Julie Andrews, whose career spans more than 50 years, takes center stage again
this week as she is honored with the Screen Actors Guild's 43rd Life Achievement
Award, given for acting excellence and humanitarian accomplishment. (The
ceremonies will be telecast Sunday night at 8 on TBS and TNT.)
Since
1995, SAG has also presented annual awards for outstanding performers in
theatrical movies and prime-time TV.
Andrews, 71, was a teenager when she first
appeared on Broadway, where she later brought "My Fair Lady" and "Camelot" to
life. She has starred in a multitude of stage, TV and movie roles, including the
Oscar-winning "Mary Poppins."
"It's all gone so quickly and wonderfully,
and it's been so fascinating," Andrews said. "I've learned so much about
survival and acting. Every single role has been enjoyable for one reason or
another, whether [it's] the director or the screenplay or the
people."
Andrews has starred in theatrical films such as "The Sound of
Music," "Victor/Victoria," "10," "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and "The Princess
Diaries," and she provided the voice of Queen Lillian in "Shrek 2." She's also
co-written children's books with her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton.
"I
used to make up stories as a kid, but I am only just beginning to consider it my
day job," she said.
Her most recent book with her daughter, "The Great
American Mousical," was a bestseller. "Literally, there was a mouse in my
theater and some witty fellow said, 'He probably came up to gawk at the stars,'"
said Andrews, who saw the book as a way to give children a behind-the-scenes
look at the world of theater.
When she's not writing or performing,
Andrews also serves as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development
Fund for Women.
With her filmmaker husband Blake Edwards, she is a
founding board member of Operation USA, which provides disaster relief and
development assistance to needy communities around the world.
Andrews,
whose elegant singing voice was all-but silenced after 1998 surgery on her vocal
cords went wrong, said she was surprised by the SAG honor, given annually to the
actor who best embodies the profession's ideals.
Doing work on the stage
is an entirely different experience than acting in films or on TV, Andrews
said.
"One is a phenomenal communication with an audience, and the other
is in a much quieter setting with your fellow actors," she said.
"One is
that full sweep every evening and afternoon, and the other is tiny little jigsaw
puzzles you will have made into something bigger." Although she no longer has
her soprano voice, Andrews said she's still "able to get out a few low notes."
She said she misses singing with an orchestra and "conveying the beauty of
music."
"I miss the giving, the sheer ecstasy," Andrews said. "I'm glad
it happened later in my career [rather] than sooner."
