Dame Julie Elizabeth Andrews, DBE (born Julia Elizabeth Wells on 1 October 1935) in Walton-on-Thames Surrey United Kingdom is a British film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honours. Andrews was a former British child actress and singer who made her Broadway debut in 1954 with The Boy Friend, and rose to prominence starring in other musicals such as My Fair Lady and Camelot, and in musical filmssuch as Mary Poppins (1964) and The Sound of Music (1965): the roles for which she is still best known. Her voice spanned four octaves until it was damaged by a throat operation in 1998.
Andrews played the title role in Walt Disney's Mary Poppins. Walt Disney had seen a performance of Camelot and thought Andrews would be perfect for the role of a British nanny who is "practically perfect in every way!" Andrews initially declined due to pregnancy, but Disney politely insisted, saying, "We'll wait for you." (Confirmed by 40th anniversary Mary Poppins DVD Walt Disney Pictures 2004.) Andrews and her husband headed back to the United Kingdom in September 1962 to await the birth of daughter Emma Katherine Walton, who was born in London two months later. Andrews and family returned to America in 1963 and began the film.
As a result of her performance in Mary Poppins, Andrews won the 1964 Academy Award for Best Actress and the 1965 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. She and her Mary Poppins co-stars also 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.
In 1966, Andrews won her second Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and was nominated for the 1965 Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music. After completing The Sound Of Music, Andrews appeared as a guest star on the NBC-TV variety series The Andy Williams Show, which garnered her an Emmy nomination. She followed this television appearance with an Emmy Award-winning color special, The Julie Andrews Show, which featured Gene Kelly and The New Christy Minstrels as guests. It aired on NBC-TV in November, 1965.
In 1966, Andrews starred with Paul Newman in the Hitchcock thriller Torn Curtain. By the end of 1967, Andrews had appeared in the television special, Cinderella; the biggest Broadway musical of its time, My Fair Lady; the largest-selling long-playing album, the original cast recording of My Fair Lady; the biggest hit in Disney's history, Mary Poppins; the highest grossing movie of 1966, Hawaii ; the biggest and second biggest hits in Universal's history, Thoroughly Modern Millie and Torn Curtain; and the biggest hit in 20th Century Fox's history and the most successful film of all time, The Sound of Music.
In 1972–1973, Andrews starred in her own television variety series, The Julie Andrews Hour, on the ABC network. The show won seven Emmy Awards, but was cancelled after one season. Between 1973 and 1975, Andrews continued her association with ABC by head lining five variety specials for the network. She then guest-starred on The Muppet Show in 1977. Andrews again appeared with the Muppets on a CBS-TV special, Julie Andrews: One Step Into Spring, which aired in March, 1978.
In the 2000 New Year's Honours, she was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE). In January 2007, she was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Screen Actors Guild's awards, and stated that her goals included continuing to direct for the stage, and possibly to produce her own Broadway musical. [wikipedia]
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