The Tragic & Inspiring Life of Julie Andrews

her voice brought the hills to life and will always remind us of some of our more magical childhood moments but things weren't always so rosy behind the scenes welcome to Ms mojo and today we're having a look at the tragic and inspiring life of singer actress Julie Andrews [Music] Julie Andrews was born Julia Elizabeth Wells on October 1st 1935 - Barbara Ward wells and Edward Charles Wells in England wartime woes brought the couple to divorce and Julie's mother got remarried to Ted Andrews in 1943 Ted Andrews was an entertainer and his wife joined him in entertaining the troops during World War two julie lived for a short time with her father until about the age of five at which time she was sent to live with her mother and stepfather and I know my mother wanted us to get closer and he was a fine tenor and so he started to give me some singing lessons and I think to his end my mother's surprised they discovered I had this kind of week four octave voice she wasn't very enamored with her stepfather and took offense to her mother insisting she refer to him as pop Julie's living situation was less than ideal in her adolescence as the family lived in a slum area of London and were impoverished she has referred to this as a black period in her life describing her stepfather as an aggressive alcoholic who tried to get into bed with her on two occasions you grew up in a turbulent household of alcoholism anger mm-hmm this resulted in her installing a lock on her bedroom door in 1945 when she was around the age of 10 Julie began to join her mother and stepfather on stage she slept in the afternoons in order to be awake for evening performances she subsequently began to perform solo becoming her family's main support for a time all while helping to raise her younger siblings Julie had to perform up to two shows per evening in halls filled with smoke and alcohol Julie's mother mother don't you dare complain about anything not the cigarette smoke in the theater not having a cold nor waiting long hours he won't do a thing for you and nobody cares she would attempt to liven up the gloomy dressing rooms with bunches of flowers adding some light to her dark situation eventually the careers of her mother and stepfather looked up and the family moved to a better situation in her ksham in 1949 at the age of 14 Julie performed at a family friends gathering she later had a conversation with the man of the house and claimed she felt a strange sort of connection to him she later spoke to her mother of the and was told he was her real father her mother had had an affair with him resulting in her conception Julie however always considered Edward Charles Wells to be her father as he had raised her and she had tremendous respect for him Julie Andrews his talent did not go unnoticed and despite his faults her stepfather provided her with voice tutors and coaches her most notable influence was Madame Lillian Stiles Allen who later went on to greatly praised Andrews's voice in a book the voice instructor penned Andrews ever the modest woman refuted the praise however she did recognize that she had a clear four octave range no I had four octaves I don't you've lost octaves yes at what age do octave start falling away haha boy or girl from her humble beginnings on stage with her parents she went on to perform in countless productions eventually making her Broadway debut in the boyfriend in 1954 followed by the coveted role of Eliza Doolittle in my fair lady which she originated [Music] her most significant early television role was in 1957 Cinderella which was broadcast live and in which she played the titular character in Mile [Music] my Ruby her film career essentially began in 1964 with the well-known classic Mary Poppins for which she won an Oscar and a Golden Globe as I expected Mary Poppins practically perfect in every way around this time Andrews was passed over for the role of Eliza Doolittle in the film adaptation of my fair lady the role went to Audrey Hepburn whose vocal parts had to be dubbed over by ghost singer Marni Nixon as the actress was not a singer [Laughter] Andrews confessed that she felt slighted by this but because the decision allowed her to appear in the Disney classic she was thankful in the long run I have no intention of making a spectacle of myself thank you what followed was of course 1965 s The Sound of Music which we all know and love [Music] Andrews married Tony Walton a set designer in 1959 the marriage proved difficult however as the two were separated for long periods of time due to their respective careers Andrews was adamant about resolving the issue even to the point of considering giving up her own career in order to focus on her marriage she sought the help of a therapist who convinced her to not give up on her career as she would be depriving the world of her incredible gift thankfully for us and herself Andrews took her therapists advice unfortunately her marriage failed shortly thereafter however it proved to be a blessing in disguise as one day upon exiting the therapists office she bumped into writer and director Blake Edwards who would become her second husband in 1969 and the love of her life I'm afraid I was trying very hard not to fall in love with him and that was break it with the two are together for over 40 years and saw each other through hardships such as the loss of Julie Andrews his vocal range in 1997 two years after she made her big return Andrews had to leave the Broadway production victor/victoria when she noticed that her voice was becoming hoarse [Music] she underwent surgery in New York supposedly to remove non cancerous nodules from her throat she later claimed that the hoarseness was actually caused by a muscular striation on her vocal cords that was acquired during her work on the Broadway show the surgery left her with permanent damage to her vocals and she ended up legally pursuing the surgeons her 4 octave range was no more and was replaced by a simple alto albeit a fragile one to not sing with an orchestra to not be able to communicate through my voice which I've done all my life and not to be able to phrase lyrics and give people that kind of joy I think I would be totally devastated so I am in some kind of denial she underwent four subsequent surgeries which were successful in enhancing her speaking voice however they could not restore her former singing voice despite all this Andrews remained occupied in the entertainment industry providing voice overs and film series like Shrek and the like oh stop being such a drama King try hers is definitely an attitude to admire as through the hardships she has continued to emerge a strong and successful woman in 2000 she was made a dame commander by queen elizabeth ii for her contributions to the performing arts but i think she said something like I've been waiting a long time to see you here or something in 2001 she appeared in Disney's The Princess Diaries as Queen Clarisse Renaldi when walking in a crowd one is under scrutiny all the time so we don't slump like this it's 2004 sequel saw the return of the songbird in Andrews as she performed a duet for the film music supervisor Don Solaire said that she quote and nailed the song on the first take and that the film crew was in tears following the onset performance [Music] most glorious [Music] and you before we continue be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos you have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them if you're on your phone make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications Dame Julie Andrews will be 65 in 2020 her husband of 41 years blake edwards passed away in 2010 she has one daughter from her first marriage Emma Katherine two stepchildren from her second Jennifer and Jeffrey and two daughters adopted in the 1970s Vietnamese orphans Aimee and Johanna she has nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren she continued to keep busy in the 2010s directing plays doing speaking tours and voiceover work most notably in the despicable Me franchise and Aquaman I have seen greatest champions try in 2017 she turned down the chance to cameo in Mary Poppins returns citing her desire to keep Emily Blunt as the focus of the sequels attention she's truly a humble woman to this day most of my life have seen the glass half full rather than half empty and I've been so blessed I mean think about it I'm the lucky girl that was asked to do all these wonderful things and so how could I write be anything but positive you know check out this other recent clip form is mojo and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos you

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Id: ZxmR1HnryOw

Length: 10min 16sec (616 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 20 2020