Ellen Greene is 75 now.

She can still sing her famous Audrey voice.

It is from "Little Shop of Horrors."

She said she did not plan that voice.

It is breathy and squeaky.

It has a New York sound.

It just came out at the audition.

It stayed with her.

She calls this role her most important one.

Greene played the shopgirl in 1982.

It was off-Broadway.

She also played her in Frank Oz's 1986 film.

Rick Moranis was in that film too.

Now she will travel around the country.

It is for the 40th anniversary of the film.

She starts in Seattle on Aug. 18.

She ends in Atlanta on Nov. 13.

She will sing "Somewhere That's Green."

She first heard that song on the unemployment line.

She felt an Audrey inside her then.

The film was hard to make.

John Landis was going to direct first.

Then Martin Scorsese was going to direct.

Then Oz took over.

Producer David Geffen wanted a bigger name.

He wanted someone like Cyndi Lauper.

Test audiences loved Greene's Audrey.

They did not want an ending where she dies.

Greene said she loved that death scene.

But Oz directed her like a heroine.

She thinks the film's version of a key line felt more real and touching.

Greene also remembered Howard Ashman.

He wrote the words for the songs.

He died in 1991.

He was her close friend.

He gave her a share of the play's money.

She made Audrey, so he gave her that.

She said everyone loves "Little Shop" because they put much love into it.

That keeps Ashman's memory alive.