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Julie Andrews

Julie AndrewsAKA Julia Elizabeth Wells

Born: 1-Oct-1935
Birthplace: Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England

Gender: Female
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Singer, Actor

Nationality: England
Executive summary: Mary Poppins

Julie Andrews is a singer and actress, best known for her family-friendly roles in the 1960s, as Mary Poppins, and as the wayward nun Maria in The Sound of Music. Despite doing raunchy comedies and even a topless scene in S.O.B., her image remains perpetually wholesome.

Andrews was born Julia Wells, but was quickly nicknamed Julie. Her mother, a piano teacher, took part-time work as accompanist for a radio singer, and eventually they became a performing duo. Julie Wells became Julie Andrews when her mother got a divorce and married the singer. She began her professional career as an addition to her mother and stepfather's act when she was just ten years old. At 12, she first appeared on stage without her parents, in a local play.

As an adult, Andrews followed her stepfather as a radio singer, then starred in the original Broadway productions of The Boyfriend in 1954, My Fair Lady in 1956, and Camelot in 1960. All three plays were made into movies, none featuring Andrews. Moviemakers believed she had no "star power" beyond Broadway, and that she was not quite "Hollywood beautiful". But her first film, Mary Poppins, changed that perception, winning Andrews the Oscar for Best Actress. In the 1960s, she also starred in The Sound of Music, in James A. Michener's huge Hawaii, and opposite Paul Newman in Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain.

Andrews has been married to director Blake Edwards since 1969, and he has been involved in several of her big- and small-screen projects, including 10, S.O.B., Victor/Victoria, and a sitcom called Julie that was cancelled after six episodes in 1992.

Her singing voice, famous for its four-octave range, was damaged by a botched vocal chord surgery at New York's Mount Sinai hospital in 1997. "I don't think she'll sing again", Edwards has said. "It's an absolute tragedy." Andrews says she now has "a wonderful, deep, bass voice of about five notes and that's about it." A malpractice claim against the doctors was settled in 2000, under terms required to remain confidential.

Andrews has rebuilt her career with a variety of non-singing roles, and as a stage director. Most recently, she has appeared in The Princess Diaries and its sequel, and provided Queen Lillian's voice for Shrek 2.

Under her legal name, Julie Edwards, she has also written children's books, including The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles and Mandy.

Father: Ted Wells (woodworking teacher)
Mother: Barbara Morris (piano teacher)
Father: Ted Andrews (stepfather, singer)
Husband: Tony Walton (costume designer, m. 10-May-1959, div. 1967, one daughter)
Daughter: Emma Walton Hamilton (author, b. 27-Nov-1962)
Husband: Blake Edwards (film director, m. 12-Nov-1969, d. 15-Dec-2010)
Son: Geoffrey Edwards (stepson, film director)
Daughter: Jennifer Edwards (stepdaughter, actress)
Daughter: Amy Lee Edwards (adopted, b. 1974)
Daughter: Joanna Lynn Edwards (adopted, b. 1975)

    Academy of Achievement (2004)
    Oscar for Best Actress 1965 for Mary Poppins
    Golden Globe 1965 for Mary Poppins
    Golden Globe 1966 for The Sound of Music
    Golden Globe 1967 World Film Favorite, Female
    Golden Globe 1983 for Victor/Victoria
    Emmy 1973 for The Julie Andrews Hour (shared)
    Disney Legend 1991
    Kennedy Center Honor 2001
    Hollywood Walk of Fame 6901 Hollywood Blvd.
    Dame of the British Empire 1999 New Year's Eve
    Cholecystectomy (Feb-1996)
    Visited Disneyland 50th Anniversary (5-May-2005)
    Risk Factors: Tonsillitis

    TELEVISION
    Julie Julie Carlyle-McGuire (1992)

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    Aquaman (26-Nov-2018) [VOICE]
    Despicable Me 3 (14-Jun-2017) [VOICE]
    Despicable Me (20-Jun-2010) · Gru's Mom [VOICE]
    Shrek Forever After (21-Apr-2010) · Queen [VOICE]
    Tooth Fairy (14-Jan-2010) · Lily
    The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story (24-Apr-2009) · Herself
    Enchanted (20-Oct-2007) [VOICE]
    Shrek the Third (17-May-2007) [VOICE]
    The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (7-Aug-2004)
    Shrek 2 (15-May-2004) · Queen [VOICE]
    Eloise at Christmastime (22-Nov-2003)
    Eloise at the Plaza (27-Apr-2003)
    Unconditional Love (23-Aug-2002)
    The Princess Diaries (29-Jul-2001)
    On Golden Pond (29-Apr-2001) · Ethel Thayer
    Relative Values (23-Jun-2000) · Felicity, Countess of Marshwood
    One Special Night (28-Nov-1999)
    Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh (8-Nov-1998) · Herself
    Victor/Victoria (1995) · Victor
    Our Sons (19-May-1991)
    A Fine Romance (1991)
    Duet for One (25-Dec-1986)
    That's Life! (10-Sep-1986)
    The Man Who Loved Women (16-Dec-1983)
    Victor/Victoria (16-Mar-1982) · Victoria Grant
    S. O. B. (1-Jul-1981)
    Little Miss Marker (21-Mar-1980) · Amanda
    10 (5-Oct-1979)
    The Tamarind Seed (11-Jul-1974)
    Darling Lili (24-Jun-1970)
    Star! (18-Jul-1968) · Gertrude Lawrence
    Thoroughly Modern Millie (21-Mar-1967) · Millie Dillmount
    Hawaii (10-Oct-1966)
    Torn Curtain (14-Jul-1966) · Sarah Sherman
    The Sound of Music (2-Mar-1965) · Maria von Trapp
    The Americanization of Emily (27-Oct-1964) · Emily Barham
    Mary Poppins (27-Aug-1964)
    Cinderella (31-Mar-1957)

Author of books:
Home: A Memoir of My Early Years (2008)


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