Gigi

Gigi, motion-picture musical about a young woman trained by her parents to be the courtesan of a wealthy man, based on the play by Anita Loos adapted from a novel by Colette. This film, which won nine Academy Awards, stars Leslie Caron as Gigi, who spends her adolescence being groomed to be a sugar baron’s courtesan. But the man falls in love with Gigi and, in an unprecedented move, asks her to be his wife. This film features songs by Lerner and Loewe, such as “Gigi” and “The Night they invented Champagne.”

Director

• Vincente Minnelli

Cast

• Leslie Caron (Gigi)
• Maurice Chevalier (Honore Lachaille)
• Louis Jourdan (Gaston Lachaille)
• Hermione Gingold (Mme. Alvarez)
• Eva Gabor (Liane D'Exelmans)
• Jacques Bergerac (Sandomir)
• Isabel Jeans (Aunt Alicia)
• John Abbott (Manuel)
• Monique Van Vooren (Showgirl)
• Lydia Stevens (Simone)
• Edwin Jerome (Charles the butler)
• Dorothy Neumann (Designer)
• Marilyn Sims (Redhead)
• Richard Bean (Harlequin)
• Pat Sheahan (Blonde)
• Leroy Winebrenner (Lifeguard)
• Marya Ploss (Model)
• Jack Trevan (Coach driver)

Awards

• Academy Award for Best Picture (1958): Arthur Freed—Producer
• Academy Award for Best Director (1958): Vincente Minnelli
• Academy Award for Best Writing—Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (1958): Alan Jay Lerner
• Academy Award for Best Art Direction (1958): William A. Horning—Art Direction, Preston Ames—Art Direction, Henry Grace—Set Decoration, Keogh Gleason—Set Decoration
• Academy Award for Best Cinematography—Color (1958): Joseph Ruttenberg
• Academy Award for Best Costume Design (1958): Sir Cecil Beaton
• Academy Award for Best Film Editing (1958): Adrienne Fazan
• Academy Award for Best Music—Scoring of a Musical Picture (1958): Andre Previn
• Academy Award for Best Song (1958): Frederick Loewe—Music, Alan Jay Lerner—Lyrics
• Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture—Musical (1959)
• Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture (1959): Hermione Gingold
• Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Director (1959): Vincente Minnelli
• Selected for Registry by the National Film Preservation Board (1991)

Trivia

• Audrey Hepburn was originally intended to play Gigi, but Leslie Caron got the role on the insistence of director Vincente Minnelli.

Quote

• Aunt Alicia: “Bad table manners, my dear Gigi, have broken up more households than infidelity.”