Julie Andrews- Award-Winning Stage and Screen Star 1935-

When you start out, mho knows what ivill happen in life. You put one foot in front of the other, and miraculous things can happen.
—Jui IE ANLWWS

Jn June 1997 Julie Andrews underwent jery to remove a small benign polyp from her vocal cords—a routine procedure, performed on an uncommonly gifted singer. Unfortunately, something
went wrong, and Julie’s incredible four-octave singing voice was silenced. For a while ir appeared that the damage was permanent; however, in 2000 Julie went to see a doctor who specializes in vocal restoration. Slowly, some vocal function returned.

On October 16, while hosting the PBS Great Performances special My Favorite Broadway: The Love Songs, Julie artempted to sing a few notes of “The Rain in Spain” with Michael Crawford. The song is from My Fair Lady, the show in which Julie made her Broadway debut in 1956. The audience erupted, cheering and giving her a standing ovation. It was a warm expression of love and support for Julie, a celebration of her journey hack.
Named for her two grandmothers, Julia Elizabeth Wells was born in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, on October 1, 1935- Her father, Ted, taught woodworking and her modier, Barbara, was a pianist at her sister’s dance school. During World War II, Julie’s parents separated, eventually divorcing. Barbara married Ted Andrews, a singer she met while playing piano tor a variety show, and they formed their own vaudeville act.
To get closer to his new stepdaughter, Ted began giving Julie singing lessons. Incredibly, Ted discovered that her voice had perfect pitch and a four-octave vocal range. Julie joined her parents’ show and changed her last name to Andrews. When the war ended in 1945, Julie went back to school but spent holidays and summers on tour with her parents. She made her first radio appearance in 1946 on the BBC show Monday at Eight, singing a duet with Ted. At age eleven Julie gave her first solo performance at London’s Stage Door Canteen, where audience members included the queen of England and Princess Margaret.
From the 1940s to the mid-1950s, Julie made several appearances on BBC programs as well as pantomime, stage, and revue performances, including Red RidmgHood, Humpty Dumpty, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Cinderella. In 1954, when she was nineteen, Julie was cast as Polly Browne in The Boy Friend. She made her American debut’ on Broadway in The Boy Friend after signing a one-year contract to continue in the lead role. The show was a smash hit, and she became a star.
Julie’s American television debut came in 1955, when she starred with Bing Crosby in CBS’s musical version of High Tor. Julie achieved theater superstar status a year later when she obtained the title role of Eliza Doolittle in Lerncr and Loewe’s My Fair Lady. The show ran for rwo years on Broadway and then eighteen months in London. fulie took a break in her performance schedule to get married. On May 10, 1959, Julie walked down the aisle to join her husband-to-be, costume designer Tony Walton, wearing the wedding dress he created for her. The two had met on a train ride home one night in England after Julie had finished a performance in Humpty Dumpty.
Continuing her stage success, Julie reunited with Lerner and Loewe in 1960 to play Queen Guinevere in Came/of. Attending the show one night was animation legend Walt Disney. He was so taken with Julie’s performance that he offered her the title role in his upcoming movie musical Mary Poppins. Before beginning production on Mary Poppins, Julie took some time off ro start a family. She gave birth to her daughter Emma Kate on November 27, 1962.
Starring in Mary Poppins was a film career breakthrough for Julie. Playing the assertive nanny to a banker’s two children, she took them on a magical journey with the help of chimney sweep Bert, played by Dick Van Dyke. Memorable songs from the 1964 film included “A Spoonful of Sugar” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” Nominated for thirteen Academy Awards, the film won five, including the Best Actress Oscar for Julie.
The following year Julie Andrews agreed to do her second musical, The Sound of Music, a film based on the life of onetime postulant (a nun candidate) Maria Augusta Trapp. As the nanny to the seven children of Captain C-eorg Von Trapp, Julie rruly demonstrated her range as an actress and singer. The movies many memorable songs include “My Favorite Things,” “Do, Re, Me,” and “Maria.” The Sound of Music wan five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, and Andrews received her second Best Actress Oscar nomination.
Though Julie was a bona fide star, she suddenly found herself somewhat typecast. Trying to extend her range as an actress, she took parts in more serious dramas, including Torn Curtain, Star, and Hawaii, though none proved to be as successful as the musicals. She also found that her career was taking
her in a different direction than her husband Tony’s. They divorced before the end of the decade.
On a chance meeting in 1968, Julie made the acquaintance of Blake Edwards, a very successful Hollywood film producer-director. His hits included Breakfast at Tiffany’s and The Pink Panther. After the two discussed a film project, their relationship blossomed. Blake and Julie were married in the backyard garden of their home on November 12, 1969. Julie appeared in several of Edward’s productions over the next three decades, including The Tamarind Seed, 10, S.O.B., Victor/Victoria, and That’s Life.
One of the most successful collaborations between Andrews and Edwards was the 1982 hit Victor/Victoria. Julie received her third Oscar nomination for her performance as a woman pretending to be a man, who pretends to be a woman. In 1995 Edwards rook the story to Broadway. In a triumphant return to the stage, Andrews received her third Tony Award nomination.
After the surgery on her throat in 1997, Julie was no longer able to perform. A published author of children’s books, including her first story, Mandy, in 1971, Julie continued to add to her credits with The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles and Little Bo. Inspired by her grandson, who is “crazy about trucks,” Julie collaborated with her daughter Emma Walton on a series of books about a dump truck named Dumpy.
After regaining some use of her voice, Julie returned to acting. In 1999 she starred with James Garner in the television movie One Special Night. She then reunited with her Sound of Music costar Christopher Plummet to do a live television broadcast of On Golden Pond for CBS. In 2001 she returned to the big screen in the Walt Disney Pictures film The Princess Diaries. Her latest project is her most personal—she decided to sit down and write her autobiography.
Married to Blake for thirty-two years, Julie is the proud mom of five children (one by her first marriage, two by Blake’s first marriage, two adopted Vietnamese orphans) and grandmother of five. Julie Andrews has received many honors throughout her career. She has an English rose named after her, and on May 16, 2000, she was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. In December 2001 Julie joined Jack Nicholson, composer Quincy Jones, pianist Van Cliburn, and opera singer Luciano Pavarotti as the latest artists honored by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Each was chosen for their “unique and extremely valuable contribution” to Americas cultural life.

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