Goodbye Charlie

Plot summary

Hollywood writer Charlie Sorrel (Harry Madden) is shot and killed by Hungarian film producer Sir Leopold Sartori (Walter Matthau) when he is caught fooling around with Sartori's wife, Rusty (Laura Devon). Later, passerby Bruce Minton III (Pat Boone) comes to the aid of a dazed woman (Debbie Reynolds) wandering on a beach. She doesn't remember much other than directions to Charlie's residence.

The next morning, it all comes back to her: she is the reincarnation of Charlie. After getting over the shock, she convinces her best (and only) friend, George Tracy (Tony Curtis), of her identity. All manner of complications arise as she first accepts the situation and then decides to take advantage of it, with Tracy's reluctant help.

Charlie has changed his sex, but he cannot change his ways, and eventually he gets murdered again, only to be reincarnated again, this time as a dog.

Cast

Original Play

George Axelrod's play debuted on Broadway in 1959 starring Lauren Bacall and Sydney Chaplin, produced by Leland Hayward, and directed by Axelrod himself. It was not a big success, running for only 109 performances. The New York Times said it played like "an extended vaudeville sketch".

Production

Film rights to the play were bought even before it premiered by 20th Century Fox for $150,000 plus a percentage of the profits. James Garner and Marilyn Monroe were discussed as stars.

Darryl F. Zanuck offered the project to Billy Wilder after he returned to Fox, but Wilder turned it down, saying "no self-respecting picture maker would ever want to work for your company". (Zanuck had just forced Joseph L. Mankiewicz to re-cut Cleopatra (1963)).

Playwright Harry Kurnitz was hired to write the script and Tony Curtis was attached early on. Vincente Minnelli was hired to direct, his first movie away from MGM since 1942.

Television adaptation

In 1985, Goodbye Charlie was made into a TV series (starring Suzanne Somers as the reincarnated Charlie), but only the pilot episode was broadcast.