Julie Andrews, actress, author, and singer, has been dubbed one of the 100 Greatest Britons, one of the finest performers around, and she has been appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. She is also celebrating a major milestone. Now, she’s receiving a new honor: birthday girl.
Happy Birthday, Dame Julie Andrews!
And that’s because she was born October 1, 1935, in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, which means that this uber-talented multi-hyphen is turning 85 years old today! Andrews began her professional career performing alongside her mother Barbara Ward Wells, and stepfather Ted Andrews, both stage performers.
After following her guardians into the realms of radio and television, Andrews appeared in West End (the British equivalent of New York City’s Broadway theaters) productions of Aladdin and Humpty Dumpty.
She also won critical acclaim for work in the musical The Boy Friend – and when the same show was adapted for Broadway, Andrews agreed to immigrate to the U.S. in order to continue playing the central character, Polly Browne.
As her one-year contract with the production came to close, Andrews successfully auditioned for the lead role in a soon-to-be Broadway sensation, Alan Jay Lerner’s My Fair Lady.
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Andrews would subsequently receive rave reviews for her work in Camelot, yet another Broadway success. In that particular show, she played the beguiled Guinevere opposite Richard Burton’s King Arthur and Robert Goulet’s Sir Lancelot.
Beginning in the late 1950s, Andrews turned her attention towards roles on both the small and big screen. She appeared in the 1957 televised adaption of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, and in 1964, she portrayed the title character in Disney’s Mary Poppins. For her efforts, Andrews would win the Academy Award for Best Actress.
One year later, Andrews starred in The Sound of Music as Maria von Trapp. In the ensuing decades, Andrews continued to add to her voluminous resume.
A mere sampling of work between 1966 and the present day includes the features Thoroughly Modern Millie, Alfred Hitchcock’s Torn Curtain, Victor/Victoria, The Princess Diaries, and a number of projects directed by Blake Edwards (her husband of 41 years until his death in 2010) including Darling Lili and SOB.
Entertainment Hub would like to wish Dame Julie Andrews a very happy birthday and you can too by clicking on the Twitter link below.
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