Julie Andrews was born in 1935. A multitalented actresssinger who has had outstanding, if erratic, success in movies, TV, theater, and recording. Her prim and wholesome image, once an asset in the 1960s, has dogged her throughout her career, and she has spent much of her adult life trying to break the stereotype with only limited success. With her good looks and enchanting English accent, she may forever be remembered as the eternal Mary Poppins, her first film role, which also garnered her an Oscar for Best Actress. Born Julia Elizabeth Welles to a theatrical family, she grew up in Walton-on-Thames, a small town just west of London. Entertaining her neighbors in air-raid shelters during World War II, her splendid singing voice was apparent from an early age. While she was still a child, a throat specialist discovered she already had a full-grown larynx.
At the age of 12, Julie Andrews made her professional debut in a musical review on the London stage, and she continued to perform in England until she was brought to the United States at the age of 19 to star in the American version of the British theatrical hit The Boy Friend. She followed that stage hit with My Fair Lady in both London and New York. There was a hue and cry when the movie version of the play was made and she was passed over for the role of Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn won the part), but Walt Disney offered her the title role in Mary Poppins (1964), and she had a sweet revenge when she won her Oscar. Her charisma and grace would sustain her through the rest of the century. In 2001 she was featured in Garry Marshall's box-office success, The Princess Diaries.
Julie Andrews's first dramatic film was The Americanization of Emily (1964), but she became a musical star of the first magnitude when she played Maria Von Trapp in The Sound of Music (1965), which became, at the time, the highest grossing film in movie history. Julie Andrews was nominated for a second Oscar, and her career soon reached new heights when she was voted Star of the Year (1966 and 1967) by the Theatre Owners of America.
Her films during the latter 1960s, however, were of mixed quality. Hawaii (1966) was a poor movie and a boxoffice flop; Torn Curtain (1966) was a middling Hitchcock effort, but Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) was a pleasant film and a modest success. Star! (1968), however, was a major box-office disaster.
Julie Andrews married her second husband, director Blake Edwards, in 1969 (her first husband was set designer Tony Walton), and he subsequently directed her in almost all of her later films, the first of which was Darling Lili (1970). She appeared in only two films during the rest of the 1970s, but both were excellent efforts by Edwards: The Tamarind Seed (1974) and 10 (1979). Julie Andrews had a supporting role in the latter film, a smash hit, and received fine reviews. The director and star teamed again in 1981 to make a scathing comedy about Hollywood, S.O.B., a controversial film that received mixed reviews and poor ticket sales. The film was the subject of much comment at the time, in any case, as Julie Andrews appeared topless in the film, doing her level best to create a sexier image.
Victor/Victoria (1982) was the film that really helped change the actress's image, and it helped show off her flair for comedy. In the process she gained her third Best Actress Oscar nomination for her portrayal of a down-on-her-luck singer in 1935 Paris who pretends to be a man, pretending to be a woman, to make a living. The film, again directed by her husband, was a surprise critical and commercial success. Her movies since then have been less successful. The Man Who Loved Women (1983) passed virtually unnoticed; That's Life (1986) was another box-office disappointment; and Duet for One (1987) was a critical success but a commercial failure, though it was notable for being the first film since Star! that Julie Andrews starred in with a director other than her husband.
In addition to her film career, Julie Andrews has had much success on television, as a recording artist, and even as a children's book author (writing as Julie Andrews Edwards).
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