Speaker 1: Next Question with Katie Kuric is a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Katie Kuric Media. Hi everyone, I'm Katie
Speaker 1: Curic and welcome to Next Question, where we try to
Speaker 1: understand the complicated world we're living in and the crazy
Speaker 1: things that are happening by asking questions and by listening
Speaker 1: to people who really know what they're talking about. At times,
Speaker 1: it may lead to some pretty uncomfortable conversations, but stick
Speaker 1: with me, everyone, let's all learn together. When I told
Speaker 1: people about my plans to interview my next guest, the
Speaker 1: response was overwhelming. Everyone I talked to, regardless of their age,
Speaker 1: pretty much lost it. In fact, my twenty two year
Speaker 1: old assistant, Adriana, started crying when he heard the news.
Speaker 1: Not that I blame her. My inner seven year old
Speaker 1: was also freaking out about the chance to interview someone who,
Speaker 1: even after more than six decades, continues to delight kids
Speaker 1: of all ages through some of the most iconic characters
Speaker 1: to ever grace the big screen, like Mary Poppins it's superfragilistic,
Speaker 1: it's the alidosis, even though the sound of it is
Speaker 1: something quite a fruit, or my personal favorite, Maria the
Speaker 1: nun in training turned governess who captures the heart of
Speaker 1: one Captain von Trapp in pre World War two Austria,
Speaker 1: A love with the song of Musing. That's right. I
Speaker 1: got to sit down with the one and only Julie Andrews,
Speaker 1: who recently published memoir number two about her life in Hollywood, motherhood,
Speaker 1: and her marriage to the late Blake Edwards. Yeah, he's
Speaker 1: one cool cat too. He directed all those Pink Panther movies,
Speaker 1: among others. But back to Julie's book, which she co
Speaker 1: authored with daughter Emma Walton Hamilton's. It's called Homework, and
Speaker 1: it's a funny, moving, surprisingly relatable account of a woman
Speaker 1: figuring out her ace in the world, aren't we all.
Speaker 1: We talked about memoir writing, how therapy can change your life,
Speaker 1: supporting a spouse, battling addiction, and her friendships with legends
Speaker 1: like Carol Burnett and Elizabeth Taylor, all in an effort
Speaker 1: to answer my next question, When and how did Julie
Speaker 1: Andrews become the icon she is today. Julie, I'm so
Speaker 1: excited to have you here, to be with you, and
Speaker 1: I cannot tell you how many people were even more
Speaker 1: excited than I am right now looking forward to seeing
Speaker 1: you all day. You have legions of fans, and what
Speaker 1: I found so striking is everyone from your contemporary and
Speaker 1: my contemporaries to two young kids that only remember the
Speaker 1: Princess Diaries. Well, no, who live for the sound of music.
Speaker 1: My assistant Adrianna has thirteen copies of the Sound of
Speaker 1: Music and went to the Sound of Music sing along
Speaker 1: for her birthday. Everyone in my office was so pumped
Speaker 1: that I was doing this, so thank you. It's a
Speaker 1: great pleasure. Let's talk about this memoir. Your first one
Speaker 1: came out in two thousand and eight, so it's been
Speaker 1: eleven years. Why did you decide to publish the second
Speaker 1: installment now? And is there a time frame you had
Speaker 1: in mind or is this just how long it took. Well, no,
Speaker 1: it didn't quite take a living but to take about
Speaker 1: three The publishers were patiently waiting for it and postponing
Speaker 1: for me when a day job got in the way
Speaker 1: of writing. Right. But I couldn't have written it without
Speaker 1: my lovely daughter Emma, who actually helped me with the
Speaker 1: first memoir as well, and she's the most wonderful collaborator.
Speaker 1: We've written about thirty books together. I know thirty of
Speaker 1: those children books, right, and two of these memoirs, and
Speaker 1: she's the nuts and bolts and I'm all the sort
Speaker 1: of flights of fancies and chapter endings, and of course
Speaker 1: it's a story, worry about my life. And she a
Speaker 1: lot of interviewing, and we referred to the journals that
Speaker 1: I kept over the years, and look, thank god for
Speaker 1: stuff online that was over there on the internet. Yes,
Speaker 1: you have been journaling for a very long time, quite
Speaker 1: a long time. I'm curious. I'm writing a memoir right now.
Speaker 1: It's a fascinating experience because it's like therapy, but you're
Speaker 1: the therapist and the patient, I know. And what keeping
Speaker 1: what not include? Do you get him? You know? What
Speaker 1: attitude should it be right? The voice should it have right?
Speaker 1: And and also I think it's it's emotional because you're
Speaker 1: reliving some very happy times since some very difficult times
Speaker 1: with you more And somebody said to me that writing
Speaker 1: a memoir is like living your life all over again, right,
Speaker 1: And did you keep journals? I didn't. I remember when
Speaker 1: I got my job on the Today Show, Jane Chalott,
Speaker 1: who I adored, said listen, I've got one piece of advice,
Speaker 1: keep a journal. And I said, that's great advice, Gene,
Speaker 1: and then I never did I wish I had. I
Speaker 1: wish I had well the time that I began. It
Speaker 1: was a way for me of keeping the good stuff
Speaker 1: and writing down my thoughts so that I had room
Speaker 1: for others because things were coming at me so fast
Speaker 1: and so furiously. And you were really before your time,
Speaker 1: because now it's considered so therapeutic. Yes too, And it
Speaker 1: was for that reason. I think that I did write
Speaker 1: just to get it out of my head and onto
Speaker 1: the page so I didn't have to hold it as
Speaker 1: much in my head. I know that, as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: your daughter, Emma and you are are quite a team.
Speaker 1: How does the process work with Emma Julie? Does she
Speaker 1: help you? Does she read journal entries and say, oh, mom,
Speaker 1: you should really write about this? Or how did how do?
Speaker 1: You started with an intensive research and made me a
Speaker 1: timeline of about thirty years. Now you can imagine, you know,
Speaker 1: what did I do when and where and so on?
Speaker 1: And any single thing that she or I could remember
Speaker 1: went into that timeline. And then she began to interview
Speaker 1: me about certain important pieces, and that would be transcribed
Speaker 1: and then we'd cut an edit and paste, and I'd
Speaker 1: change what didn't feel right. But also once she got
Speaker 1: to the diaries, we decided it would be great to
Speaker 1: just excerpt from the diaries, but cut and prune, of course,
Speaker 1: but because they were the absolute truth at the time,
Speaker 1: so why not use them. And that helped a lot,
Speaker 1: and the internet helped a lot, and old clippings and letters,
Speaker 1: and we interviewed the family, my family, you know, all
Speaker 1: the kids, and just in general patched all the places
Speaker 1: in that we couldn't quite remember or but somebody did somewhere,
Speaker 1: but thank God for the initial timeline. And then of
Speaker 1: course she was this hugely encouraging presence at my side
Speaker 1: at all times, and they were very stressed times when
Speaker 1: we when we both get kind of tearful and just
Speaker 1: somewhat depressed. And she she made a point of she
Speaker 1: said to me, Mom, you didn't know it, but I
Speaker 1: asked you all the difficult questions in the morning so
Speaker 1: that we could end our day a little later in
Speaker 1: the day on a high note, so you didn't go
Speaker 1: to bed and worry too much. It's so sweet and dear,
Speaker 1: that's a lot of mommy and me time. Did you
Speaker 1: guys ever, fight? No, not fight. There were huge heated
Speaker 1: discussions at times, but we don't actually fight at all.
Speaker 1: We finished each other sentences and we laugh a lot.
Speaker 1: But we've always felt that we get into an argument
Speaker 1: about something and then one of us realizes that the
Speaker 1: best idea wins, and we have such mutual respect for
Speaker 1: each other that it seems to work out really well. Katie. Well,
Speaker 1: you obviously did a wonderful job, And as you say,
Speaker 1: I think the excerpts from your journals really provide a
Speaker 1: certain and lyricism, right, and um, I'd love you to
Speaker 1: read one of them about an experience you had that
Speaker 1: really brought back memories of when you were in Vardville.
Speaker 1: That's right. I was making a film with my second husband,
Speaker 1: Blake Edwards, whom I was married to for like forty
Speaker 1: one years and knew him for forty four before he
Speaker 1: passed away. But we were making our first film together
Speaker 1: and it was in Dublin and there was a scene
Speaker 1: that I had to shoot at the Gaiety Theater, which
Speaker 1: was one of the great old, beautiful music hall theaters.
Speaker 1: And my upbringing from age twelve was in Vaudeville, and
Speaker 1: I entered that theater and picked my way over the
Speaker 1: film cables that we were going to be using a song,
Speaker 1: and this is what I wrote. Suddenly I remembered Monday
Speaker 1: mornings and band calls, getting my orchestrations down on stage
Speaker 1: in time for rehearsal, placing them to the right of
Speaker 1: the banned books already down ahead of mine. That's the
Speaker 1: other terms on the bill, And waiting my turn, unpacking
Speaker 1: the steamer trunks each week, and climbing endless stairs to
Speaker 1: the wardrobe room at the top of the theater in
Speaker 1: order to press my theatrical gowns. The halting, uneasy first
Speaker 1: performance on Monday nights and the difficult second houses on
Speaker 1: Saturday evenings. The smell of paint, turpentine and dust, the
Speaker 1: depressing staleness, and the awful pretense of glamor. And that's
Speaker 1: the way those early days of touring endlessly around England
Speaker 1: really was. And that was from a diary entry, yes,
Speaker 1: And I'm so glad I kept it because it brought
Speaker 1: it back very vividly for me, and I just decided
Speaker 1: to keep it in the book. And the writing is beautiful, Oh,
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you. I know you'd write about your
Speaker 1: childhood and the first book, but I want to talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about that because The title of this
Speaker 1: book is homework, and it seems to be a nod
Speaker 1: to the incredible amount of work it takes to build
Speaker 1: and maintain healthy and happy relationships with your kids, your spouse,
Speaker 1: your aging parents, and the work and the work and
Speaker 1: the work. I know, family, though, has always been so
Speaker 1: incredibly important to you, Jolie, and I wondered, is that
Speaker 1: because of your childhood and some of the challenges you
Speaker 1: faced when you were a little girl. I think it
Speaker 1: definitely comes from all that divorced parents and also difficult
Speaker 1: stepfather in my life and missing my brother. We were
Speaker 1: split quite early in our lives, and it's just so
Speaker 1: many things, learning on my feet how to sing and
Speaker 1: learning vocally out of thing I guess um also long
Speaker 1: separations at least a week at a time when I
Speaker 1: went on the road on my own eventually when I
Speaker 1: was about fifteen, and I didn't get educated because I
Speaker 1: needed to earn money for the family and so on.
Speaker 1: So yes, home meant the most enormous amount to me
Speaker 1: getting home, being safe, holding them all together, helping to
Speaker 1: hold us all together. You have an incredible maternal instinct. Well,
Speaker 1: I think it was so necessary. I didn't want to
Speaker 1: go backwards in life either. My parents tried, My mother
Speaker 1: and stepfather tried very hard to better our lot. We
Speaker 1: were unbelievably poor, but eventually they got a wonderful house,
Speaker 1: and we didn't want to lose it, and helping to
Speaker 1: make money and contribute to that was essential if we
Speaker 1: wanted to stay in that place, and I did. It
Speaker 1: had a garden, and I could play in the garden
Speaker 1: so often and love to do that. So you held
Speaker 1: on to that and said, this is what I want
Speaker 1: from my family. Yes, and I want a sense of
Speaker 1: permanence and a rooted sense. But also it's to do
Speaker 1: with warmth and love and so many things that bind
Speaker 1: people together and makes for a gentler kind, a happier world.
Speaker 1: And so the first memoir was called Home, and was
Speaker 1: much easier in a way, although it was hard to write.
Speaker 1: It started from nothing and built to a kind of
Speaker 1: big conclusion when I was just about to go to
Speaker 1: Hollywood to do Mary Poppins. It went through my afordable
Speaker 1: years and my Broadway years. But this book started at
Speaker 1: a high and then sort of went right and left
Speaker 1: rather than from low to high. And it was a
Speaker 1: much more difficult thing to write because there was so
Speaker 1: much that I was learning about. I decided eventually that
Speaker 1: I would call it homework again, the need to balance
Speaker 1: home and the enormous amount of work that it takes
Speaker 1: to learn a new craft about filmmaking in this case,
Speaker 1: and being in a new place and again being away
Speaker 1: from what I felt as home, it became home. Eventually.
Speaker 1: You start with this rejectory of going to Hollywood. So
Speaker 1: I want to ask you about getting tapped for Mary Poppins.
Speaker 1: You were on Broadway, yes, and you were sought out. Well.
Speaker 1: I was in Camelot with Richard Burton and Robert Goulay
Speaker 1: and a wonderful company Envy sent It's beautiful music, lovely,
Speaker 1: lovely musical. The company heard that Walt Disney was in
Speaker 1: the audience, and I got word that he'd like to
Speaker 1: come back and say hello. And you freaked out. What
Speaker 1: did you find out before the performance? Yes, and that
Speaker 1: he was there, And I thought, well, how lovely to
Speaker 1: be so social and kind. And he came backstage and
Speaker 1: my then husband, Tony Walton was with me in the
Speaker 1: dressing room. He said he loved the show, and then
Speaker 1: he began to talk about this live action animation film
Speaker 1: that he was planning based on the books of Mary
Speaker 1: Poppins by Peale Travis. Would I be interested did in
Speaker 1: coming to Hollywood to learn a little more about what
Speaker 1: he planned, and listened to the music and so on,
Speaker 1: and I was gobsmacked, said, oh, Mr Disney, I would
Speaker 1: love to, but I'm sorry I'm pregnant. And his reply was, well,
Speaker 1: that's okay, we'll wait. And I had no idea at
Speaker 1: the time that preproduction in a movie takes so long.
Speaker 1: And by the time I had had my lovely daughter,
Speaker 1: with whom I now right, the film would be ready
Speaker 1: to roll. And when she was about two or three
Speaker 1: months old, off we went to Hollywood, and I began
Speaker 1: this vast new career of which I knew nothing, and
Speaker 1: learn on my feet as I went. You had no
Speaker 1: experience working. Excuse me, I have to add a ps
Speaker 1: to this. Disney, in the dressing room at Camelot, turned
Speaker 1: to my then husband Tony and said, and what do
Speaker 1: you do, young man? And Tony said, you explained he
Speaker 1: was a designer of sets and costumes. Relatively at that
Speaker 1: I'm unknown, and Disney said, well, then you bring your
Speaker 1: portfolio with you when you come to Hollywood. When he
Speaker 1: saw his portfolio. He hired him on the spot to
Speaker 1: do the sets, most of the sets and all the
Speaker 1: costumes for Mary Poppins, and Tony was nominated for an Oscar,
Speaker 1: as was I on that movie. I mean, how extraordinary
Speaker 1: is that story? I would call that serendipity on steroids.
Speaker 1: I think you're absolutely right, and that, seemingly, without being
Speaker 1: too pollyanna ish about it, the story of my life.
Speaker 1: One of my mantras is are we lucky or what?
Speaker 1: And it's absolutely true. I had to work so fast
Speaker 1: and learned so hard and race to catch up at
Speaker 1: everything that was happening. But those opportunities were extraordinary. You
Speaker 1: had never acted in a movie prior to Mary Carliners
Speaker 1: had lots of Broadway experience or some Broadway experience at
Speaker 1: the time. Because you were still quite young, Julie, old
Speaker 1: were you well? I was, I think about twenty nine
Speaker 1: at that point. I felt much younger than that, believe me, Katie,
Speaker 1: And so you, I know, looking back on this film,
Speaker 1: you notice how self conscious you were. Well, that I
Speaker 1: was self conscious, but oddly, looking at what I did
Speaker 1: on film, I was surprised that it looked pretty normal
Speaker 1: and that I pulled it off. Although I was scared
Speaker 1: to death. And the first days of filming, you know,
Speaker 1: how does one behave on film? On stage, I had
Speaker 1: a fair inkling of what to do, but film is
Speaker 1: much more intimate, and there's a camera right on your
Speaker 1: head only and there you are on a fast screen
Speaker 1: and then it could be a waist shot or it
Speaker 1: could be over the shoulder shot and lots of green screens,
Speaker 1: so much animation and sodium vapor is what they called
Speaker 1: it at the time. Yeah, and Disney had one of
Speaker 1: the best screens in Hollywood at the time because all
Speaker 1: the animation followed long after we finished the movie, so
Speaker 1: we had to pretend and imagine and look at birds
Speaker 1: and beyond and you know, Merry go Round, flowers and
Speaker 1: butterflies and all of that. It must have been great, fine,
Speaker 1: but it must have been a pretty steep learning curve
Speaker 1: for you. Huge, absolutely huge, and I lapped it up.
Speaker 1: It took several movies before I felt I began to
Speaker 1: know what I was doing, and you never do. It's
Speaker 1: a new project every time, and it takes a while
Speaker 1: to kind of slide into home base, so to speak.
Speaker 1: And I worked with giants, I mean, wonderful mentors on
Speaker 1: Broadway with people like Moss Heart, who was a great
Speaker 1: guy and adorable and kind and who I believe had
Speaker 1: been through a great deal himself in his early life
Speaker 1: and sensed my nerves, my insecurity, and obviously felt it
Speaker 1: was something I could improve on, and worked with me
Speaker 1: one on one and made me into Eliza Doolittle and
Speaker 1: from then on we was such great friends. When we
Speaker 1: come back, Julie opens up about her breakout role on
Speaker 1: Broadway and losing that part in the movie adaptation to
Speaker 1: Audrey Hepburn Dog I could have done and still big
Speaker 1: I could have spend. Before Julie Andrews made the jump
Speaker 1: from stage to screen, she first made a name for
Speaker 1: herself on Broadway with starring roles in The Boyfriend Camelot
Speaker 1: opposite Richard Burton and of course My Fair Lady. You
Speaker 1: were in My Fair Lady on Broadway and for about
Speaker 1: three and a half years, which is a lot. Was
Speaker 1: that exhausting, by the way, day in and day two
Speaker 1: years on Broadway and eighteen roughly eighteen months in London,
Speaker 1: and yes, eight performances a week. You don't see daylight
Speaker 1: on a Wednesday at all because of the two shows,
Speaker 1: and then of course on on the Saturday matinee as well,
Speaker 1: and I would go in certainly mid morning to prepare
Speaker 1: for the matinee, and I wouldn't see daylight for the
Speaker 1: rest of the day until I came out and it
Speaker 1: was dark at eleven thirty at night, midnight. And I
Speaker 1: must say that My Fair Lady is one of the
Speaker 1: hardest I think roles for any actress, because you sing,
Speaker 1: you scream, and you talk Cockney. You there are tremendous
Speaker 1: dramatic scenes. It's a big marathon every every show. And
Speaker 1: that show ran three hours. They didn't run as long
Speaker 1: these days, not quite as long, unfortunately. And I know
Speaker 1: I was angry for you did not kick cast in
Speaker 1: the move be because they wanted a bigger name and
Speaker 1: you weren't as well known. I wasn't known at all
Speaker 1: outside of Broadway, And if you look at it one way,
Speaker 1: I was a very small fish in a very big
Speaker 1: pond on Broadway and then not known at all in
Speaker 1: the in the rest of the world. And in those
Speaker 1: days movies were made with big stars, and so Audrey
Speaker 1: Hepburn got the role of Eliza in the movie of
Speaker 1: My Fair Lady. We became great friends. I just adored
Speaker 1: her that her I was so thrilled. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: she was a UNI CEP. She was, and she came
Speaker 1: to the Today Show and she was one of the
Speaker 1: most charming, gracious people I had ever met. She walked
Speaker 1: around and shook hands with every single person in the studio.
Speaker 1: Having said that it did annoy me on your behalf, Julie,
Speaker 1: that Martie Nixon provided her voice in My Fair Lady,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, come on, man, well listen, it's very
Speaker 1: It all worked out hard to be upset when Walt
Speaker 1: Disney comes along not that much later and says, would
Speaker 1: you like to do Mary Poppins? And in fact, one
Speaker 1: of the funny moments in your book is the story
Speaker 1: behind your decision to thank Jack Warner at the Golden
Speaker 1: Globes for not casting you when he Fair Lady. He
Speaker 1: was the head of the studio at Warner Brothers. He
Speaker 1: was Warner Brothers for so many years, and I at
Speaker 1: the Golden Globes, I did thank him for making it
Speaker 1: possible by not casting me in My Fair Lady, to
Speaker 1: win the Golden Globe for Mary Poppins. Finally, my thanks
Speaker 1: to a man who made a wonderful movie and who
Speaker 1: made all this possible in the first place, Mr Jack Warner,
Speaker 1: And to his credit, he did get the joke and
Speaker 1: he did laugh. I thought my career might be at
Speaker 1: an end when I said it, But a year later,
Speaker 1: of course, you were in the Sound of Music. The
Speaker 1: first three films that I made were not released until
Speaker 1: I had finished them, so I was eventually just loving
Speaker 1: making movies and learning on my feet and and almost
Speaker 1: playing in this delicious sandbox, and nothing had been released,
Speaker 1: so I had no idea that they were going to
Speaker 1: be as successful as they were. I remember going to
Speaker 1: the Sound of Music at the Ontario Theater in Washington,
Speaker 1: d C. I was seven years old and my family,
Speaker 1: my mom and dad, put us in the station wagon
Speaker 1: in our Easter Sunday clothes and we went to a
Speaker 1: matinee and afternoon showing of the Sound of Music. And
Speaker 1: I was so upset when the Nazis came. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna lie, that was really dramatic for me. But I mean,
Speaker 1: just to think of how that movie has endured. I
Speaker 1: think it's probably one of the most classic all the
Speaker 1: right values, and it was one of the great beautiful
Speaker 1: Hollywood movies that were shot so beautifully. The sound is
Speaker 1: so great. It was crafted immaculately and directed by master,
Speaker 1: directed by Robert Robert Wise, who did West Side Story
Speaker 1: and Sand Pebbles and so many other wonderful movies. I
Speaker 1: worked with him in two films, and he was a darling.
Speaker 1: I know that you were a little lonely when you
Speaker 1: were filming that movie. You missed your husband. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: he because of the success of his work in Mary Poppins,
Speaker 1: he was in instant demand, and he did phenomenal shows
Speaker 1: on Broadway especially, and he did films, but I mean
Speaker 1: shows like Chicago and Pippin and will Rogers follies. I
Speaker 1: mean phenomenal designs and costumes for and very new and
Speaker 1: fresh and original concepts, and then wonderful movies too. He
Speaker 1: did the great Bob Fossey movie. What was it called
Speaker 1: All That Jazz? Yeah? Wow, I think he won. He
Speaker 1: did win the Oscar for that one. Yeah. An extraordinary
Speaker 1: career as well. Yes, and he was so busy, so,
Speaker 1: of course we were separated a lot, and of eventually
Speaker 1: that did take its toll. We'd known each other since
Speaker 1: we were twelve and thirst hometown. Yes, we both came
Speaker 1: from the same village. On the railway line out of London,
Speaker 1: and I met very early and he was my childhood sweetheart.
Speaker 1: So I think we allowed for each other to grow
Speaker 1: into blossom and didn't take into account, well, neither of
Speaker 1: us really could. We needed money and we had to
Speaker 1: work and things were happening so rapidly, and it took
Speaker 1: a toll, which was that our marriage failed. I'm happy
Speaker 1: to say that we are friends to this day, and
Speaker 1: of course we share our beautiful daughter, who is the
Speaker 1: daughter that helped me write this book. Emma, Emma keeps
Speaker 1: popping up. She does, and she she did, and she does.
Speaker 1: Thank God. Do you ever tire of talking about the
Speaker 1: sound of music? Not really? How much fun though, was
Speaker 1: it to perform all those extraordinary Rogers and Hammerstein phenomenal
Speaker 1: and well, first of all, singing with the fast orchestra
Speaker 1: is magical. My singing teacher once said Katie that singing
Speaker 1: with a great orchestra is like being carried aloft in
Speaker 1: the most comfortable armchair over the orchestra and the sound,
Speaker 1: and she was absolutely right. That was the great joy.
Speaker 1: But then to give you my favorite song, I think
Speaker 1: it has to be one that I didn't sing, and
Speaker 1: that was Edelweiss because again, excuse me, it speaks to
Speaker 1: one's homeland, whoever you are. It's not just about Austria,
Speaker 1: It's about any place that you call home. You know.
Speaker 1: Bless my Homeland Forever is the lyric, and it has
Speaker 1: one of the classic Richard Roger's melodies. Think of Oh
Speaker 1: what a Beautiful Morning. It's one of those melodies that
Speaker 1: simply folds back on itself and it's very simple and
Speaker 1: Edelweiss and Oh what a Beautiful Morning, and several others
Speaker 1: have that quality, and they're timeless. The melody is so
Speaker 1: clear and clean and simple and lends itself to the
Speaker 1: most wonderful orchestration. I wish I had the opportunity to
Speaker 1: have met Richard Rodgers and ask her hammers just such
Speaker 1: brilliant giants. Again, I walked with giants. I know. The
Speaker 1: hills were alive with the sound of helicopters. That opening
Speaker 1: scene was a bit challenging, wasn't it. You would never
Speaker 1: in a million years was the last thing we shot
Speaker 1: in the movie too, and and and it was tough.
Speaker 1: Tell me about how hard it was. Well, simply the
Speaker 1: very very first time that I'm revealed on film is
Speaker 1: walking as a very small speck across the field and
Speaker 1: making this turn before I begin to sing. That's all
Speaker 1: I had to do was walk and make a turn.
Speaker 1: And it was shot from a helicopter. I started at
Speaker 1: once end of the field, and the helicopter with a
Speaker 1: very brave the cameraman strapped at the side of it
Speaker 1: through the door that was no longer there. And this
Speaker 1: this thing was from the other end of the field,
Speaker 1: was coming at me sort of like a giant crab
Speaker 1: in a way, sideways, with this wonderful caraman hanging out
Speaker 1: the side of it, and the camera strapped his chest,
Speaker 1: and I walked toward him, and he helicoptered his way
Speaker 1: towards me, and then I made the turn, and then
Speaker 1: the helicopter went up and around me to go back
Speaker 1: for another take, because either I wasn't on my marks,
Speaker 1: or he didn't feel he had gotten the right shot,
Speaker 1: or it wasn't. I mean, we had to have a
Speaker 1: few in the in the bank in the case of
Speaker 1: an accident, and and and focus and so on. And
Speaker 1: every time that helicopter went around me to go back
Speaker 1: to his end of the field, the down draft from
Speaker 1: those helicopter engines just flattened me into the grass. Did
Speaker 1: you say the outtakes they have been saved. I've seen
Speaker 1: one of them, but I don't know who has it.
Speaker 1: I wish, you know, if anybody out there that knows
Speaker 1: where they are. I'd love to see it again. I
Speaker 1: would love to see I have seen it, though, And
Speaker 1: you know, after the third or fourth time, you you
Speaker 1: get so angry that you're you know, spitting grass and
Speaker 1: some mud and so on, and you I kept signaling
Speaker 1: to the helicopter pilot could he make a wider turn?
Speaker 1: And I only got a thumbs up? And let's do
Speaker 1: another one, you know. Up next, Julie gets candid about
Speaker 1: her forty year marriage to the brilliant but complicated Blake
Speaker 1: Edwards and reminiscence about some old friends, including Elizabeth Taylor
Speaker 1: and Carol Burnett. I want to ask you about Blake Edwards,
Speaker 1: who seems like he was the coolest guy he was?
Speaker 1: Was he charismatic, wicked sense of humor? I mean wickedly dark?
Speaker 1: And and may I say he was? He was? He
Speaker 1: was sexy, yes he was, or believe me, he certainly was.
Speaker 1: And I miss him dreadfully. But as he'd be the
Speaker 1: first to say, what else are you going to say?
Speaker 1: Because I'm a darling. Well, you know, I think did
Speaker 1: you learn much about balancing your your career and your
Speaker 1: marriage because of growing sort of apart from your first husband, Tony?
Speaker 1: And what did you learn that allowed you to keep
Speaker 1: your marriage to blake intact? I think probably, as is
Speaker 1: true with most second marriages, you really, really this time
Speaker 1: want to make it work. It does take two people.
Speaker 1: You can't just have one wanting it or anything like that,
Speaker 1: but it takes two to work at it. And I
Speaker 1: think we both wanted to stay together, and I'm so
Speaker 1: thrilled that we did. I adored him. He was very complicated, charismatic, complicated,
Speaker 1: and had a very depressive personality at times. It wasn't
Speaker 1: manic depressive. He was just prone to depression and also
Speaker 1: later in his life towards opioids and things like that,
Speaker 1: but tried so hard to get off them and get
Speaker 1: back to the way he was when we first met.
Speaker 1: And you can give anybody for saying sorry and trying
Speaker 1: that hard. You write a lot about addiction in your
Speaker 1: family with unflinching honesty, and I just thought of it
Speaker 1: helped anybody identify and say well, then I can I
Speaker 1: can manage that about your stepfather your mother both amusing alcohol. Yeah,
Speaker 1: your brother was a drug addict. As you mentioned, Blake
Speaker 1: Edwards had become reliant on Painkilly had issues. Certainly, were
Speaker 1: you at all hesitant to do that? Yes? And I
Speaker 1: hope I showed every side of Blake because it wasn't
Speaker 1: just that like borne it if if it had been,
Speaker 1: I wanted to show all the humor and the the
Speaker 1: laughter that we shared and it was great at times,
Speaker 1: and those are the things I cling to and remember,
Speaker 1: and I I mean, I still adore him to this day,
Speaker 1: no matter what. I know that. You're also very honest
Speaker 1: about therapy, because this is something that you started doing
Speaker 1: when you were living in Los Angeles in the nineteen sixties,
Speaker 1: and you talk about what a positive impact it had
Speaker 1: on your life. People didn't talk openly about being in therapy,
Speaker 1: and in fact, it's a relatively new phenomenon. Well I
Speaker 1: don't know how new it is these days, but I
Speaker 1: remember my mother saying, what you know, thinking that you
Speaker 1: only went into therapy if you were totally mad or
Speaker 1: something like that. In my certainly my hometown in Walden
Speaker 1: on Thams, nobody I think at that time talked about therapy,
Speaker 1: but I wanted to clear the chaos in my head.
Speaker 1: And it made me understand so much more about my
Speaker 1: childhood and put it in perspective, and forgive so much
Speaker 1: about my family and my parents, and understand people a
Speaker 1: lot more. I think I was a better wife and
Speaker 1: mother and so many things because of getting rid of
Speaker 1: that garbage that you carry around that you don't need
Speaker 1: to carry around and staying focused on essentials. You were
Speaker 1: racked with self doubt and I know a lot that
Speaker 1: you had impostor syndrome really throughout much of your life,
Speaker 1: and I don't think that before. Well, it's sort of
Speaker 1: not thinking you deserve something and that you don't understand
Speaker 1: why you're being came more from not having had an education.
Speaker 1: I'd love to have gone to college and and had
Speaker 1: a really good education. But that very smart therapist realized
Speaker 1: that's what I need, did and eventually decided to help
Speaker 1: give me one. And in fact, he really became your
Speaker 1: de facto college did he was Merlin. He could tell
Speaker 1: me about a very expensive college professor, I might add
Speaker 1: worth worth it all read. So you all would talk
Speaker 1: about history and art and all kinds of geology and
Speaker 1: astrology and just anything. He'd bring it up or I'd
Speaker 1: bring it up, and God, I wish I had absorbed
Speaker 1: a more, but what I did get was phenomenal. And
Speaker 1: did it give you a lot of self confidence then,
Speaker 1: feeling that you were more learned at least I could
Speaker 1: converse about things a little better. And yes, it did
Speaker 1: help enormously. Of course, you mentioned a lot of very
Speaker 1: special people in this book, so I thought we could
Speaker 1: play a name game. Let's spill the tea, as the
Speaker 1: young people say today, I guess that means let's dish um.
Speaker 1: Carol Burnett, great chum, godmother to my daughter Emma. We
Speaker 1: us such good friends. I think there's something that's very
Speaker 1: similar in our childhoods. She also came from an alcoholic family,
Speaker 1: and we just bonded instantly, like two kids that discover
Speaker 1: they live on the same block. And we've been friends
Speaker 1: for years. You played a prank on Mike Nichols that
Speaker 1: backfired miserably or hilariously. Hilariously not miserably. Now he won
Speaker 1: that one hand. Now, yes, tell us, Okay, that's a
Speaker 1: good tease. Get the book. By the book, you talk
Speaker 1: about the ultimate Hollywood moment with Betty Davis. It's on
Speaker 1: page seventy eight. Do you mind reading now? It's a
Speaker 1: very sweet It's not very long. I was talking about
Speaker 1: the opening night of Sound of Music in New York,
Speaker 1: I think, and I wrote after the screening, during the
Speaker 1: crush in the lobby, I suddenly saw Betty Davis approaching me.
Speaker 1: I had never met her before, though I was a
Speaker 1: huge fan. As we shook hands, she said, you, my dear,
Speaker 1: are going to be a very big star. I had
Speaker 1: always imagined that she might be crisp or loof, but
Speaker 1: her warmth and generosity just bowled me over. That must
Speaker 1: have been an incredibly exciting moment for a young actress. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I've I've always been such a fan of hers
Speaker 1: and her work. And she was funny and lovely, and
Speaker 1: I mean we didn't talk for very long, but what
Speaker 1: a generous thing to say. You mentioned Elizabeth Taylor talk
Speaker 1: about bold face names. I've always wanted to be you,
Speaker 1: Julie Andrews. But you described a scene on boxing day
Speaker 1: on vacation of Europe, and you are talking about bold
Speaker 1: face names, I mean, nold coward. You mentioned we went
Speaker 1: to supper with David Niven and Nol Coward and Richard Burton. Well,
Speaker 1: excuse me, well I did. I did. Obviously I knew
Speaker 1: Richard and a little bit Elizabeth from from having done
Speaker 1: Camelot with Richard and Nol. Coward had come backstage several times,
Speaker 1: so I felt I knew him. David Niven was a
Speaker 1: good friend of Blake's and had done Panthers, so it
Speaker 1: was a good group. Must have been fun. What was
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Taylor like? I got to interview her once, By
Speaker 1: the way, I'll tell you what she I mean, you
Speaker 1: were friends. I just talked to her and she taught
Speaker 1: me how to keep lipstick from getting on my teeth.
Speaker 1: She said, you take your index finger and you kind
Speaker 1: of form an oh with your mouth, and then you
Speaker 1: just pull your your finger out of your mouth and
Speaker 1: it takes the lipstick off so it doesn't get on
Speaker 1: your teeth. WHOA, thank you, Elizabeth, Yes, thank you. We'll try. It.
Speaker 1: Was she fun, and I know she was showing off
Speaker 1: a diamond, right. She was fun, and she she was
Speaker 1: actually a really good gal. She was a good egg,
Speaker 1: as they say, I mean she she was down to
Speaker 1: earth in a very good way, and she was kind
Speaker 1: of racy, right, yeah, And she'd been through it all,
Speaker 1: but that Christmas, this was boxing day of the day
Speaker 1: after Christmas, and Richard given her this enormous ring and
Speaker 1: she just sort of flashed it at us and said,
Speaker 1: look at what Richard gave you. It's a bit of
Speaker 1: a giggle, isn't it. And Blake said it was enough
Speaker 1: to sort of make him a communist instantly, But it was.
Speaker 1: She said it with such a smile and a sense
Speaker 1: of humor, you couldn't be upset by it. Christopher Plumber,
Speaker 1: you write that he was a bit out of pocket
Speaker 1: while filming The Sound of Music. Julie, do tell how
Speaker 1: does that mean? Did I out of pocket? Um? What
Speaker 1: did I mean? Well? I think he was a little
Speaker 1: He loved his red wine and sometimes after the day
Speaker 1: was over he would drink quite a lot. Is that
Speaker 1: what you meant? Yes? Yes, But but my god, he
Speaker 1: was the glue that really pulled the Sound of Music together,
Speaker 1: because here's a stringent quality, took away so much of
Speaker 1: that saccharine that I was worried about. Right, And he
Speaker 1: was such a lovely actor to work with. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's a great chum. We giggle a lot and remember
Speaker 1: each other's birthdays and Christmass and things like that. This
Speaker 1: book goes up to the nineteen eighties, so obviously there
Speaker 1: is another memoir come because you need to talk about
Speaker 1: all the that you went through when you had the
Speaker 1: vocal surgery and what that was like, and then seeing
Speaker 1: in the Second Princess Diaries and discovering a whole new
Speaker 1: life and a somewhat new career in terms of writing
Speaker 1: with Emma and so on. Yeah, I guess you're saying
Speaker 1: there'll be another book. And if you just asked me
Speaker 1: in about a month, when I've recovered from this one,
Speaker 1: I'd be thrilled. Well, I think people never never get
Speaker 1: tired of hearing from you and the extraordinary stories of
Speaker 1: your life. Well, I just know that you know that phrase.
Speaker 1: Are we lucky or what? I've really been so blessed.
Speaker 1: My mother used to say there are hundreds of people
Speaker 1: out there that can do what you do just as well,
Speaker 1: so you work hard and and be grateful, and it
Speaker 1: was great advice. Well, we're lucky because of it. I
Speaker 1: went on a little long and Julie's manager was getting
Speaker 1: pretty annoyed with me by this point, but before I
Speaker 1: let her go, I had an important favor to ask,
Speaker 1: so we were going to do something really fun. You guys,
Speaker 1: are you okay with time? We were going to do
Speaker 1: to something. Jennifer Garner is such a die hard fan,
Speaker 1: and so I arranged to surprise her. I met her
Speaker 1: and interviewed her for my podcast. Can you just call
Speaker 1: her and say hello? Real quickly? Okay, Hello, Hello? Is
Speaker 1: this Jin? Yes, this is Julie Andrew's Jin. Hello. I
Speaker 1: want to tell you I'm a huge fan and love
Speaker 1: what you do. And Katie was just telling me that
Speaker 1: that you were pretty admiring of me too, so I thought, well,
Speaker 1: let's just have a chat. Oh my god, how are you?
Speaker 1: Why haven't I ever met you, jenn I would love
Speaker 1: to and one day I saw you from Afar once
Speaker 1: but I couldn't. I couldn't just you know, put it
Speaker 1: into words, and I couldn't. I couldn't possibly be normal,
Speaker 1: And so I just admired. But I like getting you
Speaker 1: in the middle of yours washing up or something like that.
Speaker 1: Certainly not miss Andrews. I would pull over and leave
Speaker 1: my children on the side of the freeway. Um, it's
Speaker 1: Katie there, Yes, she's all the other Okay, So Jennifer
Speaker 1: posted watching Sound of Music and totally fan girling and
Speaker 1: it was so cute, and so I had wrote on
Speaker 1: her Instagram page, I'm interviewing Julie Andrews. Come with and
Speaker 1: she said, don't mess with me, Katie, and so so
Speaker 1: we planned this, Jen So ask her a question. Chat
Speaker 1: for a second, and I'm going to let out you
Speaker 1: know what, Julie Andrews, Miss I have just called. Okay, Well, um,
Speaker 1: I've read my kids with you and I because I
Speaker 1: was raised on you and I as weds everyone you
Speaker 1: know in the world. But here's the thing. Your book
Speaker 1: I love. I mean, the children's books completely real to me.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to read your new book. It's I
Speaker 1: cannot wait. It's I can't wait. But proc and the
Speaker 1: the last of the really great wing doodles I've read aloud, wife,
Speaker 1: and I love it. I'm so pleased you do, because
Speaker 1: I loved doing that. It's it's it was. It was
Speaker 1: my second book, and it oh gosh, that was such
Speaker 1: a thrill to write it and to see it published.
Speaker 1: And it's stayed in publication too, stayed in publication. It
Speaker 1: is it is an our house. We talk about those
Speaker 1: characters and Mandy and the dump truck and that you know,
Speaker 1: but especially Mandy and lasted really really great Wang do
Speaker 1: we speak about them like their family friends and my kids.
Speaker 1: For them to even connect that that you wrote those
Speaker 1: is so wonderful because it helps them see that you
Speaker 1: can really be a full person, that just because you're
Speaker 1: a performer, it doesn't mean that you that that's all
Speaker 1: you do. They you know, they love knowing that that
Speaker 1: that my fair lady and that um Mary Pop, that
Speaker 1: all of them are the same person playing some one
Speaker 1: else and also is an author. Well, thank you. What
Speaker 1: a great, great compliment, and it's just so lovely, and
Speaker 1: I think it means more. Odd Oddly, I don't mean
Speaker 1: to be dismaraging to anybody else, but when somebody says
Speaker 1: they liked one of my books, it really is a
Speaker 1: thrill because it's I'm still learning on my feet about writing,
Speaker 1: but but I'm thrilled when somebody says they loved my
Speaker 1: book or it was one of their favorites or something.
Speaker 1: And I'm here talking to Katie today about this second
Speaker 1: book of memories, and so I hope you enjoyed that
Speaker 1: one too, for yourself, not for your kids or how
Speaker 1: old your kids now they're thirteen, ten and seven. Well,
Speaker 1: they get around to it one day, but you can.
Speaker 1: I want the I want the two of you to
Speaker 1: meet and have lunch at some point um and maybe
Speaker 1: I'll join if I'm on the better past, and it
Speaker 1: would be so much god my here. Yes, yes, I
Speaker 1: feel like I did a little match making. I did
Speaker 1: a little Mitz buzz all right, lots of love and
Speaker 1: we'll see for lunch, see you again, and I hope
Speaker 1: I'll meet you again. Yes, I really do hope so
Speaker 1: much love. Thank you. I can't wait to the bye bye.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening everyone. If you'd like to
Speaker 1: know what's happening every morning and have some original content
Speaker 1: in the form of interviews and inspiring stories, please sign
Speaker 1: up for our daily morning newsletter called wake Up Call
Speaker 1: by going to Katie Couric dot com and follow me,
Speaker 1: of course on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Next Question with
Speaker 1: Katie Curic is a production of I Heart Radio and
Speaker 1: Katie Curic Media. The executive producers are Katie Kuric, Lauren
Speaker 1: Bright Pacheco, Julie Douglas, and Tyler Klang. Our show producers
Speaker 1: are Bethan Macaluso and Courtney Litz. Supervising producer is Dylan Fagin.
Speaker 1: Associate producers are Emily Pinto and Derek Clemens. Editing is
Speaker 1: by Dylan Fagin, Derek Clements, and Lowell Berlante. Our researcher
Speaker 1: is Barbara Keene. For more information on today's episode, go
Speaker 1: to Katie currek dot com and follow us on Twitter
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Katie curric For more podcasts for my
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