When Disney released Pretty Woman, a romantic comedy about a sweet-natured prostitute played by an up-and-coming actress named Julia Roberts, audiences probably didn’t expect it to treat them so well that they’d never want to let go.
Roberts, a Georgia native who played an impulsive waitress in Mystic Pizza and a pink-loving bride in Steel Magnolias, made a sharp turn in stilettos when she signed on to play Vivian. Vivian is a hired girlfriend who becomes obsessed with Richard Gere’s Edward, who pays her $3,000 to spend a week with her.
In an industry where everyone has a dream, the March 23, 1990 release, streaming for free on Fandango, wasn’t quite a fairy tale, but it was so good that audiences nearly peed their pants.
Produced for $17 million by iconic director Garry Marshall, who passed away in 2016, the film grossed more than $460 million worldwide, received four Golden Globe nominations, one Oscar nomination, and catapulted Roberts to fame.
Not only did it become one of the most successful films of the 1990s, it remains one of cinema’s most treasured love stories.
