Julie Andrews Biography
Dame Julie Andrews DBE born Julia Elizabeth Wells is an English actress, singer, and author. Over her career spanning more than eight decades, she has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, two Emmy Awards, three Grammy Awards, and six Golden Globe Awards. She was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000. She co-created and hosted “Julie’s Greenroom” (2017) and has voiced Lady Whistledown in the Netflix series “Bridgerton” since 2020).
Julie Andrews Age
Andrews was born on 1 October 1935 in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England. Julie is 89 years old as of 2024 and celebrates her birthday on 1st October each year.
Julie Andrews Height
Andrews stands at an approximate height of 6 feet and 2 inches.
Julie Andrews Family
Andrews was born on October 1, 1935, in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England. Her mother, Barbara Ward Wells, born in Chertsey on July 25, 1910, married Edward Charles “Ted” Wells, a metalwork and woodwork teacher, in 1932. Andrews was conceived from an affair her mother had with a family friend, a fact she learned from her mother in 1950 and disclosed publicly in her 2008 autobiography.
With the onset of World War II, her parents separated and eventually divorced. Barbara remarried Ted Andrews in 1943, and Ted Wells married Winifred Maud Birkhead, a war widow, in 1944. Andrews’s father helped evacuate children to Surrey during the Blitz, while her mother and stepfather entertained troops through the Entertainments National Service Association. Initially living with her father and brother in Surrey, Andrews was sent to live with her mother and stepfather in 1940 for better artistic training.
She called her stepfather “Uncle Ted,” but her mother suggested “Pop,” a change she disliked. The family, living in a poor area of London, struggled financially, and her stepfather was violent and an alcoholic. He even tried to get into bed with Andrews while drunk, prompting her to fit a lock on her door.
As her parents’ stage careers improved, they moved to better areas, first to Beckenham and then back to Hersham after the war. The family settled in the Old Meuse house, where Andrews’s grandmother had once been a maid. Her stepfather sponsored her lessons at the Cone-Ripman School (ArtsEd) in London and with concert soprano Madame Lilian Stiles-Allen, whom Andrews described as having a significant influence on her, likening her to a third mother.
Julie Andrews Husband
Andrews married set designer Tony Walton on May 10, 1959, in Weybridge, Surrey. They first met in 1948 when Andrews was performing in the show Humpty Dumpty at the London Casino. In November 1962, they welcomed their daughter, Emma who is an author of children’s books. The couple divorced in 1968. Andrews later married director Blake Edwards in November 1969, after being companions for at least two years and having worked together on Darling Lili.
She became the stepmother to his children, Jennifer and Geoffrey. In the 1970s, Edwards and Andrews adopted two Vietnamese daughters, Amy Leigh and Joanna Lynne. Their marriage lasted for 41 years until Edwards’ death at age 88 on December 15, 2010, in Santa Monica, California. Andrews is a grandmother to nine and a great-grandmother to three. She resides in Sag Harbor, New York, where her daughter and co-author Emma co-founded the Bay Street Theater.
Julie Andrews’s Net Worth
Andrews has an estimated net worth of $30 Million which she has earned through her successful career as an English film and stage actress, singer, and dancer.
Julie Andrews Career
Andrews is an English actress, singer, and author. Over her career, which spans more than eight decades, she has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, two Emmy Awards, three Grammy Awards, and six Golden Globe Awards, along with nominations for three Tony Awards. One of the top box office draws of the 1960s, Andrews has been honored with the Kennedy Center Honors in 2001, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2007, and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2022. She was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000.
Starting as a child actress and singer, Andrews appeared in the West End in 1948 and made her Broadway debut in The Boy Friend (1954). Dubbed “Britain’s youngest prima donna,” she gained prominence in Broadway musicals, starring as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady (1956) and Queen Guinevere in Camelot (1960). She also starred in the Rodgers and Hammerstein television musical Cinderella (1957).
Andrews made her feature film debut as the title character in Walt Disney’s Mary Poppins (1964), winning the Academy Award for Best Actress. She then starred in The Sound of Music (1965), playing Maria von Trapp and winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical.
Andrews appeared in various films directed by notable directors, including her husband Blake Edwards, George Roy Hill, and Alfred Hitchcock. Her filmography includes The Americanization of Emily (1964), Hawaii (1966), Torn Curtain (1966), Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), and Star! (1968), The Tamarind Seed (1974), 10 (1979), S.O.B. (1981), Victor/Victoria (1982), That’s Life! (1986), and Duet for One (1986). She later returned to films with The Princess Diaries (2001), The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004), Eloise at the Plaza (2003), and Eloise at Christmastime (2003). She also voiced Queen Lillian in the Shrek franchise (2001–2010) and Marlena Gru in the Despicable Me franchise (2010–present).
Andrews is known for her collaborations with Carol Burnett, including the specials Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall (1962), Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center (1971), and Julie and Carol: Together Again (1989). She starred in her variety special, The Julie Andrews Hour (1973), for which she received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Musical Series.
Recently, she co-created and hosted Julie’s Greenroom (2017) and voiced Lady Whistledown in the Netflix series Bridgerton (2020–present). Andrews has co-authored numerous children’s books with her daughter and published two autobiographies, Home: A Memoir of My Early Years (2008) and Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years (2019).
Julie Andrews Mary Poppins and film stardom
In 1963, Andrews began work on the titular role in Disney’s musical film Mary Poppins. Walt Disney, having seen her performance in Camelot, offered her the role. Andrews initially declined due to her pregnancy, returning to London to give birth. However, Disney insisted, saying, “We’ll wait for you.” After her daughter was born, Andrews received a call from P. L. Travers, the author of the Mary Poppins book series, who remarked, “Well, you’re much too pretty of course. But you’ve got the nose for it.”
Julie Andrews Vocal styling
As a child, a throat specialist examined her and concluded she had “an almost adult larynx.” Despite encouragement from her voice teacher, English soprano Lilian Stiles-Allen, to pursue opera, Andrews felt her voice was unsuited for the genre, describing it as “extremely high and thin” and lacking the “necessary guts and weight” for opera. She preferred musical theatre instead.
As Andrews aged, her voice naturally deepened. She lost some of her upper register, and her “top notes” became harder to sing, but her middle register matured into the warm golden tone for which she is known. Andrews preferred singing music that was “bright and sunny” and avoided sad songs or those in a minor key to prevent losing her voice “in a mess of emotion,” which was another reason she avoided opera.
Julie Andrews’s Loss of the Singing Voice
Andrews had to leave the stage production of Victor/Victoria towards the end of its Broadway run in 1997 due to hoarseness in her voice. She underwent surgery at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital, initially reported to remove non-cancerous nodules from her throat. However, Andrews later clarified that the hoarseness was due to “a certain kind of muscular striation” on her vocal cords caused by strain from the production, adding, “I didn’t have cancer, I didn’t have nodules, I didn’t have anything.” Although the doctors had assured her that she would regain her voice within six weeks, her stepdaughter, Jennifer Edwards, noted in 1999 that “It’s been two years, and her singing voice still hasn’t returned.”
Julie Andrews Bridgerton
Andrews has voiced Lady Whistledown, the author of a scandalous society newsletter in the Netflix series “Bridgerton”. As the 1813 social season commences, a scandal published by the mysterious”Lady Whistledown” begins to spread across London. Daphne Bridgerton makes her society debut, receiving high praise from Queen Charlotte, surpassing other debutantes, including the three Featherington sisters. The Featheringtons also discover that their distant cousin, Marina Thompson, will be staying with them for the season. She stares alongside other Actors and Actress who include:
- Adjoa Andoh
- Harriet Cains
- Lorraine Ashbourne
- Golda Rosheuvel
- Luke Newton
- Simone Ashley
- Jonathan Bailey
- Bessie Carter
- Nicola Coughlan
- Kathryn Drysdale
Julie Andrews Awards and honors
Throughout her career, Andrews has gained numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, six Golden Globe Awards, three Grammy Awards, and two Emmy Awards. Despite three Tony Award nominations, she has yet to secure a win. In June 2022, Andrews received the AFI Life Achievement Award at a ceremony in Los Angeles, which had been delayed for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, in 2002, Andrews was ranked No. 59 in the BBC’s poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.
Julie Andrews Social Media Platforms
She is active on her social media accounts and often posts on her Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
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