Julie Andrews

At the end of class on Thursday, we were introduced to women in music. One of the dozens of female artists who have impacted me is Julie Andrews. My first exposure to the wonderful world of musical theatre was through Julie Andrews. She was the title role in Mary Poppins as well as Maria in The Sound of Music.  

Mary Poppins is and will always be one of my favorite movies. I remember coming home from preschool and putting the VHS tape in the rewinder, popping it into the slot, and being thoroughly entranced.  

For those who don’t know, Mary Poppins is a musical about a magical British nanny who is practically perfect in every way. She is strict but with the help of the chimney sweep Burt, takes the two children she nannies on adventures.  

Andrews’ won the Academy Award for Best Actress, as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Drama.  

Andrews also starred in The Sound of Music. It ended up being the highest grossing film of the year. Andrews won her second Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Drama.  

The Sound of Music is about a young woman studying to be a nun in Austria in the late 1930’s. She is sent to the home of a former naval officer to care for him and his late wife’s children. She teaches the children to love music and ends up marrying the father. The film ends with the family fleeing Austria and the rise of Hitler’s Nazi regime.  

Both films were a large part of my childhood. Andrews’ voice was clean and beautiful. It inspired me to sing as a child. After having a surgery to remove nodules in her throat, she lost her singing voice forever. But she found a new way to use her voice. Instead of singing, she began writing children’s books.  

Even though Andrews didn’t write the music in her movies, they still meant so much to me as a child. She inspired me to sing, and I cannot begin to thank her for that!