1926: Reginald Mason and Lynn Fontanne at the Guild Theatre (USA)
1936: Ernest Thesiger and Wendy Hiller at the Festival Theatre, Malvern
1937: Robert Morley and Diana Wynyard at the Old Vic Theatre
1945: Raymond Massey and Gertrude Lawrence at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre (USA)
1947: Alec Clunes and Brenda Bruce at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith
1953: John Clements and Kay Hammond at the St James’s Theatre, London
1965: Ian White and Jane Asher at the Watford Palace Theatre
1974: Alec McCowen and Diana Rigg at the Albery Theatre, London
1984: Peter O’Toole and Jackie Smith-Wood at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London
1987: Peter O’Toole and Amanda Plummer at the Plymouth Theatre (USA)
1992: Alan Howard and Frances Barber at the Royal National Theatre, London
1997: Roy Marsden and Carli Norris (who replaced Emily Lloyd early in rehearsals) at the Albery Theatre, London
2007: Tim Pigott-Smith and Michelle Dockery at the Old Vic Theatre, London
2007: Jefferson Mays and Claire Danes at American Airlines Theatre (USA)
2010: Simon Robson and Cush Jumbo at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
2011: Rupert Everett (later Alistair McGowan) and Kara Tointon at the Garrick Theatre, London
2011: Risteárd Cooper and Charlie Murphy at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin
2023 Bertie Carvel and Patsy Ferran at The Old Vic Theatre, London
Adaptations
Stage
My Fair Lady (1956), the Broadway musical by Lerner and Loewe (based on the 1938 film), starring Rex Harrison as Higgins and Julie Andrews as Eliza.
Pygmalion (2024), a new stage adaption from Award Winning Writer/Director Chris Hawley, for Blackbox Theatre Company. The show toured the South of England during Summer 2024.
Film
Pygmalion (1935), a German film adaptation by Shaw and others, starring Gustaf Gründgens as Higgins and Jenny Jugo as Eliza. Directed by Erich Engel.
Hoi Polloi (1935), a short feature starring The Three Stooges comedy team. To win a bet, a professor attempts to transform the Stooges into gentlemen.
Pygmalion (1937), a Dutch film adaptation, starring Johan De Meester as Higgins and Lily Bouwmeester as Elisa. Directed by Ludwig Berger.
Pygmalion (1938), a British film adaptation by Shaw and others, starring Leslie Howard as Higgins and Wendy Hiller as Eliza.
Kitty (1945), a film based on the novel of the same name by Rosamond Marshall (published in 1943). A broad interpretation of the Pygmalion story line, the film tells the rags-to-riches story of a young guttersnipe Cockney girl.
My Fair Lady (1964), a film version of the musical starring Audrey Hepburn as Eliza and Rex Harrison as Higgins.
The Opening of Misty Beethoven (1976), an American hardcore pornography film take-off starring Constance Money and Jamie Gillis.
Educating Rita (1983): British comedy-drama film starring Michael Caine and Julie Walters
Can’t Buy Me Love (1987): a teenage romantic comedy reversing gender roles starring Patrick Dempsey and Amanda Peterson.
She’s All That (1999): a modern, teenage take on Pygmalion.
Love Don’t Cost a Thing (2003) a remake of the 1987 Can’t Buy Me Love which is also an adaptation.
The Duff (2015): based on the novel of the same name by Kody Keplinger, which in turn is a modern teenage adaption of Pygmalion.
He’s All That (2021): a Netflix Original movie that’s a gender-swap retelling of the 1999 teen comedy; featuring Addison Rae and Rachael Leigh Cook .
Television
A 1948 BBC TV version starring Margaret Lockwood as Eliza and Ralph Michael as Higgins.
A 1963 Hallmark Hall of Fame production of Pygmalion, starring Julie Harris as Eliza and James Donald as Higgins.
Pigmalião 70, a 1970 Brazilian telenovela, starring Sérgio Cardoso and Tônia Carrero.
Pygmalion (1973), a BBC Play of the Month version starring James Villiers as Higgins and Lynn Redgrave as Eliza.
Pygmalion (1981), a film version starring Twiggy as Eliza and Robert Powell as Higgins.
Pygmalion (1983), an adaptation starring Peter O’Toole as Higgins and Margot Kidder as Eliza.
The Makeover, a 2013 Hallmark Hall of Fame modern adaptation of Pygmalion, starring Julia Stiles and David Walton and directed by John Gray.
Selfie, a 2014 television sitcom on ABC, starring Karen Gillan and John Cho.
Classic Alice, a webseries, aired a 10-episode adaptation on YouTube, starring Kate Hackett and Tony Noto in 2014.
Totalmente Demais, a 2015 Brazilian telenovela, starring Juliana Paes, Marina Ruy Barbosa, and Fábio Assunção.
The BBC has broadcast radio adaptations at least twice, in 1986 directed by John Tydeman and in 2021 directed by Emma Harding.
Non–English language
Pigmalió, an adaptation by Joan Oliver into Catalan. Set in 1950s Barcelona, it was first staged in Sabadell in 1957 and has had other stagings since.
Ti Phulrani, an adaptation by Pu La Deshpande in Marathi. The plot follows Pygmalion closely but the language features are based on Marathi.
Santu Rangeeli, an adaptation by Madhu Rye and Pravin Joshi in Gujarati.
سيدتي الجميلة (Sayydati El-Gameela, My Fair Lady), a 1969 Egyptian stage adaptation of My Fair Lady starring the comedy duo and then married couple, Fouad el-Mohandes and Shwikar. It was performed and filmed for television at the Alexandria Opera House.
A 1996 television play in Polish, translated by Kazimierz Piotrowski, directed by Maciej Wojtyszko and performed at Teatr Telewizji (Polish Television studio in Warsaw) by some of the top Polish actors at the time. It has been aired on national TV numerous times since its TV premiere in 1998.
A 2007 adaptation by Aka Morchiladze and Levan Tsuladze in Georgian performed at the Marjanishvili Theatre in Tbilisi.
Man Pasand, a 1980 Hindi movie directed by Basu Chatterjee.
Ogo Bodhu Shundori, a 1981 Bengali comedy film starring Uttam Kumar directed by Salil Dutta.
My Young Auntie, a 1981 Hong Kong action film directed by Lau Kar-Leung.
Laiza Porko Sushi, a Papiamentu adaptation from writer and artist May Henriquez.
Gönülcelen, a Turkish series starring Tuba Büyüküstün and Cansel Elcin.
Δύο Ξένοι, a Greek series starring Nikos Sergianopoulos and Evelina Papoulia.
Pigumarion (in Japanese), starring Tomohiro Ichikawa as Henry Higgins and Shiho Takano as Eliza Doolittle was performed in 2011 at the Owlspot Theater in Tokyo.
Pigumarion (in Japanese), starring Takahiro Hira as Henry Higgins and Satomi Ishihara as Eliza Doolittle was performed in 2013 at the New National Theater in Tokyo.
In popular culture
Films
The First Night of Pygmalion (1972), a play depicting the backstage tensions during the first British production.
Willy Russell’s 1980 stage comedy Educating Rita and the subsequent film adaptation are similar in plot to Pygmalion.
Trading Places (1983), a film starring Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd.
Pretty Woman (1990), a film starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.
Mighty Aphrodite (1995), a film directed by Woody Allen.
She’s All That (1999), a film starring Rachael Leigh Cook and Freddie Prinze Jr.
Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004), a film starring Lindsay Lohan where she auditions for a modernized musical version of Pygmalion called “Eliza Rocks”.
Ruby Sparks (2012), a film written by and starring Zoe Kazan explores a writer (played by Paul Dano) who falls in love with his own fictional character who becomes real.
Television
Moonlighting’s second-season episode “My Fair David” (1985) is inspired by the movie My Fair Lady, in a plot where Maddie Hayes makes a bet with David Addison consisting in making him softer and more serious with work.
She is her Henry Higgins, while he is put in the Eliza Doolittle position, as the funny, clumsy, bad-mannered part of the relationship.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’s third-season episode “The Galatea Affair” (1966) is a spoof of My Fair Lady. A crude barroom entertainer (Joan Collins) is taught to behave like a lady. Noel Harrison, son of Rex Harrison, star of the My Fair Lady film, is the guest star.
In The Beverly Hillbillies episode “Pygmalion and Elly”, Sonny resumes his high-class courtship of Elly May by playing Julius Caesar and Pygmalion.
In The Andy Griffith Show season 4 episode “My Fair Ernest T. Bass”, Andy and Barney attempt to turn the mannerless Ernest T. Bass into a presentable gentleman.
References to Pygmalion abound: Bass’ manners are tested at a social gathering, where he is assumed by the hostess to be a man from Boston. Several characters comment “if you wrote this into a play nobody’d believe it.”
In Doctor Who, the character of Leela is loosely based on Eliza Doolittle. She was a regular in the programme from 1977 to 1978, and later reprised in audio dramas from 2003 to present.
In Ghost Light, the character of Control is heavily based upon Eliza Doolittle, with Redvers Fenn-Cooper in a similar role as Henry Higgins; the story also features reference to the “Rain in Spain” rhyme and the Doctor referring to companion Ace as “Eliza”.
In the Remington Steele season 2 episode “My Fair Steele”, Laura and Steele transform a truck stop waitress into a socialite to flush out a kidnapper. Steele references the 1938 movie Pygmalion and My Fair Lady, and references the way in which Laura has “molded” him into her fictional creation.
In the Magnum, P.I. episode “Professor Jonathan Higgins” of Season 5, Jonathan Higgins tries to turn his punk rocker cousin into a high society socialite. Higgins references Pygmalion in the episode.
The Simpsons episode titled “Pygmoelian” is inspired by Pygmalion, in which ugly barman Moe Szyslak has a facelift.
It was also parodied to a heavier extent in the episode “My Fair Laddy”, where the character being changed is uncouth Scotsman Groundskeeper Willie, with Lisa Simpson taking the Henry Higgins role.
The Family Guy episode “One If By Clam, Two If By Sea” involves a subplot with Stewie trying to refine Eliza Pinchley, his new Cockney-accented neighbor, into a proper young lady.
He makes a bet with Brian that he can improve Eliza’s vocabulary and get her to speak without her accent before her birthday party. Includes “The Life of the Wife”, a parody of the song “The Rain in Spain” (from My Fair Lady). The voice of Stewie was in fact originally based on that of Rex Harrison.
The plot of the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Someone to Watch Over Me” is loosely based on Pygmalion, with the ship’s holographic doctor playing the role of Higgins to the ex-Borg Seven of Nine.
In the Boy
