WEBVTT - Julie Andrews 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:09.959 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to. Here's the thing, 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:15.920 My chance to talk with artists, policymakers and performers, to 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:19.920 hear their stories. What inspired their creations, what decisions changed 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:30.000 their careers, what relationships influenced their work. Julie Andrews. There's 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:33.960 a genuine look of surprise on Julie Andrew's face when 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:36.879 she hears her name called. She did not expect to 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:40.479 win the Oscar for Best Actress for Mary Poppins. She 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:43.080 takes a moment to collect herself and makes her way 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:47.080 to the stage. I know you Americans, famous to your hospitality, 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:52.640 but this is really ridiculous. The year was This milestone 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:56.640 came early in Julie Andrew's career. She followed that extraordinary 0:00:56.680 --> 0:01:02.840 success with another one When the Beast Ings. When I'm 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:09.000 feeling sad, simply remember my cater of things, and then 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:17.679 I don't feel so. Julie Andrews has performed in dozens 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:21.120 of film, stage and television roles, but it was those 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:25.080 two Nanni's Mary and Maria who captured our hearts and 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:29.640 transformed her life. Today, she'll tell us what happened before, during, 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:33.600 and after those performances. So let's start at the very beginning, 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:37.319 a very good place to start. When I was about seven, 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:42.160 my mother had remarried and my stepfather was a fine tenor. 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:48.639 My school had closed due to the escalation of World 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:52.440 War two, and everything was shut down. And I would 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:56.080 imagine that partly because I was underfoot a lot and home, 0:01:56.800 --> 0:02:01.080 but secondly, maybe in an attempt to get a little 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:04.760 closer to this new step daughter that was not very 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:08.640 fond of him, he decided to just, for no reason 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:11.520 at all, just give me some singing lessons. And to 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:17.680 my mother and stepfather's surprise, I had this freak very strong, 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:22.639 very very huge, ranged voice. It was very thin and white, 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:25.120 but I could do all the history on it, so 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:28.000 I could do anything. I hated those singing lessons because 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:31.960 it was a stepfather with him, he was your instructor. Well, 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:34.360 he gave me some scales and a few things like that, 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:39.160 but very quickly after that he found a phenomenal teacher 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:44.919 of a lady that was dramatic soprano, who was as 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:49.040 wide as she was short, and was as loving and decent, 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:52.400 and until she died, which was in her somewhere in 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:57.360 her nineties, had the most beautiful pitched voice and could 0:02:57.400 --> 0:03:01.600 still sing. And she gave me the found dation that that, 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:07.160 in other words, hang onto your words, enunciate because they'll 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:09.440 pull the song through for you, and all of that. 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:16.200 And was she someone who you maintained any kind of contact. No, No, 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:20.799 she was my teacher for most of her remaining life. 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:25.400 I've worked with other people since, but that lady was, oh, 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:29.320 my teacher. She prepared me for my Fair Lady and 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:36.200 became successful. Yes, she always wished, I think that I 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:40.320 could become a light opera singer or or an opera singer. 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:44.080 And I knew, in spite of her ambition for me, 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:46.840 that I didn't have the voice for it. It was 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:49.160 too light a voice and as I say, it was 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:52.080 a little white and sound. So I didn't have the 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:56.920 chops for opera maybe light opera. And I have recorded 0:03:56.920 --> 0:04:00.520 a couple of old recordings of like where as Marie 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:02.920 and I've sung things from The Merry Widow and stuff 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:06.240 like that. But when the world opened up because I 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:09.680 was in musicals, I realized that I had found the 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:13.640 exact wait for my voice, that I had found the 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:16.359 right thing. Did you study acting as well at the 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:20.279 same time. Well, my mother occasionally put me with the 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:23.840 teacher that was local from my hometown, and I was 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:28.400 awful and mortified because I knew I was at warfful 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:33.160 And actually most of my training until very much later 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:35.800 in my life when I got a coach for films 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:39.320 and things like that, most of it was just doing 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:42.120 it and learning, and thank god it was Broadway first. 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:46.520 No no formal acting training. My background was Vaudeville. I 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:48.880 was from the wrong side of the tracks. I envied 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:54.280 all those legitimate actors like Gilgood and Olivier and so 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:57.960 many of them that that just managed and were terrific. 0:04:58.000 --> 0:05:00.320 And here I was. All I knew were how to 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:03.880 belt out a song all around England when you were 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:08.599 doing this vaudeville work in London, musical all over the England, 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:11.159 all over England before you headed to Broadway. Did you 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:13.880 bump up against those people, the gil Goods? And yes 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:18.280 I did, but more the people I really bumped up 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:23.200 against were the great comedians of the day from England. 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:27.359 I mean, I learned so much just watching and being 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:32.840 in those rather lunatic reviews. All you know, and and 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:35.120 as I say, you know one week in each town, 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:38.760 but you considered yourself a singer. Yes, not an actress 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:40.640 first and foremost a singer. You were a singer. And 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:43.680 then do you think that changed? Well, much much later. 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:48.400 I realized that actually singing is for me all about 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:51.679 the lyrics, and then if you really care about the lyrics, 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:55.760 then singing is all about acting. But that didn't come 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:59.839 till in my mid twenties. Sometimes you did The boy 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:05.960 Friend when you were how old? It opened the day 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:11.240 after I turned and who directed The Boyfriend a lady, 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:14.160 an English lady called Vida Hope, who had done it 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:17.440 in London. Because it came from London, I was asked 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:20.200 to come to Broadway and I didn't think i'd want to, 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:23.880 and I was very very nervous about you know, I 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:26.760 had a terrible separation anxiety because of all my touring, 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:30.080 from your mother, from my mother and family in general, 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:36.000 and my brothers. But my dad, my real dad, said, honey, 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:38.880 you know what you're going for could last two weeks 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:41.640 and they wanted me to sign a contract for two years, 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:47.000 and I said eventually, thanks to my dad, who he 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:48.960 said later it took him all the courage in the 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:51.880 world to tell me to go because his heart was 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:54.800 aching in terms of his nerves for me and what 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:57.359 was I What was I going to do? But he 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:00.560 encouraged me to take it because it would open my head. 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:03.279 And did this woman? Was she helpful to you? The director? Yes, 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:07.280 she was not well she was, but she was very 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:10.320 busy putting on the show. And everybody else seemed to know. 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:13.680 You know, the boyfriends all about being very even said 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:16.000 in the twenties, and all the ladies of the show 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:18.600 seemed to know how to be very camp and very funny. 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:21.200 I had not a clue because I didn't know. I've 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:23.520 never been to acting school or anything like that. So 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:27.000 I tried emirating them for a while. And then what 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:31.480 really turned the tide was the producer of the show. 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:34.120 Did you ever meet Si Fuer and Ernie Martin? Do 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:39.720 you know? Well? They did can Can and silk stockings 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:42.280 on board away, I mean as producers. But s I 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:49.120 had this wonderful pont chanfeur dismissing everybody and getting in 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:53.320 and directing it himself. And anyway, the night before we opened, 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:58.640 I was trying everything each preview night, seeing what am 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:00.880 I supposed to be doing here? And he took me 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:06.720 out to the alleyway behind the shoe Bert and the 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:12.960 im Imperial and the Royal theaters. Anyway, he we sat 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:16.960 on the steps on the iron steps in in that 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:19.520 alley and he said, you know you were terrible last 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:23.120 night And I said, yes, I did, I know I was. 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:30.800 And he said, um, you have the possibility of becoming 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:34.640 quite good and big star tomorrow if you do as 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:37.840 I tell you, and you must follow every single thing 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:40.520 I tell you. And I was so looking for that, 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:44.080 you know, rope to hang onto? He said, I want 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:48.360 you to play Polly Brown as if your life depended 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:50.280 on it. He said, when he breaks your heart, I 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:53.240 want you to feel it and be it. Forget what 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:58.640 everybody else is doing, Forget camp be real, best lesson 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:01.840 I ever had. And because it was, it made sense 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:05.840 in my belly somewhere. I made it as real as 0:09:05.880 --> 0:09:09.800 I could on opening night, and it indeed made all 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:15.280 the difference. And then the next project, obviously is who 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:20.360 directed that production? Mass Heart the great Heart himself was 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:22.560 the director? Oh yes, And what was it like for you? 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:25.120 I mean, to the extent you're going to describe? Number one? 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:28.160 Where was hard in his career then? And where was 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:32.000 Rex in his career. Oh my god, Rex was well. 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:34.520 Rex was just known everywhere and had done a lot 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:37.400 of movies and and was he was a star, big 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:42.439 star and also difficult, no doubt about it. I mean, 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:44.920 eventually we did become great friends, but it took a 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:48.840 long time, and he was so fed up with this 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:51.600 little argeneue that didn't know what the hell she was doing. 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:57.040 I knew somewhere, deep deep down that if somebody would 0:09:57.080 --> 0:09:59.160 just spend a little time or pay attention that I 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:02.079 knew I yearned to do, but I didn't know how 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:05.120 to bring it out, Alec. So when they hired you, 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:08.960 what do you think that, Julie Andrew? Yeah, well the 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:11.439 Boyfriend was a huge success, and it was a one time. 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:14.559 You know. I was very big on Broadway for one year, 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:19.439 and then I was platform Briend, and then I auditioned 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:23.720 for Learner and Low, particularly Alan Jay Learner who wrote 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:28.600 My Fair Lady, and Low wrote the music, and they 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:32.160 worked with me a little bit, but it really was 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:35.160 Moss who made me a lasa little and what he 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:40.120 did Rex was demanding, wanted all the attention. He'd never 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:43.240 done a musical before, and I had never acted before, 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:45.560 So which one did he deal with well, of course 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:48.440 he dealt with Rex, who was the big, big star. 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:52.160 Eventually he got around to me and he dismissed the 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:58.320 entire company for one long weekend and I remember driving 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:01.880 down to the rehearsal and thinking, this is a little 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:04.120 bit like going to the dentist. I may feel better 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:11.040 when I'm finished, but it's agony going. And he for 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:16.319 forty eight hours, just he bullied, he cajoled, He showed me. 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:21.200 He yelled from the orchestra, stalls you, No, not that way. 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:24.080 You're playing it like a like a schoolgirl, you know, 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:27.840 get it to get down and dirty. And I actually 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:33.440 threw him. Found Eliza Doolittle and from then on I 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:37.160 worked and worked and worked, and gradually from performing it 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:40.920 as you know every night, it gradually became embedded in me. 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:43.599 And I think I probably by the time, you know, 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:46.959 a few months with past and it was a huge hit. 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:50.439 I was definitely feeling that I could be Eliza. When 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:54.440 did you feel you one had one Rex over? Probably 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:58.280 there's a good question. Probably not till the London production. 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:03.440 He was difficult himself, and I think he meant well. 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:07.199 He was just very short and short tempered and not 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:12.360 known for being full of generosity, attacked and generosity. Now, 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:17.080 what I learned on stage with him was unbelievable. For example, 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:24.160 he had this amazing knack. He wasn't musical, but he 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:28.000 had a musical ear, not only for the music, but 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:31.240 for where the audience was that night. So, for instance, 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:33.560 if somebody would cough, let me say, he was saying, 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:36.840 you know, Eliza, you shouldn't you shouldn't do so and 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:40.599 so and so and so, he'd repeat the line instinctively 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:44.000 because corporate, because he knew it hadn't been heard correct, 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:47.679 you know fully. So just to stand and watch him, 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:51.160 I completely sometimes forgot who I was supposed to be. Now, 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:53.880 when the heart says to you, you're playing it like 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:56.720 a little schoolgirl, you've got to get down and dirty. 0:12:57.000 --> 0:12:59.400 That becomes a theme in some of your work, doesn't it. 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:04.760 More than one man has said something along those lines. Well, 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:07.560 I do have a very squeaky green image, but I 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:13.080 don't think you can. Yeah, well, I think that's simply 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:17.840 because if you think about it, Alec, here's some Mary Poppins, 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:21.240 and followed pretty quickly by the Sound of Music, two 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:26.120 hugely iconic films about Nanny's of all things, and they're 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:29.679 so successful that people only remember the things that that 0:13:29.800 --> 0:13:31.920 are the most successful. You know, if you think of 0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:35.239 someone like Clark Gable, you think of Gone with the Winds, 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:38.880 and you forget the other things. And I knew, I 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:42.080 think because of all those Vaudeville years. There was a 0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:44.320 lot of down and dirty in Vaudeville. I mean, the 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:49.559 comedians were blue and body and it was a tough existence. 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:53.800 It wasn't a fairy land by any means. It wasn't 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:59.839 a fairy tale when you're raised during the wartime and 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:05.040 your career in music halls is during the wartime. And uh, 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:06.680 and you and I have this in common, where you 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:10.199 grew up in a very financially strapped, very strapped the 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:14.079 money pressures constantly. Things begin to change for you after 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:18.840 my fair lady, a lot. And do you find that 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:22.080 that was painful for you? Know? I tell you what. 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:26.240 First of all, what immediately springs to mind is that 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:29.080 I ached that I couldn't bring every member of my 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:32.120 family with me. Did you feel that too? Well? I 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:34.280 wanted to help as many people as I could, Yeah, 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:38.000 and still do, but but to change the way my 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:41.840 life had been changed miraculously it seemed I wanted to 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:44.080 do that for the entire family and make them feel 0:14:44.160 --> 0:14:46.520 better and be better. But when you do My Fair 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:48.640 Lady on Broadway, than you went to London. After that, 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:53.000 you're married at the time I was married. During the 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:56.280 London production, you got you got married when you went back, 0:14:57.000 --> 0:14:58.480 when I went back to when you went back to 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:01.440 so you're back home, you're married. And then what happens. 0:15:02.240 --> 0:15:06.280 Um what happened was that right after I had finished 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:09.160 in London and I was about as you know, I 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:11.640 did three and a half years in My Fair Lady, 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:15.760 and that's a marathon to on Broadway and eighteen months 0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:20.040 in London, and that is an alan Jay Learners said 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:23.920 that he thinks that an actress can learn more by 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:28.240 playing one role in a long run than by playing many, 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:32.160 many roles in repertoire. Well. The thing being, he said, 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:35.840 you test every night with the same role, whether you 0:15:35.880 --> 0:15:37.520 can get a laugh, or whether you can do it 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:40.920 better or and he was pretty right about that. I 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:43.840 didn't think it would be right, but it was. You know, 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:45.880 you'd know if it didn't work one night, and then 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:47.640 you'd work on it and work on it and try, 0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:50.720 and you found out everything you needed to find out 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:53.960 about how to play, I mean, in a long run, 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:57.440 how to play with an audience when it's raining outside, 0:15:57.560 --> 0:15:59.840 or when you're leading man has got a terrible coal, 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:02.680 or when it's up to you to take up the 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:05.880 reins for a night or two because he's feeling down, 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:09.560 or when an understudy goes on, or I mean just 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:12.800 about every situation in the theater in the long run, 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:16.840 you you experience. But when I think, one of the 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:20.440 first things that I felt, just to digress for a moment, 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:23.920 was the relief of knowing that at some point in 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:29.160 my life, probably during my Fair Lady in London, I 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:32.280 realized that I probably would never have to go back 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:36.960 to vaudeville again. I mean landladies and touring and endless, 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:39.480 I mean with the terrible digs that one had when 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:44.560 one was touring around endless, touring in very tacky shows. 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:48.480 And I knew I could do something better. But the 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:51.560 voice held me up for so long, the freaky voice 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:56.200 that I had, And then, as I say, gradually, gradually 0:16:56.200 --> 0:17:00.880 the voice became less white and more vibe because I 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:03.560 was growing up and all of that, And as I say, 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:07.920 I found my level when it came to musicals. What's 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:10.399 your parents view at that point? Where does that begin 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:15.840 to change? Now you're something? Yeah? How did they handle that? 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:23.080 It was very complicated because stepfather was an alcoholic. Mom 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:29.000 was just she was a very warm, passionate lady. But 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:31.320 on the one hand she was thrilled for me, and 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:33.480 on the other it was always, you know, don't you 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:35.560 dare show off? And don't you dare do this? And 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:37.480 then the next minute it was I want you to 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:40.000 wear your fur coat to the pub tonight, you know 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:45.240 that kind of thing. And but really, about a year 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:48.879 after Fair Lady, I was asked to do Camelot and 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:52.240 I knew I was going to do Camelot in New York, 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:55.200 in New York, and were you looking forward to going 0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:59.520 back to New York? It was when I got there 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:03.000 it was better. I'm not sure that going there, I 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:06.159 mean again, it meant leaving family. And also because I 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:09.880 do love my home country. I love England, Oh my god. Yeah, 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:14.280 And I feel this is so corny. I feel this huge. 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:18.720 I feel it's my job too to be the one 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:21.520 one that is the hands across the water. I want 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:23.440 to bring England to America and I want to bring 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:27.679 America to the English somewhere mid Atlantic. We we we 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:31.159 can split the difference. But it felt very important to 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:35.000 speak for my country. And also because the Americans have 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:38.160 been so generous to me for so long. We were 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:40.640 in this timeline that we're tracking, it's about to get 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:43.600 a lot more generous. So you go do camels Well wait, 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:45.960 but then I felt that I needed to explain that 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:48.840 to the British, and it's say, look how wonderful they are, 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:54.159 you know, because the British can be a bit snobby anyway, 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:56.720 as I say, I do love my country, and leaving 0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:00.400 mostly leaving it because of my family issues which were 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:04.440 difficult and complicated, and then going back once I got back, 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:08.200 Camelot was a joy with Richard Burton. And that wasn't 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:11.480 three and a half years, No, it was eighteen months. 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:15.320 Another longest. No, he did it for a year and 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:18.040 then he went off to do it Cleopatra. Yeah, he 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:19.919 did it. I think it was a year I was 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:24.000 left behind. The shows are here, not at first. This 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:27.720 is what's so interesting. Coming after My Fair Lady written 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:30.919 by Learner and Lowe who wrote My Fair Lady, the 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:36.800 world expected another My Fair Lady, and because Alan was 0:19:36.880 --> 0:19:40.560 not very well Alan Jay Lerner, and Moss was not 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:45.680 very well. He always had heart problems. There just wasn't 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:49.040 nothing quite went right, and we didn't have enough time 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:51.360 to work on it and so on, and we opened 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:55.520 on Broadway to Richard got us through. I think Richard Burton, 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:58.760 you know, everybody we were. We had a solid booking 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:01.479 for at least three months, six months because of Richard, 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:04.960 and it was a glorious looking show, but it did 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:08.480 have floors. Moss said, I'm going to go and I'm 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:12.800 going to take a vacation, but I will come back, 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:16.480 as did Alan, And they came back as they promised 0:20:16.480 --> 0:20:21.159 in three months and reworked the show, at which time 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:25.280 we went onto the Ed Sullivan Show. And in those 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:28.359 days Ed Sullivan was huge, as you know. He brought 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:31.800 the Beatles and so many people to prominence in America. 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:36.399 And what they did instead of just having us on 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:40.880 his show, he did a complete excerpt from Camelot. Yeah, 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:44.399 I think it was at the instigation of Alan and Moss, 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:47.080 but we did the first act, which was like a 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:50.639 little mini play all by itself, the following morning after 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:54.159 the Ed Sullivan Show. The cues around the block whereas 0:20:54.200 --> 0:20:56.760 if we'd been a standing Romanly hit, and from then 0:20:56.880 --> 0:21:01.399 on Camelot became a hit. When Camelots over, where do 0:21:01.440 --> 0:21:08.080 you go to Hollywood? Because because Walt Disney came to 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:11.520 see I mean, in between I did television shows and 0:21:12.040 --> 0:21:15.920 my Wonderful Fun shows with Carol Burnett and things like that. 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:23.520 But basically chronologically, Walt Disney was advised to come and 0:21:23.840 --> 0:21:26.560 see Camelot because there was a girl in it that 0:21:26.800 --> 0:21:30.000 might be good for Mary Poppins, none of which I knew. 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:35.040 And that he came backstage to say hello, I just 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:37.080 thought he was being very civil, that he was going 0:21:37.119 --> 0:21:39.000 to say hello to me and to Richard and that 0:21:39.040 --> 0:21:41.560 would be that. And you know, everybody knew Walt Disney 0:21:41.640 --> 0:21:44.520 was in the audience, but he came, and he's chatted 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:46.960 in my dressing room with me and with Tony Walton, 0:21:47.440 --> 0:21:51.240 my then husband, and he said, I wonder how you'd 0:21:51.240 --> 0:21:54.080 feel if you came out to Hollywood, you know, hear 0:21:54.119 --> 0:21:57.000 the songs and see the drawings that we've done story 0:21:57.080 --> 0:22:01.600 boarding as they called it, for Mary Poppins. And with 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:06.200 huge regret, I said, oh, Mr Disney, I would love to, 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:09.160 but I have to tell you that I'm three months pregnant, 0:22:09.720 --> 0:22:11.679 and he said, well, that's all right, we'll wait. And 0:22:11.720 --> 0:22:14.520 of course I did not know the pre production and 0:22:15.000 --> 0:22:17.520 all of those. I mean, it's endless in a fairly 0:22:17.520 --> 0:22:20.359 big movie, as you know. So we went on out. 0:22:21.280 --> 0:22:26.679 Disney was delightful and spoiled us both wonderfully. Hearing the 0:22:26.760 --> 0:22:33.160 songs for Mary Poppins, it instantly evoked those vaudeville days, 0:22:33.240 --> 0:22:37.400 the rumpty tomb kind of quality of jolly holiday familiar 0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:40.040 to you Berry, and I knew I could embrace it. 0:22:40.680 --> 0:22:43.000 Not only that, but he had Tony on the spot 0:22:43.040 --> 0:22:47.560 when he saw his portfolio, and he commissioned Tony to 0:22:47.640 --> 0:22:51.600 do all the costumes for the movie, which is incredible 0:22:51.640 --> 0:22:55.399 if you think about it, and the sets for Cherry 0:22:55.480 --> 0:23:00.679 Tree Lane and the interior of the banks. How Hold 0:23:00.880 --> 0:23:04.720 and Tony got nominated for an Academy Award, first time out, 0:23:04.760 --> 0:23:10.960 first film, amazing. It was Walt's talent too, He had 0:23:11.080 --> 0:23:15.080 such a talent for spotting talent in a way. What 0:23:15.720 --> 0:23:19.080 was representation for you like back then? Which is an 0:23:19.119 --> 0:23:22.800 odd question, meaning he had British agents. Did your finally 0:23:23.240 --> 0:23:26.960 Hollywood agent from handling your career? Well? From the time 0:23:27.000 --> 0:23:30.320 I was about thirteen and starting off in show business 0:23:30.320 --> 0:23:35.680 in England. I was handled by an American gentleman who 0:23:35.880 --> 0:23:39.000 lived in England and who had kind of made his 0:23:39.080 --> 0:23:43.480 bass in England. He was a good agent, but his 0:23:43.560 --> 0:23:47.040 name was Charlie Tucker, and he was a very kindly 0:23:48.680 --> 0:23:52.600 nice guy. And all through my teens and all through 0:23:53.880 --> 0:23:58.159 um My fell lady and boyfriend and Camelot, I was 0:23:58.240 --> 0:24:03.680 represented by him. But came a time when well, one 0:24:03.720 --> 0:24:06.240 of two things caused of falling out between us, and 0:24:06.280 --> 0:24:10.400 then I when I went to Hollywood, ultimately probably around 0:24:10.400 --> 0:24:14.720 the time of the Sound of Music, I did change 0:24:15.080 --> 0:24:16.840 my age. When you're out there, it does help to 0:24:16.840 --> 0:24:20.560 have a native He was so used to the English scene, 0:24:20.680 --> 0:24:23.359 and you're right, it does help to have a native there. 0:24:23.359 --> 0:24:26.719 You go out there and you start shooting when your 0:24:26.800 --> 0:24:30.880 daughter's how old. She's only like three or four months 0:24:30.920 --> 0:24:34.080 old when we began rehearsals, and we in California, in 0:24:34.119 --> 0:24:36.639 California on the back lot of the Disney who directs 0:24:36.680 --> 0:24:41.359 the film, Robert Stevenson and one of the good true 0:24:42.560 --> 0:24:47.359 Disney h stable of direct table of directors. That's a 0:24:47.440 --> 0:24:48.879 very nice way to put it. And how did he 0:24:48.920 --> 0:24:51.639 compare to your other experiences in the theater. Well, it 0:24:51.760 --> 0:24:56.320 was film technical, very different, and he taught me a greatly, 0:24:56.480 --> 0:25:00.639 was very patient and and I clear, you know, I 0:25:00.760 --> 0:25:04.359 very soon realized the patients that's needed to make a movie. 0:25:04.840 --> 0:25:08.280 And you'd sit around for ages, particularly with Mary Poppins, 0:25:08.280 --> 0:25:11.520 because all of those special effects took such a long 0:25:11.560 --> 0:25:14.000 time to set up, you know. And did you begin 0:25:14.280 --> 0:25:16.480 as as many people do, I think, who have the 0:25:16.520 --> 0:25:20.400 success you've had, did you begin to, you know, kind 0:25:20.400 --> 0:25:25.560