The Best Things in Life Are Free (film)

The Best Things in Life Are Free is a 1956 American musical film

Musical film

The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...

directed by Michael Curtiz

Michael Curtiz

Michael Curtiz was an Academy award winning Hungarian-American film director. He had early creditsas Mihály Kertész and Michael Kertész...

. The film starred, Gordon MacRae

Gordon MacRae

Gordon MacRae was an American actor and singer, best known for his appearances in the film versions of two Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, Oklahoma! and Carousel and films with Doris Day like Starlift.-Early life:Born Albert Gordon MacRae in East Orange, New Jersey, MacRae graduated from...

, Dan Dailey

Dan Dailey

Daniel James Dailey Jr. was an American dancer and actor.-Early life and career:Born in New York City on December 14, 1915, to James J. and Helen Dailey, both born in New York City. He appeared in a minstrel show when very young, and appeared in vaudeville before his Broadway debut in 1937 in...

, Ernest Borgnine

Ernest Borgnine

Ernest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty...

, and Sheree North

Sheree North

Sheree North was an American actress, singer, and dancer. She was known for being 20th Century Fox's answer to Marilyn Monroe from 1954 to 1956...

.

In 1957, the year after the film was released, it received an Oscar

Academy Awards

An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

nomination for Lionel Newman in the category of Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture

Cast

Gordon MacRae
Gordon MacRae
Gordon MacRae was an American actor and singer, best known for his appearances in the film versions of two Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, Oklahoma! and Carousel and films with Doris Day like Starlift.-Early life:Born Albert Gordon MacRae in East Orange, New Jersey, MacRae graduated from...

- B.G. 'Buddy' De Sylva
Dan Dailey
Dan Dailey
Daniel James Dailey Jr. was an American dancer and actor.-Early life and career:Born in New York City on December 14, 1915, to James J. and Helen Dailey, both born in New York City. He appeared in a minstrel show when very young, and appeared in vaudeville before his Broadway debut in 1937 in...

- Ray Henderson
Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty...

- Lew Brown
Sheree North
Sheree North
Sheree North was an American actress, singer, and dancer. She was known for being 20th Century Fox's answer to Marilyn Monroe from 1954 to 1956...

- Kitty Kane
Tommy Noonan
Tommy Noonan
Tommy Noonan was a comedy genre film performer, screenwriter and producer. He acted in a number of 'A' and 'B' pictures from the 1940s through the 1960s, and he is best known for his supporting performances as Gus Esmond, Marilyn Monroe's wealthy boyfriend, in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes , and as the...

- Carl Frisbee
Murvyn Vye - Manny Costain
Phyllis Avery
Phyllis Avery
Phyllis Avery was an American television and film actress.-Early life and career:Avery was born in New York City to Evelyn and author Stephen Morehouse Avery. Her father hailed from Webster Groves, Missouri, near St. Louis. Her first role was as Marjorie in the 1951 film Queen for a Day based on...

- Maggie Henderson
Larry Keating
Larry Keating
Larry Keating was an American actor born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is known for his role of next-door neighbor Roger Addison on the television series Mister Ed, which he played from 1961 until his death in 1963...

- Winfield Sheehan
Tony Galento
Tony Galento
Domenico Antonio Galento was an American heavyweight boxer. Nicknamed "Two Ton" for his reasoning to his manager for being nearly late to one of his fights: "I had two tons of ice to deliver on my way here". Galento was one of the most colorful fighters in the history of the sport...

- Fingers
Norman Brooks - Al Jolson
Jacques d'Amboise - Specialty dancer
Roxanne Arlen - Perky Nichols
Byron Palmer
Byron Palmer
Byron Palmer was an American stage and screen actor and singer. His film credits include Man in the Attic and The Best Things in Life Are Free, while he appeared in Where's Charley? on Broadway. Until her 2004 death, he was married for thirty years to actress and dancer Georgine Darcy.-External...

- Hollywood star
Linda Brace - Jeannie Henderson
Patty Lou Hudson - Susie Henderson
Julie Van Zandt - Patricia Van Seckland
Larry Kerr - Brewer
Charles Victor
Charles Victor
Charles Victor was a British actor who appeared in a number of films and television between 1938 and 1965.-Selected filmography:* Return of the Frog * Hell's Cargo * Contraband...

- Andrews
Eugene Borden - Louis
Harold Miller
Harold Miller
Harold Syndey 'Dusty' Miller was an English footballer who played between the wars.An inside-forward, Miller's first professional club were Charlton Athletic, whom he joined from amateurs St Albans City. Miller made 20 appearances for Charlton, scoring 11 times. He won a solitary cap for England,...

- Percy - The Reporter
Emily Belser - Photographer
Paul Glass
Paul Glass
-Biography:Born in Los Angeles, California, Glass was the son of silent film actor and film executive Gaston Glass. He was educated at the University of Southern California , and was taught by Ingolf Dahl, and Goffredo Petrassi in Rome...

- Piano Player
Bill Foster
Bill Foster
Bill Foster may refer to:* Bill Foster , U.S. Congressman , physicist* Bill Foster , Negro League baseball player* Bill Foster Bill Foster may refer to:* Bill Foster (Illinois politician) (born 1955), U.S. Congressman (D-IL), physicist* Bill Foster (baseball) (1904–1978), Negro League baseball...

- Dance Director in film
Barrie Chase - Chorus Girl

Trivia

This film was made to follow-up on Sheree North

Sheree North

Sheree North was an American actress, singer, and dancer. She was known for being 20th Century Fox's answer to Marilyn Monroe from 1954 to 1956...

's previous hit film comedy The Lieutenant Wore Skirts
The Lieutenant Wore Skirts
The Lieutenant Wore Skirts is a 1956 film directed by Frank Tashlin. The feature starred Tom Ewell, Sheree North, and Rita Moreno. It is a comedy about a man whose marriage begins to fail when his wife gets drafted.-Cast:*Tom Ewell as Gregory Whitcomb...

and was hoped to bring the same success. However, it was less successful. 20th Century Fox

20th Century Fox

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...

was still pleased with the end results.