Goldie Hawn won an Oscar for her performance as a Greenwich Village free spirit in Cactus Flower . Middle-aged dentist Winston ( Walter Matthau ) is enjoying an affair with Toni ( Goldie Hawn ) but doesn't want to be hemmed in by marriage. He prevails upon his non-glamorous assistant Stephanie ( Ingrid Bergman ) to pose as his wife so as to keep from campaigning for a ring. Then, to justify his "infidelity," Winston talks his pal ( Jack Weston ) into pretending to be Stephanie's illicit lover. Flattered by all the attention, Stephanie begins to "doll up." Confronted by a newly gorgeous Stephanie, Winston realizes that his Dream Girl has been right there in his office all along. As for Toni, she ends up in the arms of a writer ( Rick Lenz ), who has loved her since Reel One. Cactus Flower was adapted by Billy Wilder 's frequent collaborator I.A.L. Diamond from the play by Abe Burrows — which in turn was adapted from a French farce. — Hal Erickson