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IMDbPro

Daddy Long Legs

  • 1955
  • Approved
  • 2h 6m
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
4.1K
YOUR RATING
Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron in Daddy Long Legs (1955)
A wealthy American has a chance encounter with a joyful young French woman, and anonymously pays for her education. She writes letters to her mysterious benefactor, nicknaming him from the description given by some of her fellow orphans.
Play trailer2:11
1 Video
99+ Photos
MusicalRomance

A wealthy American has a chance encounter with a joyful young French woman, and anonymously pays for her education. She writes letters to her mysterious benefactor, nicknaming him from the d... Read allA wealthy American has a chance encounter with a joyful young French woman, and anonymously pays for her education. She writes letters to her mysterious benefactor, nicknaming him from the description given by some of her fellow orphans.A wealthy American has a chance encounter with a joyful young French woman, and anonymously pays for her education. She writes letters to her mysterious benefactor, nicknaming him from the description given by some of her fellow orphans.

  • Director
    • Jean Negulesco
  • Writers
    • Phoebe Ephron
    • Henry Ephron
    • Jean Webster
  • Stars
    • Fred Astaire
    • Leslie Caron
    • Terry Moore
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    6.7/10
    4.1K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Jean Negulesco
    • Writers
      • Phoebe Ephron
      • Henry Ephron
      • Jean Webster
    • Stars
      • Fred Astaire
      • Leslie Caron
      • Terry Moore
    • 57User reviews
    • 26Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 3 Oscars
      • 4 nominations total

    Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 2:11
    Watch Trailer

    Photos169

    Fred Astaire in Daddy Long Legs (1955)
    Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron in Daddy Long Legs (1955)
    Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron in Daddy Long Legs (1955)
    Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron in Daddy Long Legs (1955)
    Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron in Daddy Long Legs (1955)
    Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron in Daddy Long Legs (1955)
    Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron in Daddy Long Legs (1955)
    Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron in Daddy Long Legs (1955)
    Fred Clark and Thelma Ritter in Daddy Long Legs (1955)
    Fred Astaire in Daddy Long Legs (1955)
    Leslie Caron in Daddy Long Legs (1955)
    Leslie Caron and Thelma Ritter in Daddy Long Legs (1955)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Fred Astaire
    Fred Astaire
    • Jervis Pendleton III
    Leslie Caron
    Leslie Caron
    • Julie Andre
    Terry Moore
    Terry Moore
    • Linda Pendleton
    Thelma Ritter
    Thelma Ritter
    • Alicia Pritchard
    Fred Clark
    Fred Clark
    • Griggs
    Charlotte Austin
    Charlotte Austin
    • Sally McBride
    Larry Keating
    Larry Keating
    • Ambassador Alexander Williamson
    Kathryn Givney
    Kathryn Givney
    • Gertrude Pendleton
    Kelly Brown
    Kelly Brown
    • Jimmy McBride
    Ray Anthony
    Ray Anthony
    • Ray Anthony
    • (as Ray Anthony and his Orchestra)
    Robert Adler
    Robert Adler
    • Deliveryman
    • (uncredited)
    Suzanne Alexander
    Suzanne Alexander
    • College Girl
    • (uncredited)
    Gertrude Astor
    Gertrude Astor
    • Art Gallery Patron
    • (uncredited)
    Wilda Bieber
    • College Girl
    • (uncredited)
    Paul Bradley
    • Second Jeweler
    • (uncredited)
    Tim Cagney
    • Orphan
    • (uncredited)
    Gwen Caldwell
    • College Girl
    • (uncredited)
    Kathryn Card
    Kathryn Card
    • Miss Carrington
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Jean Negulesco
    • Writers
      • Phoebe Ephron
      • Henry Ephron
      • Jean Webster
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Fred Astaire's wife died during filming, so between some takes he would retreat to his trailer and cry. That's why, in some scenes, his eyes look red and swollen.
    • Goofs
      When Jervis is about to play the drums for Griggs, his brushes suddenly turn into sticks between shots.
    • Quotes

      Julie Andre: Did he have a weakness for girls?

      Jervis Pendleton III: oh no, a great strength!

    • Connections
      Edited into Fred Astaire Salutes the Fox Musicals (1974)
    • Soundtracks
      History of the Beat
      (uncredited)

      by Johnny Mercer

      [Instrumental with Fred Astaire on drums]

    User reviews57

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    Superbly Romantic
    Most would probably cast their votes for THE BANDWAGON, EASTER PARADE, or any number of other Ginger Rogers-Fred Astaire team-up's as the most stellar of Fred Astaire's efforts. Yet DADDY LONG LEGS is perhaps the most beguiling of the Astaire musicals and quite possibly captures the purest romantic sensibility of them all. However, few admirers of the legendary dancer ever seem to cite this wonderful motion picture as being among the most shimmering of the Astaire nuggets--and it remains a mystery why that is so.

    Directed by Jean Negulesco, the film is the Cinderella story of a wealthy New York playboy, Jervis Pendleton (Astaire), who stumbles upon a beautiful young orphaned girl, Julie Andre, (Leslie Caron) while on a trip to France. He decides to bring her to America and sponsor her college education while keeping his identify unknown. From the beginning, Caron idealizes the benefactor she never sees and identifies him as her "Daddy Long Legs." Writing hundreds of letters to him in an attempt to establish a relationship, she receives only the depersonalized anonymity of continuing financial aid. Eventually, the two do come face to face at a college prom through Astaire's niece, Linda (Terry Moore), who is a classmate of Caron. But Caron still has no idea that Astaire and "Daddy Long Legs" are one in the same. Of course, Astaire falls for Caron after the couple spend a whirlwind night on the town, but then severs all connection to her after Ambassador Williamson (Larry Keating)lectures him on the public scandal of his being a Sugar Daddy.

    The musical numbers, choreographed by Astaire, are fresh, colorful, and romantically vibrant. The dance ballet inspired by the music of "Dream" --in which Caron fantasizes over the identify of her "Daddy Long Legs"-- shifts through a series of tempo, costume, and musical changes and is inescapably reminiscent of the Gene Kelly-Leslie Caron 20 minute masterpiece in AN American IN Paris. In the night on the town number, after meeting at Linda's college prom, they swing through Johnny Mercer's Acadamy Award nominated SOMETHIN'S GOTTA GIVE. It is the turning point when the two realize they are falling in love, though Caron is still not aware that Astaire is her benefactor. Not to be missed is Astaire's performance of "Slew Foot" with Caron at the prom where Jervis Pendleton shows the younger set a thing or two about what a man over 50 can do on a dance floor. It's one of the most entertaining sequences in the film and contains some very funny moments.

    The veteran supporting cast works wonderfully well: Terry Moore as Pendleton's niece, Fred Clarke as Griggs, Pendleton's assistant, and Larry Keating as Ambassador Williamson. But it is the sympathetic Thelma Ritter who shines as Pendleton's secretary Alicia. She is the one who has been reading and filing all the Julie Andre letters for years until she takes it upon herself to be the only friend at Caron's graduation and instigates the pivotal meeting between Pendleton and Andre at Astaire's Park Avenue office. It is there that Pendleton's identity is unmasked and Andre discovers that Astaire is, after all, her "Daddy Long Legs."

    DADDY LONG LEGS may not usually be thought of as reigning near the top of Fred Astaire's films, but it surely must be included among his best musicals. The Phoebe Ephron script of a May-September romance is fresh and colorful; the musical numbers are beautifully and artfully choreographed; and the 1950's Technicolor cinematography memorably filmed.

    Trivia: Fred Astire was 56 years old when he made the film; Caron was 24...DADDY LONG LEGS was not one of Astaire's MGM musicals; it was released by 20th CENTURY FOX...Both Fred Clarke and Larry Keating played Harry Morton, next door neighbor to George Burns and Gracie Allen on the BURNS AND ALLEN show of the 1950's. Clarke came first beginning in 1951, then in 1953, George Burns actually announced the cast change in the middle of an episode as Clarke exited and Keating stepped in and took his place!...Leslie Caron never wanted to be in movies, but when Gene Kelley offered her a part in the MGM legendary musical AN American IN Paris in 1950, she gave in to her mother's demands and flew to Hollywood...Johnny Mercer was nominated in 1955 for best original song for SOMETHIN'S GOTTA GIVE. However, the winner that year proved to be LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING...Mitzi Gaynor was the studio's choice for the Julie Andre role, but Astaire held out for Leslie Caron--probably after being dazzled by her performance in AN American In Paris with Gene Kelly, which won the Oscar for Best Picture of the Year, 1951...It was during the filming of DADDY LONG LEGS that Fred Astaire's wife died. At various times he retreated to his trailer emotionally overcome. Some have said that in certain scenes Astaire to have "red eyes."...

    Dennis Caracciolo
    helpful•32
    7
    • dencar_1
    • Jan 2, 2006

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 5, 1955 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Daddy Langbein
    • Filming locations
      • Andrew Carnegie Mansion - 2 East 91st Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA(Exterior)
    • Production company
      • Twentieth Century Fox
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 6 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.55 : 1

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