MovieChat Forums > My Fair Lady (1964) Discussion > Marni Nixon's Voice

Marni Nixon's Voice

posted 10 years ago by safard
2 replies | jump to latest

Okay, I just saw this movie for the first time and while I think it was definitely a well made movie, the biggest problem for me was Marni Nixon's voice (Nixon dubbed Audrey Hepburn's songs in case you didn't know).

Now I'm not complaining because Audrey Hepburn was cast instead of Julie Andrews from the original broadway cast, nor because Hepburn didn't sing the songs herself. If you listen to the original broadway recording of My Fair Lady (available on Spotify), you can hear the passion and strength of Andrew's voice in the songs. The thing I hate about the movie is that Hepburn is a fantastic actress and gave the role her all, but whenever one of her songs came on, Nixon's voice was extraordinarily dull. You could feel the overwhelming enthusiasm of Eliza Doolittle in Audrey Hepburn, but it was all gone whenever one of her dubbed songs played.

That is not to say that Marni Nixon doesn't have an incredible voice. She dubbed Natalie Wood in West Side Story and I think it worked tremendously. I just feel like her voice lacked the soul required for an outrageous character like Eliza Doolittle.

[–] MightyTiki 9 years ago

Unless you were physically there, in the audience watching the original Broadway cast of My Fair Lady--your "ruined" experience is a moot point. The original recordings are studio recordings, not live performances.

Take each experience as it's own separate thing and you'll be just fine.

"Toto, I've [got] a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

[–] Eric-62-2 9 years ago

I think they should have left Audrey's vocals alone for "Loverly" because her untrained voice is better for the character on that number (in the same way that they left her voice in for part of "Just You Wait").