Julie Andrews burns the President of Warner Brothers during her Best Actress acceptance speech for Mary Poppins at the 1965 Golden Globes Perhaps one of the biggest scandals of Golden Age Hollywood was the decision by Jack Warner, president of Warner Brothers, to cast Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle in the movie adaptation of My Fair Lady instead of Julie Andrews. Julie originated the role of Eliza on Broadway and in London - which has been heralded as one of the most difficult Broadway characters of all time - for three straight years, stunning audiences around the world. To provide some modern perspective, My Fair Lady was the Hamilton of its time, selling millions of copies of the Broadway recording in a matter of months, every single Broadway and London show sold-out for its entire record-breaking run. To everyone at the time, Julie was Eliza Doolittle, so to see her passed up for the movie adaptaion sent shockwaves through Hollywood. However, because Jack passed on Julie for the role, Walt Disney was able to cast her in Mary Poppins, for which she won both a Golden Globe and an Oscar. Julie stated of the Golden Globes night: “I suddenly realized that if Jack Warner had asked me to do My Fair Lady, which I missed out on, I would never have been able to do Mary Poppins.” Her dig - deft, quick, and spoken in her classically sweet nature - took enormous courage, delivering it to the most powerful man in Hollywood in front of all his peers. A member of the audience stated: “Everybody screamed. It was like a thunderous scream, everyone was laughing [including Jack Warner, pictured above]. That was her little sweet revenge.”
