Matinee Classics - Julie Andrews Biography & Filmography

Julie Andrews ACTOR

PHOTOS

JULIE ANDREWS BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Julie Andrews was born on October 1st, 1935 in Walton-on-Thames in Surrey England with the birth name Julia Elizabeth Wells, born to Barbara Ward Wells. Although her mother was married to Edward Charles Wells, he is not her biological father, as her mother had an affair with a family friend who is Andrews' real father.

As a young child she possessed an amazing singing voice and began performing as a child. Both her parents were involved in vaudeville and so she easily adapted to the life of an entertainer.

When she was nineteen years old she made her first Broadway performance in, "The Boy Friend" followed by a role in the stage production of, "My Fair Lady" (1956) and "Camelot". Soon Andrews was working in the television industry on such shows as, "Cinderella" (1957).

Her big leap to stardom came in 1964 when she was cast alongside Dick Van Dyke in the film, "Mary Poppins" a role for which she won an Oscar. As her career progressed she graced the silver screen with more successful film roles such as, "The Sound of Music" (1965), "Hawaii" (1966) and "Torn Curtain" (1966) starring with Paul Newman.

She went on to star in two more films, "Star!" (1968) and "Darling Lili" (1970), which sadly were unsuccessful at the box office. Andrews did not let this affect her career and for a while she turned her focus back to music, performing in a number of nightclubs and hosted a Television variety series in the 1970's, "The Julie Andrews Hour", which won seven Emmy Awards but was canceled after only one season.

She also added numerous television guest appearances to her resume on such shows as, "The Ed Sullivan Show", "The Dinah Shore Chevy Show", "What's My Line?", "The Bell Telephone Hour" and "The Gary Moore Show". In 1992, she was cast in the sitcom "Julie" which aired on ABC.

In 1997, Andrews underwent throat surgery which had a huge affect on her singing voice for quite some time and she even spent some time in a psychiatric clinic to deal with the trauma from her surgery. She had to deal with legal issues with the hospital that did her surgery and was awarded about 30 million dollars in a settlement.

Other film roles she added to her resume were, "10" (1979), "S.O.B." (1981), "Victor Victoria" (1982) and the television movie, "One Special Night" (1999). More recently she has made quite a comeback to the industry starring in such successful films as, "The Princess Diaries" (2001), "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement" (2004) and has done voice over work for such films as, "Shrek" (2004), "Shrek The Third" (2007), "Shrek: Forever After" (2010) and "Despicable Me" (2010).

In addition to stage, television and film work, Andrews is also an author of a number of children's books. In 2010 she released her 23rd book titled, "The Very Fairy Princess" which reached number 1 on the New York Best Seller List for Children's Books.

Andrews has married twice throughout her lifetime, first to Tony Walton in 1959 and they had one child before the marriage came to an end in 1967. She then married director Blake Edwards in 1969 and they had two children together and remained married until he passed away on December 15th, 2010.

Julie Andrews has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and has also received a Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. In 2011, she was also a recipient of the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Grammy. Other honors she has received are a People's Choice Award, a Golden Globe and a Grammy BAFTA.