0:00:17 > 0:00:20"People forget it's a role and confuse it with you."
0:00:20 > 0:00:22A quote from Julie Andrews,
0:00:22 > 0:00:27who knows more than most what it is to have the public see no difference
0:00:27 > 0:00:29between you and the parts you played.
0:00:30 > 0:00:34She started out on stage, a child star in the West End,
0:00:34 > 0:00:38then went to America and caused a sensation on Broadway.
0:00:42 > 0:00:47Starring as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49When that role was being cast in Hollywood,
0:00:49 > 0:00:52Julie missed out to Audrey Hepburn.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55But then came Mary Poppins and Maria Von Tramp,
0:00:55 > 0:00:59two of the best loved characters in movie history.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03They brought Julie awards and international superstardom.
0:01:03 > 0:01:08But also an image she would struggle to shake off.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12"Are you really like that?" is a question she'd been asked throughout her career.
0:01:12 > 0:01:17As we see here in an interview with Michael Parkinson in 1974.
0:01:17 > 0:01:22Which also featured her husband, the film director Blake Edwards.
0:01:22 > 0:01:24APPLAUSE
0:01:27 > 0:01:32Do you in fact, or did you resent that, you must have come across this when you met people in that period,
0:01:32 > 0:01:34particularly when Mary Poppins was so popular,
0:01:34 > 0:01:38that people expect you to be something that one imagines you're not, really.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42- Nobody is that good, are they? - Well, no. Obviously not.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46Really, it was a slow-growing thing, it didn't happen immediately
0:01:46 > 0:01:50and, in fact, there were a couple of films, there was one film after Poppins
0:01:50 > 0:01:53that seemed to stop any kind of image, which was the Americanisation of Emily.
0:01:53 > 0:01:58So, it's really over the years, as time has gone by, that the image seems to have grown.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01And I guess that's because one's more and more exposed
0:02:01 > 0:02:04- the more films one does.- Yes. - Something obviously seems to come across.- Yes.
0:02:04 > 0:02:10How much is she like, this image? If we can stick this Mary Poppins theme for just a moment longer.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13- If you insist. - It is interesting, actually.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17To me, it might be seen a feeble inquiry to you...
0:02:18 > 0:02:21I think it's a fairly easy answer,
0:02:21 > 0:02:25just get her to run through her four-letter word vocabulary and you'd find out immediately.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28- LAUGHTER - Really?
0:02:28 > 0:02:30She doesn't swear.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34Listen, when I met her I didn't even think she went to the bathroom....
0:02:34 > 0:02:36LAUGHTER
0:02:37 > 0:02:43Blake, how do you see it? Because you're a, as I said, a film producer, director,
0:02:43 > 0:02:46and a writer, how do you see her as a film property?
0:02:46 > 0:02:51If you could take a detached view, if you were in charge of her career in this moment of time?
0:02:51 > 0:02:54Well, he gets to sleep with me, if that's what you mean.
0:02:54 > 0:02:55LAUGHTER
0:02:55 > 0:02:58- You mean that's how you get the jobs?- Yes, that's right.- I see.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01Well, let's talk about a spectacular success that you had.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04The film, I think, has grossed more money, the Sound of music,
0:03:04 > 0:03:07- than any other movie, hasn't it? - Certainly than any other musical.
0:03:08 > 0:03:13Maybe, now since its rerelease, it probably is number one
0:03:13 > 0:03:16and grossing at, it's close to like Godfather, I think.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19It was kind of, an odd story about that though,
0:03:19 > 0:03:22was that the studio really had no faith in it when it first came out.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25I don't know about that. Erm...
0:03:25 > 0:03:28I know that we were all very aware that it could be over-saccharine
0:03:28 > 0:03:32and sweet and we had to be very careful about it.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35With religion and nuns and children and mountains
0:03:35 > 0:03:37and all that sweetness going on, it was too much.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41And so we all tried to play it down and make it very real
0:03:41 > 0:03:45- as much as we could.- Yes. - But I don't think...
0:03:45 > 0:03:49No, there was a considerable lot of money spent on the film and hours put into it,
0:03:49 > 0:03:52I don't think they thought it wasn't too important.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56- I do know that I don't suppose anybody had any idea how successful it was going to be.- Yes.
0:03:56 > 0:04:01Well, let's have a look at the sequence from it, I suppose everybody remembers,
0:04:01 > 0:04:03we showed part of it before you came on,
0:04:03 > 0:04:05which is that magnificent opening sequence,
0:04:05 > 0:04:09that huge shot over the mountains there and the camera comes on to you, beautiful moment.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11OPENING MUSIC FROM THE SOUND OF MUSIC
0:04:31 > 0:04:37# The hills are alive With the sound of music
0:04:38 > 0:04:44# With songs they have sung For a thousand years.
0:04:45 > 0:04:52# The hills fill my heart With the sound of music
0:04:53 > 0:04:59# My heart wants to sing Every song it hears
0:05:01 > 0:05:05# My heart wants to beat Like the wings of the birds
0:05:05 > 0:05:09# That rise from the lake To the trees
0:05:09 > 0:05:13# My heart wants to sigh Like a chime that flies
0:05:13 > 0:05:17# From a church on a breeze
0:05:17 > 0:05:21# To laugh like a brook When it trips and falls
0:05:21 > 0:05:24# Over stones on its way
0:05:24 > 0:05:28# To sing through the night
0:05:28 > 0:05:32# Like a lark who is learning to pray
0:05:32 > 0:05:38# I go to the hills
0:05:38 > 0:05:43# When my heart is lonely
0:05:44 > 0:05:51# I know I will hear What I've heard before
0:05:53 > 0:05:57# My heart will be blessed
0:05:57 > 0:06:03# With the sound of music
0:06:06 > 0:06:11# And I'll sing...
0:06:11 > 0:06:17# ..once more
0:06:20 > 0:06:22CHURCH BELL TOLLS
0:06:22 > 0:06:24APPLAUSE
0:06:30 > 0:06:34- That's a smashing shot, isn't it? That over the top of a hill, the helicopter shot, there.- Yes.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38It was an amazing shot to be in the middle of
0:06:38 > 0:06:41because it was a helicopter that was coming at one sideways, of course,
0:06:41 > 0:06:46because the cameraman was hanging out the side of the helicopter. How they ever do that, I don't know
0:06:46 > 0:06:49because there is no door, or anything. It's just a camera down at you like this.
0:06:49 > 0:06:54But it was a jet helicopter and every time, we would do many, many takes before they were satisfied,
0:06:54 > 0:06:57and so the helicopter would come towards me and get closer and closer,
0:06:57 > 0:07:01this great sort of giant crab or grasshopper, it looked like it was side stepping towards me,
0:07:01 > 0:07:04and then it would make a circle and go back and come through the trees again,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07and I'd have too rush to the end of the field and start all over again.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11But every time it made the circle to go back, it would knock me flat from the downdraught of the jets.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14And so I would do my lovely bit, and then it would go BAM!
0:07:14 > 0:07:16LAUGHTER
0:07:16 > 0:07:20I'd pick myself up and I got so angry because it just kept knocking me down.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23- Did you swear?- Yes.- You did?- Yes.
0:07:23 > 0:07:24LAUGHTER
0:07:24 > 0:07:28Do you ever get the urge to be, perhaps in those days after the success of that film,
0:07:28 > 0:07:33- to be outrageous in public because people expected you to be too sweet? - Oh, yes.
0:07:33 > 0:07:38And if you're in a long run and you've been saying the same lines over and over and over again,
0:07:38 > 0:07:42you would think, "God, what if I say something absolutely dreadful?" Er...
0:07:42 > 0:07:45- "And it just comes pouring out and I have no control over myself?" You know?- Yes.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48And then the word gets bigger and bigger and bigger in your mind
0:07:48 > 0:07:51- and you think, "I'm going to say it any minute!" You know?- Oh, I see.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55- You have a word that you think that you might inject here instead?- Yes. - I see. Can you give me an example?
0:07:55 > 0:07:57LAUGHTER
0:07:57 > 0:08:02- No, I can't really. - Do you think she's fibbing?
0:08:02 > 0:08:04LAUGHTER
0:08:04 > 0:08:08Go on, you can think of one example, surely?
0:08:08 > 0:08:10Oh, let's forget it.
0:08:10 > 0:08:15Well, tell me, then about the problem of working on stage for a long time,
0:08:15 > 0:08:19in a long run. It must be very, very tedious, mustn't it?
0:08:19 > 0:08:22- I mean, you did what? You did Boyfriend, My Fair Lady... - And Camelot.- ..and Camelot.- Yes.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26- Each of them, all of them... - All long runs.- ..incredibly long runs, weren't they?- Yes.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30Fair Lady was the longest, it was two years on Broadway and then 18 months in London.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32So, three and a half years is like a long tunnel
0:08:32 > 0:08:35that you think you'll never come out the other end, you know.
0:08:35 > 0:08:36Er...
0:08:36 > 0:08:40I broke it down into sort of three-month sections.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44The first three months you're struggling to get it right and to gain control of it,
0:08:44 > 0:08:46and the next three months are just lovely,
0:08:46 > 0:08:50you're having a marvellous time and getting everything nice and sort of rosy.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52And then the next three months, er...
0:08:52 > 0:08:55you look for things and you listen to the countermelodies in the orchestra
0:08:55 > 0:08:59and you try and combat the fact that you've got a headache that night,
0:08:59 > 0:09:03or your leading man has a cold or whatever, and you find anything to keep giving you motivation.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06And then the last three months are just slog and from then on it's slog
0:09:06 > 0:09:09- and you just do anything you can to keep fresh.- Do you ever get the giggles on stage?
0:09:09 > 0:09:15Well, yes. Terribly. I mean, there were times, Rex was very naughty in My Fair Lady
0:09:15 > 0:09:19and he would kind of tease me occasionally or do things deliberately sometimes.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24And I would know that he was going to try and make me giggle. And, boy, he sure did.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28- There were a few other things too... - Tell me.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30- Go ahead, darling. - LAUGHTER
0:09:30 > 0:09:33Get out of this one! Erm...
0:09:33 > 0:09:35Oh, I can't.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37LAUGHTER
0:09:37 > 0:09:39There was one classic evening in My Fair Lady
0:09:39 > 0:09:42when...
0:09:42 > 0:09:46we were doing the famous scene at the end of the play,
0:09:46 > 0:09:49where Eliza has run away from Professor Higgins' house
0:09:49 > 0:09:52and she's gone to Mrs Higgins' house
0:09:52 > 0:09:58and Higgins comes storming in to talk to his mother and there is Eliza and, er...
0:09:58 > 0:10:01Eliza gives forth with a long, long lecture
0:10:01 > 0:10:05about the difference between a guttersnipe and a lady
0:10:05 > 0:10:08is on how she's treated and so on and so forth.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10And that evening, I don't know what happened to Rex,
0:10:10 > 0:10:13he must have eaten beans before dinner or whatever,
0:10:13 > 0:10:17but he was extremely windy, that's putting it mildly.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20And I was delivering my great speech
0:10:20 > 0:10:24and suddenly across the orchestra pit there was this machine gun volley...
0:10:24 > 0:10:26LAUGHTER
0:10:26 > 0:10:29..and that's the only way it can be described.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32And there was utter silence, the orchestra was stunned, I...
0:10:32 > 0:10:35LAUGHTER DROWNED SPEECH
0:10:35 > 0:10:40And at that precise moment, it was Mrs Higgins' turn to say,
0:10:40 > 0:10:42"Henry, dear. Please don't grind your teeth."
0:10:42 > 0:10:44LAUGHTER
0:10:49 > 0:10:53I swear, it's true. And I was absolutely gone.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57I mean, first of all I was so nervous that I was going to giggle that I was giggling anyway
0:10:57 > 0:11:01and every other line that I had to say in the scene had a double meaning from then on.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04Because I would say things like,
0:11:04 > 0:11:08"So, you are a motor bus, all bounce and go and no consideration for anyone."
0:11:08 > 0:11:12And this kind of thing and finally, and I could see the line coming closer and closer towards me,
0:11:12 > 0:11:16and all Higgins has to do in this whole scene is turn his back to the audience
0:11:16 > 0:11:19and just listen to Eliza singing and carrying on.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22And I finally went up to him and sang,
0:11:22 > 0:11:24- "No, my reverberating friend... - LAUGHTER
0:11:24 > 0:11:27"..you're not the beginning and the end." And I was gone...
0:11:29 > 0:11:33And I think it took an extra ten minutes to finish the scene that night.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38- Poor Rex Harrison. Oh, dear. - Rex Harrison!? What about me?
0:11:38 > 0:11:41Tell me, you, erm, as I say, you did
0:11:41 > 0:11:43these three great stage hits...
0:11:44 > 0:11:46..in America and here,
0:11:46 > 0:11:49and yet you never did the film version of any of them, did you?
0:11:49 > 0:11:53- I mean...- No.- ..Twiggy did Boyfriend...- Yes.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56..Vanessa Redgrave did Camelot, and Audrey Hepburn did My Fair Lady.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59- Mh-mm.- You must have been very resentful about that.
0:12:00 > 0:12:01Ah,
0:12:01 > 0:12:04I wasn't really resentful because I did understand why,
0:12:04 > 0:12:08obviously, the first one was Fair Lady, that was done...
0:12:08 > 0:12:13I understood why Audrey was chosen and I had never made a film before
0:12:13 > 0:12:16and was a complete unknown, as far as films were concerned.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18Erm, I was disappointed, I mean,
0:12:18 > 0:12:20I would have loved to have done it, obviously,
0:12:20 > 0:12:22and was hoping that I might be asked,
0:12:22 > 0:12:25but it's hard to be resentful
0:12:25 > 0:12:27when right around the corner Walt Disney happened to be waiting
0:12:27 > 0:12:30and asked me to do Mary Poppins, and, so,
0:12:30 > 0:12:32no, I couldn't be that disappointed after that,
0:12:32 > 0:12:34- I mean, that resentful after that.- Mh-mm.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36It's a very curious system, isn't it, though,
0:12:36 > 0:12:39where you have some years been very successful onstage
0:12:39 > 0:12:42with a musical, a smash hit musical, and then you pick somebody to
0:12:42 > 0:12:45play the part in the film who can't even sing.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47I mean, perhaps you can enlighten me
0:12:47 > 0:12:51as to the sort of thinking behind that because, you know...
0:12:51 > 0:12:54I think it's what Hollywood terms "box office" and, in those days...
0:12:54 > 0:12:57Yes, it wouldn't happen quite so much today.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59No, you wouldn't find it as much because you...
0:12:59 > 0:13:02- Stars are changing.- ..you don't have quite the same thinking and the
0:13:02 > 0:13:06star system is somewhat different, although it's getting back to...
0:13:07 > 0:13:10..that star system, pretty much.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14It's amazing how it's...the metamorphosis is taking place,
0:13:14 > 0:13:17- a complete cycle is coming up. - Mh-mm, yes.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20I just don't think it would happen. They called it Box Office.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24JL Warner felt that she was not box office, that Audrey Hepburn was.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27He wanted Cary Grant to play Higgins.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29- Cary Grant?- Yes.
0:13:29 > 0:13:30AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:13:30 > 0:13:33That was an inspired piece of casting, wasn't it?
0:13:33 > 0:13:35Extraordinary. What would he have sounded like?
0:13:35 > 0:13:38He would have said, "Liza, Liza, Liza..."
0:13:38 > 0:13:41AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:13:42 > 0:13:44Something like that.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47Did they... I'll tell you, I read a story which said that in fact
0:13:47 > 0:13:51when you took My Fair Lady to, erm, Broadway, that, in fact,
0:13:51 > 0:13:54you had to refine the cockney accent?
0:13:54 > 0:13:57I was hopeless at it and I never thought that my cockney
0:13:57 > 0:14:00accent was any great shakes anyway, but, erm, I did.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03I was taught cockney by an American professor of phonetics -
0:14:03 > 0:14:07- complete reversal on what the play was all about.- Really?- Yes.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11- How extraordinary.- And, erm, that's just the way it was.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13I'm not very good at accents.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15I can learn and I have a fairly quick ear
0:14:15 > 0:14:18but I can't just do things naturally like that.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20How much of a traumatic experience was that?
0:14:20 > 0:14:24- Were you, sort of, bullied into it? - Erm, no, that part of it was fine.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28The whole role was the hard thing, the enormous transitions,
0:14:28 > 0:14:30and it was a...a very difficult role
0:14:30 > 0:14:33because at one minute you were screaming
0:14:33 > 0:14:35and yelling your guts out in cockney,
0:14:35 > 0:14:38and the next minute dancing like crazy,
0:14:38 > 0:14:40and the next singing I Could Have Danced All Night in a pure soprano,
0:14:40 > 0:14:43and then doing all the very heavy dramatic scenes, as well.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45Alan Lerner once said that,
0:14:45 > 0:14:48"It's probably better to have a long run in a really superb role
0:14:48 > 0:14:54"than to do umpteen weeks in Summer stock or something like that."
0:14:54 > 0:14:55Yes.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57Going back to the Mary Poppins thing, you certainly got
0:14:57 > 0:15:00your revenge on the film industry, if one can put it that way.
0:15:00 > 0:15:05- I mean, you turned round and cocked a snook at them, didn't you, because you got an Oscar for it?- Yes.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07Erm, but, I mean, erm...
0:15:08 > 0:15:10..first of all, why did that film work,
0:15:10 > 0:15:13- do you think?- Poppins?- Mh-mm.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15Oh, erm... well, it was the first musical, I think.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19I may be wrong. It wasn't the first musical that Disney had done
0:15:19 > 0:15:22but it was the first really big one in a long, long time.
0:15:22 > 0:15:23I mean, first...
0:15:23 > 0:15:27Also, it combined that fabulous thing of animation and live action,
0:15:27 > 0:15:31and all the things, there was incredible tricks and feats in it.
0:15:31 > 0:15:32- Mh-mm.- Erm...
0:15:34 > 0:15:36..and it had a joyousness, I suppose...
0:15:36 > 0:15:40I don't really know why it worked, funny story like that.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43- It's amazing.- Well, it's enough to say it was Disney too, isn't it,
0:15:43 > 0:15:45- because he...the Disney name, and...- Yes.
0:15:45 > 0:15:47I think it was the way he mounted it, yeah.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50That Disney organisation is magic, and always has been.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52And he really did make magic. I mean, the things that they
0:15:52 > 0:15:54thought up for that film, it was amazing and...
0:15:54 > 0:15:57- Yes.- ..as a first film it was a little staggering
0:15:57 > 0:15:58because I was asked to do things like
0:15:58 > 0:16:01when the penguins are dancing with Mary Poppins and things.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04Well, of course, there were no penguins, they were all drawn later
0:16:04 > 0:16:06and done as cartoon,
0:16:06 > 0:16:08but one had to play to them as if they were on that table,
0:16:08 > 0:16:11and, you know, if you look at your hand, you look at the hand.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14- If you take the hand away, you're looking far beyond it.- Yes.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16- So, it was very difficult to pretend one was looking at them.- Yes.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19QUIRKY MUSIC PLAYS
0:16:25 > 0:16:28# When Mary holds your hand
0:16:28 > 0:16:30# You feel so grand
0:16:30 > 0:16:33# Your heart starts beating like a big brass band
0:16:36 > 0:16:39# It's a jolly holiday with Mary
0:16:39 > 0:16:42# No wonder that it's Mary that we love
0:16:43 > 0:16:46# No wonder that it's Mary that we love
0:16:47 > 0:16:52# No wonder that it's Mary that we love. #
0:16:54 > 0:16:57KAZOO MUSIC PLAYS
0:17:23 > 0:17:27- Erm, you've got a reputation also for being a practical joker.- I have?
0:17:27 > 0:17:31Yes. Erm, again, from what one reads about you. Is this true?
0:17:31 > 0:17:34Actually, I guess, of the two of us, Blake's more of a practical joker,
0:17:34 > 0:17:36I, occasionally, will do silly things
0:17:36 > 0:17:40but it usually it takes somebody like Blake or a very good friend,
0:17:40 > 0:17:42a close friend like Carol Burnett or somebody like that,
0:17:42 > 0:17:45to spark me off and then I'll really get absolutely idiotic.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47Like what sort of things? I mean, how elaborate are you
0:17:47 > 0:17:49- a practical joker? - Well, not so much a practical joke,
0:17:49 > 0:17:53just doing silly things, erm...
0:17:53 > 0:17:55There was a night when Carol Burnett and I,
0:17:55 > 0:17:58who are very close friends, she's godmother to my daughter
0:17:58 > 0:18:01and just an awfully good chum,
0:18:01 > 0:18:03and we had been asked to
0:18:03 > 0:18:07sing at President Johnson's inaugural gala in Washington.
0:18:07 > 0:18:09And, so, we had been asked to do a medley that we'd
0:18:09 > 0:18:12done on a television show, so, I came from California,
0:18:12 > 0:18:14she came from New York and we were pleased to see each other.
0:18:14 > 0:18:19And, erm, Mike Nichols, who was, IS a good friend of ours,
0:18:19 > 0:18:21was coming into the hotel also that evening
0:18:21 > 0:18:24and we left word for him to call us as soon as he arrived,
0:18:24 > 0:18:27and at about 10 o'clock at night he called and we said
0:18:27 > 0:18:30"Well, why don't you come down and join us in the suite?"
0:18:30 > 0:18:33We were having some coffee and hot chocolate and things like that,
0:18:33 > 0:18:34and he said, "I'll be right down."
0:18:34 > 0:18:36Now, Carol and I happened to be in our robes,
0:18:36 > 0:18:39we were sort of dressed casually, and we both said
0:18:39 > 0:18:42"Let's run down the corridor and meet him at the elevator
0:18:42 > 0:18:44"and surprise him.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46"There can't be many people about in the hotel at this hour."
0:18:46 > 0:18:49So, we did. Now, we sat in front of the elevator and, once you're there,
0:18:49 > 0:18:52what do you do? So, we sort of said, "Well, let's turn our toes in,
0:18:52 > 0:18:53"let's turn them out," then I said,
0:18:53 > 0:18:56"Why don't we be in a passionate embrace when the elevator doors open
0:18:56 > 0:18:58"and he'll be surprised and think it funny?"
0:18:58 > 0:19:00So, she said, "Well, who's going to be the man?"
0:19:00 > 0:19:02And so on, and I said, "Well, never mind..."
0:19:02 > 0:19:04And the elevator went "ding",
0:19:04 > 0:19:07and I said, "Quickly, quickly, let's do it!" So, Carol swept me
0:19:07 > 0:19:10down in a deep embrace and a total stranger walked out of the elevator.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:19:13 > 0:19:15And, erm, Carol sank to her knees and went round,
0:19:15 > 0:19:17behind the couch and wanted to hide.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19It was a lady that came out of the elevator,
0:19:19 > 0:19:22and she just gave us a very peculiar look and went on down the corridor.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25Well, I was laughing so hard I was crying, erm,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28the elevator went "ting" and we said,
0:19:28 > 0:19:29"Well, it MUST be Mike this time,"
0:19:29 > 0:19:31so back we went into our embrace,
0:19:31 > 0:19:33and the doors opened and it was Pat with Secret Servicemen
0:19:33 > 0:19:35who were in the hotel, and nobody stepped out
0:19:35 > 0:19:38but as the doors closed they all sort of went like that.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41- AUDIENCE LAUGHS - And, then, this lady who had come out of the elevator came all
0:19:41 > 0:19:44the way back down the corridor and said to Carol,
0:19:44 > 0:19:45"Aren't you Carol Burnett?" and Carol said,
0:19:45 > 0:19:47"Yes, but that's Mary Poppins!"
0:19:47 > 0:19:48AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:19:48 > 0:19:52And, finally, Mike...the elevator went "ting" again,
0:19:52 > 0:19:54and Mike DID step out of the elevator
0:19:54 > 0:19:56and by this time we were giggling all over the place,
0:19:56 > 0:19:59but we flung ourselves into our embrace and he just walked past us
0:19:59 > 0:20:00and said, "Oh, hi, girls."
0:20:00 > 0:20:01AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:20:01 > 0:20:03Didn't even notice.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05Marvellous, marvellous.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09What's the problem involved,
0:20:09 > 0:20:12Blake, of being married to somebody as famous as Julie?
0:20:12 > 0:20:15Because, to the public, I mean, you are, in fact, little known
0:20:15 > 0:20:18until you spell out what you've done, then people will say,
0:20:18 > 0:20:20"I've seen his films," this sort of thing.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22But you're not a public figure in the sense that she is.
0:20:22 > 0:20:27Do you ever get resentful of that, that people must meet you
0:20:27 > 0:20:30and say, "Ah, that's Mr Julie Andrews"?
0:20:30 > 0:20:33No, that doesn't bother me, I don't think it ever has.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36As a matter of fact, it kind of amuses me.
0:20:36 > 0:20:41The only thing I think...upsets me at all is,
0:20:41 > 0:20:44and not so much, now, because our whole lifestyle has changed,
0:20:44 > 0:20:45but, in the beginning,
0:20:45 > 0:20:50I was required to go to various functions with her and I hate that.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53- JULIE LAUGHS - I mean, I hate the fact that you've got a suit on
0:20:53 > 0:20:56because I never wear one. It's a nice suit, Michael...
0:20:56 > 0:20:58Just feeling inadequate, that's all right.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02But, I really despise going to dinner parties
0:21:02 > 0:21:04- and things like that... - We both do, actually.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07- Do you?- ..it's just not the way I like to live and, fortunately,
0:21:07 > 0:21:08it's not the way she does either.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10In the beginning, I kind of had to tag along
0:21:10 > 0:21:12and put up with all of those lights,
0:21:12 > 0:21:16and there was a lot of criticism about the relationship
0:21:16 > 0:21:20and the marriage, and things like that, which...in the press.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23THAT got me up a little tight.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26But in terms of being Mr Andrews or
0:21:26 > 0:21:27the husband who is little known,
0:21:27 > 0:21:29married to a big star...
0:21:29 > 0:21:32Listen, as long as she's making the money it's great with me.
0:21:32 > 0:21:33AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:21:33 > 0:21:36Erm, you mentioned there something that must, again, affect you,
0:21:36 > 0:21:38as well, which is press criticism.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41You've said about the time of your marriage and this sort of thing.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43How do both of you react to press criticism?
0:21:43 > 0:21:46What about you, Julie, does it bring the worst out in you
0:21:46 > 0:21:49when people say things about you that you know are not true?
0:21:49 > 0:21:52Criticism in the form of a review for a film doesn't really bother me.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56I mean, obviously, one hopes that people will like it or that the press will like it,
0:21:56 > 0:21:59but the kind of things that make me
0:21:59 > 0:22:02very angry are what I call the "gutter press",
0:22:02 > 0:22:05the columnists, people who just write
0:22:05 > 0:22:09anything for the sake of gossip and it CAN be tremendously hurtful.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13I know there was a time in Hollywood when it seemed that I was the target
0:22:13 > 0:22:16for everyone and it was very hard on my children in school
0:22:16 > 0:22:18and things like that. They had to contend with it too,
0:22:18 > 0:22:21it wasn't just me, and I got mad about that.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23Mh-mm. Why were you the target?
0:22:23 > 0:22:26I think, possibly, because I was, you know, Miss Pollyanna
0:22:26 > 0:22:29and Mary Poppins and everything else, the image was that,
0:22:29 > 0:22:31and, erm, it was about time to tilt.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33Also, they'd run out of good things to write, you know.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37It doesn't become news anymore. They've said all the good things, now how do we...what do we do?
0:22:37 > 0:22:40- Obviously we attack.- I think after a measure of success
0:22:40 > 0:22:42people feel that it's about time you had your douse of,
0:22:42 > 0:22:45- you know...- She's one of the few people that took some of those
0:22:45 > 0:22:48atrocious magazines to task legally,
0:22:48 > 0:22:51against advice from agents,
0:22:51 > 0:22:53attorneys, everybody saying, "Don't do it, you can't win."
0:22:53 > 0:22:57Friends said, "Don't get involved in that, it'll be dirty."
0:22:57 > 0:23:02And because these two particular magazines chose to attack
0:23:02 > 0:23:05her on a level that was really, erm...
0:23:07 > 0:23:08..reprehensible,
0:23:08 > 0:23:10it was a terrible thing that they were really doing,
0:23:10 > 0:23:14because one implied that she was not a good mother, that she
0:23:14 > 0:23:17did certain things with her child, that...
0:23:17 > 0:23:19Really horrendous.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22The other, interestingly enough, at first,
0:23:22 > 0:23:24we both just laughed about,
0:23:24 > 0:23:29accused her of having an illicit affair, or an affair,
0:23:29 > 0:23:32an affair with Sidney Poitier, like this was going to be
0:23:32 > 0:23:34something terrible.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38And my response to that was, "Jesus, baby, if you're finding time,
0:23:38 > 0:23:41"based on our relationship, you're quite a lady!"
0:23:41 > 0:23:44AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:23:44 > 0:23:47And Sidney is an old friend, Julie doesn't even know him,
0:23:47 > 0:23:49she met him once, and it kept going...
0:23:49 > 0:23:51But what made me angry was that they implied that
0:23:51 > 0:23:53I could be persuaded to terminate the affair...
0:23:53 > 0:23:56Yeah, well, that's what I was getting to,
0:23:56 > 0:23:57that what REALLY happened,
0:23:57 > 0:24:02what really then turned the table was that they implied that she
0:24:02 > 0:24:06was forced to terminate the affair because the studio,
0:24:06 > 0:24:10the big bosses, said that the image of she and Sidney would be
0:24:10 > 0:24:14bad for her box office-wise, and that, therefore, she terminated it.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17And she got so angry, for Sidney's sake,
0:24:17 > 0:24:19and for the whole idea that something like that...
0:24:19 > 0:24:21- Could be written. - ..could be written.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25- That's an appalling thing to do.- But she sued them and by God she won.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27- It's extraordinary, that. - Oh, it's terrible.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29It's almost unbelievable, isn't it?
0:24:29 > 0:24:35She's a lady who seldom verbalises her displeasure with these people,
0:24:35 > 0:24:39but once, a particular lady in Hollywood who,
0:24:39 > 0:24:42for some reason, we don't know cos we don't know the lady,
0:24:42 > 0:24:44has viciously attacked both of us
0:24:44 > 0:24:48and constantly in the worst possible way.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51And I feel sorry for the lady because obviously she's got
0:24:51 > 0:24:54a great problem, and I've seen her,
0:24:54 > 0:24:56and she DOES have a great problem.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:24:59 > 0:25:00But, erm...
0:25:01 > 0:25:06..one time she wrote something and it got to us
0:25:06 > 0:25:10vis-a-vis the usual route of friends and everything,
0:25:10 > 0:25:12and I was...Julie was in the bathroom and I was
0:25:12 > 0:25:14- sitting on the bed... - See, I do go to the bathroom!
0:25:14 > 0:25:17- AUDIENCE LAUGHS - I said you were in the bathroom, darling,
0:25:17 > 0:25:19I didn't say you were going!
0:25:19 > 0:25:23..and I said, erm...
0:25:23 > 0:25:25"What do you think about that?"
0:25:25 > 0:25:27For the first time, she really came out with something.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31She said, very properly, "You know what that lady needs?
0:25:31 > 0:25:33"She needs open heart surgery
0:25:33 > 0:25:35"and they should go in through her feet!"
0:25:35 > 0:25:37AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:25:37 > 0:25:41It was at this time that I appeared with Julie in the 1974 film,
0:25:41 > 0:25:43The Tamarind Seed.
0:25:43 > 0:25:45It was an amazing experience.
0:25:45 > 0:25:50Julie was terrific to work with, and, above all, great fun.
0:25:50 > 0:25:55Afterwards, she took a five-year break from film-making
0:25:55 > 0:25:59and she added to her family by adopting two girls from Vietnam.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02But she did manage a return to the London stage
0:26:02 > 0:26:07which she discussed with Sue Lawley on the Tonight programme in 1976.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11And how do you face the prospect of facing a real live audience
0:26:11 > 0:26:15- for the first time for so long?- I am very scared.- Are you?
0:26:15 > 0:26:19Yes, I am. There are days when I get very excited and very thrilled.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23The greater part of me is looking forward to it a lot but I must say
0:26:23 > 0:26:26I think I'm going to be awfully nervous for a couple of nights.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30Yes, but you know you'll go out there in the end and it'll come from somewhere.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32I'll go out, I don't know if my legs will buckle or not.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35You first appeared, of course, at the Palladium,
0:26:35 > 0:26:37in a Royal Variety Performance when you were 12.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41How did you come to be there? How did you earn your place there?
0:26:41 > 0:26:45Erm, the very first show
0:26:45 > 0:26:47I ever appeared in was at the London Hippodrome
0:26:47 > 0:26:49and I was a sort of overnight success.
0:26:49 > 0:26:54I sang one song for two performances each night
0:26:54 > 0:26:58and I guess it came to the attention of the committee that gets people
0:26:58 > 0:27:00to do the Royal Command performances and so I was asked to do it.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02What was that song?
0:27:02 > 0:27:05Er, it was a song called the Polonaise from Mignon which was
0:27:05 > 0:27:09lots of coloratura and a sort of very cut version of the coloratura.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12- And could you sing it now?- NO! Good heavens, no.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14Why? It's beyond you now?
0:27:14 > 0:27:16Yes, it had lots of vocal gymnastics
0:27:16 > 0:27:20and I had a sort of voice with an enormous range
0:27:20 > 0:27:23when I was much younger, when I was a child.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26Yes, the word "freak" has been used about your voice then for some
0:27:26 > 0:27:29- reason.- Yes.- Why was it freaky? - Because it was rather freaky.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32I had about a five-octave range
0:27:32 > 0:27:35and I could do all sorts of things with it, as I say.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39And then as I matured my voice kind of got warmer and more normal
0:27:39 > 0:27:45and all those high, high notes disappeared, thank God.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49Your mother has said of you that, as a child you were, and I quote,
0:27:49 > 0:27:53"boss-eyed, bow-legged and buck-toothed". Now, is that right?
0:27:53 > 0:27:55- Absolutely, yes.- I can't believe it.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58What happened to all those deformities?
0:27:58 > 0:28:00Er, boss-eyed, buck-toothed and bandy-legged.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03- Yes, I could add a few more to that. - What happened?
0:28:03 > 0:28:05Well, I guess as a career blossomed,
0:28:05 > 0:28:09I guess I wore braces on my teeth, like a lot of other teenagers,
0:28:09 > 0:28:12and ballet seemed to help the legs a little bit.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16Erm, and I don't know about the eye, it does wander from time to time.
0:28:16 > 0:28:17SUE LAUGHS
0:28:17 > 0:28:19Can we talk, for a moment, about your image?
0:28:19 > 0:28:22I mean the one thing that everyone thinks of Julie Andrews...
0:28:22 > 0:28:25Well, they think of... Julie Andrews is Mary Poppins. She is prim,
0:28:25 > 0:28:28she is nice, she is really proper.
0:28:28 > 0:28:29Are you all those things?
0:28:31 > 0:28:35Oh, gosh, you would have to ask my husband about that, I think.
0:28:35 > 0:28:37I hope I'm not quite as prim and proper
0:28:37 > 0:28:39as a lot of people make me out to be.
0:28:39 > 0:28:43I think that when you're exposed a lot in an industry,
0:28:43 > 0:28:46when you make a certain number of films and certain things
0:28:46 > 0:28:50become obvious and one is slightly bracketed, but, erm...
0:28:50 > 0:28:52Does that annoy you, that sort of bracketing?
0:28:52 > 0:28:55I mean people won't let you get away from that image, I mean...
0:28:55 > 0:28:58We'll see when I get to the Palladium, maybe they will.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02Erm, no, I can't knock the image because things like
0:29:02 > 0:29:04The Sound Of Music were wonderful films
0:29:04 > 0:29:08and gave a lot of people a lot of pleasure and things like that.
0:29:08 > 0:29:12I'd like to be allowed to extend myself and do other things, yes.
0:29:12 > 0:29:13I mean, you have tried, haven't you,
0:29:13 > 0:29:17in that you made the Hitchcock film with Paul Newman, Torn Curtain.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20- Yes.- You made The Tamarind Seed with your husband directing.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22Those were very straight roles.
0:29:22 > 0:29:24And I enjoyed doing them very much indeed, yes.
0:29:24 > 0:29:26But you weren't as successful in them
0:29:26 > 0:29:29as you are in your Mary Poppins thoroughly modern-movie roles.
0:29:29 > 0:29:33Maybe, yes, or maybe it's that musicals are very enjoyable
0:29:33 > 0:29:35and naturally much bigger successes too.
0:29:35 > 0:29:37Though I understand what you're saying.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40But does that upset you? What I'm saying is,
0:29:40 > 0:29:43would you like to feel free or be allowed to be free by your public?
0:29:43 > 0:29:46To be accepted as a straight actress?
0:29:46 > 0:29:49- Or do you think that is not where your talent lies?- I think...
0:29:49 > 0:29:52Oh, that's an awfully hard question to answer,
0:29:52 > 0:29:59in that I suppose choice of material dictates a lot and I think if,
0:29:59 > 0:30:03hopefully if I do a job well the public will enjoy it
0:30:03 > 0:30:08and I just... I suppose in my early career, happened to do an awful lot
0:30:08 > 0:30:13of lovely, romantic or, you know, governess-like roles and so on.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16Do you ever wish you hadn't done it? I mean, money apart.
0:30:16 > 0:30:17No, never. I must be truthful.
0:30:17 > 0:30:20Although I do giggle and there's an awful lot of teasing in
0:30:20 > 0:30:23the family about my image and things like that, I don't regret it at all.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26- Is there? What do your children think of your image?- Hmm.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32- Do they think of you as the governess?- No-no, they don't.
0:30:32 > 0:30:36No, I think they know that I'm Mum at home and that's something else.
0:30:36 > 0:30:37Work.
0:30:37 > 0:30:41You also have done quite a lot of television in the States
0:30:41 > 0:30:44- so your spectacular The Julie Andrews Hour.- Mm-hmm.
0:30:44 > 0:30:46And you got seven Emmys for that.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50That was transmitted over here and was not as outstandingly successful
0:30:50 > 0:30:52as it had been in the States. I wonder why that was.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55I think, just, right off the top of my head,
0:30:55 > 0:30:56there would be two reasons for that.
0:30:56 > 0:30:59One is that it was geared to an American audience
0:30:59 > 0:31:02and American humour is slightly different to the English
0:31:02 > 0:31:04sense of humour, which I found out, most interestingly,
0:31:04 > 0:31:07when I played My Fair Lady on Broadway and then came
0:31:07 > 0:31:10to London with it and people laughed in totally different places.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12It was a whole other kind of show.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15But I think that was one slight thing.
0:31:15 > 0:31:17And also, it never seemed to be on at an hour
0:31:17 > 0:31:18when a family could really enjoy it.
0:31:18 > 0:31:20It was either on at ten in the evening...
0:31:20 > 0:31:21And it was a family hour.
0:31:21 > 0:31:23..or, you know, five 30 when nobody had come home.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26It just seems so ironic, though, because you're almost
0:31:26 > 0:31:28- a British institution and yet it didn't happen.- Yes.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31Well, there probably were a lot of other reasons that I'm not
0:31:31 > 0:31:33aware of but I think that might have been two.
0:31:33 > 0:31:35Perhaps it was just too American for us.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38Perhaps they Americanised their ideal of the English lady.
0:31:38 > 0:31:40I don't know, yes, I guess so.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44Can we touch, briefly for a moment, on your personal life?
0:31:44 > 0:31:50Erm, you, I think the Andre Previn and Yul Brynner before you,
0:31:50 > 0:31:54- adopted Vietnamese orphans and now you've adopted two.- Yes.
0:31:54 > 0:31:56Why did you do that? What made you want to?
0:31:56 > 0:32:00Well, we wanted children and we had been involved...
0:32:00 > 0:32:05Blake, my husband, and I had been involved with a group in America,
0:32:05 > 0:32:07when we were living there,
0:32:07 > 0:32:09called the Committee of Responsibility,
0:32:09 > 0:32:12which brought a lot of war-wounded Vietnamese children
0:32:12 > 0:32:14to America for surgery for things that...
0:32:15 > 0:32:19Like paraplegics and skin grafting operations,
0:32:19 > 0:32:22things that couldn't be done in Saigon.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25And, er, we became aware of how lovely the Vietnamese
0:32:25 > 0:32:29children are and very nearly adopted at that time
0:32:29 > 0:32:31but we were newly married
0:32:31 > 0:32:34and had our own children who were adjusting to that, so we didn't.
0:32:34 > 0:32:39And when discussion arose about adopting, the Previns
0:32:39 > 0:32:40said that they would help us
0:32:40 > 0:32:43and they knew an agency which dealt with Vietnamese children.
0:32:43 > 0:32:45And we said, "Well, any child is a child,
0:32:45 > 0:32:48"why not a Vietnamese?" And that's how it started.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51And do you find that you've got enough time to spend with them,
0:32:51 > 0:32:55- are you...?- Oh, I'm enjoying them immensely! Yes, they're lovely.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58The second child came very quickly because, you know,
0:32:58 > 0:33:01Saigon fell and we just wrote off and said,
0:33:01 > 0:33:03"Oh, if you'd care to send us another baby,
0:33:03 > 0:33:06"as soon as possible, do." And we were hoping that maybe
0:33:06 > 0:33:08a couple of years would go by and we would adopt again
0:33:08 > 0:33:13but when we saw the danger signals we got down to it much faster.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16So they're just 11 months apart and they're lovely.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18As Julie said there,
0:33:18 > 0:33:20she was helped with her daughter's adoption by her friend,
0:33:20 > 0:33:26the composer Andre Previn and his then wife, the actress Mia Farrow.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30In 1977, Julie would join both of them for a conversation
0:33:30 > 0:33:35in front of cameras on a programme called Andre Previn Meets.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41Let me ask you something, er, Julie.
0:33:41 > 0:33:46When you played the Palladium just now, you came on stage as yourself.
0:33:46 > 0:33:48Now, you've had, God knows, endless stage experience,
0:33:48 > 0:33:51but did you ever come out on stage before, as yourself, or were
0:33:51 > 0:33:54you always playing a part?
0:33:54 > 0:33:58Er, in my teens when I was doing music hall with my family
0:33:58 > 0:34:01and later alone, I was myself.
0:34:01 > 0:34:08But then I was a sort of child prodigy and trying to look younger than I was
0:34:08 > 0:34:11and I was very, very scared of audiences
0:34:11 > 0:34:14and I found this last Palladium stint was a very interesting time
0:34:14 > 0:34:17because I wanted to see if I would still be as nervous being me
0:34:17 > 0:34:20because since my teens I haven't done anything that...
0:34:20 > 0:34:23- And were you?- Yes. Terrified! - Really?- More or was it worse?
0:34:23 > 0:34:27Well, the thing that staggered me and helped tremendously was
0:34:27 > 0:34:30the enormous amount of love that came from the audience.
0:34:30 > 0:34:34I'd always, in previous years, had to kind of earn the applause
0:34:34 > 0:34:39or earn the approval and I just got it before I even started.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42You had that famous standing ovation as she walked on.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46It was like a block that hit me and Blake said I came onto the stage
0:34:46 > 0:34:48on the first night and just sort of stood there in shock
0:34:48 > 0:34:51and I thought, "Wow! I'd better be good!"
0:34:51 > 0:34:53No, but does it in fact make you more nervous?
0:34:53 > 0:34:54You know, to have to prove it.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57Or isn't it very comforting to know that they love you that
0:34:57 > 0:35:01- much before you start?- Erm, it's both. But I think as the...
0:35:01 > 0:35:04I was there for, like, ten days and as the ten days wore on then
0:35:04 > 0:35:07I settled down and actually became more nervous
0:35:07 > 0:35:09because then I started to examine myself.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12Did I like opening up, just me?
0:35:12 > 0:35:14I wasn't playing a role, it was just me.
0:35:14 > 0:35:17And I think I liked hiding behind a role better.
0:35:17 > 0:35:21It was harder to appear natural because it's, in a way, unnatural.
0:35:21 > 0:35:25I mean, it's not, I guess us three chatting here are not
0:35:25 > 0:35:29exactly as natural as we'd be in your living room by the fire.
0:35:29 > 0:35:31- Not quite as natural. - No, I should hope not.
0:35:31 > 0:35:33LAUGHTER
0:35:33 > 0:35:34And delivering songs as yourself.
0:35:34 > 0:35:37That isn't a natural thing, to express yourself that broadly.
0:35:37 > 0:35:41No, if you're singing it as Eliza or whatever, you're singing
0:35:41 > 0:35:44a particular emotion or whatever.
0:35:44 > 0:35:45I hide behind the words of the song,
0:35:45 > 0:35:48which is lovely, and, depending on the songs, it was fine.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50But sometimes it was very, very hard.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53It's actually easier, is it, to come out and pretend to be someone else?
0:35:53 > 0:35:55Because, I mean, I've been accused of being very facile
0:35:55 > 0:35:58when I come out and I'm myself and I can talk for hours.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01Whether it's interesting or not has nothing to do with it.
0:36:01 > 0:36:03- It's easy for me. - It doesn't bother you.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06But if I had to come on and actually say, "Tennis anyone?"
0:36:06 > 0:36:08I would fall down dead with fear.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12- What was the first thing you ever appeared as?- The first thing...
0:36:12 > 0:36:15- I think it was a mushroom. - LAUGHTER
0:36:15 > 0:36:19And I was the egg in Humpty Dumpty so we should have made an omelette.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22- Ah, but you were THE egg. - Yes, you were the lead.
0:36:22 > 0:36:24- That's the hunter-gatherer of the eggs! - LAUGHTER
0:36:24 > 0:36:28Well, do you know about something, I really did want to know this.
0:36:28 > 0:36:30Now you were...
0:36:30 > 0:36:33The thing I read in the paper is that you had not been on stage in,
0:36:33 > 0:36:37- was it 15 years?- Something like 17 years.- 17 years. But before that...
0:36:37 > 0:36:39I mean, it seems to me you went on the stage when you were,
0:36:39 > 0:36:43you know, 15 minutes old, and stayed there.
0:36:43 > 0:36:48Now, by the time you left the stage to go into movies and television,
0:36:48 > 0:36:52surely it must've been part of your everyday blood to be on stage
0:36:52 > 0:36:55so how come... I mean, notwithstanding all the successful
0:36:55 > 0:36:59films and everything. How come you stayed away from it for so long?
0:36:59 > 0:37:00Did you ever miss it?
0:37:00 > 0:37:01Only when I saw something
0:37:01 > 0:37:05so terrific that I got that tremendous urge to be part of it.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08You know, there is a tremendous thrill once in a while
0:37:08 > 0:37:10when somebody's really enjoying something or when
0:37:10 > 0:37:13I saw a fabulous musical I'd say, "Oh, how wonderful to be able
0:37:13 > 0:37:15"to create that feeling in people!"
0:37:15 > 0:37:17- But you did miss playing to a live audience?- No.
0:37:17 > 0:37:23In fact, I think that, for me, film, making films, suddenly became...
0:37:23 > 0:37:26It suddenly became the medium that I liked to do the most
0:37:26 > 0:37:30because it's private and quiet and you can do it until it's right
0:37:30 > 0:37:32and you don't have an audience watching
0:37:32 > 0:37:34and you send it out to an audience later
0:37:34 > 0:37:37but in the meantime you can work on it till you get it right.
0:37:37 > 0:37:38And that seems to be lovely.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41- But, surely, I mean, I've been on sets...- I always felt I had to...
0:37:41 > 0:37:44Sorry, Andre. ..just to pull myself up to meet an audience.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47It was like almost more than I could quite make to face
0:37:47 > 0:37:51an audience. Somehow in film it was just easy.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54And the people that are standing about on a set don't
0:37:54 > 0:37:55get into your eye line at all?
0:37:55 > 0:37:58But they're so busy being professional and doing their job
0:37:58 > 0:38:00and seeing that the camera fits its mark, you know.
0:38:00 > 0:38:02They're the most cosy people to work with.
0:38:02 > 0:38:07You never get the feeling that they're sitting as a block,
0:38:07 > 0:38:10you know, saying, "Show us!" You know, it's not that at all.
0:38:10 > 0:38:14Julie's return to movies a few years later did see
0:38:14 > 0:38:17the beginnings of an attempt to change that public image.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21"I hate the word wholesome!" she would say.
0:38:21 > 0:38:25She had a string of hits directed by her husband, Blake Edwards.
0:38:26 > 0:38:3110, S.O.B, which, of course, included her first nude scene,
0:38:31 > 0:38:36and Victor Victoria, for which she won a Best Actress Golden Globe.
0:38:36 > 0:38:42In 1997, a botched throat operation permanently damaged her singing
0:38:42 > 0:38:48voice, affecting that incredible range and her ability to hold notes.
0:38:48 > 0:38:50But it didn't stop her working.
0:38:50 > 0:38:54In 2000, she, along with Elizabeth Taylor,
0:38:54 > 0:38:58was made a dame for her services to the performing arts and that same
0:38:58 > 0:39:04year she was talking to Jonathan Ross about her new film, Relative Values.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08What was it that tempted you to Relative Values?
0:39:08 > 0:39:11Erm, oh, gosh, nice role. Noel Coward.
0:39:11 > 0:39:16Wonderful new, young director whom I admire. Why wouldn't I say yes?
0:39:16 > 0:39:19- And, of course, you knew Coward, I believe.- Yes, I did.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22Erm, not terribly well
0:39:22 > 0:39:26but well enough that we would bump into each other at parties
0:39:26 > 0:39:27and he would come backstage at My Fair Lady
0:39:27 > 0:39:30when I was doing it on Broadway and here in England too.
0:39:30 > 0:39:32Would he have approved of this version, do you think?
0:39:32 > 0:39:35I think he would, I think he would have approved of the way it's
0:39:35 > 0:39:38been adapted for the screen because it's just opened up beautifully.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42- Yeah, they have broadened it out, I mean...- Yes.- ..it's not one of those films were you can say,
0:39:42 > 0:39:46- "Yes, this was a play."- Right. Also, it's very loyal, faithful to him.
0:39:46 > 0:39:47It really feels like Coward.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49The dialogue zips along.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52- Here you have something which is a, it's a period comedy.- Right.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55It's a comedy which is not only set in a specific period,
0:39:55 > 0:39:58and they're pretty faithful to that, but also actually the humour
0:39:58 > 0:40:00- grows out of the situation of that period.- Right.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03Was there a concern that maybe a modern audience might find
0:40:03 > 0:40:06it hard to accept that class was ever such an issue?
0:40:06 > 0:40:11I don't think so. I think it's as relevant today as it was then, in a way.
0:40:11 > 0:40:15Those things still exist. Subculture, I suspect.
0:40:15 > 0:40:16Erm, I think people will get it.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19Erm, let me ask you about some of your other movies
0:40:19 > 0:40:20and your long career in cinema.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23Erm, because, of course, I think you're probably best known for two
0:40:23 > 0:40:26roles which will always be Mary Poppins and Maria Von Trapp.
0:40:26 > 0:40:27Right.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29But you've worked right across the board.
0:40:29 > 0:40:33The adult comedies of recent years like 10 and S.O.B and Victor Victoria.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36You worked with Hitchcock in Torn Curtain.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38Are you resigned to the fact that you will always be
0:40:38 > 0:40:41- remembered as Mary Poppins? - I'm not resigned to it.
0:40:41 > 0:40:43By that I mean I don't knock it ever.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46I'm thrilled to have been a part of those movies.
0:40:46 > 0:40:50Er, I think in as much as it prevented some producers from
0:40:50 > 0:40:54thinking of me in any other kind of role it might have been detrimental.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57But how can you knock something that's given so many people
0:40:57 > 0:40:58so much pleasure? Including me.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01Yeah. Well, Mary Poppins is still such a firm favourite in my house.
0:41:01 > 0:41:04- Good.- I'll give you a little burst of it later.- Oh, terrific!
0:41:04 > 0:41:08- I can't wait.- Erm, are you aware of this huge revival interest in these
0:41:08 > 0:41:12- kind of sing-along evenings?- I know, the karaoke Sound Of Music, yeah.
0:41:12 > 0:41:14Are you tempted not to just go along in disguise?
0:41:14 > 0:41:15I am absolutely tempted.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19In fact, don't be surprised if I do show up one night!
0:41:19 > 0:41:22I'm just wondering whether to go as myself or in disguise.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25Go as one of the Nazis, that'll really turn it all around for you.
0:41:25 > 0:41:27Good idea. But what if they spot me? That's terrible!
0:41:27 > 0:41:30- If they say, "Oh, that's really Julie Andrews."- Then you can finally
0:41:30 > 0:41:33catch those kids and tell them what you really thought of them.
0:41:33 > 0:41:35Despite the damage to her singing voice,
0:41:35 > 0:41:39it's vocal performances that have kept Julie busy in recent years.
0:41:41 > 0:41:45In the Shrek films, Despicable Me and Enchanted.
0:41:46 > 0:41:50And thanks to them and the permanent appeal of Mary Poppins
0:41:50 > 0:41:55and The Sound Of Music, Dame Julie Andrews has remained,
0:41:55 > 0:42:00like the song, a favourite thing for both her original fans
0:42:00 > 0:42:03and a whole new generation of film lovers.