The Reluctant Debutante (1958)

Rex Harrison, Kay Kendall, Sandra Dee, John Saxon, Angela Lansbury

Directed by Vincente Minnelli

Available to stream on Prime Video

We end our January tribute to Rex Harrison with a delightful, lighthearted comedy.

British father (Rex Harrison) introduces his American-born daughter (Sandra Dee) to London society with the help of his second wife Kay Kendall and her cousin Angela Lansbury in this entertaining drawing room comedy.

Rex Harrison and Sandra Dee in "The Reluctant Debutante"

Why we love it: This is such a fun, joyful, hilarious film. Watch it for Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall -- they make the movie.

The New York Times review in 1958 praised "the professionally zany performances of Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall, the husband-and-wife team who play the parents of the diffident damsel of the title. Although they last appeared together in a film some years ago, they behave as if they have been frolicking about regularly as a happily married tandem. It is they, rather than Sandra Dee, John Saxon, Peter Myers and Diane Clare, the youngsters involved in these highjinks, who give this farce its unrestrained effects...The constant, very British badinage is, it must be stressed, one of the film's most charming attributes. As casually delivered by the principals it sounds as if they thought it all up themselves in the midst of all this familial confusion...The "Reluctant Debutante," which was filmed on several decorative locations in Paris, has no more substance than a soufflé; but its light ingredients make fine featherweight film fare."

Angela Lansbury, Kay Kendall, and Rex Harrison in "The Reluctant Debutante"

Fun Facts:

• Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall were married when they made this film together. They had met and fallen in love while filming The Constant Husband (1955.) When Harrison learned from Kendall's doctor that she had leukemia, he divorced his wife Lilli Palmer and married Kendall so he could help care for her. Kendall was never told that she was dying of leukemia -- she thought she was simply anemic. Sadly she only made one more film appearance after The Reluctant Debutante before her death in 1959 at the age of 33. Stanley Donen, director and producer of her last film, was quoted in Life Magazine after her death complimenting her comedic talent: "She was completely unpredictable. She was an instinctive comedienne with a real clown sense. No one has had it since Carole Lombard – and Kay was a better actress."

Kay Kendall and Rex Harrison

• This was only Sandra Dee's second movie appearance. She was a former model and a rising star at MGM. The next year, she appeared in Imitation of Life, A Summer Place, and Gidget and became one of the most successful teenage stars of the 20th century.

• The film was based on a play by William Douglas Home that debuted in London in 1955. The 2003 movie What a Girl Wants starring Colin Firth and Amanda Bynes is a loose remake of The Reluctant Debutante.

• For reviews and articles from the time, go to the Fan Magazine Reviews page.

Featured Cocktail

Vesper Martini

This cocktail became popular in the 1950s after James Bond himself ordered it in Ian Fleming’s novel Casino Royale, published in 1953. Upon meeting Vesper Lynd, Bond’s love interest who eventually admits to being a double agent, Bond asks her if he can borrow her name for the drink.

Bond gives strict instructions to the bartender: “A dry martini. In a deep champagne goblet. Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?”

No longer available, Kina Lillet was a French aperitif with a white wine base flavored with quinine, which is quite bitter, and other botanicals. The Lillet brand lives on, but the modern versions are sweeter and less bitter. Some recommended substitutions include Cocchi Americano, an Italian aperitivo, or Lillet Blanc. While changing the color a bit, a few dashes of Angostura bitters will cut the sweetness of the Lillet Blanc if desired.

1½ oz (45 ml) gin

½ oz (15 ml) vodka

½ Tbsp (7.5 ml) Lillet Blanc or Cocchi Americano

Shake well with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass; garnish with a lemon twist. 

Martinis and other drinks that are exclusively liquor-based (no citrus, no sweeter) are usually stirred, not shaken. However, Bond may have specified shaking to dilute the drink a bit and to render it extremely cold.

Cheers to the Classics!