Julie Andrews

Joining us at a riverside London hotel is Dame Julie Andrews, DBE, an English actress, singer and author. She has now released her second memoir, Home Work. 

Born in Surrey in 1935, Andrews' parents divorced and she originally lived with her father, then moved back to live with her mother and stepfather. Her stepfather was turbulent, but he sponsored her voice lessons, and from 1945 Andrews began performing with her mother and stepfather unbilled. 

Andrews made her professional solo debut at the London Hippodrome singing the difficult aria 'Je suis Titania' from Mignon in 1947. She then became the youngest solo performer ever to be seen in a Royal Command Variety Performance before King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at the London Palladium aged 13. On 30th September 1954, on the eve of her 19th birthday, Andrews made her Broadway debut portraying Polly Browne in The Boy Friend. 

Walt Disney, who had seen Andrews on Broadway, asked her to play Mary Poppins. She won multiple awards for her performance. Andrews also played Maria Von Trapp in The Sound of Music (1965), for which she received a Tony Award nomination. She earned her third Oscar nomination for Victor/Victoria (1982). 

Andrews was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Screen Actors Guild awards in 2007. She published Home: A Memoir of My Early Years in 2008 and has since been writing children's fiction with her daughter, Emma, as well as collaborating on Andrews' newest memoir Home Work.  

We spoke to Julie Andrews about working with Walt Disney, what revisiting her diaries for Home Work revealed to her and what she hopes people will remember her for.