Julie Andrews: “You've Always Got To Entertain”

Dame Julie Andrews reflects on her most iconic roles, the changing face of the entertainment industry and what really makes a great cup of tea

- Violet Wilder

LONGEVITY IN THE movie world is a commodity few can lay claim to, not least when the projects that made a certain star famous were being projected onto cinema screens over five decades ago. By that notion then, it seems unfathomable that Julie Andrews, an octogenarian—albeit only in age, given the elegance, sharpness and energy she invests in press and social engagements—hadn’t even hit 30 when Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music enchanted a nation.

Those two movies, released within seven months of each other as a cheerful, charming countenance to the vigour and fervour of the emerging Swinging Sixties, weren’t the first taste of success Julie had experienced. Raised in Waltonon-Thames in Surrey, her parents separated when she was young, and while the relationship with her father was strong, it was her mother’s desire to perform that ultimately influenced the performer.

Having endured a level of poverty and hardship with mother Barbara and new partner Ted Andrews, the UK’s emergence out of wartime saw a huge demand for the entertainment doyennes who had so greatly livened the spirits of troops. And by 1954, having already performed on the West End stage and at the London Palladium, she found herself leaving UK shores for a stint on Broadway.

“The speed with which opportunities came along was really very reflective of how the country was getting back on its feet after the war,” she begins. “I’ve always considered myself very fortunate to have been the age I was, at a time when people were thrilled to be free again, desperate to be entertained and intent on moving forward without fear of what war brought about.”