Fitzwilly

Fitzwilly is a 1967 film by Delbert Mann, based on Poyntz Tyler's novel, A Garden of Cucumbers, adapted for the screen by Isobel Lennart. Its title refers to the nickname of Claude Fitzwilliam, an unusually intelligent and highly educated mastermind of a butler played by Dick Van Dyke. Fitzwilliam is the butler to Miss Victoria Woodworth (Edith Evans), a formerly wealthy heiress who has given all her money to charity and does not realize it. Miss... more

Fitzwilly is a 1967 film by Delbert Mann, based on Poyntz Tyler's novel, A Garden of Cucumbers, adapted for the screen by Isobel Lennart. Its title refers to the nickname of Claude Fitzwilliam, an unusually intelligent and highly educated mastermind of a butler played by Dick Van Dyke. Fitzwilliam is the butler to Miss Victoria Woodworth (Edith Evans), a formerly wealthy heiress who has given all her money to charity and does not realize it. Miss Woodworth has hired an assistant, Juliet Nowell (Barbara Feldon), for her creation of A Dictionary for Dopes, which contains all possible phonetic spellings of words so that one can look up a correct one. Hints of romance emerge between Claude and Juliet, who is surprised to learn from Miss Vicki that he graduated with honors from Williams College and thinks he should be doing something more worthy than being a butler, like joining the Peace Corps. The audience knows long before Juliet does that Fitzwilly has been leading the household staff... less