Love Me or Leave Me (film)

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Love Me or Leave Me
Promotional movie poster for the film
Directed by	Charles Vidor
Produced by	Joe Pasternak
Written by	Daniel Fuchs Isobel Lennart
Starring	Doris Day James Cagney Cameron Mitchell
Music by	Chilton Price
Cinematography	Arthur E. Arling
Editing by	Ralph E. Winters
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	May 26, 1955 (New York City, New York) June 10 (wide) November 14 March 23, 1956 June 24, 1959
Running time	122 min.
Country	U.S.A.
Language	English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Love Me or Leave Me is a 1955 biographical film which tells the life story of Ruth Etting, a singer who rose from dancer to movie star. It stars Doris Day as Etting, James Cagney as Martin "Moe the Gimp" Snyder, and Cameron Mitchell.

Cagney suggested to producer Joe Pasternak that Day be cast in the Etting role.^[1] The role had been sought by Ava Gardner, but Cagney persuaded MGM to cast Day. In turn, she was excited to play opposite Cagney.

The movie was written by Daniel Fuchs and Isobel Lennart. It was directed by Charles Vidor.

It won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story, and was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (James Cagney), Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture, Best Music, Song (for Nicholas Brodzsky and Sammy Cahn for "I'll Never Stop Loving You"), Best Sound, Recording and Best Writing, Screenplay.

Most of the songs in the movie were 1930s hits that Etting had recorded originally. Two new songs, however, were written specifically for the film: "Never Look Back" by Chilton Price, and "I'll Never Stop Loving You," by Nicholas Brodzsky and Sammy Cahn.