Career
1940s
Beginning in 1945, and for the next two years, Andrews performed spontaneously and unbilled on stage with her parents. 'Then came the day when I was told I must go to bed in the afternoon because I was going to be allowed to sing with Mummy and Pop in the evening,' Andrews explained. During her initial shows, Andrews stood on a beer crate to sing into the microphone, performing a solo or a duet with her stepfather, while her mother played piano. She later stated that 'it must have been ghastly, but it seemed to go down all right.' Fellow child entertainer Petula Clark, three years her senior, recalled touring around the UK by train to sing for the troops alongside Andrews; they slept in the luggage racks. Clark later said 'It was fun—and not a lot of kids were having fun'.
Andrews had her career breakthrough when her stepfather introduced her to managing director Val Parnell, whose Moss Empires controlled prominent performance venues in London. At age 12, Andrews made her professional solo debut at the London Hippodrome, singing the difficult aria 'Je suis Titania' from Mignon as part of a musical revue, called 'Starlight Roof', on 22 October 1947. She played at the Hippodrome for one year. Of her role in 'Starlight Roof,' Andrews recalled: 'There was this wonderful American person and comedian, Wally Boag, who made balloon animals. He would say, 'Is there any little girl or boy in the audience who would like one of these?' And I would rush up onstage and say, 'I'd like one, please.' And then he would chat to me and I'd tell him I sang... I was fortunate in that I absolutely stopped the show cold. I mean, the audience went crazy.'
On 1 November 1948, a thirteen-year-old Andrews became the youngest solo performer ever to be seen in a Royal Variety Performance before King George VI and the future Queen Elizabeth at the London Palladium. Andrews performed alongside singer Danny Kaye, dancers the Nicholas Brothers, and the comedy team George and Bert Bernard.
1950s
Andrews subsequently followed her parents into radio and television. She performed in musical interludes of the BBC Light Programme comedy show Up the Pole and was a cast member in Educating Archie, from 1950 to 1952. She reportedly made her television début on the BBC programme RadiOlympia Showtime on 8 October 1949. Andrews appeared on West End theatre at the London Casino, where she played one year each as Princess Badroulbadour in Aladdin and the egg in Humpty Dumpty. Andrews also appeared on provincial stages in Jack and the Beanstalk and Little Red Riding Hood, as well as starring as the lead role in Cinderella. In 1952, she voiced Princess Zeila in the English dub of the Italian animated movie La Rosa di Bagdad, in her first film and first venture into voice-over work.
On 30 September 1954, the eve of her 19th birthday, Andrews made her Broadway debut as Polly Browne in the London musical The Boy Friend. Andrews was recommended to director Vida Hope for the part by actress Hattie Jacques, whom Andrews regards as a 'catalyst' for her career. Eve Benda recognized her special talent and predicted her stardom. Andrews was anxious about moving to New York; at the time, she was both breadwinner and caretaker for her family, and took the part upon her father's encouragement. She stated that at the time, she had 'no idea' how to research a role or study a script, and cites Cy Feuer's direction as being 'phenomenal'. The Boy Friend became a hit, with Andrews receiving praise; critics called her the stand-out of the show.
In 1955, Andrews signed to appear with Bing Crosby in the television film, High Tor. It filmed in November 1955 in Los Angeles and was Andrews's first screen project, which she described as 'daunting'. High Tor was televised the following March before a live audience for the Ford Star Jubilee, receiving lukewarm reviews. Near the end of her one-year run with The Boy Friend, Andrews was approached to audition to Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe for the role of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. She was offered the part by Richard Rodgers during her third reading. She later wrote that she felt she could 'be Eliza, could find and understand her' if only someone were to 'gently unravel the knotted... string inside my stomach'.
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During rehearsals, director Moss Hart spent forty-eight consecutive hours solely with Andrews, where they 'hammered through each scene'; Andrews later stated that 'the good man had stripped feelings bare molded, kneaded, and helped become the character of Eliza her part of soul.' Andrews referred it as the best acting lesson she had ever received, later cementing the role with her 'own touches and flourishes' and continuing to work on the character throughout her two-year run. On 15 March 1956, My Fair Lady opened on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre. The play was a huge success with both the audience and critics, though soon after opening she learned she needed to tone down her learned cockney accent so that the American audience could understand her, a change which was reversed at the West End performance a year later. Andrews describes her performances as Eliza as 'the great learning period' of her life.
Rodgers was so impressed with Andrews's talent that concurrent with her run in My Fair Lady she was featured in the Rodgers and Hammerstein television musical Cinderella, which was written especially for her. Cinderella was broadcast live on CBS on 31 March 1957 under the musical direction of Alfredo Antonini and had an estimated 107 million viewers. The show was broadcast live in colour from CBS Studio 72, at Broadway and 81st Street in New York: CBS' only East Coast colour studio. Andrews was nominated for an Emmy Award for her role. She described the performance as 'incredibly hard' and stated it took her 'years to realise the enormit'y of the production. In 1957, Andrews released her debut solo album, The Lass with the Delicate Air, which harked back to her British music hall days. The album includes performances of English folk songs as well as the World War II anthem, 'London Pride', a patriotic song written by Noël Coward in 1941 during the Blitz, which Andrews herself had survived.
Between 1956 and 1962, Andrews guest-starred on The Ed Sullivan Show, and also appeared on The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, What's My Line?, The Jack Benny Program, The Bell Telephone Hour, and The Garry Moore Show. In June 1962, Andrews co-starred in Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall, a CBS special with Carol Burnett. In 1960, Lerner and Loewe again cast her in a period musical as Queen Guinevere in Camelot, along with Richard Burton and newcomer Robert Goulet. Andrews called the work 'monumental' due to the heavy set costuming and detailed literary themes. Camelot premiered at the Majestic Theatre to 'adequate' reviews, which Andrews credited to off-set production issues and comparisons to My Fair Lady. The musical was substantially revised both before and during the sho'ws Broadway run.
1960s
Casting for the film adaptation of My Fair Lady began in 1962; Jay Lerner hoped for Andrews to reprise her role, but Warner Brothers studio head Jack Warner decided Andrews lacked sufficient name recognition; the part was played by the established film actress Audrey Hepburn, with the bulk of the singing dubbed by Marni Nixon. As Warner later recalled that the decision was made for financial purposes, stating that 'In my business, I have to know who brings people and their money to a cinema box office. Audrey Hepburn had never made a financial flop.' Andrews later reflected that she understood her experience on Broadway 'was within a very small pond' but wished she had been able to record her performance for posterity.
In 1963, Andrews began work in the titular role of Disney's musical film Mary Poppins. Walt Disney had seen her performance in Camelot and subsequently offered her the role; Andrews initially declined because of pregnancy, returning to London to give birth, but Disney firmly insisted, saying, 'We'll wait for you.' After the birth of her daughter, she received a call from P. L. Travers, author of the Mary Poppins book series, who told her, 'Well, you're much too pretty of course. But you've got the nose for it.' Disney rented a house in Toluca Lake, Los Angeles for her family to reside in during production. Andrews relied largely on instinct for her portrayal, conceptualising her background and giving the character a 'particular walk' and a turned-out stance to suit her ladylike sensibility. Andrews referred to production as 'unrelenting' given the physical exertion and technical details, saying that she 'could not have asked' for a better introduction to film. The film was nominated for thirteen Academy Awards and won five, including the Academy Award for Best Actress for Andrews's performance. She also received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical, while Andrews and her co-stars won the 1965 Grammy Award for Best Album for Children. As a measure of 'sweet revenge,' as Poppins songwriter Richard M. Sherman put it, Andrews closed her acceptance speech at the Golden Globes by saying, 'And, finally, my thanks to a man who made a wonderful movie and who made all this possible in the first place, Mr. Jack Warner.' My Fair Lady was in direct competition for the awards.
Andrews starred opposite James Garner in the comedy-drama war film The Americanization of Emily. Andrews took the role partly to avoid typecasting as a nanny. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called Andrews 'irresistible'.. with a brush of sentiment' in both her comedic and emotional scenes. Andrews was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Actress in a Leading Role. Andrews later described it as her favourite film, a sentiment shared by her co-star Garner. Andrews starred in The Sound of Music, which was the highest-grossing film of its year. Andrews later said she was 'ashamed' to admit that she thought the musical 'rather saccharine' before being cast. Rehearsals took place in London before filming commenced in Salzburg, Austria in 1964. Filming was rather slow; due to weather conditions in Salzburg, the cast were 'luck'y if they got a single shot's worth of scenes
Andrews stated she relied on lyrics to anchor her to the film's songs and utilisied vocal interpretation to 'conve'y Maria's character by ' onto words and the images they conjured'. Andrews wrote that her senses were 'suffused' with Austria, saying that the music 'still' and 'always lives in her soul'. The film received mixed reviews, though critics highlighted Andrews's performance; Crowther again praised her for her 'air of radiant vigor... plain-Jane wholesomeness and her ability to make her dialogue as vivid... as she makes her songs.' For her performance as Maria von Trapp, Andrews won her second Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. She was nominated a second time for the Academy Award for Best Actress and the BAFTA Award for Best British Actress in a Leading Role. Andrews later wrote that the 'gift' and 'privilege' of portraying her first three film roles would have been 'enough to satisf'y her for a lifetime.'
After completing The Sound of Music, Andrews appeared as a guest star on the NBC-TV variety series The Andy Williams Show. She followed this television appearance with an Emmy Award-winning special, The Julie Andrews Show, which featured Gene Kelly and the New Christy Minstrels as guests. It aired on NBC-TV in November 1965. In 1966, Andrews starred in Hawaii, the highest-grossing film of its year. Also in 1966, she starred opposite Paul Newman in Torn Curtain, which was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and shot at Universal Studios Hollywood. Hitchcock gave Newman and Andrews relative free rein in dialogue during production. She credits the director with teaching her extensively about lenses and camera-work. During a press interview, she 'made the mistake' of expressing her unhappiness with her performance and subsequently received a 'terse' letter from Hitchcock, which Andrews later cited as an 'important lesson'. The film received mixed reviews upon release.
The following year, she played the titular character in Thoroughly Modern Millie. Andrews described work on the film as a 'pleasant distraction' for 'allowing her to be something of a clown', as her stepfather died shortly before filming. The film was a box office success; critics described Andrews as 'very much the leading lad'y and 'absolutely darling' as well as 'deliciously spirited and dry.' The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, and Andrews scored a Golden Globe nomination for her performance. At the time, Thoroughly Modern Millie and Torn Curtain were the biggest and second-biggest hits in Universal Pictures history, respectively.
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