Julie Andrews has just celebrated her 90th birthday, which means that she must now be placed in a heavily guarded glass case that is lined with fresh tea sandwiches. She isn’t just your run-of-the-mill celebrity. Dame Julie Andrews is institutional, a cornerstone of both cinema and childhood, and for many of us who are surviving these unprecedented times, our mental health is just a little dependent on her well-being remaining secure.
Julie Andrews was born in Surrey, England, in 1935, and was a child prodigy with a voice powerful enough to perform for royalty by the time she was in her teens. By age 19 she was already singing on Broadway with The Boy Friend, she originated the role of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, and then earned her first Tony nod with Camelot. At the age she was strutting the stage and garnering international attention, most of us were still calling our moms to help figure out the proper water ratio for microwaved ramen.
In 1964, my favorite of Julie Andrews’ works swept into theaters umbrella-first, and the world met their forever favorite nanny in Mary Poppins. Dame Julie won the Oscar for Best Actress for the role, securing her place in cinema history, as it was her first-ever film role. Our second favorite nanny arrived when Andrews portrayed the starring role of Maria in The Sound of Music. And because I am a millennial, one simply doesn’t write a Julie Andrews tribute without reminding everyone that she was Queen Clarisse Renaldi — the former Queen of Genovia and proud grandmother of Anne Hatha— I mean — Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi, the current Queen of Genovia (just let me have this one, y’all). She even dipped her toes into the variety TV scene with The Julie Andrews Hour. She’s just… she’s a pop icon no matter whether she’s in a wimple, a tiara, or flying in via umbrella.
Andrews has been married twice, first to costume designer Tony Walton, then to director Blake Edwards, to whom she was married until his death in 2010. She’s a mother several times over and a proud grandmother to her actual grandchildren (though I’m sure she still claims Anne Hathaway as hers as well — how could you not?). She’s reinvented herself several times over, including award-winning returns to the stage, TV specials, and even working on children’s books with her daughter Emma. Putting Julie Andrews in a box isn’t a thing that’s possible, as she’s never stopped evolving, though she has always portrayed that signature warmth and wit.
Speaking of evolving… Dame Julie is still at it. Did you notice that the voice of Lady Whistledown in the Bridgerton series sounded familiar? That’s because Julie Andrews lent her talent to Shonda Rhimes’ Regency romance project, proving that even in the streaming era, she’s still in high demand. Even the most scandalous Regency tea sounds polite when Mary Poppins is the one doing the spilling!
Society, I beg of you. Have we not suffered enough? We are honor-bound to bubble-wrap Julie Andrews in order to keep her singing, narrating, and delighting us for many more birthdays (METAPHORICALLY, people. Please don’t anyone actually try and bubble-wrap the star — that’d be weird and intrusive). To Dame Julie Andrews, I hope you had a happy 90th birthday, and that you’re around to continue blowing out the candles on a cake for years to come.
