AFI honors Julie Andrews for a lifetime of filmmaking
LOS ANGELES — Julie Andrews was honored by the American Film Institute last week for a Hollywood career that couldn’t have started more supercalifragilisticexpialidocious-ly — with an Oscar-winning performance in a film that would become an instant classic: “Mary Poppins.”
And just six months after “Poppins” hit big screens, along came what would be not only Andrews’ biggest hit — but one of the all-time box-office successes: the adaptation of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s stage smash “The Sound of Music.”
Before the AFI Life Achievement ceremony, which airs at 7 p.m. Thursday on TNT, the 86-year-old Andrews recalled landing her first major movie gig.
“Walt Disney gave me my first big chance and I learned so much on that film. It was a wonderful film to learn the craft of moviemaking on because there were so many special effects, so much waiting around, so many complicated things to do because it was animated as well,” Andrews said.
The special includes guests representing chapters of Andrews’ careers through the decades, including longtime friend Carol Burnett, whose 1971 “Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center” won them Emmys; actor Hector Elizondo, her co-star in the two “Princess Diaries” films (2001, 2004); Steve Carell, who worked with Andrews on the upcoming animated “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” and Bo Derek, who portrayed the titular perfect “10” in the 1979 comedy written and directed by Andrews’ late husband and frequent collaborator Blake Edwards. He and Andrews were married for 41 years, until his death in 2010.
As for Andrews’ professional legacy?
In addition to the AFI’s turf of film and TV, there are award-winning recordings, books, Broadway and West End appearances.
“I just hope I gave a little
pleasure,” she said in an interview. “That’s the only legacy I would be happy about. That’s what it’s all about. It’s the giving. And I just hope that, you know, they had a good time.”