Surprising Facts From Julie Andrews’ Life
Julie Andrews has had an illustrious career that’s nothing short of legendary. People of all generations will recognize her for her quiet charm, cheery demeanor, and beautiful singing voice. She’s known for portraying several loveable characters in live musicals and films. The sheer length of her career means that people of all generations are familiar with her work.
She’s been performing on stage and screen since 1949 and continues to entertain to this day. Despite her proper persona, Dame Andrews has a few interesting secrets from her past, some may even shock you!
Swallow a spoonful of sugar and get ready to learn some surprising facts about Julie Andrews!
Discovering Her Real Father
Julie Andrews had an unstable start to her life, at age 14 she found out her biological dad was actually a family friend her mother had an affair with. Her mother was married to Ted Wells when she got pregnant. Growing up with a difficult childhood in England, she believed her stepfather was her true father until she was a teen.
Young Julie Andrews adored her stepfather, and reminisces about the good times, explaining “He was the one who took me on nature walks, to swimming baths and down to the seaside.” She kept this story a secret from the public until age 72 when she published her autobiography, Home: A Memoir of My Early Years.
The Sound of Music Hairstyle Was Unplanned
Julie Andrews’ iconic short strawberry blonde haircut in The Sound of Music was actually the outcome of a hair dye disaster. Although the color fits rather well, her naturally dark hair was highlighted one too many times before turning bright orange! Julie had to cut the orange locks and left her hair even shorter than necessary for the part. She ditched the highlights for a bleach blonde dye to counteract the orange hue.
The styling team gave Andrews a modest, conservative look for her part as a rich Austrian family’s nanny. Although the color and cut were accidents, Julie loved the length and kept her shortcut all through her acting career.
An Abusive Step-Dad
Julia Andrews was actually born Julia Elizabeth Wells. When her mother, Barbara Wells, divorced and married a Canadian entertainer named Ted Andrews, she was given his last name. Of all her mothers partners, Ted Andrews was violent and alcoholic and the one Julie liked least. Still, her mother insisted on changing Julie’s last name.
Not only did she dislike this new stepfather, but she also missed her first stepfather, Ted Wells. She remained close to Wells, even after her mother remarried. In Julie’s autobiography, she speaks out about Ted Andrews’ abuse. One night he told her, “I’ll show you how I cuddle mummy”.
Problems With Christopher Plummer
Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer had their share of disagreements as lead actors in The Sound of Music. Playing a widow with seven children with Andrews as the nanny, Plummer didn’t like the movie to begin with, claiming it was too sappy. He shared that he hated working with Julie Andrews and even claimed her acting skills were weak. That’s something we’d definitely disagree with!
He even called her Ms. Disney behind her back, as she took her role offstage with the children on set, constantly singing and playing with them. Despite Andrews’ cheeriness annoying Plummer on set, Christopher apologized decades later, and the two remained friends until Plummer’s death.
Losing Her Voice
Julie Andrews began having problems singing in the late 1990s and discovered she had non-cancerous nodules in the throat. She underwent surgery in 1998 that left her unable to sing afterward. Julie sued the surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital for malpractice. Years after the surgery she confessed, “I went into a depression. It felt like I’d lost my identity.”
Ten years after the surgery, she found out it wasn’t nodules on her throat, it was actually a case of permanently strained vocal cords. She believes it originally occurred while filming Victor/Victoria in 1982, which only became worse throughout her career up until the surgery. Although singing was her biggest passion in show business, she continues to act in non-musical roles.
The Youngest Royal Command Performer
Julie Andrews was only 13 years old, the youngest performer in royal history, when she took part in the Royal Command Performance in 1948. Before being known for her debut in The Sound of Music, or her lead role in Mary Poppins, Andrews performed for King George VI, The Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth II, and Princess Margaret.
Young Andrews sang the national anthem for the king and queen after getting her start on Broadway at a young age. She eventually earned the title “London’s next prima donna”. 50 years and countless movies later, Julie would be honored by the British royal family and be named a Dame for her “services to the performing arts”.
Two Adopted Daughters
Julie Andrews and her second husband, Blake Edwards have two daughters they adopted from Vietnam. In addition to Edwards’ two previous children and Andrews’ biological daughter Emma Kate, the couple decided to adopt two orphans together. Amy was adopted in 1974, and Joanna was adopted a year later in 1975.
The girls were adopted from an orphanage just before the fall of Saigon during the Vietnam war. Julie and Blake were disturbed by the country’s humanitarian crisis. Adopting seems like a fitting decision for the woman who played memorable nanny roles in The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins. We wonder if she picked up experience from those roles!
A Rose By Any Other Name
Julie Andrews may be known for her on-stage talent, but few fans know a breed of rose plants was named after her too! A salmon-pink strain of roses was named the Julie Andrews Rose, after her part as a flower vendor in the Broadway play My Fair Lady. Julie was “ever so flattered” for the rose being named after her.
At the Chelsea Flower Show in London, she raised money for the Julie Andrews Appeal, donating $1.80 for every flower sold to fight arterial disease. If that’s not honorable enough, the rose was even named the most beautiful heirloom rose of the twenty-first century at the International Rose Competition in Lyon, France.
A Troubled Childhood
Julie Andrews’ life started out difficult, full of alcoholic adults and violence. In the backdrop of London amidst World War II, Andrews’ whole young life was full of struggle. At age four, her mother divorced Ted Wells, the father Julie loved, married another man, and relocated to London. After a few years, she insisted Julie move from rural England with her father to London with her mother.
Julie’s mother Barbara and her new husband Ted Andrews were alcoholics. Although Andrews loved her mother, she claims she could never fully trust her because of her substance abuse. As Julie rose to fame, her parents did not emphasize her education and used the money Julie earned to support the family.
Rejected a Tony Nomination
The modest Julie Andrews once refused a nomination for the Tony award, believing other talented cast members were being overlooked. She earned the nomination for her part in the 1996 broadway Musical, Victor/Victoria, but Andrews believed the award was an injustice. Julie claimed that even if she were to win the nomination for best leading actress, she wouldn’t accept the prize.
This led to the Tony Awards stripping all nominations from the broadway show, including snubbing awards from Andrews’ husband and show director Blake Edwards. The infuriated actress gave a minute-long speech against the award, claiming “I have searched my conscience and my heart and found that I cannot accept this nomination.” Andrews was cheered on by her supportive fans.
She Was Beloved By All
While on set for The Sound of Music, Julie Andrews always had a behind-stage group of children waiting to be entertained by the star. The young actors who played the widowed Capitan’s seven children loved Andrews and followed her around in breaks between shooting. Julie would sing “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” to the children in the cast before they started working on the scene.
However, Mary Poppins had yet to hit theaters, so they all thought Julie cleverly made up the song. Andrews and many of the Von Trapp kids stay in touch still today. The child actors, who are now in their sixties today, still reach out to Andrews on birthdays and holidays. Julia claims, “We just bonded so hard that I think we’re family.”
Struggled With Her Victor/Victoria Role
One of Julie Andrews’ most challenging roles was playing Victoria Grant in Victor/Victoria, which came out on Broadway in 1982. As Victoria, she had to act as a struggling soprano girl in a 1930’s nightclub. Being known for her gentle, motherly nanny roles, her children’s books, and Disney features, playing in a film about mobsters in Paris was out of her comfort zone.
“There were so many things to be worked out. As someone who likes to be in control, I felt wobbly,” she said. In preparation for her role, Julie Andrews watched the original Victor/Victoria which came out in 1933, and she even took boxing lessons to perfect her fight scene!
Thanked Him For Turning Her Down
When the 1965 film My Fair Lady was nominated for an impressive 12 Oscars, fans created a rivalry between Audrey Hepburn and Julie Andrews. Although Julie claims to have never had any personal rivalry between her and Audrey, she did have negative feelings toward the film’s producer, Jack Warner.
Warner chose Audrey Hepburn as the leading female role, and she won the Oscar for the film. After receiving an Oscar for Best Actress for her lead role in Mary Poppins, Andrews made light of the situation with Warner. She thanked him, saying he’s “a man who made a wonderful movie and who made all this possible in the first place.”
Met her Husband in Therapy
Julie Andrews and her second husband, director Blake Edwards, didn’t meet on set or even in the acting scene. They actually met at therapy! Andrews was arriving for her appointment as Edwards left his session, and he bravely decided to approach her. In an interview with ABC Julie told Diana Sawyer, “I’m afraid I was trying very hard not to fall in love with him.”
Both married at the time, they divorced their current partners and remained together for 41 years until Edwards’ death from pneumonia. Throughout their marriage, they worked together in seven successful films and lived a rather international family life between homes in LA, London, and Switzerland.
Could Sing Octaves Only Dogs Can Hear
Broadway protege Julie Andrews came to fame at a young age for her talent in singing and acting. Coming from a problematic household, 13-year-old Julie was pulled from school to focus on her star potential. Shortly after she was considered the next big musical actress in London at age 15.
Andrews was so gifted that she could sing notes that only dogs can hear. Julie could span four octaves, while most humans can only span three! This made her a perfect fit to sing “Do Re Mi” as Maria in The Sound of Music. It might’ve also been the cause of her permanently straining her vocal cords while filming Victor/Victoria.
Learned Guitar on The Sound of Music Set
Another talent of Julie Andrews is that she can play guitar, and learned to do so specifically to do so for her role as Maria in The Sound of Music. She was 30 years old when filming the musical, but was able to learn fairly easily because of her early musical training.
Although her voice was her natural gift, Julie’s mother, and stepfather, who worked in the entertainment industry, filled pre-teen Julie’s schedule with various classes. She was educated in some basic music theory then. The Sound of Music director, Robert Wise, urged her to learn guitar for the part, and she ended up catching on and enjoying it so much that she’d play for the children backstage.
Has A Titanium Ankle Bone
Actress Julie Andrews had ankle surgery at age 78, in which one of her ankle bone joints was replaced with a titanium implant. Julie joked with media outlets, blaming her decision on her medications. She claimed, “I was so truly stoned from all the drugs that I had to take to take the pain away. Really, it was mostly the anesthetics.”
In fact, Andrews was cast to play Aunt Emma in The Wolf of Wall Street in 2013, but she had to turn down the role to heal properly. As Aunt Emma, she would’ve kissed lead star Leonardo DiCaprio! After giving up the position, actress Joanna Lumley was cast and the film went on to win an Oscar. Andrews was also disappointed to miss out on working with director Martin Scorcese.
Avoided Somber Songs
Andrews may have gone through a difficult childhood growing up in war-torn London during the 1940s, but somehow that never dulled her sparkle. Julie claims she prefers to sing “bright and sunny” music and that she avoids sad songs out of fear she will lose her voice “in a mess of emotions”.
Often asked why she didn’t sing opera with her ability to reach four octaves, the actress answers that emotional music in a minor key is out of her comfort zone. But whimsical musicals seemed to have worked out for her considering her 135 musical nominations and 65 awards! Clearly, Andrews knows where her talents are best used.
Began Filming Mary Poppins Four Months After Daughter’s Birth
Julie Andrews is known as the ultimate motherly role in Hollywood and Broadway, but surprisingly, she cut her own maternity leave short to begin filming in Mary Poppins! Walt Disney was determined to have her play Mary Poppins. He told Andrews they’d wait a year for her to give birth before starting production. With a four-month-old, Julie and her family of three moved to Hollywood to begin the film.
After giving birth to her first daughter in 1962, Julie and her husband Tony Walton needed their own Mary Poppins at home. Their daughter Emma Kate recalls being a toddler and pointing out her mother on Mary Poppins posters to her own nanny.
They Were Double Trouble
Carol Burnett and Julie Andrews rose to fame together in the 1960s and have remained close friends through their acting careers. The duo is remembered by fellow actors and directors for their hijinx together on set. Burnett and Andrews even had a comedy series together, called Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall, which aired on CBS in 1962.
Julie claims she’s the trouble-maker of the duo when they get together. Once, while trying to prank a friend, Carol and Julie pretended to be lovers on a hotel couch while waiting for the friend to arrive. But instead, President Lyndon B. Johnson’s wife and Lady Bird Johnson entered the lobby!
Disney Named Studio Soundstage After Her
Walt Disney has a history of honoring Julie Andrews and even named her a “Disney Legend”. 37 years after Andrews first worked for Disney on Mary Poppins, Walt named a Disney filming soundstage after her at the Hollywood studios. Soundstage #2 was used for filming both Mary Poppins in 1963 and The Princess Diaries in 2001 where Julie played Queen Clarisse Renaldi.
Soundstage #2 was permanently renamed the “Julie Andrews Soundstage.” To this day, Disney continues to honor Julie Andrews’ work. They consider her to be a great example in the acting world, as a talented household name for all the best reasons. Her legacy will certainly live on for years to come.
Christopher Plummer Hated The Sounds Of Music
Christopher Plummer was not the easiest co-star to work with during her musical career. Her cheery personality conflicted with Plummer, and so did his negativity about The Sound of Music itself. Plummer would often refer to the film as “The Sound of Mucus”, or “S&M”, which bothered the polite Andrews. In fact, Christopher actually said working with Julie was like “being hit over the head with a big Valentine’s Day card, every day.”
Still, Andrews and Plummer managed to work out their differences professionally and even remained friends despite their differences until his death in 2021. Andrews admits his cynicism was necessary to balance the sentimentality of the musical.
Didn’t Want Them To Cut Her Song
Julie Andrews’ favorite song from Mary Poppins was Stay Awake. However, when turning the novel into a film there were plans to remove the number. Andrews wrote a personal letter to the Mary Poppins author, P.L. Travers, concerned her favorite scene, the one she practiced to perfection, would be cut.
P.L. Travers agreed to keep the song in, however this wasn’t the end of her issues with the film. She wasn’t a fan of the many changes director Robert Stevenson was planning for the 1963 Mary Poppins film. P.L. Travers never forgave Walt Disney for the changes he made to her novel, and 30 years later, she rejected producer Cameron McIntosh’s offer to make a new theater version of the book.
They Forgot Her Mid-Air on Set
While filming Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews spent a lot of her time mid-air. The wires holding her up were actually darkened with shoe polish so they wouldn’t be seen in the film. Julie was once left hanging in the air for an especially long time, while the team set up cameras. The stagehands quickly helped lower her after realizing she was stuck up there.
When a stagehand asked if she was down yet, Andrews answered, “You bloody well better believe she is!” The Mary Poppins movie was one of the most expensive Walt Disney productions up to date when adjusting the budget for inflation. This allowed the director to come up with new, creative ways to make the flying scenes in Mary Poppins as real as possible.
Original Mary Poppins Author Was Disappointed
P.L. Travers, the author of the book Mary Poppins is based on, was the one to give the final approval for Julie Andrews to fill the lead role. The original author attended the Mary Poppins premiere and hated what they had done to her novel so much that she left the premiere crying. In Travers’ book, Mary is a rather cold, intimidating nanny. She was upset that director Robert Stevenson had depicted the nanny as cheery and sweet.
P.L. Travers also was disappointed by the change of ending, in which Mrs. Winifred Banks quits her women’s rights campaign to be a stay-at-home housewife. It has also been rumored that there wasn’t supposed to be a romance between Mary and Bert, which was referenced in the song “Jolly Holiday”.
Performing Le Jazz Hot in a Four-Octave Range
Julie Andrews’ is remembered in Victor/Victoria for her impressive performance of “Le Jazz Hot”, and vocally Andrews fit the part perfectly. As Victoria, she was a soprano singer who was offered the part of a duo act in the nightclubs of Paris. Andrews used her talent of hitting four octaves for the role.
With her ability to reach such a wide range of both soprano and bass notes, Andrews and co-star Robert Preston perform in the nightlife scene of Paris, while Victoria and a Chicago mobster secretly fall in love. Pitch perfect Andrews brought her vocal gifts to all characters she’s played, but in Victor/Victoria, her duets with Preston show her ability to hit the more masculine, tenor notes as well.
Julie’s Library
Beloved actress Julie Andrews hosts a podcast with her daughter Emma Kate Walton Hamilton. In their podcast, named Julie’s Library, the mother and daughter duo read the children’s books they wrote together. They also bring guest speakers to discuss their books’ themes. The children’s books began as a project after Julie’s throat surgery, serving as a creative outlet after losing her singing voice.
The podcast was slated to air in 2020 before the COVID pandemic, but Julie and Emma Kate believe it aired just on time to bring positivity and joy to listeners during lockdowns. This was a welcome treat to anyone who was stuck at home. Even well into her 80s, Andrews continues to entertain the public.
Becoming A Mentor
Julie Andrews took on a mentorship role when it came to filming The Princess Diaries. A 19-year-old Anne Hathaway played a young American princess and Andrews’ on-screen granddaughter. She was lucky enough to work with a pro like Julie Andrews in the first film of her acting career.
Hathaway was only 18 when she was cast for The Princess Diaries. It was her first role after she’d go on to perform in Disney’s The Other Side of Heaven. Julie stepped in as Hathaway’s mentor on set. Their co-star Héctor Elizondo told Variety Magazine that Andrews would direct Anne to watch the monitor for her mistakes. Impressed by Julie’s help, Elizondo commented, “That’s what terrific people do; they pass the baton.”
They Didn’t Want Anyone Else
Walt Disney was so determined for Julie Andrews to play Mary that he offered to delay production. Andrews was also interested in playing Eliza Dolittle in My Fair Lady, which would be filmed in 1963 and premiere in 1964. In the end, director Jack Warner chose Audrey Hepburn to play Eliza, which allowed Andrews to take on the role of Mary Poppins.
Both movies began filming in the summer of 1963 and came out in 1964. Audrey Hepburn played the lead role as a flower vendor in My Fair Lady and won four awards, while Julie Andrews was remembered in musical history for her role as the cheerful nanny. Mary Poppins was nominated for several Academy Awards and won 5, Best Actress was among them.
The Author Of 30+ Children’s Books
After Julie Andrews’ throat surgery in 1998, leading to the loss of her gifted singing, she decided to take up writing children’s books. Julie has written some of the books alone. The Great American Mousical and Simeon’s Gift were made in collaboration with her oldest daughter Emma Kate Walton Hamilton.
Julie remembers loving writing as a child, even before beginning her acting career on Broadway at such a young age. In her 60s she decided to return to the medium of storytelling and use her talents in a new way. Her creative kid’s books are meant to “nurture the imagination and cultivate a sense of wonder” for both children and parents.