Daddy Long Legs (1955) is a Hollywood musical comedy film set in France, New York City, and the fictional college town of Walston, Massachusetts. The film was directed by Jean Negulesco, and stars Fred Astaire, Leslie Caron, Terry Moore, Fred Clark, and Thelma Ritter, with music and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The screenplay was written by Phoebe Ephron and Henry Ephron, loosely based on the 1912 novel Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster. This was the first of three consecutive Astaire films set in France or with a French theme (the others being Funny Face and Silk Stockings), following the fashion for French-themed musicals established by ardent Francophile Gene Kelly with An American in Paris (1951), which also featured Kelly's protégée Caron. Like The Band Wagon, Daddy Long Legs did only moderately well at the box office. Plot summary Wealthy American Jervis Pendleton III has a chance encounter at a French orphanage with cheerful 18-year-old resident Julie André. He anonymously pays for her education at a New England college. She writes letters to her mysterious benefactor, whom she calls Daddy Long Legs (based on her fellow orphans' description of his shadow), but he never writes back. Several years later, he visits her at school, still concealing his identity. Despite their wide age difference, they fall in love. Cast Fred Astaire as Jervis Pendleton III Leslie Caron as Julie André Terry Moore as Linda Pendleton Thelma Ritter as Alicia Pritchard Fred Clark as Griggs Charlotte Austin as Sally McBride Larry Keating as Ambassador Alexander Williamson Kathryn Givney as Gertrude Pendleton Kelly Brown as Jimmy McBride Ray Anthony as Himself (as Ray Anthony and His Orchestra) Olan Soule as Assistant Manager (uncredited) Percival Vivian as Professor (uncredited) Production 20th Century Fox bought the rights to Jean Webster's original Daddy Long Legs in 1931, releasing two versions of the film, one starring Janet Gaynor and one with Shirley Temple. Producer Darryl F. Zanuck envisioned a remake, this time seeking to star singer-actress Mitzi Gaynor. The project would not be realized until Zanuck met Fred Astaire and was inspired to make Daddy Long Legs a musical film. While Zanuck still envisioned Gaynor for the main female role, Astaire insisted on casting actress and dancer Leslie Caron. Caron was then loaned to Fox by MGM, with whom Caron was still under contract. Production was halted in July 1954, as Astaire's wife Phyllis became ill from lung cancer.