Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON TV ON DISC ALL A young New York socialite becomes interested in a young man who has moved into her apartment building. Director: Truman Capote (based on the novel by), George Axelrod (screenplay) Stars: a list of 25 titles created 02 Jun 2013 a list of 40 titles created 25 Jul 2013 a list of 27 titles created 06 Oct 2013 a list of 42 titles created 30 Oct 2013 a list of 28 titles created 11 months ago Title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) 7.7/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Won 2 Oscars.

Another 10 wins & 12 nominations. See more awards » Videos A bored and sheltered princess escapes her guardians and falls in love with an American newsman in Rome. Director: William Wyler A playboy becomes interested in the daughter of his family's chauffeur, but it's his more serious brother who would be the better man for her. Director: Billy Wilder An impromptu fashion shoot at a book store brings about a new fashion model discovery in the shop clerk. Director: Stanley Donen Romance and suspense ensue in Paris as a woman is pursued by several men who want a fortune her murdered husband had stolen. Who can she trust? Director: Stanley Donen Romantic comedy about a woman who must steal a statue from a Paris museum to help conceal her father's art forgeries, and the man who helps her. Director: William Wyler A couple in the south of France non-sequentially spin down the highways of infidelity in their troubled ten-year marriage. Director: Stanley Donen When two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.

Director: Billy Wilder The sprightly young assistant of a Hollywood screenwriter helps him over his writer's block by acting out his fantasies of possible plots. Director: Richard Quine A troublemaking student at a girls' school accuses two teachers of being lesbians. Director: William Wyler Five high school students, all different stereotypes, meet in detention, where they pour their hearts out to each other, and discover how they have a lot more in common than they thought. Director: John Hughes In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications. Director: Michael Curtiz After leaving a wealthy Belgian family to become a nun, Sister Luke struggles with her devotion to her vows during crisis, disappointment, and World War II. Director: Fred Zinnemann Edit Storyline Holly Golightly is a flighty Manhattan party girl, who expects "money for the powder room as well as for cab fare" for her companionship. She has even gotten a lucrative once weekly job to visit notorious convict Sally Tomato in Sing Sing, she needing to report back to Sally's lawyer the weather report that Sally tells her as proof of her visits with him in return for payment.

Her aspirations for glamor and wealth are epitomized by the comfort she feels at Tiffany's, the famous high end jewelry retailer where she believes nothing can ever go wrong. Her resolve for this wealth is strengthened, if not changed slightly in focus, upon news from home. Into Holly's walk-up apartment building and thus her life is Paul Varjak, a writer who Holly states reminds her of her brother Fred, who she has not seen in years and who is currently enlisted in the army. The two quickly become friends in their want for something outside of their current lot. Paul's situation is closer to Holly's than he ... Written by Huggo See All (111) » Taglines: Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly. . .the most hilarious heroine who ever rumpled the pages of a best-seller. . .is serving wild oats and wonderful fun! See more » Genres: 5 October 1961 (USA) See more » Also Known As: Frühstück bei Tiffany See more » Filming Locations: Did You Know? Trivia In the famous "it should take you exactly 4 seconds to cross from here to that door.

I give you two" scene, it takes Paul exactly 4 seconds from when he starts walking to when he reaches the door. See more » Goofs Early in the movie, Paul cites a review from The New York Times Book Review of his book; he gives the date October 1, 1956. The Times Book Review is a Sunday supplement and is dated for Sundays; October 1, 1956, was a Monday. See more » Quotes Sid Arbuck : [seeing Holly enter her building] Hey! [he chases her inside] Great Art or Guilty Pleasure? 6 February 2006 | by smc71 (United States) – See all my reviews I am never sure which Breakfast at Tiffany's is. I can certainly think of movies which more accurately portray the human condition, but of few that are more fun. Neither Holly nor Paul seem to represent real people. Their attraction, which is the focal point of the movie, is a character unto itself. Paul sees Holly as scared, vulnerable, and in need of rescue and enjoys his role as potential knight in shining armor to her damsel in distress.

She is drawn to him because he sees beyond her facade of fabulousness to the scared little girl she is inside and which she tries (not that hard really at all) to hide. Adding to her attraction to him is the fact that he stands up to her when she treats him shoddily. This probably does not happen to her too often, and it intrigues her. These are mostly the tricks a romance novelist uses to keep readers baited and rooting for a fictional, possibly doomed romance to work and do not reflect the real nature of love. There is, however, enough chemistry, genuine affection, and respect between the two characters to keep the story from seeming utterly implausible. Of course, a movie doesn't have to be realistic to realistically portray what is right and what is wrong with the world we live in. Breakfast at Tiffany's doesn't do a whole lot of that either, though. After watching I can never pinpoint one solid message from it. What it does have a lot of, as many others have pointed out, is stylish, witty, good fun.

This is almost always the movie I choose on the rare occasions when my husband is working late, my son is asleep, I have energy to spare and good bottle of wine just begging to be uncorked. Believable or not, it is well-told and compelling, and remains one of the better movies a gal can lose herself in. 51 of 71 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Breakfast at Tiffany's Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) Directed by Blake Edwards. Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal (114 min). A kooky party girl who lives off the rats and super rats who give her money for the "powder room", Holly Golightly is one of Hepburn's signature roles. Generations of romantics have identified with the melancholy under her glamorous veneer. "Any moviegoer worthy of the label cherishes the memory of Audrey Hepburn's face as she rushed through the rain to rescue her cat in Breakfast at Tiffany's."( David Hofstede).

I once heard the distinctive character of New York City ascribed to being the place where all the high school outcasts came to live out their fantasies and show the folks back home just how wrong they were. This certainly is the New York City of Breakfast at Tiffany's; to which Truman Capote fled from Monroeville, Alabama. He later said that Holly Golightly was his favorite creation, an amalgam of the frivolous women he had befriended: Doris Lilly, Carol Marcus, Phoebe Pierce, Oona Chaplin, Gloria Vanderbilt--and they (and more) took credit for being his inspiration. But Holly is really Truman Capote, like him "her whole life is an expression of freedom and an acceptance of human irregularities, her own as well as everybody else's. The only sin she recognizes is hypocrisy." But would she be the same character if named, as in earlier drafts, Connie Gustafson? Reading Capote's novella will be a familiar experience to anyone who knows the movie, although in the book the hero's sexuality is ambiguous, the language is a bit more frank, and there is no happy ending.

You'll recognize the speeches, like when Holly tells the (unnamed) hero what she does about the "mean reds": What I've found does the most good is just to get in a taxi and go to Tiffany's. It calms me down right away, the quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there, not with those kind men in their nice suits, and that lovely smell of silver and alligator wallets. If I could find a real-life place that made me feel like Tiffany's, then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name." Holly is so closely associated with Hepburn, it's hard to believe Capote insisted that he wanted Marilyn Monroe to play the part. He'd sold the film rights for $65,000 to Paramount and the studio hired George Axelrod, author of The Seven Year Itch, to adapt the book for Monroe. She wanted Holly badly, but her acting coach Paula Strasberg nixed the part on the basis of its immorality. 20th Century Fox wouldn't lend her out for it, anyway. Capote said, "Paramount double-crossed me in every way and cast Audrey.

She was just wrong for that part." He also detested the film for prettying up the plot . Yet, here is how Capote described Holly: "She was still on the stairs, now she reached the landing, and the ragbag colors of her boy's hair, tawny streaks, strands of albino blond and yellow caught the hall light. It was a warm evening, nearly summer, and she wore a slim, cool black dress, black sandals, a pearl choker. For all her chic thinness, she had an almost breakfast-cereal air of health, a soap and lemon cleanness, a rough pink darkening in the cheeks. Her mouth was large, her nose upturned. A pair of dark glasses blotted out her eyes. It was a face beyond childhood, yet this side of belonging to a woman. I thought her anywhere between sixteen and thirty; as it turned out, she was shy two months of her nineteenth birthday." Hepburn was reconsidering the direction of her career. Recently the mother of a much longed-for baby, she was 31 years old, and no longer an ingenue.

She felt it was necessary to bring her film image up to date with the times, although she hesitated to play what was, essentially, the part of a call girl, however sanitized. But, the studios were still in the business of protecting the images of their stars. If there is one perfect glimpse of Audrey Hepburn, it is her standing on Fifth Avenue at daybreak eating a danish (which she loathed) and drinking coffee from a paper cup while framed by a Tiffany's window. "After this introduction, nobody could possibly think anything bad about Holly Golightly" (Walker). Hepburn hesitated at first. "Holly is so contrary to me. She frightens me. This part called for an extroverted character. I am an introvert." But she was pleased with the result, "This is the best thing I've ever done, because it was the hardest." Hepburn said of herself in the role, (it is) "the one I feel least uncomfortable watching. But the things I always think of when I see it are (1) how could I have abandoned my cat? And (2) Truman Capote really wanted Marilyn Monroe for the part?" The location filming in New York was difficult.

The rubbernecking crowds unnerved Hepburn, who didn't like to be watched while she worked. There was pressure to film the Tiffany's scene quickly since Russian Premiere Nikita Khrushchev was in the city, and police wanted the crowds dispersed by 7:30 am. Those of you who wish to visit the locations, Holly Golightly lives at 169 East 71st Street, which looks today much as it did in 1961. But, don't expect Tiffany's to leave their jewels in the window overnight for you. Henry Mancini wrote "Moon River" specifically for Audrey Hepburn, trying to evoke Holly's yearning for innocence and simplicity under her sophistication. He said, "It was one of the hardest melodies I ever had to write because I couldn't figure out what this lady would sing. Would it be a pop tune, a folk song, a blues? It took me almost a month to get it.

Though the song went on to be a big hit for Andy Williams, and has had over 1000 recordings over the years, no one ever performed it with more honesty, feeling or understanding than Audrey did in the movie." The song was almost cut after a preview before the studio brass, the new President of Paramount (showing off, no doubt) announced, "Well, I can tell you one thing, we can get rid of that song." Audrey, uncharacteristically assertive, jumped out of her chair, "Over my dead body!" The song stayed. (Harris). Johnny Mercer wrote the lyrics. But, will someone please tell me, what is a "huckleberry friend"? Tiffany's took out an ad after Hepburn's death to bid her farewell using that phrase, forever identified with her, as is the song. Mancini won the film's only two Oscars for the score and for "Moon River." The major addition to the screenplay is that the hero becomes a kept man; the character of Patricia Neal's decorator is no where to be found in the book. Hollywood convention demands the hero should be more interested in girls than in his writing.

And, it was important that Paul's morals be no better than the Holly's. She admits to only 11 lovers, because before you're 13 years old doesn't count. Patricia Neal wrote in her autobiography, "2-E just about squeezed through as a decent part. The director, Blake Edwards, was beautiful to work with, as was Audrey, who was the Queen of Hollywood in 1960. Only gorgeous George seemed to be champing slightly at the bit. His character was written with a battered vulnerability that was totally appealing, but it did not correspond to George's image of a leading man. He seemed to want to be an old time movie hunk. Gone were the humble days of truth at the Actor's Studio" (where they studied together). "He and Blake locked horns through most of the filming, almost coming to blows at one point. In the end, George played the role as he wanted, and I always felt had Blake stood his ground the film would have been stronger." It's hard to imagine that at the time Peppard was considered to be a possible successor to James Dean.

He may have felt, for his career's sake, he should play the role without any hint of the famous author's effeminacy. After all his Method analysis, he comes off as rather a stiff. Hepburn had been looking forward to playing opposite George Peppard, a man more her own age, since she had so often been paired with more fatherly figures. But his intense Method acting preparation made her insecure about her instinctive approach to acting. Edith Head, by contract, received costume credit for every Paramount "A" picture. But, Audrey Hepburn's clothes in this film were designed by her great friend, Hubert de Givenchy. Their partnership (she remained his muse throughout his career) redefined both movie wardrobes and standards of beauty, as he said, "There is not a woman alive who does not dream of looking like Audrey Hepburn." Not only would Hepburn's pared down wardrobe and her streaked beehive be imitated worldwide, and "Moon River" become a standard, but pounds and pet stores alike were innundated for requests for orange tabby cats.

As the author of Audrey Style asserts, "Felines aside, the Hepburn Givenchy partnership reached the apogee of rafine elegance as Holly Golightly's hangover chic caused a run on triple strand faux pearl necklaces, sleeveless dresses and oversized dark sunglasses that continues to this day." It's hard to believe that the costumes were not even nominated for an Oscar, the prize going to West Side Story. No building is riper for romance than the Upper East Side brownstone where Holly and Paul live in Breakfast at Tiffany's. As James Sanders points out in Celluloid Skyline, the "inherently contradictory nature of the building--as a home for solitary young people, yet a domestic environment that encouraged neighborly relations--continued to make it an obvious locale for romance, stories that by their nature tracked the gradual victory of connection over solitude." While the front of the house is real, the rest is a stage set; row houses don't have tenement fire escapes like the one on which Holly strums her guitar. But Sanders points out that it is an instinctive, if not literal truth. The brownstone is a single-family residence broken into apartments, yearning for wholeness.

"Superimposing a domestic unity atop otherwise solitary paths, of linking the lives, and perhaps even the hearts of New York's 'huckleberry friends.'" Breakfast at Tiffany's is a film that is almost perfect, if I could recast the blandly handsome George Peppard and ax the racist caricature of Micky Rooney's Mr. Yunioshi, a character he said he hated. And, for me, the sentimentalization of prostitution is a problem, as well, although many a Manhattan migrant has found sexual liberation to be one of the more intoxicating aspects of urban life. Of course, we do NOT want it to turn this into Midnight Cowboy. "While it may be the archetypical Audrey Hepburn film, it's nowhere near her best. Blake Edwards' notion of life in the early sixties is stunningly inauthentic--his idea of a swinging party animal is Martin Balsam." (Thompson) Why has this film maintained its popularity over the years? Perhaps, because it represents virtually the last moment in American movies where an actress was glamorized for glamour's sake.

Audrey Hepburn is evoked as an inspiration by someone or other in almost every issue of Vogue; and Audrey Style is full of tributes to her ineffable and inimitable elegance. She is invariably linked with her exact contemporary, Jackie Kennedy. They represent 20th century style in a way no subsequent icons do. "People associate me with a time when movies were pleasant," she once said, "when women wore pretty dresses in films and you heard beautiful music. I always love it when people write me and say, 'I was having a rotten time, and I walked into a cinema and saw one of your movies and it made such a difference.'" * (Photos from the Museum of Modern Art. Sources include: Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote, Audrey: Her real story by Alexander Walker, Audrey Hepburn by Warren G.

Harris, Audrey Hepburn a bio-bibliography by David Hofstede, Blake Edwards by Peter Lehman and William Luhr, Audrey Hepburn: An Intimate Portrait by Diana Maychick, Audrey Hepburn by Barry Paris, Celluloid Skyline by James Sanders, Capote by Gerald Clarke, People Magazine obituary, 2/1/93, by Susan Schindehette, American Film, May 1990 Frank Thompson.) c.moviedivaFebruary2003 Breakfast at Tiffany's (3/9) Movie CLIP - Moon River (1961) HD - YouTube Breakfast at Tiffany's (3/9) Movie CLIP - Moon River (1961) HD Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later.

Uploaded on Oct 8, 2011 Breakfast at Tiffany's movie clips: BUY THE MOVIE: Don't miss the HOTTEST NEW TRAILERS: CLIP DESCRIPTION: Fred (George Peppard) hears Holly (Audrey Hepburn) singing on the fire escape below his apartment and goes out to listen. FILM DESCRIPTION: In an idealized New York City during the early '60s, Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) is a charming socialite with a youthful zest for life who lives alone in a nearly bare apartment. She has such a flippant lifestyle that she won't even give her cat a name, because that would be too much of a commitment to a relationship. Maintaining a childlike innocence yet wearing the most perfect of designer clothes and accessories from Givenchy, she spends her time on expensive dates and at high-class parties. She escorts various wealthy men, yet fails to return their affections after they have given her gifts and money. Holly's carefree independence is changed when she meets her neighbor, aspiring writer Paul (George Peppard), who is suffering from writer's block while being kept by a wealthy woman (Patricia Neal).

Just when Holly and Paul are developing their sweet romance, Doc (Buddy Ebsen) appears on the scene and complicates matters, revealing the truth about Holly's past. Breakfast at Tiffany's was nominated for several Academy awards, winning Best Score for Henry Mancini and Best Song for Johnny Mercer's classic tune "Moon River". CREDITS: Cast: George Peppard, Audrey Hepburn Director: Blake Edwards Producers: Martin Jurow, Richard Shepherd Screenwriters: George Axelrod, Truman Capote WHO ARE WE? The MOVIECLIPS channel is the largest collection of licensed movie clips on the web. Here you will find unforgettable moments, scenes and lines from all your favorite films. Made by movie fans, for movie fans.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR MOVIE CHANNELS: Oliver Goldsmith - Audrey Hepburn - Breakfast at Tiffany's | Sunglasses ID - celebrity sunglasses Oliver Goldsmith - Audrey Hepburn - Breakfast at Tiffany's Audrey Hepburn wearing her famous Oliver Goldsmith sunglasses in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's photo © Paramount Pictures In 2011, Oliver Goldsmith released the Manhattan in Dark Tortoise, an exact replica of Audrey Hepburn's sunglasses photo © photo © Paramount Pictures In the 1961 movie Breakfast at Tiffany's , the main character Holly Golightly (played by Audrey Hepburn ) wears a pair of black wayfarer style Oliver Goldsmith sunglasses. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Breakfast at Tiffany’s in 2011, Oliver Goldsmith released the 'Manhattan', a similar pair of glasses of the glasses worn by Audrey Hepburn in the movie. The Manhattan was available in several colors, including Dark Tortoise with green lenses, the version seen in the film. Reference: Oliver Goldsmith, dark tortoise frame, green lenses ‎Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) directed by Blake Edwards • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd 50 You can’t explain love.

You can’t explain what attracts you. It just happens. Love is only perfect in fairy tales, in real life, its imperfect, much like Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I’m not sure when I first fell in love with Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Maybe when I was 10 or 12 catching it on TV. To put this love in perspective, I had also fallen in love with the likes of The Perils of Pauline and The Trouble with Angels. The former I’ve never seen since, and the latter I re-watch now and again to bring back a wave of nostalgia. I feel nostalgic for Breakfast at Tiffany’s too, but it’s different. Perhaps it’s because I read Capote’s classic short story… 1 Audrey Hepburn doesn't get enough credit as an actor. Whenever people discuss Breakfast at Tiffany's they point to the admittedly great fashion and Hapburn's charm (maybe her greatest asset), but they neglect the sadness she imbues in her performance. She talks about the mean reds very casually and they colour her struggles to find herself. She grew up poor & was saddled with a marriage in her teenage years before she really knew what that entailed.

She lived a hard life, and since then she's constantly been trying to define herself in some ideal of attractiveness towards wealthier men. The artifice is key, because she's presenting a version of herself all the time that may or may not be true. She's… I'm like cat here, a no-name slob. We belong to nobody, and nobody belongs to us. We don't even belong to each other. -Holly Golightly Blake Edwards directs from George Axelrod 's loosely adapted screenplay of Truman Capote 's novella of the same name . They've basically taken a story about a gay writer's fascination and friendship with a young socialite and turned it into a romantic-comedy, which explains it's out of left field happy ending. It sounds disastrous giving such a description out of context like that, but the film simply works because of one Audrey Hepburn . Hepburn's portrayal of Holly Golightly is stuff of legend. Posing with her beehive hairstyle, black evening gown and exaggerated cigarette holder is part of pop… 7 Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a bit of an anomaly. It's a film that's frightened of its own material. The reasons are manifold.

Capote (who wrote the novella) wanted Marilyn Monroe for the part of Holly Golightly; the weed-smoking alcoholic prostitute who has a casual affair with a gigolo writer. The studio wanted Hepburn, whose image was less sexually overt and more dignified. Audrey’s prostitute needed to be enigmatic, so the salacious material in the story was mostly dropped. Meanwhile, her leading man, George Peppard, was uncomfortable with his character’s subservience to an older, successful woman, Patricia Neal. He didn't want to be emasculated on screen and had the contentious relationship pared down. Throw in director Blake Edwards (popular for helming… 23 Confession time: I'm only a casual fan of Audrey Hepburn. (I chose Audrey as my name on Letterboxd because I've never liked my real name; plus I thought a pseudonym would keep me honest.) As for Hepburn, I think she was adorable, very graceful, and her style is something I'll forever be trying to imitate. But I just don't like Hepburn much as an actress. There's something overly precious about most of her characters. I can probably sum it up in this quote from her most famous film: she's a phony.

But she's a real phony. And in Breakfast at Tiffany's, I was faced once again with that problem, not to mention all the other problems I had with the… 1 Audrey Hepburn doesn't get enough credit as an actor. Whenever people discuss Breakfast at Tiffany's they point to the admittedly great fashion and Hapburn's charm (maybe her greatest asset), but they neglect the sadness she imbues in her performance. She talks about the mean reds very casually and they colour her struggles to find herself. She grew up poor & was saddled with a marriage in her teenage years before she really knew what that entailed. She lived a hard life, and since then she's constantly been trying to define herself in some ideal of attractiveness towards wealthier men. The artifice is key, because she's presenting a version of herself all the time that may or may not be true.

She's… Breakfast at Tiffany's: 50 things to love about Holly Golightly - The Scotsman Breakfast at Tiffany's: 50 things to love about Holly Golightly 18:43 Wednesday 12 November 2008 08:40 Thursday 13 November 2008 IT'S 50 years since Truman Capote introduced Holly Golightly to the world in his celebrated novella, Breakfast at Tiffany's. Today Holly – played by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film – has become a modern icon. Alice Wyllie knows why... 1. She strikes a mean pose. The 1961 film's famous poster, on which Audrey Hepburn poses with a long cigarette holder, was named number 18 on a list of the best movie posters of all time. 2. She knows what she likes. "I'm just crazy about Tiffany's!" 3. She won't go to the bathroom for free. Holly is given $50 "for the powder room" by a male acquaintance, as payment for her companionship that evening. 4. She's got a great moniker.

In an early version of the 1958 novella Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote, the character was named Connie Gustafson. Eventually it became Holiday Golightly, then was shortened to Holly Golightly. 5. She's witty. "If I had her money, I'd be richer than she is." 6. She's unsentimental. Her pet cat is simply named "Cat". 7. But not that unsentimental. Who could fail to be moved when she desperately searches an alley in the rain for Cat whom, moments earlier, she had tossed unceremoniously out of a taxi? 8. She tells it like it is. "The mean reds are horrible. You're afraid and you sweat like hell, but you don't know what you're afraid of. Except something bad is going to happen, only you don't know what it is." 9. She's looking forward to old age. "It's tacky to wear diamonds before you're 40; and even that's risky … they only look good on the really old girls … wrinkles and bones, white hair and diamonds. I can't wait." 10. She can sing.

Moon River was written especially for Hepburn to perform in the film and won an Oscar for best original song. 11. She swings both ways. "Of course people couldn't help but think I must be a bit of a dyke myself," she says in the novella. "And of course I am. Everyone is a bit. So what? That never discouraged a man yet, in fact it seems to goad them on." 12. She makes things happen. In 1961 Tiffany & Co opened their doors on a Sunday for the first time since the 19th century, so scenes could be shot. 13. She's a heartbreaker. Though at the end of the film Holly kisses Paul in the rain, in Capote's novel she leaves for Brazil, and – except for a few postcards – he never hears from her again. 14. She has an interesting take on interior decor. Her couch is half an old-fashioned bathtub. 15. She doesn't count calories. In the first scene of the film she lingers outside Tiffany's, breakfasting on coffee and a Danish pastry – a testament to Hepburn's acting abilities, since she hated pastries. 16. She's inspiring.

In 1995, Holly Golightly inspired the song Breakfast at Tiffany's by Texas band Deep Blue Something. It went to No 1 in the UK. 17. She's sooo not a Marilyn. The role was originally written for Marilyn Monroe, (whom Truman Capote wanted for the part), but her drama coach suggested that playing a call-girl would be bad for her image and the part went to Hepburn. 18. She doesn't please everyone. "It was the most miscast film I've ever seen," said Capote. "Holly Golightly was real – a tough character, not an Audrey Hepburn type at all. The film became a mawkish valentine to New York City and Holly, and, as a result, was thin and pretty, whereas it should have been rich and ugly." 19. She's resourceful. In one film scene, she wears a bedsheet at a cocktail party. 20. She's observant. When Paul tells her about the "angry, sensitive, intensely felt and promising" book he's writing, she observes there is no ribbon in his typewriter. 21. She's stylish.

The famous black dress worn by Hepburn in the opening scenes of the film was designed by Givenchy and sold for $807,000 in 2006. 22 ...very stylish. From the enormous sunglasses to the pearls and cocktail dress, Holly's look is timeless and still copied today. 23. She knows never to stumble into bad lighting, metaphorical or otherwise. "Certain shades of limelight wreck a girl's complexion." 24. She's spontaneous. She spends a day with Paul doing things they've never done before; he has never had champagne before breakfast while she has never been for a walk in the morning. 25. She loves anything from Tiffany's, even a sterling-silver telephone dialler. 26. She's got sticky fingers. Holly and Paul decide to steal a pair of cat and dog masks simply because Paul has never shoplifted. 27. She finds attractive qualities in everyone. Even if it is usually the size of their bank balance, as in the unappealing Rusty Trawler's case: "He's the ninth-richest man under 50 in America!" 28. She'll never let anybody put her in a cage. 29.

She's outgoing. Audrey Hepburn regarded the role as one of her most challenging, being an introvert who had to play an extrovert. 30. She's philanthropic. She visits Sing Sing prison weekly, earning $100 for an hour's conversation with the incarcerated mob boss Sally Tomato. 31. She's a terrible cook. When Holly invites Paul to dinner, the results are so disastrous that the pair go out to eat. 32. She's not one for continuity. When Holly gets out of the cab into the rain at the end of the film, her hair is already soaking wet. 33. She makes smoking look cool. 34. She pays critics no heed. We think she wouldn't particularly care that, upon its publication, the New Yorker dismissed Breakfast at Tiffany's as "empty nostalgia". 35. She's popular… around 30,000 copies of the book are sold every year. 36… very popular. In the book, when the narrator examines her rubbish he finds love letters "by the bale". 37. She has an eccentric book collection.

"If a man doesn't like baseball, then he must like horses, and if he doesn't like either of them, well, I'm in trouble … he don't like girls." 38. She knows all the best eateries in New York. Unlike a certain unfortunate out-of-towner who, upon being asked which glamorous New York restaurant he would like to visit, answered, "Let's have breakfast at Tiffany's," an anecdote popular among Capote's social circle. 39. There's more than one side to her. Capote acknowledged that his heroine was a composite portrait of Manhattan socialites Gloria Vanderbilt, Carol Marcus and Oona O'Neill, as well as his mother and himself. 40. She doesn't conform to feminine ideals. In the book, Holly's hair is "boyish". 41. She's vague. On her calling card, she gives her address as "Travelling". 42. She's provocative. When she angers her landlord by ringing his doorbell to enter the building, having lost her key, she placates him by promising she'll let him take "those pictures we mentioned". 43. She's nothing like Audrey Hepburn.

"I was nothing like her, but I felt I could 'act' Holly," Hepburn said. "I always wonder if I risked enough on that one. I should have been a little more outrageous." 44. And Audrey Hepburn's nothing like her. Holly is supposed to be a blonde hillbilly in her late teens, not a well-spoken brunette of 31. 45. She likes a strong drink. Her favourite tipple is "one-half vodka, one-half gin, no vermouth". 46. She's not quite as promiscuous as she implies. In the book she confesses she's only had 11 lovers. 47. She's fabulously nave. "He's a sensitive, a religious person," she says of mob boss Sally Tomato. "A darling old man." 48. She's unsympathetic. "Timber!" she shouts when her tall friend collapses drunk at a cocktail party. 49. She's generous. She gives the narrator a $350 bird cage for Christmas. When he remarks at the price, she says it only cost her a 'few extra visits to the powder room'. 50. She's always top banana in the shock department.

25 Things You May Not Know About 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' | Moviefone 25 Things You May Not Know About 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' by Gary Susman Everyone thinks they know 'Breakfast at Tiffany's,' the classic, urbane romantic comedy released 50 years ago today, on October 5, 1961. The film that cemented Audrey Hepburn's reputation as an all-time fashion icon, set the bar for every New York fantasy/romantic comedy from 'Barefoot in the Park' to 'Sex and the City,' and gave birth to a thousand Manic Pixie Dream Girls (or at least 25 others). Yet there's a lot you may not know about the movie -- who the real-life Holly Golightly was, how radically different the film might have been if 'Breakfast' author Truman Capote had gotten his way, why the Oscar-winning song 'Moon River' almost got cut from the film, which classic outfits Hepburn herself came up with, how many cartons of cigarettes the tobacco-loving characters smoked on-screen, and what Mickey Rooney has to say about his still-controversial performance. 1. Who was the real-life Holly Golightly?

So many women have been named as possible inspirations to Truman Capote -- including Gloria Vanderbilt, Oona Chaplin, writer/actress Carol Grace (who became Walter Matthau's wife), writer Maeve Brennan and model Suzy Parker -- that Capote called the whole speculation "the Holly Golightly sweepstakes." He claimed there was a real Holly, a woman who lived downstairs from him when he was a writer who'd just moved to New York in the early 1940s (like the autobiographical narrator of Capote's tale), though he never identified her by name. A New Yorker named Bonnie Golightly filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against Capote claiming he'd based the character on her. 2. As George Costanza learned during a memorable 'Seinfeld' episode where he watched the film instead of reading the book for his book club, there are a lot of major differences between Capote's 1958 novella and George Axelrod's screenplay to the 1961 movie.

There's the setting (the 1940s, not the contemporary 1960s), the nameless narrator (called Paul in the film), Holly's age (she's still in her late teens in the story but played by 31-year-old Hepburn on-screen), Holly's fondness for marijuana (gone in the film). Holly's bisexuality (ditto), and the wistful, ambiguous ending (replaced in the film by a conventional romantic happy ending). Most of all, there's the sense many readers get that Holly is a professional escort, for taking money from wealthy men whom she sometimes sleeps with. In interviews , Capote described Holly not as a prostitute or golddigger but called her an American geisha girl. The film downplayed any suggestion of prostitution, with Paramount publicists issuing statements like , "The star is Audrey Hepburn, not Tawdry Hepburn." 3. Capote envisioned his friend Marilyn Monroe in the part, but her acting coach, Paula Strasberg, talked her out of it, saying the role's call-girl-like nature was bad for her image. Others supposedly in line for the role included Jane Fonda, Shirley MacLaine and Kim Novak.

Capote was a friend of Hepburn's but thought she was miscast. So did Hepburn herself, until director Blake Edwards persuaded her she could do it. 4. Blake Edwards pleaded on his knees with the producers not to hire George Peppard as the male lead. (Steve McQueen was considered but was unavailable.) Indeed, Peppard tried to play the role as a traditional matinee idol, not a vulnerable, flawed, naive young man. So said co-star Patricia Neal , who played Paul's sugar mama (known in the film as "2-E"). She and Peppard had been friends before the filming, but she wrote in her memoir that she was put off by his apparent desire "to be an old-time movie hunk." (Later, of course, Peppard would age into that more standard, macho kind of leading man, most memorably as the leader of TV's 'The A-Team.') 5. How did Edwards manage to shoot the memorable opening scene, in which a taxi rolls down an empty 5th Avenue at dawn, Holly gets out in front of Tiffany's and she nibbles on a Danish while gazing longingly through the jeweler's window? There are two conflicting accounts.

One said the scene was hampered by challenges -- a gaggle of gawkers longing for a glimpse of Hepburn, the star's dislike of Danishes, and an accident that nearly electrocuted a crew member. Yet Edwards said the shot was relatively easy, with the busy thoroughfare suddenly clearing up as if by divine intervention. "It was as if God said, ''I'm going to give you a break now, but for the rest of your career you're going to have to live off this one,'" he recalled. At a recent screening of the movie , Edwards' widow, Julie Andrews , said the director (whom she would marry nearly a decade after 'Breakfast') claimed he got the shot in one take. 6. For a movie so associated with Manhattan, very little of it was shot there. There were only about 8 days of location shooting, including inside Tiffany's, which opened on a Sunday for the first time in decades to allow filming, though 40 armed guards and several Tiffany's sales clerks were on hand to prevent pilferage. 7. The party at Holly's apartment, like much of the film, was shot on a Paramount soundstage.

A signature Edwards sequence -- he would go on to shoot memorable parties in the 'Pink Panther' movies, '10,' 'Victor/Victoria,' and of course, 'The Party' -- it took six days to film. The extras playing the guests were all friends and relations of the director, Andrews has said. According to studio notes, the revelers consumed plenty of real champagne, as well as 120 gallons of soft drinks, lots of party food (hot dogs, cold cuts, chips, dips, and sandwiches), and 60 cartons of cigarettes. Even that didn't generate enough smoke, so Edwards brought onto the set a smoker of the sort beekeepers use. 8. It's never explained why, at the party, Hepburn is wearing a gown made from a towel. A scene that was cut from the final release has her taking a bath when the party breaks out, and she's forced to improvise a gown. 9. What's the movie's connection to 'The Flintstones'? It's Alan Reed , who played gangster Sally Tomato. He was also the voice of Fred Flintstone. 10.

Buddy Ebsen had all but retired when he was persuaded to play Doc Golightly, Holly's estranged husband from down South. His brief performance is said to have landed him the role of Jed Clampett on 'The Beverly Hillbillies,' which made him more famous than ever and extended his career by decades. 11. Hepburn's husband, actor Mel Ferrer , seemed to exercise a near-Svengali-like control over his wife during the production. Neal recalled dining with the couple at their home, an evening that included a very light meal and ended practically before sunset; she remarked that now she knew how Hepburn stayed so thin. Ferrer also tried to influence his wife's performance, until Edwards took her aside and insisted that she treat him as the film's sole director. After that, Ferrer behaved like wet blanket; upon seeing the finished film, his only compliment to his wife was, "I liked your hat." 12.

Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer composed 'Moon River' with Hepburn's limited vocal range in mind, having heard her sing in 'Funny Face.' There was talk of having Marni Nixon dub her vocals (as she would do a couple years later in 'My Fair Lady'), but Edwards decided that Hepburn's own plain, unvarnished rendition of the song fit the character better. 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' - 'Moon River' 13. "Over my dead body!" That was the response to a Paramount executive who wanted to cut the song from the film. It's not clear who said it, however. One account says it was Hepburn, another says it was the producers. 14. Hepburn worked with designer Hubert de Givenchy to craft her costumes for the film. One result: Holly's iconic little black dress, one of the most influential fashion choices in cinema history and a must for nearly every woman's wardrobe ever since.

(Yes, it was Coco Chanel, not Givenchy, who invented the little black dress, but it was the version Hepburn wore that made the garment a fashion staple.) Christie's auctioned the original dress in 2006 and sold it for $923,000 (one of the highest prices ever paid for a piece of movie memorabilia), with the money going to support the construction of a school for the poor in Calcutta. 15. Despite her reputation for elegance, Hepburn enjoyed relaxing in a turtleneck and jeans. Which is what Holly wears while lounging on the fire escape and singing 'Moon River.' 16. You'd never know from Holly's willowy figure that Hepburn had given birth to son Sean just three months before shooting. As a hobby, the new mom took up knitting. 17. Hepburn caught a cold after spending four days in studio-made rain shooting the final sequence. 18. The one part of the film that makes audiences cringe today is Mickey Rooney's performance as Holly's neighbor, Mr. Yunioshi.

Aside from the insult of having a non-Asian performer play a Japanese man by wearing yellowface makeup, Coke-bottle glasses, and buck teeth, there's also the performance's consistent sense of caricature and stereotype. In a 2008 interview , Rooney said Edwards hired him as a veteran comic actor and directed him to play the character broadly, and that if anyone had taken offense at his portrayal -- like the Asian-American activists who got a free public screening of 'Breakfast' in Sacramento yanked in favor of the more anodyne 'Ratatouille' -- it was news to him. "Never in all the more than 40 years after we made it -- not one complaint," Rooney said. "Every place I've gone in the world people say, 'God, you were so funny.' Asians and Chinese come up to me and say, 'Mickey you were out of this world.'" He added that if he'd known the performance would offend people, "I wouldn't have done it." 19. The film reportedly cost $2.5 million to make.

(Some $750,000 of that reportedly went to Hepburn, making her one of the highest-paid actresses of the era.) It earned $4 million in the U.S. upon its initial release and $14 million over its lifetime. 20. Consumers responded almost immediately to the film. Besides the black cocktail dress, Holly's coat and purse became widely copied. Animal shelters reported a rise in demand for ginger tomcats like Holly's cat (whose name, of course, was "Cat"). The soundtrack album went to No. 1 and stayed on the Billboard chart for two years. 21. 'Breakfast' earned Oscar nominations for Hepburn's performance, Axelrod's adapted screenplay, and for art direction. It won two prizes, for Mancini's original score and for Original Song ('Moon River'). They were the first two Oscars of Mancini's career; he'd ultimately win four times out of 18 nominations, and he would compose music for Edwards on many more movies, notably, the 'Pink Panther' films and 'Victor/Victoria.' 22. In 1966, there was a Broadway musical version, starring Mary Tyler Moore and Richard Chamberlain .

It closed after just four performances, becoming one of those legendary flops that -- if as many people who claimed to have seen it actually did -- wouldn't have been a flop at all. 23. In 1969, ABC commissioned a pilot for a TV series, a sitcom called 'Holly Golightly' that starred Stephanie Powers and Jack Kruschen (as Joe the bartender, a character from Capote's novella that didn't make it into the movie). The network ultimately declined to pick up the pilot and make it into a series. 24. The property made it to the stage once more as a straight play in 2009, on London's West End. Anna Friel (the cult TV series 'Pushing Daises') played Holly. 25. In 1995, the band Deep Blue Something had a hit with a Hepburn-inspired song called 'Breakfast at Tiffany's.' The lyrics actually had more references to 'Roman Holiday,' but songwriter Todd Pipes thought the reference to the more iconic tale of Holly Golightly would make a better song title.

[Photo: Everett Collection] Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) -- (Movie Clip) Moon River You will receive an email shortly to confirm your email address. Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) -- (Movie Clip) Moon River title details and video sharing options now playing Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) -- (Movie Clip) Moon River Truly Audrey Hepburn (as "Holly Golightly") singing, the Oscar-winning tune written by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer to suit her voice, "Moon River," serenading her writer neighbor and maybe-boyfriend Paul (George Peppard) in Blake Edwards' Breakfast At Tiffany's, 1961. View the TCMDb entry for Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) share video Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) -- (Movie Clip)... Truly Audrey Hepburn (as "Holly Golightly") singing, the... Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) --...

Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) -- (Movie Clip) Moon River Truly Audrey Hepburn (as "Holly Golightly") singing, the Oscar-winning tune written by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer to suit her voice, "Moon River," serenading her writer neighbor and maybe-boyfriend Paul (George Peppard) in Blake Edwards' Breakfast At Tiffany's, 1961.> Breakfast at Tiffany's - (Original Trailer) Original Theatrical trailer for "Breakfast at Tiffany's"... A young writer gets caught up in a party... Breakfast at Tiffany's - (Original Trailer) Audrey Hepburn is Truman Capote's Holly Golightly, the New York sophisticate who spends Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961).> Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) -- (Movie Clip)... Extended pantomime at the "Five and Ten" as Holly (Audrey... Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) --... Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) -- (Movie Clip) Ever Steal Anything?

Extended pantomime at the "Five and Ten" as Holly (Audrey Hepburn) and Paul (George Peppard) enjoy their Manhattan "shopping" spree, with Henry Mancini music, in Breakfast At Tiffany's, 1961.> Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) -- (Movie Clip)... Opening credit sequence with Henry Mancini's music, with... Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) --... Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) -- (Movie Clip) Opening Credits Opening credit sequence with Henry Mancini's music, with Audrey Hepburn executing the act described in the title, from Blake Edwards' 1961 hit Breakfast At Tiffany's, also starring George Peppard, from the Truman Capote novella.> Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) -- (Movie... We've just met George Peppard, so we don't know why he's... Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) --...

Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) -- (Movie Clip) The Mean Reds Weve just met George Peppard, so we dont know why hes visiting blind-folded and ear-plugged Holly (Audrey Hepburn), whom weve surmised is something like a paid socialite, at her Manhattan apartment, early in Blake Edwards Breakfast At Tiffanys, 1961. > Ben Mankiewicz Intro -- Breakfast At... Ben Mankiewicz introduces Breakfast At Tiffany's, 1961. Ben Mankiewicz Intro -- Breakfast At... Ben Mankiewicz Intro -- Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) Ben Mankiewicz introduces Breakfast At Tiffanys, 1961. > Ben Mankiewicz Intro -- Breakfast At... Ben Mankiewicz introduces Breakfast At Tiffany's, 1961. Ben Mankiewicz Intro -- Breakfast At... Ben Mankiewicz Intro -- Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) Ben Mankiewicz introduces Breakfast At Tiffanys, 1961. > Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) -- (Movie Clip)...

Martin Balsam is O.J., stand-in host and, we soon learn, the... Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) --... Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) -- (Movie Clip) I Thought It Was Fred Baby Martin Balsam is O.J., stand-in host and, we soon learn, the show-business agent for paid Manhattan party-girl Holly (Audrey Hepburn), who has yet to appear for her own event, as her new neighbor, writer Paul (George Peppard), whom she calls Fred, arrives, in Breakfast At Tiffanys, 1961. > Style in film: Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” | Classiq Cinema, Costume Design, Living with Style 27 August 2013 Style in film: Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” Today it is hard to imagine anyone else as troubled call girl Holly Golightly, but Truman Capote, on whose novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s was based, was disappointed when Audrey Hepburn was cast in the role. When Capote sold the rights to Paramount, he had envisioned Marilyn Monroe as Holly and believed that Audrey was completely wrong for the part.

Paula Strasberg, Monroe’s acting coach, felt that playing a call girl was not good for Marilyn’s image, and the actress dropped out of production. For Audrey, on the other hand, was a welcome change after her princess and chauffeur’s daughter parts she had played in the past, even though Holly Golightly’s character was softened for the screenplay. But Breakfast at Tiffany’s was still a very modern film for 1961, and Audrey was funny, yet moving in her role. “I should be a stylish Holly Golightly. Even if that’s all I can contribute”, said Audrey. She and Hubert de Givenchy teamed up again for Blake Edward’s romantic comedy. Her wardrobe is simple, elegant, iconic, and Breakfast at Tiffany’s was the movie that, in 1961, consecrated the black sheath dress. The couturier designed two sleeveless black dresses for the film. The first one is the straight lined, black satin gown with a beautiful low-cut back, which was worn with long, black satin gloves, large tortoiseshell Oliver Goldsmith sunglasses reminiscent of the Ray-Ban Wayfarer model, a Tiffany necklace of strands of pearls and diamante hair ornament.

Holly wears the dress in the opening scene, that time of morning when the dawn has broken, but the city is still asleep, and she steps out of a yellow cab on a deserted Fifth Avenue, outside Tiffany’s. Riccardo Tisci, creative director of Givenchy, said of the dress: “It was 1961 and this dress is in a way very sixties. The front is severe, elegant, very clean, but at the back there is the very interesting neckline, somewhere between ethnic and Parisian; a softness that other designers in that time didn’t have.” Three copies of the dress were made: one is held at Maison Givenchy, one at the Museum of Costume in Madrid, and one was given to Audrey. One of the copies was sold at Christie’s in 2006 for $923,187, making it one of the most expensive pieces in film memorabilia. Costume designer Renie Conley remembered observing Edith Head taking one of Givenchy’s gowns apart to create a copy.

“It was full of horsehair stuffing and lead weights to make it fall a certain way.” In the scene above, Holly accessorised the dress differently, opting for earrings and a white scarf only. An LBD can be different every time you put it on. The man’s shirt Audrey wears to bed in her own characteristic chic way was designed by Edith Head, who, once again, had to settle for filling out the remainder of Audrey’s needed costumes. Wouldn’t you say that this outfit, completed by the cute sleeping mask, is memorable too? It is to me. This is the second petit noir Givenchy designed for Holly Golightly. In cloqué silk, with a slightly flared frilly skirt, which Audrey wore with a wide-brimmed hat with an enormous cream silk bow and low-heeled alligator shoes, long gloves and again, oversized sunglasses. She styles the dress in different ways in the film, as you can see below, either with a fabulous lampshade hat and brooch, or with a maxi necklace.

To transform Audrey into Holly Golightly, her hair was streaked with blonde highlights, a look that made her look “jazzy” and “a little kooky”, helping her “get away from that primmer lady look, like nuns and princesses”, as Audrey herself said. “It was nice to become a new girl as easily as that. I liked it so much, I decided to keep it for offscreen.” Her bouffant, backcombed hair style, by Grazia de Rossi, launched a fashion too. It’s a bed sheet you see her wearing at her cocktail party. A scene was cut from the film in which Holly is taking a bath and has to improvise a gown on the spot. One more example that Audrey could look chic in just anything she threw on. At first I didn’t even realise it was a sheet she had on and she could have easily gotten away with that on the spur of the moment outfit if you ask me, but she soon changes into her short shift dress. The blue jeans, grey sweater and cloth around the head she’s wearing as she sings Moon River on the fire escape were also designed by Edith Head. “The real girl comes alive in the blue jeans.

Every woman is an actress in a Paris gown”, said Audrey. This look is just as timeless as the little black dress. The beige trench coat, another style item that has been immortalized by Breakfast at Tiffany’s in the final scene, is paired with a head scarf, polo t-shirt and herringbone skirt. The double-breasted orange wool coat was much copied at the release of the film. The funnel neck coat was classic Givenchy and Audrey wore similar versions in Charade (1963), How to Steal A Million (1966), and in her personal wardrobe. In the movie, the coat was matched with a salt-and-pepper patterned dress, fur hat, kitten heels and classic tote. In her book, Audrey Style, Pamela Keogh Clarke writes: “the Hepburn Givenchy partnership reached the apogee of refined elegance as Holly Golightly’s hangover chic caused a run on triple strand faux pearl necklaces, sleeveless dresses and oversized dark sunglasses that continues to this day.” A hot pink silk cocktail dress studded with green rhinestones and with a pink bow around the waist. It was teamed with a collarless, three-quarter sleeved coat in the same vibrant pink.

I love these infusions of colour in an otherwise neutral wardrobe. Casually dressed, in pullover, slacks and ballet flats, Audrey is once again the personification of ultimate chic. I don’t think there is any other actress whose roles have emulated her personal style to such an extent, as in the case of Audrey Hepburn. This wouldn’t have been possible without Givenchy’s creative mind and understanding of Audrey’s figure, needs and personality. photos: screen stills captured by me from this DVD edition . Please link back to Classiq if you’d like to use any of these images.

Question: In which 1961 film did Audrey Hepburn appear as the character Holly Golightly?
Answer: Breakfast at Tiffanys