Judy highlighted 1954 with two rollicking successes – "It Should Happen to You" and "PFFFT" – appearing in both with phenomenal new star Jack Lemmon. "It Should Happen to You" – Jack Lemmon’s first screen appearance – finds Judy as a down on her luck young woman – Gladys Glover – who runs into documentary film maker Jack (Pete Shepperd) while she is feeding pigeons in Central Park. He has filmed her, and they strike up a conversation before going their separate ways.
Gladys "shoots the moon" and decides that renting a huge billboard at Columbus Circle – with her name in huge letters on the space – will change her luck. Remarkably, her idea succeeds wildly. She had persevered over brusque treatment by the man who manages the space and pays him for the three month minimum required. Lo and behold – the space has always been used by a big soap company for a seasonal promotion, and the dapper young owner of the company (Peter Lawford) tries to move heaven and earth (including romance) to get Gladys to let him have the space back.
Gladys – turning down a number of offers – finally agrees to six huge signs around New York, including one in lights – in exchange for the Columbus Circle spot. After an acerbic TV personality doubts her existence and the end of one of her shows, Gladys calls him the second he gets off the air – insisting that she is very real indeed. The TV host meets with Gladys (and Pete) and – in no time – she is on a whirlwind ride to fame and fortune. Touted as "The Average American Girl", Gladys is featured almost everywhere.
Gladys finds – as Pete had predicted – that money and attention can’t possibly take the place of true love. Finding both the soap baron and the TV host to be too selfish and shallow (each in their own way) – she comes home to find a film from Pete loaded into a projector and ready for her to watch. Pete uses the film to tell Gladys that - after hoping and waiting - he has given up on loving her and is moving on.
Pete is filming visitors to the zoo - from inside the chimp cage - when he looks up to see a skywriting message from Gladys, asking him to call.
The two end up together – talking about the future – and Gladys sees "absolutely nothing" anymore in billboards and all they can stir up.
Friend Garson Kanin once again wrote the script, and his wife, Ruth Gordon, suggested that Judy would be a better choice than the remarkable Danny Kaye for the lead role. Kanin went on to tailor the script for Judy, and the combination of plot, chemistry, character and great acting produced a film that is now considered to be a gem of American cinematic comedy.
Judy’s second triumphant 1954 pairing with Jack Lemmon was the very successful "PFFT". The story is quite different than "It Should Happen to You" in the nature of how the relationship of their two characters is set. "PFFFT" finds them as Nina and Robert Tracey – a couple whose marriage of eight years is seriously on the skids.
After deciding that they will divorce, each goes "looking for love in all the wrong places." Robert’s Navy buddy sets him up with Kim Novak’s "Janice" ("PFFFT" was the first of three films with Jack Lemmon and Kim Novak – the other two are 1958’s "Bell Book and Candle" and 1962’s "The Notorious Landlady"), but Robert can’t feel comfortable with Janice – for all her beauty and charm – for anyone he dates. After turning to her meddlesome mother for advice, Nina finds that she’s still in love with Robert. Accidental meetings only bring to the fore the truth that their past is not all that’s left for them. When they meet at a nightclub, the magic is rekindled and they end up reunited – dancing the mambo together.
"PFFFT" garnered Judy a Best Foreign Actress nomination at the 1955 BAFTA Awards. The film was also nominated for Best Written American Comedy at The Writers Guild of America.
"The Solid Gold Cadillac" (1956) cast Judy in her usual position of the fiercely independent minded woman who won’t give in to pressure. Her character – Laura Partridge – holds ten shares that make all the difference to the executives of a big corporation. A cushy job in Shareholder Relations that is arranged for her doesn’t get her to budge. The film won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design -/ Black and White and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction -/ Black and White.
She won the Tony Award – Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical – for her work in the Broadway production of "Bells Are Ringing". Old friends Betty Comden and Adolph Green wrote the lyrics and book for the stage, with Jule Styne providing the music, Jerome Robbins directing and Jerome Robbins and Bob Fosse arranging choreography. The show opened late in 1956, ran for over two years/ 924 performances, opened in London’s West End in 1957 (for 292 performances) and saw a revival on Broadway in 2001. Judy’s Broadway production also won a Tony for Sidney Chaplin (son of Charlie) – was nominated for other Tonys – and also won Sidney a Theatre World Award.
Judy’s all-too-early final screen appearance was in the 1960 film version of "Bells Are Ringing". Her reprise of the Broadway role won her the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Co-stars included Jean Stapleton, Dean Martin, Eddie Foy, Jr., Fred Clark, Frank Gorshin, Hal Lyndon and Gerry Mulligan. (Mulligan became her companion in her final years.) The film won Comden and Green a Writers Guild Award for Best American Musical, a Grammy Award nomination, a Directors Guild of America nomination for Director Vincente Minnelli (father of Liza/husband of Judy Garland), and an Academy Award nomination – Best Music, Scoring – for Andre Previn.
Judy Holliday passed away – from breast cancer – in 1965. Her life serves as an inspiration and example to women – who all too often still face the challenges that she triumphed over in so many of the roles she played. Her love, brilliance, beauty and determination will live on in work that people will continue to appreciate and enjoy. Her star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame reflects the light of a ray of sun that still shines.