It was the first of many roles for the actor that would go down in cinematic history.
Performing is always a learning process, even today."
Let’s take a closer look at her journey so far.
Julie Andrews grew up in Surrey without much money
Julie Andrews' start was a humble one.
She later moved in with her mother’s second husband, Ted Andrews, and took his last name.
As Andrews recalled toThe Guardian, her home was in a “slum” area of London.
Home life was unstable.
Andrews' mother was a pianist and her stepfather was a vaudeville performer and an alcoholic.
“All the children were being evacuated into the country.
I was, too, for a while.”
“It wasn’t long before I became part of their act,” she toldVanity Fair.
“That night was very successful for me,” she said.
One of Andrews' friends suggested they see her in “Cinderella.”
It was, as she put it, a moment of “serendipity.”
She was just 18 when she made her Broadway debut.
“The Boy Friend.”
Talk about a full-circle moment.
“Then the really, really hard work began,” she recalled to Vanity Fair.
“All of it was hard work, but I was learning on my feet, so to speak.
It was a very good time on Broadway, full of wonderful shows.
Two on Broadway and one and a half in London.”
“I had never made a movie,” she said.
“I was not a star, I was not box office.”
After Walton saw Andrews perform, he wrote to her, and they began exchanging letters.
In her memoir, “Home,” Andrews recalled being 22 and having dinner at his family home.
The pair tied the knot in 1959.
A few years later, in 1962, Andrews had her first and only child with Walton, Emma.
For a while, the family seemed to do everything together.
Walton and Andrews remained close after their divorce.
After he died in 2022, she toldPeople, “Tony was my dearest and oldest friend.
He taught me to see the world with fresh eyes and his talent was simply monumental.”
To make the film, Andrews, her husband, and her newborn baby traveled back to London.
The filming process was filled with surprises and challenges.
Despite the pressure, the actor enjoyed the filming process.
It was her first big screen role, but she proved herself to be more than capable.
When the film was released, it was a huge success.
In 1965, she even took home the Oscar for best actress for the role.
Initially, she worried about accepting the role of Maria von Trapp, the kind-hearted Austrian nanny.
However, she took the role and thank goodness she did.
As for her cast mates, the actor is still very close with them.
The pair were together for a remarkable 41 years until Edwards' death in 2010.
The pair adopted two daughters from Vietnam, Amy and Joanna, in 1974 and 1975.
In the late ’70s, they both took a hiatus from their jobs to live quietly in Switzerland.
As Edwards once said, it “restored” them (viaCountry Living).
As she told Backstage, he “saw other aspects to my character that could be brought out.”
The musical followed a woman who dressed as a man to find work as a male soprano.
“It was fascinating to play that role,” she said.
It was crazy … it was great fun to do."
Andrews was nominated for her third Oscar for the film.
In 1997, Julie Andrews lost her famous voice
In 1997, tragedy struck for Julie Andrews.
Andrews explained that, at first, she was in denial about her voice.
Sadly, her voice never returned to its former state.
In 2000, she settled a malpractice lawsuit against the two doctors who performed the operation.
“She nailed the song on the first take.
She also starred in the movie’s 2004 sequel.
For Andrews, the role was unexpected, but a delight nonetheless.
“To get away with it.”
In a way, she felt she had come full circle.
“[‘The Princess Diaries’ is] a Cinderella story again.
‘My Fair Lady’ was a Cinderella story … and this time I get to play Professor Higgins!”
Andrews also gushed about her young co-star.
“She was incredibly talented … it was great fun to watch her growing and learning.
And I kind of think I probably was a bit of a mum to her, too.”
She voiced Fiona’s mother in “Shrek” and Gru’s mom in “Despicable Me.”
As Andrews explained to Vanity Fair, voice acting proved to be a welcome change.
“I have to tell you, it’s an extremely different technique.
Nothing like making a movie,” she said.
But I’m very happy to do that,” she toldEntertainment Tonight.
Since the ’70s, Andrews has been writing children’s books.
More recently, she has written a series of books about Gerry, the “Very Fairy Princess.”
Writing also gave her a new outlet after the loss of her singing voice.
““It celebrates children’s literature, mostly picture books,” her daughter toldRoger Ebert.
Honestly, we can’t think of anything we’d rather listen to.
And that’s just how she likes it.
