Julie Andrews

Julie Andrews (born October 1, 1935, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England) is an English motion-picture, stage, and musical star noted for her crystalline four-octave voice and her charm and skill as an actress.[5][1] She won the Oscar for Best Actress in her first film, playing the title role in Mary Poppins.[11][13] Perhaps the greatest triumph of her career came with the leading role in The Sound of Music, one of the most popular motion pictures of all time.[11]

Early Life and Education

Julia Elizabeth Wells was born on October 1, 1935, in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, to Barbara Ward Wells.[5][4] She was born from her mother's affair with a family friend.[4] Her father, Edward Charles "Ted" Wells, was a teacher.[7] Her mother, Barbara Ward Wells, was a musician.[7] Her mother later married Edward Charles Ted Wells. Ted Wells and Barbara got divorced and she married singer Ted Andrews.[4] Her stepfather sponsored her education.[1]

The family struggled financially and lived in the slum.[4] The family was very poor during the war.[7] One of her earliest memories is living through the blitz, sheltering in air raid shelters.[8] It is said that during the air raids, Ted Andrews would often start singing, Julie would also join in singing – a full octave above everyone else.[8] This was the first time her singing voice was noticed, and her parents took care to nurture and improve her singing voice in her childhood years.[8]

When her parents achieved success in their stage career, they relocated to a better place. Her stepfather sponsored her education.[4] She studied at 'Cone-Ripman School,' London.[4][7] Educated by her father, the little girl was reading and writing by age three.[9]

Key Influences and Mentors

She was also taught by Madame Lilian Stiles-Allen, a concert soprano and voice instructor.[4][7] Andrews said Stiles-Allen had a huge impact on her.[7] Andrews later revealed that Madame Lillian Stiles-Allen "had an enormous influence on me," Andrews said that the relationship was almost like that of mother and daughter.[8] Stiles-Allen believed Julie had a rare gift for music.[7]

In fact, the biography on the Julie Andrews website noted, "To everyone's surprise [she] had a fully developed larynx, perfect pitch and a large four octave vocal range." The website continued, "At the age of eight [she] began to have singing lessons from Madame Lilian Stiles–Allen, who had once been a renowned concert singer."[9]

Professional Development

At the age of 10, Andrews began singing with her pianist mother and singer stepfather (whose last name she legally adopted) in their music-hall act.[5] Demonstrating a remarkably powerful voice with perfect pitch, she made her solo professional debut in 1947 singing an operatic aria in Starlight Roof, a revue staged at the London Hippodrome.[5] From this point, her progress was swift; in the next year, aged only 13, Julie Andrews, became the youngest person to perform in a Royal Command Variety Performance.[8]

Andrews made her Broadway debut in 1954 in the American production of the popular British musical spoof The Boy Friend.[5] In 1956 she created the role of the Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle in Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's classic musical My Fair Lady. Andrews's performance was universally acclaimed, and the production became one of the biggest hits in Broadway history, as well as a huge success in Britain.[5]

In 1957, during the show's run, Andrews appeared on American television in a musical version of Cinderella, written for her by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.[5] In 1960 she had another hit in a role developed especially for her, that of Queen Guinevere in Lerner and Loewe's Camelot.[5]

Film Career Breakthrough

Although Andrews lost the part of Eliza in the film version of My Fair Lady (1964), she did make her movie debut that year.[5] Dame Julie Andrews originated the role of Eliza Doolittle in the Broadway production of My Fair Lady, but Audrey Hepburn was cast in the film version because the producers wanted her star power.[14] With all her charm and ability, Julie Andrews was just a Broadway name known primarily to those who saw the play. But in Clinton, Iowa and Anchorage, Alaska, and thousands of other cities and towns in our 50 states and abroad you can say Audrey Hepburn, and people instantly know you're talking about a beautiful and talented star.[17]

So I didn't get the role of My Fair Lady in the film and, lo and behold, I was in Camelot and Walt Disney came to see Camelot. He was advised to see it because he was putting together this movie of Mary Poppins.[11] After Audrey Hepburn was cast in My Fair Lady, Andrews made an auspicious film debut in Walt Disney's Mary Poppins (1964), which earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress.[12]

Even before "Mary Poppins" was released, the producers of "The Sound of Music" had their eye on Andrews for the role of Maria von Trapp, and seeing early cuts of the musical helped solidify their decision. "The Sound of Music" started shooting about a year after "Mary Poppins," and went on to triumph with a best picture win and an Oscar nomination for Andrews, as well as becoming the sixth-highest grossing film of all time, adjusted for inflation.[13]

Later Career and Challenges

Andrews attempted to change that image with dramatic, nonmusical roles in such films as The Americanization of Emily (1964) and Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain (1966), but these were overshadowed by her musicals, whose success made her one of the biggest stars of the decade. By the late 1960s, however, traditional film musicals were declining in popularity.[5]

In 1979, Andrews returned to the big screen, appearing in films directed by her husband Blake Edwards, with roles that were entirely different from anything she had been seen in before. Andrews starred in 10 (1979), S.O.B. (1981) and Victor/Victoria (1982), which earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role.[12]

1997 – Undergoes surgery to remove a non-cancerous growth on her vocal cords. The surgery causes her to lose her singing voice.[26] In 2001, she starred in The Princess Diaries (2001), alongside then-newcomer Anne Hathaway. The family film was one of the most successful G-Rated films of that year, and Andrews reprised her role as Queen Clarisse Renaldi in The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004).[12]

Personal Life

Julie married British set and costume designer Tony Walton on May 10, 1959 in Weybridge, Surrey.[19] Tony saw Julie for the first time when she was performing in Humpty Dumpty at the George Hotel in Luton, England, at age 11. Captivated by her performance, he was determined to get her autograph after the show. The pair became pen pals and later developed romantic feelings for one another.[23] Julie and Tony started a family together during their nine-year marriage. They welcomed their daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton, in 1962.[23] Julie and Tony got married in 1959 and had one child together in 1962, however, they divorced a few years later in 1967.[20]

Julie fell madly in love with Blake, a film director and actor, after meeting him outside of their therapist's office. Despite their 13-year age difference, they were head over heels for each other at the time of their 1969 wedding.[23] The Princess Diaries actress became a stepmom to his two kids, Geoffrey Edwards and Jennifer Edwards, from his first marriage to Patricia Walker.[23] Julie and Blake also adopted two daughters, Amy and Joanna, after their nuptials.[23] The Breakfast at Tiffany's director died on December 15, 2010, at age 88 from complications due to pneumonia.[23] They had been married for 41 years at the time of his death.[19]

Literary Work and Later Projects

She continued to make television and concert appearances, and, using the name Julie Edwards, she wrote two children's books—Mandy (1971) and The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles (1974).[5] She wrote the autobiographies Home: A Memoir of My Early Years (2008) and Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years (2019); the latter was written with her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton.[5]

In recent years, Andrews appeared in Tooth Fairy (2010), as well as a number of voice roles in Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek the Third (2007), Enchanted (2007), Shrek Forever After (2010), and Despicable Me (2010).[12] She also voiced the narrator, Lady Whistledown, the 2020 series Bridgerton.[16]

Legacy and Impact

Three years later she was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE).[5] In 2011 she won a Grammy Award for Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies, a spoken-word album for children, and she was honoured with a special Grammy for lifetime achievement.[5] She has received special honors like the Kennedy Center Honors in 2001 and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2007. In 2022, she received the AFI Life Achievement Award.[7]

"Hopefully, I brought people a certain joy. That will be a wonderful legacy," Andrews once said, and it's safe to say she definitely did.[13]