Julie Andrews

Dame Julia "Julie" Elizabeth Andrews, DBE, (born 1 October 1935) is an English film and stage actress, singer, author, theatre director and dancer. Andrews, a former child actress and singer, appeared on the West End in 1948, and made her Broadway debut in a 1954 production of The Boy Friend. She rose to prominence starring in musicals such as My Fair Lady and Camelot, both of which earned her Tony Award nominations. In 1957, she appeared on television with the title role in the musical Cinderella, which was seen by over 100 million viewers.

She made her feature film debut in Mary Poppins (1964), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She received her second Academy Award nomination for The Sound of Music (1965), and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Adjusted for inflation, the latter film is the third-highest grossing film of all time. Between 1964 and 1967, Andrews had other box office successes with The Americanization of Emily, Hawaii, Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain, and Thoroughly Modern Millie, making her the most successful film star in the world at the time. In the 1970s, Andrews' film career slowed down following the commercial disappointments of Star!, Darling Lili, and The Tamarind Seed. She returned to prominence with the critical and commercial successes of 10 (1979) and Victor Victoria (1982), receiving a third Academy Award nomination for the latter. During the remainder of the 1980s, she starred in critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful films such as That's Life! and Duet for One, before her career went into eclipse in the 1990s. Andrews' film career revived once more in the 2000s with the successes of The Princess Diaries (2001), its sequel The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004), the Shrek animated films (2004–2010), and Despicable Me (2010). Her vocal range, which was originally striking, was damaged during a throat operation in 1997 during the Broadway show Victor/Victoria. In 2003, Andrews revisited her first Broadway success, this time as a stage director, with a revival of The Boy Friend at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, New York. Andrews is also an author of children's books, and in 2008 published an autobiography, Home: A Memoir of My Early Years, which includes memories of surviving the London Blitz. In addition to an Academy Award, she has won a BAFTA, five Golden Globes, three Grammys, two Emmys, the Disney Legend honor and the Kennedy Center Honors. In 2000, she was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the performing arts. In 2002, she was ranked number 59 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.