The hills are revived! Dame Julie’s reunion with Von Trapp children
IT WAS clear from their smiles that it was a joyful reunion.
Dame Julie Andrews, 86, was joined at a glitzy gala in Hollywood by some of those who played the children she looked after as governess in The Sound Of Music.
She was in Los Angeles to receive the American Film Institute’s life achievement award on Thursday.
And there to watch were five of the seven actors who played the Von Trapp children – the Austrian family who Dame Julie’s character Maria cared for and sang with in the 1965 movie.
Duane Chase, Nicholas Hammond, Kym Karath, Angela Cartwright and Debbie Turner later posed with her on the red carpet.
Dame Julie said she was surprised to receive the accolade. ‘I didn’t know or think that it would ever come,’ she added. ‘But it’s just as well, because you can’t go around expecting awards.’
She was due to receive the honour in 2020 and then last year, but it was postponed both times because of Covid. ‘When they asked me even two and a half years ago… I was gobsmacked,’ she said.
Her first big-screen role was in 1964’s Mary Poppins, for which she received the Oscar for best actress.
After The Sound Of Music, she starred in numerous films in the 1970s, 80s and 90s and was made a dame in 2000 for services to the performing arts.