Driving Miss Daisy (1989) on Netflix
Daisy Werthan, a wealthy Jewish widow in Atlanta, drives her car into a neighbor's yard. Her son Boolie hires Hoke Colburn as her chauffeur, and she refuses to let him drive her.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb7.3/10124,683 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes85%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1948 in Atlanta, Georgia, Daisy Werthan is 72, a retired schoolteacher who is wealthy, Jewish, widowed, and living alone apart from a housekeeper. After she drives her 1946 Chrysler Windsor into a neighbor's yard, her son Boolie, 40, buys her a Hudson Commodore and hires Hoke Colburn, a black chauffeur of 60, to drive her. Daisy will not let anyone drive her, and Boolie tells Hoke that she cannot dismiss him, because Boolie is the one who employs him. Hoke is patient with her.
Cast
- William Hall Jr.as Oscar
- Alvin M. Sugarmanas Dr. Weil
- Clarice F. Geigermanas Nonie
- Muriel Mooreas Miriam
- Sylvia Kaleras Beulah
- Carolyn Goldas Neighbor Lady
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Eddie Murphy was the first choice to play Hoke Colburn and the part was developed for him, but he turned it down; explaining in 2025, he said he was not doing that kind of thing back then and recalled thinking, "I ain't driving no Miss Daisy."
- It was the first Best Picture winner since Grand Hotel in 1932 to miss out on a Best Director nomination, a quirk host Billy Crystal mocked in his opening monologue at the 62nd ceremony by calling it "the film that apparently directed itself".
- The film's Best Picture nomination over Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing was controversial, and Lee later said Driving Miss Daisy was "not being taught in film schools all across the world like Do the Right Thing is".
- In 2015 The Hollywood Reporter polled hundreds of academy members on past close-run decisions, and they indicated that, given a second chance, they would award the 1990 Best Picture Oscar to My Left Foot instead.
- Hans Zimmer's score was performed entirely by Zimmer, done electronically using samplers and synthesizers without a single live instrument, and it won him a BMI Film Music Award and a Grammy nomination.
- Driving Miss Daisy received nine Academy Award nominations; it is the only film based on an off-Broadway production ever to win Best Picture, and Jessica Tandy, at age 80, became the oldest winner in history to win Best Actress.
- As of 2025, Driving Miss Daisy is still the latest Best Picture winner that was rated PG; all the winners since have been rated PG-13 or R.
