English film and stage actress, singer, and author Julie Andrews (born October 1, 1935) was a former child actress and singer who rose to prominence starring in such stage musicals as My Fair Lady and Camelot. She is best known for her roles in the films Mary Poppins (1964) and The Sound of Music (1965). Her voice spanned four octaves until it was damaged by a throat operation in 1997. In the 2000s she had a major revival of her film career in family films such as The Princess Diaries (2001) and the Shrek animated films (2004–2010).
In 1963, Andrews began work in the titular role of Disney’s musical film Mary Poppins. Walt Disney had seen her performance in Camelot and subsequently offered her the role; Andrews initially declined because of pregnancy, returning to London to give birth, but Disney firmly insisted, saying, “We’ll wait for you.” After the birth of her daughter, she received a call from P. L. Travers, author of the Mary Poppins book series, who told her, “Well, you’re much too pretty of course. But you’ve got the nose for it.” Disney rented a house in Toluca Lake, Los Angeles, for her family to reside in during production. Andrews relied largely on instinct for her portrayal, conceptualizing her background and giving the character a “particular walk” and a turned-out stance to suit her ladylike sensibility. Andrews referred to production as “unrelenting” given the physical exertion and technical details, saying that she “could not have asked” for a better introduction to film.
Mary Poppins became the biggest box-office draw in Disney history. Variety lauded Andrews’s performance as a “signal triumph. ... She performs as easily as she sings, displaying a fresh type of beauty.” The film was nominated for thirteen Academy Awards and won five, including the Academy Award for Best Actress for Andrews’s performance. She also received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical, while Andrews and her co-stars won the 1965 Grammy Award for Best Album for Children. As a measure of “sweet revenge,” as Poppins songwriter Richard M. Sherman put it, Andrews closed her acceptance speech at the Golden Globes by saying, “And, finally, my thanks to a man who made a wonderful movie and who made all this possible in the first place, Mr. Jack Warner.” My Fair Lady was in direct competition for the awards.
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