Rex Harrison was an actor from Hollywood's Golden Age that made a name for himself as
a suave and sophisticated gentleman on the screen.
While Rex was proficient at playing the part of a suave and sophisticated gentleman, it
seems that the actor was actually pretty rude in real life.
One of Rex's most significant roles was that of Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady.
He played the part in the Broadway production and then reprised the role for the Hollywood
film adaptation.
This gave Rex the chance to work with both Julie Andrews and Audrey Hepburn, which is
something that the majority of people would've been grateful to do!
However, it seems that Rex treated both of them poorly and that only scratches the surface
of his bad behavior!
Join Facts Verse as we explore why everyone refuses to watch Rex Harrison these days.
Rex Harrison Felt He Was My Fair Lady’s Main Star
Rex Harrison was the actor that played the part of Henry Higgins in the original Broadway
production of My Fair Lady, as well as its 1964 Hollywood film adaptation.
The Broadway production had cast Rex alongside Julie Andrews, while he got to appear alongside
Audrey Hepburn in the film adaptation.
While most people would’ve been incredibly happy for the chance to work with these two
great stars, it seems that Rex considered himself better than both of them.
Of course, the main character of My Fair Lady is Eliza Doolittle.
She is the titular fair lady, and the character of Henry Higgins is merely the character that
helps her undergo her stunning transformation.
The play My Fair Lady was based upon an earlier play by the name of Pygmalion, which followed
a high-society man attempting to makeover a low-society girl and make her presentable.
The play My Fair Lady follows a very similar story to the play that inspired it.
In My Fair Lady, Henry Higgins is the high-society man and Eliza Doolittle is the low-society
girl.
In real life, the actor who played the part of Henry Higgins in both the original Broadway
production and the 1964 film adaptation was no classier of an individual than his female
costars.
However, it seems that actor Rex Harrison wasn’t aware of this!
The role of Henry Higgins required Rex Harrison to act like he was a higher-class citizen
than his female costars on both the stage and the screen, but it didn't call for him
to replicate these behaviors in real life!
Throughout My Fair Lady’s original Broadway run, however, it seems that Rex Harrison got
to feeling that he was quite a bit better than Julie Andrews.
Rex treated Julie incredibly poorly when the curtains were drawn.
When Audrey Hepburn was cast to replace Julie in My Fair Lady’s 1964 film adaptation,
Rex treated her even more poorly than he had treated Julie.
Rex Harrison Wasn’t the First Choice to Play Henry Higgins
Despite going on to win a Tony Award for his performance in the Broadway musical, Rex Harrison
was actually pretty far from being the producers’ first choice for the part of Henry Higgins
in the original production of My Fair Lady.
Some of the many actors that the producers offered the role to first include George Sanders,
Michael Redgrave, and Noel Coward.
The main reason that the producers were skeptical about hiring Rex Harrison to play the role
was that Rex wasn’t that great of a singer.
However, he ended up getting the part and impressing audiences with his talents.
Given that Rex Harrison was almost deemed too untalented to receive the role of Henry
Higgins in the original Broadway production of My Fair Lady, one might assume that the
actor would’ve been a bit more humble with his coworkers.
However, once Rex was finally given the role, he came onto the production with the idea
that he was the main star and that the entire show was all about him.
Rex figured that he was the one drawing audiences into the venue, and he considered costar Julie
Andrews to be secondary.
Julie Andrews was already an experienced star by the time she was given the role of Eliza
Doolittle in the original Broadway production of My Fair Lady, and she wasn’t in the mood
to put up with Rex’s bad behavior.
However, when Audrey Hepburn was offered the chance to replace her in the role for My Fair
Lady’s 1964 Hollywood film adaptation, she was slightly less weathered of an actress
and ended up finding herself more susceptible to being hurt by Rex’s rudeness.
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Julie Andrews Didn’t Put Up with Rex’s Bad Behavior
During My Fair Lady's original run on Broadway, Rex Harrison did his best to try and dominate
the production.
However, Julie Andrews wasn't having any of it.
The two apparently butted heads nearly every day of the production, though that didn't
stop the play from being a massive success!
Some of the more famous examples of the two not getting along during the run of the Broadway
play include a story about Rex Harrison storming out of the theater and proclaiming that he
was going to quit if Julie wasn’t fired.
Another memorable incident occurred when Rex Harrison decided that he was no longer interested
in singing the now-classic line “I’ve grown accustomed to your face” to his female
costar.
It seems that Rex had indeed grown accustomed to Julie’s face, but not in a good way!
When it came time to adapt My Fair Lady into a Hollywood film, producers were uncertain
about handing the lead roles back to Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews.
It seems that the producers felt that neither of the stars was famous enough, and they also
weren’t all that fond of the way that they had behaved during the Broadway run.
In the end, Rex Harrison ended up being able to keep his role of Henry Higgins for the
film adaptation, while Julie was forced to find work elsewhere.
Julie went on to appear in the Disney film Mary Poppins instead, and the titular role
likely did much more for the actress’s career than the My Fair Lady film would have.
When it came time to cast the part of Henry Higgins in the 1964 Hollywood film adaptation
of My Fair Lady, there were numerous actors that producers approached before deciding
to allow Rex Harrison to reprise the role from the original Broadway run.
Some of the many actors that were approached to take over the part include Laurence Olivier,
Rock Hudson, Peter O’Toole, and Cary Grant.
However, the role ended up going to Rex.
Meanwhile, the role of Eliza Doolittle was given to popular Hollywood film star Audrey
Hepburn, who had recently starred in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Rex Treated Audrey Even Worse Than He Did Julie
The producers hoped that Rex Harrison was going to treat their new leading lady better
than he did Julie Andrews, but the actor ended up being even meaner to Audrey Hepburn.
The fact that he was the only one to be carried over from the Broadway production to the film
only heightened Rex’s ego, and it seems that he was even harder to work with on the
set of My Fair Lady’s film adaptation than he was during its original Broadway run.
One person who has told horror stories about the way that Rex Harrison behaved on the set
of the 1964 film adaptation of My Fair Lady is Andre Previn.
Andre was the musical arranger for the film, and he claimed up until his recent death that
Rex Harrison was the most appalling human being that he had ever had to work with.
The main reason that Andre Previn took a disliking to Rex Harrison during the filming of 1964’s
My Fair Lady is because of the way the male star treated Audrey Hepburn.
According to Andre, Rex was incredibly mean to Audrey, and he was also an all-around nightmare
to work with regardless.
In addition to being abused on the set by Rex Harrison, Audrey Hepburn also had other
things to worry about after accepting the role of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady’s
film adaptation.
Fans of the original Broadway musical were understandably put off when the incredibly
talented Julie Andrews was replaced with the decidedly less talented Audrey Hepburn in
the film just because the latter figure was a slightly bigger star.
Audrey’s singing voice was infamously dubbed over in the film, much to the chagrin of the
star herself.
At that year’s Academy Awards ceremony, Julie Andrews won an award for her performance
in the film Mary Poppins, while Audrey Hepburn won nothing at all.
Rex Harrison went on to win an Academy Award for his role as Henry Higgins in the film
adaptation of My Fair Lady, which goes to show that the academy likely didn’t get
the memo that the star was a bit of a jerk!
Despite the fact that Rex got an award for his performance in the film and Audrey didn’t
get one for hers, Audrey certainly walked away from the production of My Fair Lady’s
film adaptation the wealthier of the two!
Rex made $250,000 on the film, while Audrey made $1,000,000!
This fact certainly made it hard for Rex to convince himself that he was the bigger star
between the two on the film’s set, but he still somehow managed to do it.
Rex Harrison Was Mean to Everybody!
While the horror stories involving Rex Harrison during both the original Broadway run of My
Fair Lady and the production of its 1964 Hollywood film adaptation are certainly amongst the
worst involving the actor, they aren’t the only ones!
Rex seems to have been universally derided by both his male and his female costars over
the course of his career, with actor Patrick Macnee claiming that Rex was one of the most
horrible people he had ever met.
Although Rex Harrison was a celebrated star during his day, more and more people are reevaluating
the Old Hollywood icon in the wake of these horror stories involving Julie Andrews and
Audrey Hepburn.
Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that Audrey Hepburn made four times as
much as costar Rex Harrison during the filming of the 1964 Hollywood film adaptation of My
Fair Lady and that Audrey’s singing voice in the film was dubbed?
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