Details

Release year: 1960

Storyline

A millionairess and a doctor cannot marry until they meet conditions set up by their respective parents.

Top credits

Directors

Anthony Asquith

Writers

Cast

Sophia Loren — Epifania
Peter Sellers — Doctor Ahmed El Kabir, Parerga
Alastair Sim — Sagamore
Vittorio De Sica — Joe

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Awards

0 wins & 1 nomination

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Did you know

• Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren recorded the novelty song "Goodness Gracious Me!" in order to promote the movie. The song became a big worldwide hit.

• There's a contemporary irony attached to the shooting of this film, one that impacted onto to the two main stars' real life world at the time. Despite playing, in the film, a man unmoved by the romantic overtures of Loren's character (the millionairess of the title), in real life, Peter Sellers became besotted with Loren, remaining so throughout the film's making and, in the words of one observer, 'doting on her like a smitten stalker' - this despite the fact that she was already married to Italian producer Carlo Ponti. Sellers, apparently not separating reality from the film fantasy, seemed to believe the persona which Loren was acting (of being erotically obsessed by him) was real - that she had really fallen for him, too - and so attempted to draw her away to himself. This was a great trial to his real-life wife, Anne Hayes, and many of his friends felt that he was making an utter fool of himself. More than a dozen years later, Sellers was still implying to interviewers that he had actually had an affair with Loren, but it is immensely unlikely that there was even the slightest truth to this. He hoped that he could persuade Loren to co-star with him some four years later in "A Shot In The Dark", but she refused immediately. The part was taken instead by Elke Sommer, who, years later, reported that, to her amazement, Sellers had proposed marriage to her. She also refused.

• In 1953 Katharine Hepburn planned to film this George Bernard Shaw piece and hired Preston Sturges to pen a screenplay. Despite the fact that Sturges turned in a very funny script, the deal to make the movie, which would have co-starred Alec Guinness, fell apart.