Friday, October 1, 2010

Oct. 1: Julie Andrews is 75 today.



Dame Julia Elizabeth Andrews, DBE, is a former British child actress and singer who has been honored with Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award awards. Her voice spanned four octaves until it was damaged by a throat operation in 1997.

Born Julia Elizabeth Wells in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, Andrews  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 films such as Mary Poppins - for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1964 - and The Sound of Music in 1965.


(Follow links below to view You Tube Videos:)
-- "Do Re Mi" (Sound of Music)



On November 1, 1948, Julie Andrews became the youngest solo performer ever to be seen in a Royal Command Variety Performance, at the London Palladium, where she performed along with Danny Kaye, the Nicholas Brothers and the comedy team George and Bert Bernard for members of King George VI's family. Julie Andrews followed her parents into radio and television. She reportedly made her television debut on the BBC program RadiOlympia Showtime on 8 October 1949.

Andrews had a major revival of her film career in 2000s in family films such as The Princess Diaries, its sequel The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, and the Shrek animated films.

In 2003 Andrews revisited her first Broadway success, this time as a stage director, with a revival of The Boy Friend at the Bay Street Theatre, Sag Harbor, New York.

Andrews is also an author of children's books, and in 2008 published an autobiography, Home: A Memoir of My Early Years.

In the 2000 New Year's Millennium Honours List, Andrews was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for services to the performing arts. She also appears at #59 on the 2002 List of "100 Greatest Britons" sponsored by the BBC and chosen by the public.

HIGHLY Recommended:

Classic Julie, Classic BroadwayThe Sound of Music (Two-Disc 40th Anniversary Special Edition)Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs, and LullabiesRodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1957 Television Production)My Fair Lady (1959 Original London Cast)

No comments:

Post a Comment