October 1 - Dame Julie Andrews

On this day, in 1935, Julia Elizabeth Wells was born in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England.Conceived as a result of an affair her mother had, it’s not surprising that her parents divorced before she entered grade school. Both would remarry during World War II. Julie’s father, Ted Wells, helped in the effort to evacuate children to the English countryside. Her mother, Barbara, would partner with her new husband, Ted Andrews, to entertain the troops. Julie would initially stay with her father but, recognizing her talents, he would send her to live with her mother, who he believed would be able to foster Julie’s training better.  Julie’s recollections of her stepfather are mixed at best. He was a violent alcoholic who twice tried to sleep with her, but he also paid for the lessons that made her what she is today.

Julie first attended an independent arts school in London, but it was her time with Madame Lilian Stiles-Allen that really gave her the boost she needed. Madame Lilian became like a mother to Julie and was amazed at her pupil’s voice range and clarity. Julie herself was never quite as confident in her own abilities as her mentor, but obviously enough of the Madame’s enthusiasm rubbed off to begin a long and spectacular career.

Julie’s first big break came in October 1947, when she was barely 12 years old. She sang “Je suis Titania,” an aria from Mignon in a revue called Starlight Roof at the London Hippodrome. She performed so well, she would stay with the show for an entire year. As a side note, one of the other performers in that show was Wally Boag, who would make the Diamond Horseshoe Revue at Disneyland a hit. In November of 1948, Julie became the youngest solo performer ever to be in a Royal Command Variety Performance before King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

Julie then moved into radio and television. For three years she was part of a BBC radio show, Educating Archie, as the title characters girlfriend. Julie also began appearing on regional and West End stages, mostly in shows based on fairy tales and nursery rhymes. In 1952, she did her first film work as the voice of the princess in an English dubbed version of an Italian animated piece, The Singing Princess. It would be 12 more years before her next movie, but she would be too busy to worry about that.

On September 30, 1954, the day before her 19th birthday, Julie would make her Broadway debut as Polly Browne in The Boy Friend. Nearly fifty years later, she would make her directorial debut with the same show. Her success as Polly would lead to an invitation to audition for the role of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady (spoiler: she got the part). Richard Rogers was so impressed with Julie’s performance in Lady, he put her in the 1957 live CBS broadcast of Cinderella during her run as Eliza (I suspect like many people, I didn’t know Cinderella was written for television and only later was adapted for the stage). In 1960, Julie starred in Camelot with Richard Burton and newcomer Robert Goulet. It was deemed shortly thereafter, that she lacked sufficient star power to reprise the role of Eliza Doolittle in the film version of My Fair Lady and was replaced with Audrey Hepburn. That would be a decision that would actually ensure no one would doubt the star power of Julie Andrews ever again.

Walt Disney had seen Julie perform as Queen Guinevere in Camelot and thought she was perfect for the title role in a project that had been simmering for years, Mary Poppins. At first, Julie said no as she was pregnant. Walt said “We’ll wait.” He waited, she finally agreed and a masterpiece was created. Poppins would give its star an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a Grammy and the studio its biggest financial hit ever. The following year saw the release of The Sound of Music, which gave Julie another Golden Globe and 20th Century Fox its biggest hit ever. Two more of her films released in the sixties, Torn Curtain with Paul Newman and Thoroughly Modern Millie would give Universal Studios their two biggest hits ever.

During the seventies, Julie made only a handful of films, two of which were expensive flops. She mostly did television appearances including The Muppet Show and a string of variety specials. When the eighties rolled around, Julie headlined a television special to raise funds for Cambodian Famine Victims. She did her first nude scene in S.O.B., a film directed by her husband, Blake Edwards. In 1982, she starred in Victor/Victoria with James Garner and Robert Preston, earning another Golden Globe.  In 1987, she starred in her own Christmas special that won five Emmy awards.  Julie continued producing albums, starring in movies and making television appearances through the mid-nineties. Then came the project most of her fans would, in retrospect, rather have never happened.

In 1995, Julie appeared on a Broadway stage for the first time in 35 years. The film Victor/Victoria had been turned into a stage show and she reprised the title role. The show was a success and would run for nearly two years. Unfortunately, the show’s success would contribute Julie’s downfall. In mid-1997, Julie would develop severe vocal problems, probably from the lower vocal range the role required of her. She insists that she never had any nodules or cancer form on her vocal cords, it was just muscular striation. Whatever it really was, she went in for surgery and the doctors ended up destroying her singing voice, leaving her with a rasp in even her speaking voice. Julie quipped after the botched surgery that she could now “sing the hell out of Old Man River.”  Four subsequent surgeries have improved her speaking voice, but the singing voice that wowed millions for decades is gone.

Not that Julie has slowed down much since then. She became a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. She received Kennedy Center Honors. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She, of course, became a Disney Legend in 1991, the same year as the co-writers of Mary Poppins, Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi.  In 2001 she ramped up her association with the Walt Disney Company, starring in The Princess Diaries with Anne Hathaway and Hector Elizondo. All three would return for the sequel and Julie would even (gasp!) sing. She followed that up by playing Eloise’s nanny in two television movies based on the books by Kay Thompson. In 2005, Julie was named the Official Ambassador for Disneyland’s 50th Anniversary Celebration and hosted and narrated the parks new fireworks show. In 2007, she narrated the Amy Adams movie Enchanted.

Even though she turns 83 this year, Dame Julie continues to work steadily. Whether it’s writing children’s books with her daughter, lending her voice to ever more Shrek and Despicable Me movies or creating television shows for Netflix, she barely shows signs of slowing down. How many more delightful performances does she have in her? Only time will tell, but I, for one, smile every time I recognize her voice in something or see her on screen and I hope I’ll be doing that for years to come.

Also on this date, in American history: the Model T Ford