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Julie Andrews is explaining what's different about singing.
"Singing is such a mysterious, wonderful thing. It's nothing you can see. It's not like you can take a class with other people. Even the consummate dancers can look in a mirror and improve the line of what they do. Singing is really kind of opening up your insides and letting it out."
Of course, the word isn't "dancers" as Americans pronounce it. When Julie Andrews says the word, it still has that British sound of something like "dawncers."
Julie is responding to my question about a writer who said when Julie sings, "her sweet sad soul comes out and rummages around in yours."
"What does he mean by that? I suppose he means there's a melancholy in a lot of us, and maybe he identified with that in some way. I really don't know," she says, then adds, "I think when you get to my age, you've certainly been through all sorts of experiences, and I guess you translate. I get moved when I hear singers who do that, and I hope very much that I have
arrived
or will arrive at the same thing."
There's not much question about arriving.
Julie Andrews' career began--impossible as it is to believe--almost 50 years ago in 1947 when 12-year-old Julie Wells (she later adopted the name of her stepfather, Ted Andrews) appeared in her London stage debut at the Hippodrome in the Starlight Roof revue. Earlier, at eight, she already had developed a full larynx with a four-octave voice.
"For some reason, I had this freakish voice. I was sort of a child prodigy who had a really strong voice and a very large vocal range," Julie remembers.
By the time she was 19, she already had crossed the Atlantic and was on Broadway, starring in The Boy Friend. Two years later came My Fair Lady and her role as Eliza Doolittle with Rex Harrison, for which she won the New York Drama Critics Award as best actress in a musical. Immediately following was Camelot, with Julie as Guinevere opposite Richard Burton. Following these New York hits, Julie was summoned to Hollywood by Walt Disney for Mary Poppins. For this first screen role, Julie received the 1964 Oscar...