From Alfred Hitchcock Wiki

• born: 01/Oct/1935 (Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, UK)

Biography

Dame Julie Andrews, DBE is an Academy Award-winning English actress, singer, and author, who became famous for her starring roles in the musical films "Mary Poppins" (1964) and "The Sound Of Music" (1965).

Early life

Andrews was born Julia Elizabeth Wells in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, the daughter of Edward Wells, an actor, and Barbara Ward, a pianist. She had a rare, five-octave coloratura soprano talent (ranging from C3 to E7), and her parents enrolled her in voice lessons to develop her abilities. Her earliest public performances were during World War II, entertaining troops throughout the United Kingdom with fellow child star Petula Clark. Andrews made her stage debut at an early age, appearing in London's West End in 1947. She graduated through radio (on the show "Educating Archie"), appeared in the London West End ("Cinderella"), and made her American debut starring in the Broadway production of "The Boy Friend" in 1954.

Mid-1950s

In 1956, composers Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner cast Andrews as Eliza Doolittle opposite Rex Harrison's Henry Higgins in "My Fair Lady" (a musical adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion"). The show became the smash hit of the year, and Andrews became an overnight sensation. During her run in "Lady", she also starred in two television musicals: "High Tor" with Bing Crosby and Rogers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella".

1960s

In 1961, Lerner & Loewe again cast her in a period musical, as Guenevere in "Camelot", opposite Richard Burton and newcomer Robert Goulet. After a slow start, cast appearances on Ed Sullivan's television show ensured that the show would ultimately become a hit.

When she lost the starring role in the film of "My Fair Lady" to Audrey Hepburn, she received the "consolation" of starring in Walt Disney's "Mary Poppins", winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress as a result. After beating Hepburn for the Golden Globe, Andrews got a measure of (as "Poppins" songwriter Richard M. Sherman put it) "sweet revenge": In closing her acceptance speech, Andrews—nervous and hoping the joke would play well—smiled and said, "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." Her performance also won Andrews the Academy Award for Best Actress for 1965. At the Grammy Awards, she and her co-stars won the Grammy Award for Best Album for Children for "Mary Poppins". She was nominated for an Academy Award again, the following year, for her role as Maria von Trapp in "The Sound of Music", briefly becoming one of the most sought-after stars in Hollywood. As a result, she appeared in the three-hour epic "Hawaii", co-starring with Max von Sydow, and Alfred Hitchcock's "Torn Curtain" with Paul Newman (both in 1966), and "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (1967), with Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Channing.

1970s and 1980s

"Star!", a 1968 biography of Gertrude Lawrence, and Darling Lili, with "Rock Hudson" (1970), are often cited by critics as major contributors to the decline of the movie musical. Both were damaging to Andrews' subsequent career and, despite several starring roles in musical and non-musical films—including some directed by her second husband, Blake Edwards, such as "The Tamarind Seed", "10", "Victor/Victoria", and "S.O.B.", in which she appeared topless — she was seen very rarely on screen during the 1980s and 1990s.

She starred in her own variety series (for one season, on the ABC network in 1972-1973, winning 7 Emmy Awards), but the greatest critical acclaim accorded her TV work was for her variety show specials with her close friend, Carol Burnett.

In 1983, she was chosen as the "Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year" by the Harvard University theatrical society.

Revival

Director Garry Marshall cast her in "The Princess Diaries", opposite Anne Hathaway, and its sequel; playing the role of the Queen of an imaginary country, both of which proved to be major box office hits. She has also starred in two made-for-television movies based on the character of Eloise (playing her Nanny), the child who lives at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. In 2004, she lent her voice in the role as Queen Lillian to the highly successful animated hit "Shrek 2", the sequel to the 2001 smash.

(Wikipedia)

Filmography

With Hitchcock...

• Torn Curtain (1966) - cast: Dr. Sarah Louise Sherman

Other works on note...

• Mary Poppins (1964) - cast: Mary Poppins
• The Sound of Music (1965) - cast: Maria
• Victor/Victoria (1982) - cast: Victoria Grant, aka Count Victor Grezhinski
• Shrek 2 (2004) - cast: Queen (voice)

Links

• Internet Movie Database

Image Gallery

Images from the Hitchcock Gallery (click to view larger versions or search for all relevant images)...