Send Me No Flowers (1964)

A hypochondriac believes he is dying and makes plans for his wife which she discovers and misunderstands.

Director:

Norman Jewison

Writers:

Julius J. Epstein (screenplay) (as Julius Epstein), Norman Barasch (based upon the play by)

Stars:

Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Rock Hudson	...	George
Doris Day	...	Judy
Tony Randall	...	Arnold
Paul Lynde	...	Mr. Akins
Hal March	...	Winston Burr
Edward Andrews	...	Dr. Morrissey
Patricia Barry	...	Linda
Clint Walker	...	Bert
Clive Clerk	...	Vito
Dave Willock	...	Milkman Ernie
Aline Towne	...	Cora
Helene Winston	...	Commuter
Christine Nelson	...	Nurse

Storyline

At one of his many visits to his doctor, hypochondriac George Kimball mistakes a dying man's diagnosis for his own and believes he only has about two more weeks to live. Wanting to take care of his wife Judy, he doesn't tell her and tries to find her a new husband. When he finally does tell her, she quickly finds out he's not dying at all (while he doesn't) and she believes it's just a lame excuse to hide an affair, so she decides to leave him.

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Plot Keywords:

hypochondriac | married couple | best friend | screwball comedy | doctor | 

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Taglines:

Rock Hudson * Doris Day * Tony Randall send you their ever-lovin best-

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

14 October 1964 (USA)

Also Known As:

Send Me No Flowers

Filming Locations:

Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Martin Melcher Productions, Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Broadway production of the original play starred David Wayne and Nancy Olson and ran from December 5 1960 to January 7 1961 at the Brooks Atkinson Theater.

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Goofs

The Doris Day character fills a wastebasket with pill bottles in the bathroom, then goes to a window and dumps them on the Rock Hudson character. She clearly empties the basket then, seconds later, she dumps more on him without ever going back to refill the wastebasket.

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Quotes

Judy: [Creeps up on George sleeping and lands a hard slap on his face, he startles awake and she comforts him] Oh, my darling. Oh, my darling. Are you having another nightmare?
George Kimball: No, I, I, uh...
Judy: There, sweetheart.
George Kimball: I think somebody... Somebody hit me.
Judy: Oh... It's all right, darling. I'm here now.

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits prologue: "The desire to take medicine is perhaps the greatest feature which distinguishes man from animals." Sir William Osler

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Connections

Referenced in A Decade Under the Influence (2003)

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Soundtracks

Send Me No Flowers
Lyrics by Hal David
Music by Burt Bacharach
Recorded by Doris Day

User Reviews

Mr.&Mrs. Suburbia

For the last film of Rock Hudson-Doris Day-Tony Randall, Rock and Doris are already married so it's not like Rock is in hot pursuit of our all American virginal goddess. Instead they seem like a typical suburban couple of the early sixties except for one problem, Rock is an obsessive compulsive hypochondriac.

Another visit to Edward Andrews the doctor and a big misunderstanding convince Rock he's a terminal case and he starts making preparations both to meet his Maker and make sure about Doris who he leaves behind. That causes all kinds of funny situations that Rock and Doris muddle through with the fumbling help of a lot of people.

Hudson and Day did three films together and by rights they should be listed as a trio with Tony Randall because he was in all three of the films and added so much to them as Hudson's comic foil. Of course this was in the day much before he became TV's most famous fuss budget, Felix Unger. Still you can see traces of Felix in all three of Randall's roles with Rock and Doris.

Send Me No Flowers is the weakest of the three comedies I feel because the Hudson-Day team works so much better with Rock trying to grab a little nookie from Doris and getting hooked for his troubles. Still the film has some really nice moments. All three of their films were well cast with some of the best supporting players around.

My favorite in Send Me No Flowers is Paul Lynde as the cemetery director who just loves his job. He has two scenes, one with Rock buying a cemetery plot and a second with Doris where he inadvertently solves the problems Rock's hypochondria works them into.

Rock and Doris surely made one wonderful movie screen team.