Disney Legends - Julie Andrews — The Disney Classics

Previously, I’ve written about Bobby Driscoll, whom was one of Disney’s first child actors and the face of Treasure Island and Peter Pan. I also wrote about the magical Dick Van Dyke, whom has had a career and life like no other. Now we move onto one of his incredible counterparts, who is more than just a co-character, Julie Andrews has made herself a household name for decades to come.

Andrews was not a stranger to music and entertainment. When her parents divorced when she was young, she went to live with her father, Ted Wells, and her brother for a moment in time. In 1940, she went back to living with her mother Barbara Morris and new step-father, Ted Andrews. Her mother was a pianist, and her step-father was a singer. In an interview with D23 when asked about why it’s important to experience art as a family, she said:

“Well, I cannot imagine a world without the arts around. Arts in all forms stimulate us and show us who we are–they’re a mirror that reflects who we are, they nurture and they embrace us. I cannot imagine a world without music and theater, and I wish there were more programs in schools.”

Living with her mother and step-father had a rocky start, as they didn’t have much money, and Ted Andrews could be quite violent and inappropriate toward Julie. But, as Barbara and Ted’s careers picked up, so did their home life. Julie was put into singing lessons in London and was taught by Madame Lilian Stiles-Allen. She began taking the stage alongside her parents to sing, which opened her up to more opportunities as just a young girl. Performing at various venues in London, to being the youngest singer to perform for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, she was a soloist, working in radio, and even voice-acting in a movie called “The Singing Princess”.

Her Broadway debut was in the United States, as she played Polly Browne in “The Boy Friend”. Right after her debut, in 1956 she played one of her most memorable roles, Eliza Doolittle in “My Fair Lady”. This role comes up later in her life as she faces a cross-roads. She was a major hit, and was asked to play Cinderella in the television musical “Cinderella” by Rodgers and Hammerstein. In the late 1950s and early 1960s she started making television appearances on shows such as “The Ed Sullivan Show”, “The Gary Moore Show”, and many more. From here, in 1960 she was asked to be a part of the musical “Camelot” where she played Guinevere.

During her time doing Camelot is when she hit a major catalyst in her life. Jack L. Warner was putting on a film production of My Fair Lady, and it only made sense for Julie to resume her role as Eliza Doolittle. However, Warner decided that she hadn’t made as big of a name for herself yet, as she hadn’t been in movies, and cast Audrey Hepburn instead, much to Andrews disappointment. As one door closes, another one opens though, and she was cast with the role of a lifetime.

Walt Disney had seen her perform in Camelot and knew that she was exactly what he was looking for. In 1961, during the development of the legendary film “Mary Poppins”, he brought her name to the studio and told Bill Walsh, Don DaGradi and the Sherman Brothers that she was going to be the one to play this role he had fought so hard to show on screen. Mary Poppins was written by P.L Travers, who was stubborn, and wanted nothing to do with Disney until he gave her some leeway. Travers wasn’t fully sold on the idea of Andrews playing her beloved character, as she was “too pretty, but she has the nose for it”. After being turned down to play Eliza Doolittle, Andrews felt that this might open more doors for her. The only thing that concerned her was that she was 3 months pregnant, but Disney liked her so much they waited until she gave birth to start filming. The film was released on August 26th, 1964.

When speaking about the process of writing “Spoonful of Sugar”, Richard Sherman recounts:

“We wanted something marvelous because there was this wonderful, wonderful, talented young woman who is going to maybe do our picture.”

Now, Andrews is widely known for her time playing Mary Poppins, as the film was a box office success and earned 103.1 million USD. Her iconic voice singing “Spoonful of Sugar” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” are still playing in people’s heads 56 years later. Julie won Best Actress, Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles, Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and sang “Chim Chim Cheree” which won Best Song in 1965.

When thinking about her time during Mary Poppins during a “musical reunion” in 2004 with Richard Sherman and Dick Van Dyke, Andrews says:

“I do remember that all these songs had such a wonderland vaudeville quality to them, and that’s my background, you know my parents started in vaudeville and I started in vaudeville, and that’s how I kind of got this feeling in the pit of my stomach that it was something that I might be able to contribute to.”

She had another box office success film right after, starring in the “Sound of Music” which earned 286.2 million in the box office. The Sound of Music is one of the highest grossing films of all time, even today. For the rest of the 1960s, Andrews starred in many more popular films like “Hawaii”, “Thoroughly Modern Millie”, and “The Americanization of Emily”. Andrews almost starred in Disney’s “Bedknobs and Broomsticks”, but instead Angela Lansbury was cast. Angela Lansbury was also consider to play Mary Poppins in the beginning, so it ended up working out anyway.

After this time in her life, Andrews continued to be successful in films, having her own television show for a season, making guest appearances and joining the musical Victor/Victoria. This was her last musical she would perform in though, as she had a botched throat surgery to remove nodules that wasn’t necessary, and she never ended up healing. Her singing voice had been permanently damaged and going back onto Broadway was no longer an option.

Andrews made her way back to Disney in 2001, and starred in “The Princess Diaries” and “The Princess Diaries 2” as Queen Clarisse. She also made her way back to playing a nanny in “Eloise at the Plaza” and “Eloise at Christmastime”. She also began directing Broadway musicals, one of which was '“The Boy Friend”.

She was the face of Disneyland’s 50th anniversary celebration, promoting it and travelling to all of the parks for it. She also narrated one of Disneyland’s fireworks shows “Remember…Dreams Come True”. She has continued to appear in various Disney projects, continued to do voice and television acting, and has not slowed down her career at all at the age of 84.

Julie Andrews, although having an extremely successful career, will always be remembered as the original Mary Poppins, the magical nanny who is practically perfect, and there to fix everything.