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| Julie Andrews, date unknown. |
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| Julie Andrews |
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| Forecourt Ceremony held on Saturday, March 26, 1966 |
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Born: Julia Elizabeth Wells, October 1, 1935, in Walton-on-Thames, England
Age at the time of the ceremony: 30
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Julie Andrews is a beloved figure in film. It is difficult to emerge from childhood without being aware of her radiant performances in her early musical films, while many of us come to know the free-wheeling, yet graceful and kind persona she brings to the screen — year after year.
Andrews' childhood was a strange one. Born to her mother Barbara, Julia's father was not her father "Ted" Wells. At the beginning of World War II, Barbara and "Ted" divorced, with Julia eventually living with Barbara and her new husband, conveniently named Ted, who was abusive toward Julie, but also sent the talented girl to singing lessons with Madame Lillian Stiles-Allen.
Both Barbara and Ted were stage performers, so they put Julie in their shows at an early age. She made her professional singing debut at the Hippodrome in London in 1947 at the age of 12. Appearing on the BBC Radio network, and became well-known for appearing as the lead in fairy tale stage productions for children.
In 1952, Andrews dubbed the voice of Princess Zelia in the English version of the Italian animated film La rosa di bagdad - The Sleeping Princess (released in December 1949 in Italy, in August 1952 for the English version). Not quite 19, Andrews made her Broadway debut as Polly Browne in The Boy Friend from September 1954 to November 1955. Toward the end of the run, Andrews won the part of Eliza Doolittle in the Lerner and Loewe musical My Fair Lady with Rex Harrison, beginning in March 1956; she left the show in February 1958. The show was a teriffic success, with Andrews giving 770 performances, making Julie Andrews a abso-bloomin'-lutely star.
Composer Richard Rogers was so impressed with Andrews that he insisted she play the title role in the live television special Cinderella aired over CBS, in March 1957. Andrews next released an album, The Lass with a Delicate Air; she appeared on hundreds of television programs, including The Julie Andrews Show for three episodes over the BBC in November 1959, and The Ed Sullivan Show aired over CBS in July 1956, November 1956, and March 1961.
Lerner and Loewe cast Andrews in their musical Camelot, running on Broadway from December 1960 to April 1962, for 576 perfs. A legendary television special followed — her show with Carol Burnett, Julie and Carol at Carnagie Hall aired over CBS, in June 1962.
Famously passed over for the film version of My Fair Lady, Walt Disney had seen Andrews in Camelot, which got him to thinking. Andrews made her film debut in Walt Disney's Mary Poppins (which played the Chinese in August 1964). Andrews charmed the world with this film and got an Oscar for her first movie. She then starred with James Garner in The Americanization of Emily (released in October 1964); do yourself a favor and see it—if you can.
Andrews' next film is fairly easy to see: The Sound of Music (released in March 1965), which has become one of the most successful, beloved, and well-known movies ever made. Now, everyone wanted some of what Julie Andrews could bring to their film. Director Alfred Hitchcock put her in Torn Curtain (released in July 1966), director George Roy Hill cast her as the heroine of Hawaii (released in October 1966), and double-dipped with her in his hugely successful musical Thoroughly Modern Millie (released in March 1967).
Director Robert Wise put Andrews in his biopic of Broadway star Gertrude Lawrence, but
Star! (released in July 1968), was too out of sync to be popular with the public. Having married the director Blake Edwards in 1969, he directed and she starred in Darling Lili (released in June 1970), which was one of the most notorious flops in Paramount's history.
But that didn't keep them down, no sir! Andrews starred in most of Edwards' films, starting with The Tamarind Seed (released in July 1974), with Omar Sharif, 10 (which played the Chinese in October 1979), with Dudley Moore, S.O.B. (released in July 1981), with William Holden (in which she famously did a nude scene), and of course, their masterpeice, Victor Victoria (which played the Chinese in November 1982), with James Garner.
That's Life! (released in October 1986), with Jack Lemmon was a milder effort from the couple. They tried putting her in a sitcom called Julie! for only seven episodes before it was cancelled by ABC in 1992. Andrews went to Paris to shoot Cin-cin - A Fine Romance (released in August 1992), with Marcello Mastroianni, but the film was hardly released in America.
Edwards brought a musical version of Victor
/ Victoria to Broadway, which opened in October 1995, with Andrews reprising her role from the film. This version was very successful also. She left the show in June 1997, which is still 700 performances. A tevlevision recrording of the musical Victor / Victoria aired over NHK, in December 1995. After leaving the show, Andrews undewent surgery to relieve stress on her vocal cords, but the proceedure didn't take; malpractice lawsuits and more surgery more-or-less robbed Andrews of her singing ability, but that hasn't stopped her.
Andrews returned to England to make a film version of the Noël Coward play Relative Values (released in June 2000), and did a television version of On Golden Pond, aired over CBS in April 2001, with Christopher Plummer.
Andrews returned triumphantly to fairy tale territory with The Princess Diaries (released in July 2001), with Anne Hathaway; she provided a queenly voice to the antics of Shrek 2 (released in May 2004), and lent a hand to the sequels The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (released in August 2004), and Shrek the Third (released in May 2007). She narrated Enchanted (released in November 2007), and did voices for Shrek Forever After (released in May 2010), and Despicable Me (released in July 2010).
Since the death of Blake Edwards in December of 2010,
Andrews has kept busy, touring, lecturing and writing. She hosts a series for preschoolers, Julie's Greenroom streamed over Netflix from March 2017, which has been very warmly received. She reprised her role in Despicable Me 3 (released in June 2017). She narrates the adaptation of Bridgerton, aired over Netflix in 2020, AND did her vocals for Minions: the Rise of Gru (which played the Chinese in July 2022. Julie Andrews continues to be a marvel. |
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| Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. Julie Andrews Forecourt block. Executed by John Tartaglia, Saturday, March 26, 1966. 42 x 48 inches. |
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| Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. Julie Andrews Forecourt ceremony, Saturday, March 26, 1966. Ms. Andrews signs her name in the cement, while National General Corporation president Eugene V. Klein looks on. |
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