In Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), The performer on stage was played by Beverly Powers, a real-life, professional Las Vegas burlesque dancer who performed under the stage name Miss Beverly Hills.
Director Blake Edwards originally filmed a much longer, more revealing version of the striptease. He intended to use it for the European release of the movie, where censorship laws were less strict than in the United States.
He openly admitted in interviews that he knew the American censors (enforcing the strict Hays Production Code) would force him to cut away early. He specifically shot the longer, uncut routine so it could be distributed to European theaters, where censorship laws were much more relaxed.
Powers was initially disappointed that American audiences never got to see her full, choreographed routine due to the heavy editing.
Decades later, the unedited and much more revealing footage of her stage performance was officially restored and included in the 45th Anniversary DVD release of the film.