, per The New York Times.
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