Pillow Talk
Encyclopedia
Pillow Talk is a 1959 romantic comedy film
directed by Michael Gordon
. It features Rock Hudson
, Doris Day
, Tony Randall
, Thelma Ritter
and Nick Adams. The film was written by Russell Rouse
, Maurice Richlin
, Stanley Shapiro
and Clarence Greene
.
The film won the Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
, and was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role
(Doris Day), Best Actress in a Supporting Role
(Thelma Ritter), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color
(Richard H. Riedel
, Russell A. Gausman
, Ruby R. Levitt
) and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture
.
This is the first of three movies in which Day, Hudson and Randall starred together, the other two being Lover Come Back
and Send Me No Flowers
.
In 2009, it was named to the National Film Registry
by the Library of Congress
for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant and will be preserved.
) is a successful, content, self-reliant interior decorator who lives in New York City
. She lives alone and claims to be quite happy, when questioned on that subject by her drunken
housekeeper
, Alma (Thelma Ritter
). Due to the state of the telephone company's development, she has to use a party line
, which she shares with Brad Allen (Rock Hudson
), a talented, creative Broadway
composer and playboy.
Jan and Brad, who have never met, develop a feud
over the use of the party line, as Brad is constantly using the phone to chat with one young woman after another, singing to each of them an "original" love song supposedly written just for her, though he only changes the name or language he sings in. Jan and Brad bicker over the party line, with Brad suggesting that the single Jan is jealous of his popularity.
One of Jan's clients is millionaire Jonathan Forbes (Tony Randall
), who repeatedly throws himself at her to no avail. Unknown to Jan, Jonathan is Brad's old college buddy and current Broadway benefactor.
One evening in a nightclub, Brad finally sees Jan dancing. Attracted to her, he fakes a Texan accent and invents a new persona: Rex Stetson, wealthy Texas
rancher. He succeeds in wooing Jan, and the pair begin seeing each other regularly. Jan cannot resist bragging about new beau on the phone to Brad Allen, while Brad teases Jan by suggesting that "Rex" is not all he appears to be.
When Jonathan finds out what Brad has done, he forces Brad to leave New York City and go to Jonathan's cabin in Connecticut
to complete his new songs. Brad uses the opportunity to secretly ask Jan to go away with him, and she does. Once there, romance is in the air until Jan stumbles upon a copy of Rex's sheet music. She plunks the melody on the nearby piano and recognizes Brad's song. She confronts Brad angrily and ignores his attempts at explanation, leaving with Jonathan who has arrived just in time to expose Rex as Brad and who takes her back to New York City.
Once Brad returns to New York, Jonathan is pleased to learn that the mighty oak of a playboy has finally fallen in love, while conversely Jan will have nothing to do with him for deceiving her. Not ready to give up, Brad turns to Jan's maid, Alma, for advice, who suggests he hire Jan to decorate his apartment so they will be forced to collaborate. Jan only concedes so that her employer will not lose the account. Little does he know her employer is also in on the scheme. Still quite angry however, Jan completely redoes Brad's apartment in the most gaudy, ghastly, hideous decor she can muster. Horrified by what he finds, Brad angrily storms into Jan's apartment and carries her in her pajamas through the street back to his apartment, where he asks her how it feels to return to the scene of the crime. In his frustration he tells her of all the changes he's made to end his bachelor lifestyle because he thought he was getting married. Her face lights up from his admission but he's so angry he attempts to leave. She quickly reaches for one of the tacky remote control switches he installed to accommodate his "purposes" which immediately locks the door. He turns around in defeat, their eyes meet, each smiles, and they lovingly embrace.
Romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy films are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. One dictionary definition is "a funny movie, play, or television program about a love story that ends happily"...
directed by Michael Gordon
Michael Gordon (film director)
Michael Gordon was an American stage actor and stage and film director.-Life and career:Gordon was born in Baltimore and raised in a middle class Jewish community. He was a member of the Group Theatre , and was blacklisted as a Communist in the days of McCarthyism...
. It features Rock Hudson
Rock Hudson
Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...
, Doris Day
Doris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
, Tony Randall
Tony Randall
Tony Randall was a U.S. actor, comic, producer and director.-Early years:Randall was born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Julia and Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer...
, Thelma Ritter
Thelma Ritter
Thelma Ritter was an American supporting and character actress from the 1940s until her death in 1969.-Early life:...
and Nick Adams. The film was written by Russell Rouse
Russell Rouse
Russell Rouse was an American screenwriter, director, and producer who is noted for the "offbeat creativity and originality"of his screenplays and for film noir movies and television episodes produced in the 1950s....
, Maurice Richlin
Maurice Richlin
Maurice Richlin was an American screenwriter.-External links:...
, Stanley Shapiro
Stanley Shapiro
Stanley Shapiro was an American screenwriter and producer responsible for three of Doris Day's most successful films.Born in Brooklyn, New York, Shapiro earned his first screen credit for South Sea Woman in 1953...
and Clarence Greene
Clarence Greene
Clarence Greene was an American screenwriter and film producer who is noted for the "offbeat creativity and originality of his screenplays and for film noir movies and television episodes produced in the 1950s.-Career:...
.
The film won the Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. Before 1940, there was an Academy Award for Best Story for writing. For 1940, it and the award in this article were separated into two awards. Beginning with the...
, and was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(Doris Day), Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
(Thelma Ritter), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color
Academy Award for Best Art Direction
The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
(Richard H. Riedel
Richard H. Riedel
Richard H. Riedel was an American art director. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Art Direction for the film Pillow Talk.-External links:...
, Russell A. Gausman
Russell A. Gausman
Russell A. Gausman was an American set decorator. He was won two Academy Awards and was nominated for five more in the category Best Art Direction...
, Ruby R. Levitt
Ruby R. Levitt
Ruby R. Levitt was an American set decorator. She was nominated for four Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction.-Selected filmography:Levitt was nominated for four Academy Awards for Best Art Direction:...
) and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture
Academy Award for Original Music Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
.
This is the first of three movies in which Day, Hudson and Randall starred together, the other two being Lover Come Back
Lover Come Back
Lover Come Back is a 1961 Eastmancolor romantic comedy released by Universal Pictures. The film stars Doris Day and Rock Hudson in their second film together. The supporting cast includes Tony Randall, Edie Adams, Ann B. Davis, and Donna Douglas....
and Send Me No Flowers
Send Me No Flowers
Send Me No Flowers: a 1964 American comedy film, directed by Norman Jewison and starring Rock Hudson, Doris Day, and Tony Randall. After Pillow Talk and Lover Come Back, it is the third and final film in which Hudson, Day and Randall starred together.The screenplay by Julius J...
.
In 2009, it was named to the National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
by the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant and will be preserved.
Synopsis
Jan Morrow (Doris DayDoris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
) is a successful, content, self-reliant interior decorator who lives in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. She lives alone and claims to be quite happy, when questioned on that subject by her drunken
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
housekeeper
Housekeeper (servant)
A housekeeper is an individual responsible for the cleaning and maintenance of the interior of a residence, including direction of subordinate maids...
, Alma (Thelma Ritter
Thelma Ritter
Thelma Ritter was an American supporting and character actress from the 1940s until her death in 1969.-Early life:...
). Due to the state of the telephone company's development, she has to use a party line
Party line (telephony)
In twentieth-century telephone systems, a party line is an arrangement in which two or more customers are connected directly to the same local loop. Prior to World War II in the United States, party lines were the primary way residential subscribers acquired local telephone service...
, which she shares with Brad Allen (Rock Hudson
Rock Hudson
Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...
), a talented, creative Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
composer and playboy.
Jan and Brad, who have never met, develop a feud
Feud
A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight between parties—often groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one party perceives itself to have been attacked, insulted or wronged by another...
over the use of the party line, as Brad is constantly using the phone to chat with one young woman after another, singing to each of them an "original" love song supposedly written just for her, though he only changes the name or language he sings in. Jan and Brad bicker over the party line, with Brad suggesting that the single Jan is jealous of his popularity.
One of Jan's clients is millionaire Jonathan Forbes (Tony Randall
Tony Randall
Tony Randall was a U.S. actor, comic, producer and director.-Early years:Randall was born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Julia and Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer...
), who repeatedly throws himself at her to no avail. Unknown to Jan, Jonathan is Brad's old college buddy and current Broadway benefactor.
One evening in a nightclub, Brad finally sees Jan dancing. Attracted to her, he fakes a Texan accent and invents a new persona: Rex Stetson, wealthy Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
rancher. He succeeds in wooing Jan, and the pair begin seeing each other regularly. Jan cannot resist bragging about new beau on the phone to Brad Allen, while Brad teases Jan by suggesting that "Rex" is not all he appears to be.
When Jonathan finds out what Brad has done, he forces Brad to leave New York City and go to Jonathan's cabin in Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
to complete his new songs. Brad uses the opportunity to secretly ask Jan to go away with him, and she does. Once there, romance is in the air until Jan stumbles upon a copy of Rex's sheet music. She plunks the melody on the nearby piano and recognizes Brad's song. She confronts Brad angrily and ignores his attempts at explanation, leaving with Jonathan who has arrived just in time to expose Rex as Brad and who takes her back to New York City.
Once Brad returns to New York, Jonathan is pleased to learn that the mighty oak of a playboy has finally fallen in love, while conversely Jan will have nothing to do with him for deceiving her. Not ready to give up, Brad turns to Jan's maid, Alma, for advice, who suggests he hire Jan to decorate his apartment so they will be forced to collaborate. Jan only concedes so that her employer will not lose the account. Little does he know her employer is also in on the scheme. Still quite angry however, Jan completely redoes Brad's apartment in the most gaudy, ghastly, hideous decor she can muster. Horrified by what he finds, Brad angrily storms into Jan's apartment and carries her in her pajamas through the street back to his apartment, where he asks her how it feels to return to the scene of the crime. In his frustration he tells her of all the changes he's made to end his bachelor lifestyle because he thought he was getting married. Her face lights up from his admission but he's so angry he attempts to leave. She quickly reaches for one of the tacky remote control switches he installed to accommodate his "purposes" which immediately locks the door. He turns around in defeat, their eyes meet, each smiles, and they lovingly embrace.
Cast
- Rock HudsonRock HudsonRoy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...
as Brad Allen - Doris DayDoris DayDoris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
as Jan Morrow - Tony RandallTony RandallTony Randall was a U.S. actor, comic, producer and director.-Early years:Randall was born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Julia and Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer...
as Jonathan Forbes - Thelma RitterThelma RitterThelma Ritter was an American supporting and character actress from the 1940s until her death in 1969.-Early life:...
as Alma - Nick Adams as Tony Walters
- Julia Meade as Marie
- Allen JenkinsAllen JenkinsAllen Jenkins was an American character actor of stage, screen and television.-Early life:He was born David Allen Curtis Jenkins in Staten Island, New York on April 9, 1900.-Career:...
as Harry - Marcel DalioMarcel DalioMarcel Dalio was a French character actor. He had major roles in two of Jean Renoir's most famous films, Grand Illusion and The Rules of the Game.- Biography :...
as Mr. Pierot - Lee PatrickLee Patrick (actress)Lee Patrick was an American theater and film actress.-Early life and education:Born in New York City, Patrick began acting on Broadway in 1924. For more than a decade, she was constantly employed and established herself as a popular actress. She appeared in the original 1929 production of June...
as Mrs. Walters - Mary McCartyMary McCartyMary McCarty was a County Commissioner in Palm Beach County, Florida from November 1990 until her resignation - announced on January 8, 2009. Along with her husband, Kevin McCarty, she steered bond deals with the county government, the county's Housing Finance Authority, the city of Delray Beach,...
as Nurse Resnick - Alex Gerry as Dr. Maxwell
- Hayden RorkeHayden RorkeWilliam Henry Rorke was an American actor best known for playing Col. Dr. Alfred E. Bellows on the hit 1960s American sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Career:...
as Mr. Conrad - Valerie Allen as Eileen
- Jacqueline BeerJacqueline BeerJacqueline Vangramberg is a former Hollywood film and television actress who was also named Miss France in the 1954 Miss Universe Pageant...
as Yvette - Arlen Stuart as Tilda
- Perry Blackwell as Lounge Singer
Songs
Doris Day sings three songs in the film: "Pillow Talk" during the opening credits, "Roly Poly" in the piano bar with Hudson, and "Possess Me" on the drive up to Jonathan's cabin. Singer Perry Blackwell performs three songs in the piano bar: "I Need No Atmosphere," "Roly Poly" [ in part], and "You Lied" -- a song directed at Hudson's character, Brad.External links
- Production notes and theories about "Pillow Talk"
- Article on "Pillow Talk" - Bright Lights Film Journal
- Article on "Pillow Talk" - DorisDay.Net
- Pillow Talk Movie Premiere - RockHudsonBlog.com