The Pleasure of His Company

The Pleasure of His Company
Directed by	George Seaton
Produced by	William Perlberg
Written by	Cornelia Otis Skinner Samuel A. Taylor
Starring	Fred Astaire Debbie Reynolds Lilli Palmer Tab Hunter
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	June 1, 1961
Running time	115 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Pleasure of His Company (1961) is a comedy film starring Fred Astaire and Debbie Reynolds, released by Paramount Pictures. It is based on the 1958 play of the same name by Samuel A. Taylor and Cornelia Otis Skinner.

Plot

San Francisco debutante Jessica Poole hasn't seen her father "Pogo" Poole since the divorce between him and her mother Katharine, many years before. Pogo went off to travel the world and enjoy himself, while Katharine remarried to stodgy banker Jim Dougherty.

Now Jessica is about to marry Roger Henderson, a cattle rancher from the Napa Valley, and Pogo has been invited to the wedding.

Pogo arrives, as charming as he ever was. He is delighted by Jessica, and captivates her in return. He makes peace with Katharine, and even wins over Toy, the Doughertys' prized cook, though not Jim and Roger.

But Pogo is still as irresponsible as before. He invites Jessica to come away with him and "see the world". He even tries to break up her engagement, to Katharine's dismay. He also seems to be coming between Jim and Katharine, who has never quite got over her love for him.

Despite Pogo's maneuvers, the wedding goes through. But Pogo has reserved two airline tickets: who's going with him? Katharine, fearing that Pogo has won over Jessica after all, rushes to the airport. Jim, seeing Katharine leave the reception, fears she is leaving him for Pogo, and goes after her. They meet at the airport, and see Pogo boarding a plane - with Toy.

Cast

At the time this film was released Fred Astaire gave up dancing in film, doing his first dramatic performance in On the Beach in 1959, the reason for Astaire's retirement to dancing in film was because he was getting old and wasn't that easy for him to dance anymore. His last musical was released in 1968.

• Fred Astaire - Biddeford 'Pogo' Poole
• Debbie Reynolds - Jessica Anne Poole
• Lilli Palmer - Katharine 'Kate' Dougherty
• Tab Hunter - Roger Berk Henderson
• Gary Merrill - James 'Jim' Dougherty
• Charles Ruggles - Mackenzie Savage
• Harold Fong - Toy
• Elvia Allman - Mrs. Mooney

Awards and nominations

• Golden Globes
  • Best Motion Picture Actor, Musical or Comedy (Astaire, winner)

• Berlin Film Festival
  • Golden Bear (nominated)

External links

• The Pleasure of His Company at the Internet Movie Database
• The Pleasure of His Company at the IBDB database