[MUSIC PLAYING] ERIC SCHMIDT: May I
present Julie Andrews, Dame Julie Andrews, and
Emma Walton Hamilton. Please come up. [APPLAUSE] JULIE ANDREWS: Thank you. Thank you, darling. Hi, [INAUDIBLE]. ERIC SCHMIDT: Thank you. Thank you. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Hello. ERIC SCHMIDT: Hi,
nice to see you. JULIE ANDREWS: Hi, everybody. Look at these. [INAUDIBLE]. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: I know. JULIE ANDREWS: Yeah. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Hello. JULIE ANDREWS: Hi. Wow, gosh! It was quite empty
when we walked in. ERIC SCHMIDT: I think I
can say on behalf of all of our employees,
welcome to Google-- JULIE ANDREWS: Thank you. ERIC SCHMIDT: --and Alphabet. JULIE ANDREWS: This is really
a new experience for me, that's for sure. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON:
For both of us. JULIE ANDREWS: Yeah. ERIC SCHMIDT: So this is the
first day of their book tour for a new book
called "Homework," which is written
by both of them. It's actually the second
book in a trilogy. The third book is not
finished yet, right, Emma? EMMA WALTON HAMILTON:
Not started. ERIC SCHMIDT: Oh,
it's not even started. JULIE ANDREWS: No, just
give me a month or so, OK? ERIC SCHMIDT:
Well, you lived it. And I can tell you that this is
an extraordinary book and well worth buying, talking about,
promoting, talking about. JULIE ANDREWS:
Well, we can go now. [LAUGHTER] ERIC SCHMIDT: And
as a lifelong fan, I thought I would start with the
part of you that I think people maybe don't know, which is the
part of what it took to become you, right? All of us who saw you
said, oh, brilliant star. There she is in the movies. Look at all the
things she's done. But she talked a lot about her
life, and we'll get into this. And she said, quote-- this is from her mother. This is Julie's mother. "Don't you dare
complain about anything, not the cigarette
smoke in the theater, not having a cold nor
waiting long hours. It won't do a thing for
you and nobody cares. Don't pull rank or boast. There is always someone who
could do it better than you. Get on with it, and you'll
be respected so much more." JULIE ANDREWS: She
was right, I think. It's very good advice,
especially for a beginner, who-- I was very, very
young when I started. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: She could
have been a little more kind about it, though. JULIE ANDREWS: My mum? EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Yeah. JULIE ANDREWS: No, she-- EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: She didn't
have to say, don't you dare. JULIE ANDREWS: Well,
don't you dare complain. No. Well, I didn't think I
would have, but anyway, that's what she said. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Yes. JULIE ANDREWS: It's
the way it was. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: It
stuck, let's put it that way. ERIC SCHMIDT: In
the first book-- which, is-- this
is the second book. In the first book, you talk
a lot about your childhood. And without spoiling the book,
let me tell you that this childhood would
fell most people. It starts with the Blitz. JULIE ANDREWS: Yes, it does. ERIC SCHMIDT: What's it like-- I'm sorry to ask the question,
but what it's like to be in London-- JULIE ANDREWS: In the midst-- ERIC SCHMIDT: --when
the bombs are coming? JULIE ANDREWS: Well, mercifully,
I don't recall, really, anything else but
being in the war. It probably began when
I was about three. And so I was raised knowing war. But it was scary because we
went from the incendiary bombs, which would drop and then
explode much, much later. And they were dropping
all around London. And we moved out into
the country a little bit, but we went the wrong direction. And everybody, like the Germans
flying home from London, would drop all the rest of
their bombs on our area. And so we were still
in the thick of it. Then there were the doodlebugs,
which were those pilotless aircraft that kind of
droned and then cut out. And if you were
right underneath, you were pretty safe. If you were a little far away-- they would cut out and
then dive at an angle. And so if you were
right underneath, you'd know that it was
going over here somewhere. ERIC SCHMIDT: And you were
trained to do a whistle of some kind. JULIE ANDREWS:
Well, my parents-- toward the end of the war,
the air raid sirens happened literally every half an hour. Any housewife, any mum, anybody
couldn't finish whatever they were trying to do. They couldn't
finish the laundry. If they were baking the roast
for Sunday lunch or a cake or whatever, couldn't finish
it because the air raid siren would go off, and you'd
have to run to a shelter. In our case, it was a shelter
that was in the garden, a big mound in the earth. And you'd go down some steps. And it was corrugated, and
it was covered in earth. And you would hide under
it until the bombs dropped, and then everybody came out. But it happened so
often that my mother, this wonderful mum of mine,
devised the idea of sending me out because I could tell the
difference between a regular aeroplane and the doodlebugs,
which droned and so on-- with a whistle and a
pair of opera glasses. ERIC SCHMIDT: As a young girl. JULIE ANDREWS: As a young girl. Yeah, I was only-- EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: 12. JULIE ANDREWS: No, no,
it wasn't that, darling. It was much younger than that. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Really? JULIE ANDREWS: Yeah, because
the war ended when I was, like, 10 or something. But anyway, I would go out there
and sit on top of this shelter with a whistle and
these opera glasses, which didn't do a
damn bit of good. And the minute I heard
a doodlebug approaching, then I'd blow the
whistle, and the family-- my mother could finish baking
the cake or whatever it was she was doing. But I didn't know that all the
neighbors began to rely on that whistle as well. And so of course,
one day, I rebelled. It was pouring with rain. And I had sat out there under
the umbrella and everything. But it was really bad. And England does have a
lot of rain, as you know. Hermione Gingold once said
England is a lovely place, but it badly needs a roof. [LAUGHTER] And that was true-- is true. Anyway, I rebelled,
and I didn't go out, and I failed to blow my whistle. And all the neighbors after the
bomb had dropped came pounding on the door and say, why
the heck didn't she blow her whistle? We were all caught unawares. ERIC SCHMIDT: So while
this was all going on-- JULIE ANDREWS: True story. I really mean, I'm
not making this up. ERIC SCHMIDT: I'm
sure it's true. And what a thing
to live through. But you also had family dynamics
that would have felled I think pretty much any normal person. By the time you were a teenage
girl, basically 16 and 17-- JULIE ANDREWS: 15
probably, yeah. ERIC SCHMIDT: Because of the
dysfunction within your family, which you go into in great
detail in the first book. JULIE ANDREWS: In
the first book, I do. ERIC SCHMIDT: You ended up
basically being the prime breadwinner for the family. JULIE ANDREWS: Right. ERIC SCHMIDT: Because you
were touring vaudeville, and you were working incredibly
hard while literally taking care of younger siblings. JULIE ANDREWS:
Yes, two brothers. I have three brothers. But when my mother
divorced my father, my eldest brother went with
dad and I went with mum, and then she had two more boys. And I sort of raised them
because my stepfather was an alcoholic. And they were in vaudeville,
my mother and my stepfather. And they discovered at
about age seven, with me, that I had this really
freaky soprano voice. And they were as surprised
as anybody, I think. But my stepfather began to
give me singing lessons. He was a tenor. My mother played the
piano and accompanied him. And they were in
vaudeville, in music hall, and traveling all around. And very shortly, I
joined them in their act. And my stepfather-- I
hated those lessons. You could imagine. But he very quickly put me in
the hands of a wonderful lady who was a phenomenal
singing teacher. And she gave me the technique
that I've used all my life and a survival technique,
too, for protecting a voice and so on. She was phenomenal and was
really my first mentor. And so working with her, my
voice improved and improved and improved. At about 12 years old, I got
my first debut on the London stage. And the audience was so
surprised that I could sing this incredible aria with an F
above top C and twice nightly. ERIC SCHMIDT: But what's
interesting to me is you had this extraordinary talent,
and you had this dysfunctional family home, and you're
running everything all during your teenage years. JULIE ANDREWS: Yeah, I didn't
know anything else, though. You have to remember,
Eric, it's what it was. I mean-- ERIC SCHMIDT: It just was. JULIE ANDREWS: Well, I didn't
have a perspective until I wrote the first memoir, really. And that's true of the second. ERIC SCHMIDT: So then, you're so
good on the stage that you end up coming to New York, again,
as a basically 18, 19-year-old. JULIE ANDREWS: By an absolute
stroke of great fortune, yeah. ERIC SCHMIDT: And you end up
in "My Fair Lady" and "Camelot" with all of the top people
here on Broadway of the time. You're back in New York. How is New York different today
than it was when you arrived? JULIE ANDREWS: Well, we
were talking about that. Well, you take
that one, darling. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: No,
that's a question for you. JULIE ANDREWS: No, it's such a-- it's so much busier. And all the neighborhoods
have changed considerably. You know more about it than
I do because you lived here. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: I
was just-- on the way here. As we were driving
across, on the way here, I was just looking around. I lived here for
many, many years. But I haven't lived here
for almost 30 years now. I live on the east
end of Long Island. JULIE ANDREWS:
Where we both were. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: And I was
just looking and remembering when there were just huge meat
carcasses in this neighborhood. Like, this whole neighborhood
was just meat carcasses. So my brother-in-law had
his photo studio here, and you had to walk past all
of these carcasses to get up to his studio and have
your headshot taken. So it's changed a lot. JULIE ANDREWS: I've been there. ERIC SCHMIDT: And I was
going to get to this later. But Emma was an actress and a
producer and did a great deal of work here in the city,
has done an awful lot of essentially theater,
theater development, talent development, and
also has written about 30 children's books with her mom. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON:
With mum, yeah. ERIC SCHMIDT: With her mom. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Yeah. JULIE ANDREWS: And a
couple on your own. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: And
a couple on my own, yeah. ERIC SCHMIDT: So anyway, the
important thing is you show up in New York. And as you said,
it's now much busier. But it must have been a
pretty big deal for a-- JULIE ANDREWS: Oh-- ERIC SCHMIDT: --17-,
18-year-old from London. JULIE ANDREWS: --it was. Honestly, it was a
sort of impact that-- it just literally, just
reading "The New York Times" every day was like getting
some kind of a shot in the arm or whatever. Because the energy and
the drive in this city-- coming from a small English
village that was really just a little place on the railway
line when I was growing up to New York, you can
imagine what that was like. ERIC SCHMIDT: And
during this time, you had met a handsome
young gentleman-- JULIE ANDREWS: Well-- ERIC SCHMIDT: --who became your
first husband and Emma's dad. JULIE ANDREWS: Yes, in fact,
he came from the same town, same village-- ERIC SCHMIDT: And he came here-- JULIE ANDREWS: --not town. ERIC SCHMIDT: He
came here with you. JULIE ANDREWS: Yes. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON:
He followed. [LAUGHTER] JULIE ANDREWS:
Yes, he followed-- ERIC SCHMIDT: He
followed the talent. JULIE ANDREWS: He was
a childhood sweetheart. We lived in the same village. He was immensely talented, a
wonderful theater designer. ERIC SCHMIDT: Well, he
ultimately went to become quite an accomplished theater
designer with many awards. JULIE ANDREWS: Yes, costume and
set design and film as well. And that happened in
such an interesting way. But he did follow me, came over
when I did one show called "The Boyfriend" and then
"My Fair Lady." And in the middle
of "My Fair Lady," he came on over to be with
me when I was very grateful for that because I was kind
of lonely and working so hard, eight performances a week. And I was in the show for
3 and 1/2 years altogether. ERIC SCHMIDT: And in the book,
you talk a lot about what it takes to do that. JULIE ANDREWS:
--to survive, yes. ERIC SCHMIDT: --to
survive in the city. JULIE ANDREWS: I mean,
wonderful education. You can imagine. How do you survive
in wet weather? How do you survive if your
leading man has a cold? What if the audience is
coughing their heads off? Honestly, I've done performances
where there was a seeing-eye dog in the front row and woofing
every time the curtain went up and down. [LAUGHTER] But it couldn't have been a
better experience, but a very-- it took its toll. I mean, it was
really exhausting. ERIC SCHMIDT: Well,
what's interesting then is you're so successful in New
York that you end up getting into acting. And Walt Disney-- JULIE ANDREWS:
Learning it gradually. ERIC SCHMIDT: Walt
Disney had developed you, and you ended up in
a contract with him. I've always thought that Walt
Disney was largely the creator of the animation and
the animation studios. But in the book, you describe
him as extremely involved in the casting and the
production of the movies. And you had a good
relationship with him. JULIE ANDREWS: Yes, I think
as his company developed, he expanded to so many-- I think this was the first
really big live action animation combined
movie that he did. But I mean, he was always
thinking beyond the box. And he had a whole team of
people called the Imagineers who would just sit
around in meetings-- and I'm sure you know what
this feels like, Eric-- coming up with a
whole list of ideas. And he developed the audio
animatronics that make all the puppets and
animated things work, like the little bird that
I hold in Mary Poppins, or anything like that. I don't know if any of
you've been to Disney World or Disneyland. But if you see Lincoln speaking,
he gave me a view of that in the early days when I
was starting to make "Mary Poppins." He was so proud of it. And he was lovely. ERIC SCHMIDT: During this time,
I think you were learning how to be the next level of singer,
but also how to be an actress. You quote one of your
singing teachers. Quote, "The amateur works
until he can get it right." JULIE ANDREWS: That was my
lovely lady that was my mentor. Yeah. ERIC SCHMIDT: "The professional
works until he cannot get it wrong." JULIE ANDREWS: Yeah,
can't go wrong. The amateur works
until he gets it right. The professional works
until he can't go wrong. ERIC SCHMIDT: And when
you did "Mary Poppins," this was the first of this
use of giant screen with sort of the compo-- JULIE ANDREWS: Well,
the animation, yes. It's called-- what was
it called, darling? I can't remember. The great yellow screen--
sodium vapor, was it? EMMA WALTON HAMILTON:
Yeah, sodium vapor process. JULIE ANDREWS: Sodium vapor
process, yeah, which Disney, of course, had the
first big screen. ERIC SCHMIDT: And you point out
that it made your skin slightly yellow, and there were all
sorts of interesting effects. JULIE ANDREWS: It was like
being in bright, bright, bright sunlight with
lighting on top of it. Yeah. [LAUGHTER] ERIC SCHMIDT: Now, you also did
something else extraordinary during that movie, which is
that you introduced a word into American consciousness. JULIE ANDREWS: [LAUGHS]
Well, thanks to the great songwriters, I did, yes. ERIC SCHMIDT:
Supercali-- go ahead. JULIE ANDREWS: OK,
supercalifragili sticexpialidocious. ERIC SCHMIDT: OK. Now, OK. [APPLAUSE] So we're going to-- so I want
the audience to repeat after Julie Andrews. Go ahead. JULIE ANDREWS: Go ahead. Entertain me, please. One, two, three, go. Super-- AUDIENCE: Supercalifragili
sticexpialidocious. JULIE ANDREWS: Bravo. [APPLAUSE] ERIC SCHMIDT: OK, now-- JULIE ANDREWS: However,
can you say it backwards? [LAUGHTER] I can. ERIC SCHMIDT: Go ahead. JULIE ANDREWS: Dociousaliexpiis
ticfragicalirepus. ERIC SCHMIDT: Wow. [APPLAUSE] JULIE ANDREWS: It's
sort of-- it's phonetic, but I'll take it, believe me. ERIC SCHMIDT: And
during that time, you developed a good working
relationship with Dick Van Dyke. JULIE ANDREWS: I did. ERIC SCHMIDT: And when I was
a boy, I grew up, and he was, of course, my favorite. JULIE ANDREWS: Oh,
he is such a love. ERIC SCHMIDT: What was he like? JULIE ANDREWS: Well, funny and
that body of his can just-- it can do anything. And he made me laugh so
hard, and he was very dear. And we had a lovely time. We are friends to
this day, of course. ERIC SCHMIDT: So did you know-- did you understand--
you're now 26, 27. Emma's just-- JULIE ANDREWS: A very green
and very young 26, 27. ERIC SCHMIDT: Yeah. Well, I think maybe
that's a bit modest. JULIE ANDREWS: Well, really. Think about this kid from
Walton on Thames in England. And I was learning on my
feet everywhere I went. It was like racing to
catch up with the great, good fortune that
was in front of me. ERIC SCHMIDT: But these
people were not stupid. They understood
the talent that-- JULIE ANDREWS: Well, they could
tell that I could sing very well. ERIC SCHMIDT: And
they understood-- they saw something in
you that you may not-- JULIE ANDREWS: That I did not
see in myself, that's true, yes. ERIC SCHMIDT: When
you saw "Mary Poppins" and you saw its production,
how did you perceive yourself? JULIE ANDREWS: Well, I was
rather stunned, actually, because filmmaking is so
different from theater. In theater, you start
at the beginning. You finish at the
end of a story. It's full figure the
whole evening long. And in film, you could
start shooting in the middle of the movie. And it could be in close up,
or it could be in a waist shot, or it could be a full figure. And many, many takes, and
then you could shoot the end of the film. And it's all to do with the
expense of are we filming in the castle this week? Because all the scenes in the
castle will have to be filmed at the same time and so
on, to save expenses. And so it's so
totally different. And the different
lenses on the cameras, and it was quite an education. And I knew nothing
about it at the time. ERIC SCHMIDT: So at this point,
you start meeting and dealing with Hollywood, right? JULIE ANDREWS: That's right, and
that's why the book is called "Homework" is that it really
is the amount of work that goes on in Hollywood. I don't think-- everybody sees
the glamorous movie and thinks that it's all red carpets
and tiaras and lovely gowns. And really, the work behind all
that and the talent in terms of all the craftsmen, the
cameramen, the lighting, the director of photography, the
gaffers that pull the cameras, and all of that,
it's fascinating. ERIC SCHMIDT: And
during this time, you started to work with
a young James Garner. JULIE ANDREWS: Right. ERIC SCHMIDT: A young-- I mean just lots of
other interesting people. James Coburn, who ultimately,
these are fantastic actors. JULIE ANDREWS: I know. His first-- ERIC SCHMIDT: Were
they ahead of you? Were they less
developed [INAUDIBLE].. JULIE ANDREWS: Oh, no, Jimmy
Garner was ahead of me and had done good movies with Doris
Day and a few other things. He'd also been on Broadway,
too, in his early years. But Coburn hadn't been seen that
much and became a huge star. This was the second film I
made after "Mary Poppins" called "The
Americanization of Emily." ERIC SCHMIDT: Which is much of
a cult classic, I might add. JULIE ANDREWS: It is. Thank you, Eric. ERIC SCHMIDT: For those
of you who have not-- [LAUGHTER] No, no, no. For those of you who have
not been following this, it's actually-- JULIE ANDREWS: It's a black
and white film about the war, believe it or not. ERIC SCHMIDT: And it's
considered very thoughtful. And again, when you see it in
context, it's really something. JULIE ANDREWS: And it's
written by Paddy Chayefsky, the great playwright. ERIC SCHMIDT: So at this point,
a strange sort of good fortune happens. Because you would naturally
have done "My Fair Lady." And instead, "The Sound
of Music" comes along. JULIE ANDREWS: Well,
actually, it was "Poppins." EMMA WALTON HAMILTON:
"Mary Poppins," yeah. JULIE ANDREWS: "Mary
Poppins" was the one that-- ERIC SCHMIDT: --came along. JULIE ANDREWS: --that
was waiting sort of-- I didn't do the movie
of "My Fair Lady" and was feeling a bit sad, but
understood it because, other than being on Broadway,
I wasn't known. And they needed big
stars to cast the film. But it's very hard to be upset
when Walt Disney comes along and says, would you like
to make "Mary Poppins"? And wow, what an
amazing chance that was. That's the film that
made the-- you know. ERIC SCHMIDT: So at this point,
you're clearly a major star for Disney. And "Sound of
Music" comes along. JULIE ANDREWS: Yes. ERIC SCHMIDT: Today,
"Sound of Music" is the third highest
grossing film in history. JULIE ANDREWS: Wow, still, huh? ERIC SCHMIDT: Still. JULIE ANDREWS: Wow. [LAUGHTER] ERIC SCHMIDT: So it is for
what you will forever be known for, in terms of impact
and scale globally. JULIE ANDREWS: Well, aren't
I the lucky one, really. Yeah. ERIC SCHMIDT: And you talk
in the book-- in this book, you talk some about the
actual filming in Austria. The music was done
in soundstages. You talk about the people. JULIE ANDREWS: This book
starts where the other one-- where the first memoir left off. This is now the Hollywood years
and coming to Los Angeles. ERIC SCHMIDT: There's
lots of interesting parts. As a fan of the musical
and having watched it over the weekend, it is
so extraordinary, both for its time
and the quality. JULIE ANDREWS: Beautiful
to look at, yeah. Lovely music. ERIC SCHMIDT: Just
everything done right. One of the scenes you
talk about is when you-- the scene which is in the
opening where you're singing "The Sound of Music" in the
field with the mountains around you. And there's obviously a
camera coming straight at you. Tell us what happens. JULIE ANDREWS: Well, today
it would probably be a camera on a-- EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: --drone JULIE ANDREWS: --on a drone. But in those days, there
weren't any drones. And it was in a helicopter. There was a very brave cameraman
hanging outside of this helicopter, strapped in and-- no door, just filming. And I was walking across
the field in that opening, as you know. And then all I had to do for the
first shot was turn and begin to sing, at which point,
they cut to a close up of me singing. But there were several takes
needed before the cameraman was pleased, and I hit
my marks correctly, and it was this vast field. So the helicopter was
this end of a huge field. And I was at the other end. And we started walking
toward each other-- oh, I started walking,
and he started flying. [LAUGHTER] And this thing was coming at
me like a sort of crab sideways in this weird way, this--
coming across the grass. I could see the grass
bending as it flew over it. And then he got his shot, and
as he went around me to get another shot and to go
back to the beginning, and I had to go back to
the beginning of the field, the downdraft from the jet
engines just leveled me into the ground. And so I came up eventually,
spitting mud and hay and god knows what. And I got really angry. I kept thinking, can't he just
see that he's knocking me down every time he starts again? ERIC SCHMIDT: And he
does it even closer. JULIE ANDREWS:
Well, he seemed to. Anyway, I don't think he could
see me waving and telling him to go make a wider circle
because all I got was, great, let's do one more. [LAUGHTER] ERIC SCHMIDT: So your
male actor there, singer, is Christopher Plummer. JULIE ANDREWS: Yes ERIC SCHMIDT: And-- JULIE ANDREWS: Also a great-- ERIC SCHMIDT: --in the movie,
there is tremendous affection between the two of you. What was it like in real life? JULIE ANDREWS: Oh, Chris was-- he was one of Hollywood's bad
boys that were delicious if you know what I mean. [LAUGHTER] He loved to live well,
and he loved food. He loved his wines. Still does, but when it came to
actually performing on camera, he was superb. And we did become fast friends. And he would
sometimes encourage. And I would watch him and
think, my god, he is so good. Because he'd done
Shakespeare, and I never had. And my background
was vaudeville. So we got on very well. And as I say, we have
remained friends. ERIC SCHMIDT: And you had the
benefit of this extraordinary score, right? JULIE ANDREWS: Yes. ERIC SCHMIDT: Rodgers
and Hammerstein. Did you have any
particular songs you liked or didn't like-- JULIE ANDREWS: Yeah. ERIC SCHMIDT:
Edelweiss, so forth. JULIE ANDREWS:
Edelweiss was actually-- although I didn't sing it-- it is my favorite
song in the score. And I have sung it. And I've sung it on albums,
and I've sung it in concerts, but not really in the movie,
just joining in with the rest. And it is such a beautiful song. And it's about loving
one's homeland, which is-- home to me means the
most enormous amount, as you could imagine. And I love that song. And I love "My Favorite Things." And the only one that was
also a little hard was "I Have Confidence" because some of
the-- and that wasn't written by Oscar Hammerstein. He had sadly passed away
when that song was needed. And so the lyrics were
lacking a little bit. ERIC SCHMIDT: And one of
the things you talk about in the book is that the real
von Trapp family were in a house that you didn't use. You used [INAUDIBLE]. JULIE ANDREWS: No, we used the
front of one house and the back of another to
represent the villa. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: And a set. And a Hollywood set. JULIE ANDREWS: Oh,
Hollywood sets galore, yeah, the interiors and so on. ERIC SCHMIDT: In fact,
you talk about this, the way Hollywood works, and
they build these huge sets all the time. JULIE ANDREWS: Huge
sets, beautiful. ERIC SCHMIDT: That did not deter
me as a young man when I first went to Salzburg to take the
tour of "Sound of Music." JULIE ANDREWS: And did you
go to the original villa? ERIC SCHMIDT: Yes, and I went
to-- they give you a little handout, and you go along
with it the whole day. In the book-- JULIE ANDREWS: Did you
learn about the history? ERIC SCHMIDT: I did not. And in fact, in the book, you
tell this horrific history. JULIE ANDREWS: Horrific. ERIC SCHMIDT: After the
von Trapps had left, it was used by Himmler. JULIE ANDREWS: They escaped. Actually, they didn't
go over the mountains. They went by train, which was at
the bottom of their very large garden. A train went through
on its way to Italy. And they got up at the crack
of dawn one day and leaving everything behind
as they had to do. ERIC SCHMIDT: And they literally
hid in the train to get across the border. JULIE ANDREWS: Yeah, and
went across the border, and then came to England, and
then came to the United States. But after they
had left for good, it must have been terrifying
to seven kids and husband and wife. And it was their whole villa
that they had lived in most of their lives was taken
over by the Germans. And Himmler lived in this villa. And some of the things that
went on there from his point of view-- I mean, they're just appalling. He had a wall built. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON:
It's in the book, right? JULIE ANDREWS: It's
all in the book. Yeah. All in the book. Because for starters, he built a
wall around the whole property, ostensibly to protect his trees,
but really to keep people out because Hitler would
come and visit and so on. And he got a large group of
Jewish people to come and build the wall and promptly lined them
all up at the end and shot them dead. And you can feel
it in the villa. You feel this sort of-- the pores of the villa have
somehow absorbed that misery. ERIC SCHMIDT: Did you get to
know the actual von Trapps? JULIE ANDREWS: Yes,
I did meet them. I met her. ERIC SCHMIDT: Tell
us about them. JULIE ANDREWS: About three--
well, not all the family, but I met her. She was great. She actually is in the movie. You don't really see her. She walks across the background
when I'm at the fountain, and I dash the water into
the face of the statues. But she was lovely, very jolly,
and quite sort of strong. And then she appeared on my
television show once or twice. I can't remember, darling. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Yeah. JULIE ANDREWS: Yeah. And we yodeled or tried
to yodel together. [LAUGHTER] ERIC SCHMIDT: I think we should
move a bit more into how life was like. What happens, of course-- and
we go into this in great detail in the book-- is that you begin to question
some of the assumptions of your own life. You end up with a psychiatrist. You go through all of this. JULIE ANDREWS: Well, I
needed some help because-- ERIC SCHMIDT: You
needed some help. JULIE ANDREWS: --the thing
is I'd made three movies, none of which had been released. And that's "Poppins" and "The
Americanization of Emily" and "The Sound of Music." And I was beginning to have
a fine old time making movies and playing at that. And-- ERIC SCHMIDT: But
meanwhile, you have a child. You have a husband. JULIE ANDREWS: Yeah. ERIC SCHMIDT: Things not
going so well with him. JULIE ANDREWS: That's right,
and so I needed a lot of things sorting out in my head. ERIC SCHMIDT: And
to your credit, you face those things directly,
which I think is your personal style, in general. And ultimately, you
and Tony separated. JULIE ANDREWS: It felt at the
time like one of the bravest things I'd ever done, because
I had nobody to support me. I just knew that I wanted
clarity, and I didn't have it. ERIC SCHMIDT: So Emma, what do
you remember of this period? You would have
been a little girl. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Yeah,
very, very little, actually. I mean-- JULIE ANDREWS: You
mostly know just Blake. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Yeah. JULIE ANDREWS: I mean, you know
your dad, of course, you do, but-- EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: I was only
about 18 months old when they separated, when my mother
and father separated. And so my earliest memories
really involve already both my step-parents
being in the family. I have a few vague
memories before. I remember meeting my
stepfather for the first time. I remember meeting my
step-sister on my dad's side for the first time. ERIC SCHMIDT: And I think in the
spirit of sort of moving a bit forward in the narrative,
a number of things happened to both of you. So first place,
you're with your mom. You're going back and
forth with your dad. And you're busy
making new movies. You spent some time
with Hitchcock, right? JULIE ANDREWS: I did. ERIC SCHMIDT: What was he like? JULIE ANDREWS: Very
interesting gentleman. [LAUGHTER] ERIC SCHMIDT: Is he like the
stereotype we have of him? JULIE ANDREWS: Yes,
he is, very much. I mean, all you have to do is
hear him say, good evening, and you kind of know
what Hitch is like-- but very knowledgeable,
very funny, very-- oh, what's the word I would use? He almost wanted to be the one
person in my life at that time. He loved ladies who
were blonde and-- EMMA WALTON HAMILTON:
Controlling? JULIE ANDREWS: Well, maybe
that would be a good word, but very kind, too. And he said to me one day-- his camera man was asking
what kind of a lens to put on a certain scene
and suggested one. And Hitchcock said, on a woman-- whatever the number lens was. He said, good heavens, no. And I said, I wish I knew more
about camera lenses and stuff. And he said, come with me. And he took me to a table
and, for the next half hour or so, drew what the
different lenses did. And in other words, if you
have two wide of a lens, your nose grows longer
in profile and so on. So he said, don't ever let them
shoot you that way or this way. And then he was
a-- he loved art. And he would say, come
and look in the camera. I've made a Mondrian. And I did know, thank
god, who Mondrian was. And I looked in the camera,
and indeed the background was a Mondrian. And Paul Newman and I were going
to be standing in front of it. ERIC SCHMIDT: So about this
time, you come across Blake, who becomes-- JULIE ANDREWS: That's a
wonderful description-- come across. Yes, it's true. ERIC SCHMIDT: Right,
because you're in Hollywood. He's in Hollywood. And he's busy doing the
"Pink Panther" series. JULIE ANDREWS: Well, he had made
a lot of them, but certainly, the first-- ERIC SCHMIDT: He'd already
made the first one. JULIE ANDREWS: --two, yes. ERIC SCHMIDT: And in the book,
you tell a story of your-- I'm just going to call
it the first real date. JULIE ANDREWS: Yes, well, how
we met was extraordinary, too, Eric. Here we were-- I was heading to my
therapist at the time. And in the middle-- it's so hokey, it's ridiculous. In the middle of Sunset
Boulevard on the meridian, waiting for all the
traffic to let me through, a car coming in the opposite
direction pulled up beside me also waiting. And I looked over and this nice
looking gentleman was driving this Rolls Royce. And then it happened again a
couple of days later and then again, at which point, this nice
looking gentleman rolled down the window and said, are you
going to where I just came from? And I presumed he'd
been in therapy, too, because that was the street
where most of the analysts hung out, let's say. And I said, I think so. He said, well, good luck. I'm Blake Edwards. And I went, oh! How lovely to meet
you, Mr. Edwards. And then about two weeks later,
I got a call that he would love to meet and talk
about a project, which we eventually did. And we began dating
from that point onwards. And I tried-- sort of quite hard
not to fall in love with this extremely charismatic
gentleman-- talented, funny as all get
out, black sense of humor. And I tell you,
it was impossible. He just was a very winning
fellow, and eventually, we married, yeah. ERIC SCHMIDT: You tell a story
where you're driving along in Malibu, and you
pull over on the side. JULIE ANDREWS: Yeah, well,
he asked me if I'd like to go for a drive one evening. And I was completely-- ERIC SCHMIDT: By the
way, in the Rolls-Royce. JULIE ANDREWS: In
the Rolls-Royce, yes. And I was completely dressed up,
having been to some obligatory evening, where I had been giving
a speech or doing something. So he called, and I
said I'm home now. And he said, well, would
you like to go for a drive? And I looked at my watch, and I
said, well, I'm all dressed up, and it's 11 o'clock. He said, I'll be right round. So he came around, and we drove
all the way along the Pacific Coast Highway-- hugely romantic. And eventually, he pulled over. And it was one of those
really great nights. The moon was rising over
the sea and everything. And I thought, dear god,
if he doesn't kiss me, I'm going to go crazy. And he did, and that was-- from then on, that was it. ERIC SCHMIDT: And in
the book, you actually, with I think great sincerity and
care, talk about his struggles. JULIE ANDREWS: Yes. ERIC SCHMIDT: He had a number
of physical problems that ultimately-- JULIE ANDREWS: Huge physical
problems which gave him a great deal of pain. ERIC SCHMIDT: Wit--with
self-medication. JULIE ANDREWS: Then he
began to self medicate, tried so hard to fight it. And he did have an addiction
problem ultimately, but kicked it and came back on
and kicked it and came back on. ERIC SCHMIDT: And you also talk
about his world as a director and as a producer. And you're an [? ally. ?]
You do movies together. One of the scenarios you talk
about is Peter Sellers who I can only say it is not in
the best of descriptions. Peter Sellers was very
difficult for [? your-- ?] JULIE ANDREWS: Difficult,
but one of those incredibly talented guys that could play
any role or make you laugh till you fell down. But didn't seem-- I could be wrong, and I don't
wish to offend in any way, not his family, or anybody. Because I knew him very well. And he and Blake
were very close. But he didn't seem
to know who to be. He was just there, and great
roles were placed upon him, and he acted them so well. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Well, he
wasn't well towards the later years. JULIE ANDREWS: No, he
had a heart problem. ERIC SCHMIDT: He
died very young. JULIE ANDREWS:
Yeah, quite young. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON:
He died young, and he was on medication
that didn't agree with him. JULIE ANDREWS: And it made
him a big depressive, too. And Blake would come home and
say how hard it was to direct somebody in a comedy who
is sodden with depression. And he had to eventually work
around what he was asking Peter to do so that it
made him look funny, rather than Peter
creatively being funny. ERIC SCHMIDT: And just
to finish this point, eventually in the book, you
talk about a movie that you all made, which you're convinced
is autobiographical of your husband,
involving a depressed-- JULIE ANDREWS: --fellow. ERIC SCHMIDT: --fellow-- JULIE ANDREWS: It was. ERIC SCHMIDT: --and family
members and so forth. And you pointed out that the
act of doing that movie somehow made your husband better. JULIE ANDREWS: Yes, it did
help an enormous amount. Well, the thing that I
realized was that he knew. He knew all that he
was, and I did too, but with an instinctive
knowledge that I didn't voice always. And it was not easy on this
one or the rest of my family. I mean, he had two children
by a previous marriage, and we adopted two children. Tell that story about you
being in the middle and the end and the-- EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Oh. JULIE ANDREWS: Just
for a second there. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Just that
I've had the bizarre experience of being on every single level
of the birth order spectrum at various points of my life. So I'm the only child
of my mom and dad. But then I inherited two
older step-siblings when she remarried, so I became the
youngest on that family. And then I inherited a younger
step-sibling on my dad's side, and I became the
eldest in that family. And then they
adopted two younger-- my two younger sisters, and
then I was the middle child. I'm the only eldest,
middle, youngest. JULIE ANDREWS: Yeah, and
staunch, and stalwart, and brave, she really was. ERIC SCHMIDT: And the two
of you are incredibly close. You've written a book together. JULIE ANDREWS: We've written-- EMMA WALTON HAMILTON:
32 books together. JULIE ANDREWS: --32
books together. ERIC SCHMIDT: Oh, those
were children's books. JULIE ANDREWS: Yeah. ERIC SCHMIDT: This is your life. JULIE ANDREWS: Just a
slight difference there. Yeah. ERIC SCHMIDT: This is,
this and their predecessor [? is your-- ?] JULIE ANDREWS: Yes. ERIC SCHMIDT: Emma,
when you were young, you were aware of your
mother's fame, obviously, and your stepfather's fame. And it describes going back
and forth and caregivers and so forth. Somehow, it all worked
out fine, right? JULIE ANDREWS: God knows how. ERIC SCHMIDT: In many
Hollywood scenarios, it doesn't work out so fine. What do you credit this to? EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Well,
I think a couple of things, truthfully, Eric. One is that Mom made a
monumental effort being very much the caretaker and
the soul that she is. JULIE ANDREWS: And the child
of a very damaged home. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: And
the child of a damaged home herself, she made a monumental
effort to create as safe and nurturing a
home environment-- one of the reasons why home
continues to come up as a title and a theme in these
books as possible. A lot of that I also think had
to do with the number of years that you put in working on
yourself in therapy and how that enabled her to parent well. And then I also had my father. And I had the ability to leave
Hollywood and come to New York and spend summers
and Christmases-- JULIE ANDREWS: And watching
shows being put on the stage. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: --and
Easters and so forth here. ERIC SCHMIDT: It also sounds
like your parents worked hard to protect you from the
paparazzi and the weird stuff that goes on. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: They did. Yeah. ERIC SCHMIDT: So
in the book, you-- JULIE ANDREWS: And then I have
to add a PS to that, Eric, and that is that she has
the, my point of view, the greatest heart
and generosity. I mean, when I say, would you
mind if we adopted a child, and then, would you mind
if we adopted another? And she said, well, all
right, as long as I don't have to babysit. And then was-- EMMA WALTON HAMILTON:
Not entirely generous, JULIE ANDREWS: But you were
the first to babysit almost. ERIC SCHMIDT: And indeed, it
worked out extraordinarily well. But it's important to understand
the circumstance of this adoption. Vietnam had ended. This was 1975, the
problem of orphans. You and your second husband
had been unable to conceive or chose not to conceive
or what have you. JULIE ANDREWS: Well,
we were trying. ERIC SCHMIDT: And the important
thing was you had decided to help out by adopting
a Vietnamese child, a Vietnamese baby. JULIE ANDREWS: We'd also had
a wonderful exposure to these beautiful children because
we helped found the board of Operation USA, which is an
international relief agency, which is terrific. It's small and does
wonderful work. And Blake and I helped
get that on its feet, and it's still going strong. ERIC SCHMIDT: And in the book,
you talk about stories about what it's like to adopt a child
from an orphanage in the middle of a war. The baby shows up, and the
baby has a number of medical problems to address. JULIE ANDREWS: Oh, yes, they
both did when they came. ERIC SCHMIDT: But headbanging,
tell us about headbanging. JULIE ANDREWS: Yeah, well, when
you're put in a nursery with 100 other kids in an orphanage
in Vietnam or in Saigon, as it was then, the noise
factor at any given moment, day and night, must
have been tremendous. And so I think headbanging,
in the case of one of my children-- EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: You
should explain what that is, headbanging. JULIE ANDREWS: Well, it was
either a rocking backwards and forwards this way-- not the kind that
comes from rage, but more from a deliberate
soothing effect. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Rhythmic. JULIE ANDREWS: Yeah,
rhythmic headbanging. And it came from staying
in Vietnam, I believe. Because I asked a lot about
it and what did it mean. And the nurse that
brought my Amelia to me, the eldest of the two, she said
it's saying I'm in this little cot, and I'm here,
and this is my space. Because the noise around them
and the chaos would have been so great that, by headbanging,
it would mean that that identified where you
were and who you were. At least, that's the
explanation that I accepted. ERIC SCHMIDT: And in the book,
we learn that things came out quite well. All the family members
turned out well. The adopted children
turned out very well. Your second husband dealt with
his various issues successfully and ultimately died
some years ago. JULIE ANDREWS: Yeah, we
were married 41 years, and 44 I knew him, so that's
quite rare for Hollywood, I think. ERIC SCHMIDT: And there are so
many other aspects of this book that I could cover. I want to know all about
Dudley Moore and the filming [INAUDIBLE]. JULIE ANDREWS: Oh, he
[? is ?] just so adorable. He was. ERIC SCHMIDT: But I think
we should spend some time on the questions from the
audience and the people on the [INAUDIBLE]. JULIE ANDREWS: That's fine. Yeah. ERIC SCHMIDT: If that's OK. The first question comes from-- these are all
employee questions. The first question
comes from Gillian. From Gillian, I grew up
on the "Princess Diaries." [LAUGHTER] OK? What made you decide
to take that role? PS, will you adopt me? [LAUGHTER] EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Only
if I don't have to babysit. [LAUGHTER] [APPLAUSE] JULIE ANDREWS: What
made me accept the role? Really, the director,
Garry Marshall, I met because he was thinking
of me for the role of Queen Clarice. And he was so adorable and
so funny and knew so much. And I just fell
in love with him. And he asked me so many
questions that I might-- if I did do the movie, what
would be the thing that was sold in Genovia? And I said, well, probably if-- let's say it's between France
or south of France and Spain, let's say, right on the
border, maybe they'd have pears and maybe the nuns
would make lace. And of course, pears and
lace were all over the film. But he was such a
darling to work with. And the first film was so
successful that the second one came along after. ERIC SCHMIDT: This is
from [? Dima. ?] What is your favorite, favorite
thing from "Sound of Music"? JULIE ANDREWS: Whoa. [LAUGHTER] Oh, god. Just off the top of
my head, so much. I mean, those Alps
and that music. And how can you single out
a single favorite thing? EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: I would
have said that you would have said the mountains. JULIE ANDREWS: Yes, the
Alps, they were, yeah. ERIC SCHMIDT: You can see
that in the cinematography. In fact, the book, you
talk about the rain. JULIE ANDREWS: Well, nobody told
our producers that Salzburg, where we filmed, has the
world's seventh highest annual rainfall. And so it rained always. The clouds would build up, and
it would be beautiful to look at. And then it would pour. And we would have to wait under
tarpaulins and tents and way up on a mountain somewhere. And if there was the slightest
bit of sun coming out, dash out, throw off our
blankets, and perform. ERIC SCHMIDT: And there's
a question for Emma, OK. How has your relationship
with your mom changed? How has your relationship
during the book-- I mean to go through your
entire mother's history-- and you've been working on this
for four or five years total. JULIE ANDREWS: She
knows me very well. ERIC SCHMIDT: Yes, that
would be an understatement. The question is-- I want
to read it precisely-- what was the most
surprising and frustrating-- [CHUCKLES] EMMA WALTON HAMILTON:
Part of the process? ERIC SCHMIDT: Yes, I think
they're asking about your mom. [LAUGHTER] EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Um, gosh. Well, I have to say that,
because we know each other so well, and we've worked
together for so many years, and we've written so many books,
there wasn't much that was surprising, other than that,
with this particular book, I was there as a child
throughout most of it and share many of the memories. But I share them from the
perspective of a child's point of view. And so it was surprising
and interesting to see, when I thought Mom
has it all together because Mom's a grownup, and
grownups know everything, that, in fact, according to
her diaries or according to the conversations
we were having, that she was feeling vulnerable
or insecure or questioning or-- JULIE ANDREWS: Just
about all the time. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Yeah. So that was kind of interesting,
remembering my younger self. Of course, I get it
now because I'm a mom, and I know that you never
really feel like you have it all answered and figured out. Frustrating-- probably the most
frustrating thing was that she kept wanting to go back and
rewrite the first chapter. JULIE ANDREWS: It's really
the way I love to work. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Yeah, and
that my job was to help keep moving the story forward. And so I kept saying, mom, we'll
have plenty of time to edit. We'll have plenty
of time to polish. We've got to move on. We've got to get the
bones of this down. And she said, I just want to
go back to that one sentence where-- JULIE ANDREWS: If I got
the first chapter right, I figured the style
would reveal itself, or it would flow from then on. It didn't, but [LAUGHS]
it was an attempt. ERIC SCHMIDT: Read the
whole book is my advice. JULIE ANDREWS: You've
written three, right? Well, then you know. ERIC SCHMIDT: I had people help. JULIE ANDREWS: So did I. ERIC SCHMIDT: Exactly. Including my
daughter, I might add. JULIE ANDREWS: Isn't that great? Oh, how lovely. ERIC SCHMIDT: This
is from Karen. Growing up, one of my
favorite books was "Mandy." JULIE ANDREWS: Aw. ERIC SCHMIDT: It quickly
became a favorite of my girls, who are now 16 and 20. They also love "The Really
Great Whangdoodles." Note to audience
from our questioner, buy these for your
elementary-school readers. Can you talk about what you
decided to be a writer and what your inspiration
for "Mandy" was? JULIE ANDREWS: Oh, dear. We were making a film. Blake and I were
making our first film, which was a huge
flop, ultimately. And you'd think that
would have been disaster and would've ended the
relationship, but it didn't. But we were on
location in Ireland. And we took-- all the
kids, packed everything up, tucked them under our
wing, so to speak. And we stayed in this
extraordinary castle-like mansion, which had been
phenomenal in olden days in 1,000 acre estate. We filmed on that estate. We filmed in that
great manor house. And we lived there as well,
which helped pay a lot of the bills and so on. But the children, for
that summer, went wild. I mean, they didn't pick up. They didn't make beds. They didn't brush their teeth. They did nothing. And so I mean, completely-- EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: We were
waiting for her to snap her fingers, and the whole
thing would clean itself. JULIE ANDREWS: Well, thank you. Anyway, I finally said, oh! The Mary Poppins in me rose
up, and I said, OK, guys, what we're going to do is
we're going to play a game. If you cannot at least put
the laundry away or brush your teeth at night or whatever,
then you're going to have to pay a forfeit. And the eldest girl, Jennifer,
who is Blake's eldest daughter, my stepdaughter,
said, OK, Jules, but you have to
play the game, too. And I said, well,
what do I have to do? And she said, well, you have
to stop swearing so much. [LAUGHTER] And I wasn't
vicious or anything. It was just
exasperation, really. But to their ears, it
was not appropriate. And I said, OK, I'll
play the game, too. And of course I was
the first to lose. So it didn't take long. And so when I said, all
right, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. What's my forfeit going to be? Jennifer, the eldest girl,
said, OK, write me a story. And I thought at first to
write her a little fable or something. And then I thought, no, it's a
wonderful chance to bond with this step-daughter that
obviously adored her dad and wasn't sure about stepmum. ERIC SCHMIDT: How did you
balance your professional career and your personal
and family life? How did you do it? EMMA WALTON HAMILTON:
Read the book. JULIE ANDREWS: Yeah. Yes, because you can see,
that's part of the homework in the title. There was so much happening. And they say, when
you write a biography, that you relive your
life all over again. And it wasn't until I did work
on this book that I realized just how really hard
we all were working. And there wasn't
time to absorb much. But I was sure about one thing. And that is that, if
my kids were all right, I was all right. But if one of them was sick
or one of them had a fever, and I wasn't sure that they
were going to be all right, there was no way that I
could concentrate on the job, although, I obviously
had to and tried. But I admire any parent that
holds down a really big job and has kids and
makes it all work. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: And that's
really the underlying theme of the whole-- I mean it's one of the reasons
why it's called "Homework" is because of that tension
between home life and work. JULIE ANDREWS: And trying
to reconcile them both. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: And
how to balance the two, yeah. JULIE ANDREWS: And
the work itself, too. ERIC SCHMIDT: But you
describe a grueling-- again, this goes back to when
you were 10, 11, and 12. You were working
seven days a week. You were flying everywhere. You were performing every day. JULIE ANDREWS: Driving,
training, yeah, going on the train. ERIC SCHMIDT: Driving,
flying back and forth. Your first marriage suffered. Your second marriage suffered. Your kids came out great. You pulled it out. JULIE ANDREWS: Well, I suffered
for 40 years and was very happy a great deal of that time
in the second marriage, that's for sure. ERIC SCHMIDT: Another thing you
and I spoke about a bit earlier is this question of now versus-- I mean, your fame and
impact has been 75 years. It's an extraordinary
achievement. JULIE ANDREWS: It
stuns me, really. I don't feel as old as I
am, except in my bones, occasionally. ERIC SCHMIDT: And we talked
a little bit about today, a woman, a girl of this
extraordinary gift that you had, would have debuted
on YouTube, right? JULIE ANDREWS: That's true,
would have done that today, yeah. ERIC SCHMIDT: And one
of the questioners-- this is from, Connie--
says, what are your thoughts on dealing with public scrutiny
in the social media age? Nowadays, everyone is a critic. Everyone is a fan. Everything is disclosed. JULIE ANDREWS: And the MeToo
movement is hot and heavy and right. But one has to be so much
more careful and aware. And that's a good thing. I mean, I don't know if you have
any thoughts about that, too, darling. She's great because she
is the next generation. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Well,
my kids are really the next generation, but yeah. JULIE ANDREWS: And I learn
a lot from them, too, all my grandkids. ERIC SCHMIDT: So I'll have
a final question and then a summary, I think on behalf
of all of us at Google and Alphabet. This is from [? Bea. ?]
Which character was the most challenging, and why? In the book, you talk about,
for example, "Victor Victoria." JULIE ANDREWS: That
was tough, very tough. ERIC SCHMIDT: Which was the
most challenging as an actress and as a performer? JULIE ANDREWS: Well, I guess it
was "Duet for One," wasn't it? Yes. It's a film that I haven't
mentioned yet because the book only goes so far. This book now goes to when I
come back to Broadway after 30 years for the musical on
Broadway of "Victor Victoria." But after that, I made a film
which was truly challenging, Eric. It was called "Duet for One"
about a musician who had MS and a violinist who really
couldn't play anymore. And the loss of, ugh-- it was almost prophetic. I was in a wheelchair most of
the film and trying so hard to do it well. And it was a very tough
director at the time for me. But it turned out to be one of
the most dramatic films I have ever made I think. And would you believe that this
sad tale opened on Christmas day and disappeared as quickly? And it's hardly been
seen, I don't think. ERIC SCHMIDT: Tell us about
the third book which you-- JULIE ANDREWS: Well-- ERIC SCHMIDT: When
does it come out? JULIE ANDREWS: Are you kidding? ERIC SCHMIDT: Emma? EMMA WALTON HAMILTON:
Well, I mean-- JULIE ANDREWS: She'd
love to begin, I think-- EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Yeah, I'd
love to begin because we have been on a roll
now for the last-- JULIE ANDREWS: Yes, we have. That's true. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: The last 2
and 1/2 years or so, we've been on a roll with the process. But it very much depends
on how this book does. And-- JULIE ANDREWS: If
we have [INAUDIBLE].. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: If we get
asked to write the third one and-- JULIE ANDREWS: Yes. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: We'll
have to promise not to take two to five years, though. ERIC SCHMIDT: I think the
audience has an opinion. JULIE ANDREWS: Well, yes, this
one did take almost three years to write, so-- I mean, our day jobs
kept getting in the way. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: If you
won't keep rewriting the first chapter. JULIE ANDREWS: I'll
try, I'll try, I'll try. Don't nag, darling. [LAUGHTER] ERIC SCHMIDT: So as we were
chatting before we came in, I was struck by Julie's
drive and enthusiasm. And when you read
about her life, you read that she had an awful
lot of help and a lot of people who taught her. And she was constantly learning. And I said, what has driven you? And she said something
very interesting. JULIE ANDREWS: What did I say? ERIC SCHMIDT: You said that
you're driven now to even greater curiosity. JULIE ANDREWS: Yes,
I am very curious. ERIC SCHMIDT: You're even
working harder to learn more because, when you were young,
because you were in vaudeville, you were not educated. JULIE ANDREWS: I was doing,
and I hadn't been educated. And you open one door and
you find there's another door behind it, and then
another, and then another. And I hope I can help my
grandchildren be curious because it's the best thing for
being sad or bored or anything else if you're curious. I mean, for instance, how can
you say you're bored in New York City? There is so much to do. And I love that part of life. ERIC SCHMIDT: So let me
finish with your quote. So you had your mother's--
well, we started with your mother's quote. This is your quote. This is the advice Julie
gives to all of her friends, people who come up to
her asking for things. Quote, "Learn your craft. Do your homework. Opportunity will come along when
you least expect it as it did for me. You may not even
recognize it at the time. Your job is to be as ready as
possible when that good fortune comes your way." I cannot thank you
enough for the book, which I encourage you
all to buy and read. For being here at Google,
thank you guys, both. JULIE ANDREWS: Thank you, Eric. Thank you, everybody. ERIC SCHMIDT: Thank you. EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Thank you. [APPLAUSE] JULIE ANDREWS: So nice. [APPLAUSE] Thank you. [APPLAUSE]
