Irma La Douce

…history), but Wilder’s next film, Irma La Douce (1963), was. The nonmusical adaptation of a French (and later Broadway) musical by Alexandre Breffort and Marguerite Monnot starred MacLaine and Lemmon as, respectively, a philosophical Parisian prostitute and the self-righteous constable who tries to shut down her operation. MacLaine received an…

Wilder’s The Apartment (1960) and Irma la Douce (1963), romantic comedies that also starred Jack Lemmon. Her performances in those films earned MacLaine Academy Award nominations. In 1969 she starred in Bob Fosse’s Sweet Charity, portraying a taxi dancer who remains optimistic despite a series of disappointments.

(1958), Porgy and Bess (1959), Irma la Douce (1963), and My Fair Lady (1964).