Our heart goes out to the divine Julie Andrews in what is surely a difficult time as her husband the writer/director Blake Edwards passed away a few days ago. We apologize for the delay in honoring him. Edwards was long beloved and praised for his comic sensibilities as a writer and director, most famously within The Pink Panther series starring Peter Sellers.
What was less often noted is that he was often responsible for shining a flattering light on actresses, no matter your feelings about him getting Julie out of her clothing. His late career efforts in this realm (Ellen Barkin in Switch and Kim Basinger in Blind Date) weren't as magical as his earlier work but he had a hand in big moments in the careers of Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn and was absolutely crucial to Julie Andrews career.
Blake and Natalie Wood in 1965
If you haven't seen many of his pictures, program yourself a festival at home with these highlights.
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) the most universally beloved Audrey Hepburn movie.
The Pink Panther (1963) though any in the series will do. My favorite as a wee toddler was the one where Sellers is wearing a facial disguise that melts and his nose starts dripping. Anyone remember which in the series that was?
The Great Race (1965) Check out how jaw droppingly gorgeous Natalie Wood is in this all-star comedy. Some consider it the peak of her beauty.
"10" (1979) A massive hit when it appeared making Bo Derek and Dudley Moore incredibly famous. Julie Andrews co-stars.
Victor/Victoria (1982)-You know this one already. Watch it again. Isn't it one of the most rewatchable films ever?
And maybe end with one of his other collaborations with wife Julie Andrews. He directed her frequently. I didn't personally like their last film together That's Life (1986) but you could try Darling Lili (1970) a war film where Julie sings and is paired with Rock Hudson or The Tamarind Seed (1974) where Julie is romanced by Omar Shariff or their infamous showbiz satire S.O.B. (1981). Though moviegoers who liked Julie Andrews abso-squeaky clean sometimes resented her husband for his playful and frisky remolding of his wife's image whether that was striptease musical numbers or gender bending (clips from Darling Lili and Victor/Victoria follow), Julie herself obviously enjoyed it.
Julie Andrews in S.O.B. (1981)
As is true with most comedically gifted filmmakers, Edwards had to wait for an honorary Oscar late in life rather than win one in competition. He was only nominated once, for the screenplay to the wonderful gender-bending farce Victor/Victoria (1982) which happens to be the last musical hurrah of Julie Andrews. Along with Breakfast at Tiffany's it will undoubtedly live forever.
To celebrate the 75th birthday of the great Julie Andrews, our favorite singing governness, our favorite magical nanny, our favorite gender bending toast of Paris. Something big was in order. Why, she's practically perfect in every way... so in her honor, a resurrection of a long dormant exhaustively researched 100% true* series that was once the Film Experience's most popular feature.
1935 Julia Wells is born to Mrs. Barbara Wells in Surrey, England. Mr. Wells is not the father. Scandal! This bastard child will one day become the icon of squeaky clean family entertainment. She won't always enjoy it. At her christening the good fairy Fauna grants her the gift of song
One gift, the gift of song,
Melody your whole life long!
The nightingale her troubadour,
Bringing his sweet serenade to her door.
(We figure that's the only way you get a voice that lovely.)
1940 Having already recognized the fairy's generous gift, non biological daddy Ted Wells sends Julia to live with mom's new man Ted Andrews (also not her biological father --- so confusing!) who is better equipped to give her the musical education she needs.
1947 Julia -- now "Julie Andrews" -- makes her professional debut at the London Hippodrome singing the aria "Je Suis Titania" (i.e. 'I am Titania' -referencing the Queen of the Fairies in A Midsummer Nights Dream, no doubt an homage to generous Fauna) from the opera Mignon. She blows the roof off the place.
1951 Does not prick her finger and fall into an unnatural slumber but is, by now at 16, a British star of stage and radio. Waits impatiently, but sweetly, for love's first kiss total world domination.
1954 Start at the top: Debuts on the American stage on Broadway in the lead role of The Boyfriend.
1956 Wouldn't it be loverly if she originated the plum role of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady and concurrently became a superstar with the live television airing of the musical Cinderella? Statistics vary but her numbers are basically up their with the explosion of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show and the final episode of M*A*S*H. We're talking everyone... or roughly 10 times the numbers that even the biggest "event" nowadays.
1959 Love's first kiss: Marries set designer Tony Walton who she met on the stage in London many years prior whilst playing the Egg in Humpty-Dumpty.
1960 Her eggs produce first child, Emma. Also creates the original Guinevere in the smash hit Broadway musical Camelot.
1962/1963 Julie, already a household name in America, is passed over for the movie version of the role she created in My Fair Lady because Jack Warner, in a typically lazy movie industry move (that we still see every day in 2010) only wants someone "bankable." Never mind that her first two movies become enormous "all time" blockbusters, each outgrossing My Fair Lady (which was also a hit with "bankable" Audrey Hepburn). Nobody can see into the future and most people aren't willing to risk casting based on rightness for a role... even though anyone in the right role at the time can become bankable as Mary Poppins will soon prove.
1964 Kill Audrey, Vol 1: Julie's movie debut Mary Poppins outgrosses My Fair Lady.So much for not bankable.She also stars in the acclaimed adult-oriented drama The Americanization of Emily, a film which she reportedly loves, though few notice in the enormous wake of that flying nanny.
1965 Kill Audrey Vol. 2: Julie wins the Oscar, besting Audrey Hepburn (who actually wasn't nominated but this isn't the way history remembers it. Shut up!).
As follow up, Julie spins around on a mountain top; billions of people all over the world get dizzy, and thousands of fairies are born. The Sound of Music outgrosses every movie that's ever existed including Gone With the Wind (if you don't adjust for inflation).
After defeating Audrey Hepburn, Julie targets Vivien Leigh. 'You can make one dress out of curtains? Amateur!'
Von Trapp play-clothes
1966 Hitchcock, having worn on Tippi Hedren's last nerve, has to find a replacement blonde. He tries Julie out for Torn Curtain. Outcome: Not icy and anonymous enough for Hitch. They never work together again. The film is a big hit. So is Hawaii that same year. Even outside of musicals Julie is beyond bankable.
1967 Julie stars as wannabe flapper Millie in Thoroughly Modern Millie. People remember it today as a misfire or flop but sorry: another huge hit, the biggest in Universal's history up till then. Julie + musicals =box office gold.
1968 Except when it don't. Oops. Star, a bloated biopic of Gertrude Lawrence becomes her first failure. Julie divorces Tony Walton and...
1969 ...marries Blake Edwards after filming Darling Lili (1970) for the director with Rock Hudson.
1970s After five years on the mountain top of global stardom, Julie bows out of the movies, making only two more films over the decade. She has two more children and then adopts two more still. She makes multiple television appearances.
1981 Blake convinces his wife to bare her breasts, which he had undoubtedly seen thousands of times already but he's a sharer. Her boob flash in S.O.B totally scandalizes Mary Poppins fans and my parents (also Mary Poppins fans). I remember the fallout vividly from my youth. They were furious.
1982 Despite her "betrayal" of squeaky clean loving fans, Hollywood and pop culture reembrace the icon when Victor/Victoria hits. Her multi-octave slide in "Le Jazz Hot" shatters glass and thousands more fairies are born. Julie is nominated for another Oscar for her woman-pretending-to- be-a-man-pretending- to-be-a-woman nightclub act wherein she falls in love with gangster King Marchand (James Garner again) or "Fairy Marchand" as his arm-candy girlfriend rechristens him in a jealous rage.
1983 Julie Andrews loses the Oscar to Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice as would anyone from any year in any film under any circumstance.
rest of the 1980s makes a few more movies with Blake Edwards but nothing ascends. Bares her breasts again opposite Rupert Everett in Duet For One (1986) but few notice. You only get a shock from that once.
1990s-1999 returns to Broadway, eventually revives Victor/Victoria in new form, refuses a Tony nomination for their "egregious" snubbing of her fellow cast members. Vocal problems begin. Undergoes surgery for throat nodules and something goes wrong and she is unable to sing again. A special new circle of hell is created for whomever is to blame though...
2000 ...here on earth the matter is settled in a malpractice lawsuit. Julie's Just Rewards: She becomes "Dame" Julie Andrews by order of the Queen.
2001 Speaking of Queens... The Princess Diaries opens, surprising virtually everyone by becoming a smash with non-bankable Anne Hathaway in the leading role of the Princess and non-singing no-longer bankable Julie as the Queen of Genovia. The hit film will win her a new generation of young fans and set in motion a new career in children's films, albeit usually just as voice work. As in...
2010Despicable Me wherein Julie Andrews plays the disapproving mother of super villain Gru. On October 1st, Julie Andrews celebrates her 75th birthday.
Here's to her next quarter century as one of the great entertainers of all time!
You'll be sorry but your tears'll be too late.....>>>......
Audrey Hepburn and the latest "new Audrey Hepburn" Carey Mulligan
So it looks like the remake of 1964's Best Picture My Fair Lady is going to happen after all. Carey Mulligan will be playing Eliza Doolittle instead of Keira Knightley as previously reported. Now, this is why I don't spend hundreds of posts tracking every pre-production film the way most sites do -- well, that and the time and the lack of staff and the preference for actual movies rather than movies no one will see for another year or three -- because things are always in flux. The Carey Mulligan news is also a handy illustration of why I never trust either rumors or denials. It was less than a month ago that Mulligan said there was zero truth to the rumor.
This seems like a risky move to me. Mulligan's already got the 'new Audrey Hepburn' tag as she worked the fashions with stick thin elegance all awards season. Maybe her agents aren't worried. After all every young actress must suffer the "new so and so" thing as they come into their stardom. [tangent: There was even a time --shudder with me now -- that Entertainment Weekly tried to call Julianne Moore the new Julia Roberts. I'm like an elephant. I never forget. Could any two actresses be more different?] But it's one thing to be labelled "the next so and so". It's quite another to be labelled so and then sign up to take on one of their signature roles. It's risking direct comparison. And who wants to risk comparison to one of the greatest movie stars of all time?
I don't exactly object to My Fair Lady being remade (though I assumed it would be a non-musical version when I first heard the news) and I'm thrilled that Emma Thompson is involved. That's a sure sign that the book inbetween the classic score will be witty. In truth I'm just happy that any musical is still getting made after Nine's bombing. See, Hollywood has a way of assuming that one thing equals every other thing ("Avatar made billions. Therefore ALL movies will make billions if we convert them to 3D!") so I feared Nine's financial blood bath would spell the end of the musical resurgence despite all the musical hits that directly preceded it.
Carey & Anne & Keira, Doolittle Triplets
I have no idea if Carey Mulligan can sing or not but this is yet another situation where we have a movie musical happening and Anne Hathaway is not starring in it. What is going on here? If any single actress from Young Hollywood should be doing musicals, it's her. She's the only one who has made it completely obvious that she was born for it. And yet nothing. Still. (And I don't think they'll let her do her own singing as Judy Garland in that biopic, you know?) And you'd think Hathaway would be a total fit for Eliza. Hollywood loves to see actors repeating themselves and Hathaway has had a lot of training at Pygmalian-esque screen make-overs (The Princess Diaries, The Devil Wears Prada).
If the movie does happen (we're still early in the process mind you), I will die with curiousity waiting for Oscar to react. The original My Fair Lady was a huge Oscar sensation but for Audrey herself who wasn't even nominated, despite it being one of her three signature roles (the others obviously being "Holly Golightly" and "Princess Ann"). It's widely believed she was snubbed as misplaced karmic punishment for winning the role when the producers deemed Julie Andrews (who originated it on Broadway) unfit to sell a movie, having no previous film experience. Andrews got the last laugh becoming a huge film star that same year, winning the Oscar for Mary Poppins and chasing it with The Sound of Music, one of the biggest box office behemoths of all time.
The Classics NY Times Douglas McGrath demands a special Oscar for Doris Day. Time to give her her due Film Art "Tell, Don't Show" David Bordwell examines a great scene with Liv Ullmann and Bibi Andersson in Persona to illustrate the power of extended monologues Gawker Susan Sarandon shtupping the ping pong kid? The Independent Elizabeth Taylor's White Diamonds is still the top celebrity scent. Talk about staying power. La Liz has been raking in the dough from that single career move for almost 20 years now. How many diamonds has she bought with the haul? I Need My Fix "Cher (!) Films Burlesque"... though be warned. 'Fix' gets the headline all fucked up and adds several letters inbetween "Ch" and "r"... confusing the true story here: CHER ! Making a movie again. Style List Catherine Deneuve's 60's era magnificence is still inspiring fashionistas
The Now contact music Toni Collette to be honored by Nicole Kidman at a special Aussie Expat event in LA on Golden Globe weekend LA Times Julianne Moore, still hoping for Oscar nom #5, says you should never take employment for granted Huffington Post I avoid the People's Choice Awards like the Bubonic plauge but Nicole Kidman looked so good. What ever possessed her to stay blonde for so long? So glad the red is hangin on Pop MattersBig Love returns. It's Amanda Seyfried's last season. Sissy Spacek is guest starring
The Stage London Travel Julie Andrews is doing a one-off show this summer Theater Mania and Isabelle Huppert is doing Streetcar in Paris in the spring. I expect a full report from one of you French readers. Comprenez-vous?
Bathroom graffiti in Marie's Crisis, a piano bar here in NYC.
Michael Urie of Ugly Betty fame snapped this and posted on Twitter. It made me laugh so. I love the gays. Also, Julie Andrews... but that goes without saying *
Streep at 60: More movie discussions to follow but today we're discussing Oscar competitive fields again (the winner links take you to their acceptance speech)
The Best Actress races of 1982 and 1983 hold special meaning for me as they were my inaugural Oscar years. On April 11th of 1983 I saw my first Oscar ceremony. My only point of reference for the glitzy tradition was that my parents and my older siblings didn't like it -- something about Star Wars being way better than Woody Allen??? --and even though my parents didn't take me to that many movies, I had somehow seen and liked 3 of the 5 Best Picture nominees (Gandhi and the two blockbusters Tootsie & E.T.) For the first two years of my Oscar watching I saw a total of ZERO Best Actress nominees. My how life has changed.
1982...
Julie Andrews, Victor/Victoria -this is the one I desperately wanted to see, being in love with both Mary Poppins and Maria Von Trapp. My parents refused to take me, muttering something about Julie Andrews appearing in a porno... I was very confused.
Other '82 female leads for context: Diane Keaton in Shoot the Moon, Teri Garr in One From the Heart, Carol Burnett in Annie, Dolly Parton in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Nathalie Baye in The Return of Martin Guerre and Michelle Pfeiffer in Grease 2
Streep Stats: With this win Meryl became the 4th actress to win an Oscar for a Nazi/Holocaust related drama. It didn't happen again until Winslet won this past February for The Reader. Meryl was not, at 33 then, the youngest actress to win a second Oscar. Luise Rainer still holds that title winning her second Oscar in 1938 when she was only 28. Even Jodie Foster couldn't top that (her Silence of the Lambs win came at 29 years of age).
Other '83 female leads for context: Arielle Dombasle in Pauline at the Beach, Mariel Hemingway in Star 80, Bonnie Bedelia in Heart Like a Wheel, Sigweavy in The Year of Living Dangerously, Susan Sarandon & Catherine Deneuve in The Hunger and Babs in Yentl.
Streep Stats: Despite being only 34 years old when her 5th nomination rolled around, Meryl doesn't hold the record for fastest to get there: Bette Davis held the record for 65 years (accomplishing it by the age of 33) until Kate Winslet took over earning her fifth nomination (Little Children) at 31. I'm guessing that record holds for as long as Bette's did.
Give or take Norma Shearer who is either tied for 3rd place or in 5th place depending on how you count her nominations
What are your ideal Oscar shortlists / wins in 1982 and 1983? If you haven't seen very many early 80s movies, which are you most eager to finally get to?
For anyone who ever dreamed of being adopted into The Von Trapp Family singers, wearing Julie Andrews curtain line of play clothes, or just frolicking in Central Station... This is for you.
Bliss. What a great way to start the day. * Later today: Rosengje's final reports from ShoWest, and yes... your collective Best Actress predictions.
It's Tuesday. Time for "A History of..." But today we're doing things a little differently. It's an Illustrated History of Gender-Bending @ The Movies. Today's topic is inspired in part by the fact that it's the birthday of one hit wonder Jaye Davidson who startled moviegoers in The Crying Game many years ago.
1930s Marlene Dietrich puts on a suit. Garbo strolls around like she has an extra bit between her legs. Millions swoon.
1993 Kurt Russell discovers eyeliner in Tombstone. Val Kilmer still upstages him.
1994 Guy Pearce cannot find a copy of The Texas Chainsaw Mascara. Still looking. Has now also misplaced his career. I swear that Guy. If his head weren't attached...
2006 Amanda Bynes in She's the Man finally replaces Barbra Streisand in Yentl as the world's most unbelievable and ugly boy. Babs sends 'thank you' note.
Each Monday I'll take a reader request. (Last week you gave me lots of great suggestions --upon which I will undoubtedly draw in the future. This weeks topic comes from "anonymous")
The Sound of Music (1965) At some point in the late '90s I realized that serious cinephiles weren't supposed to love The Sound of Music. The high caloric count, the music, little children in curtain outfits, marionettes, singing nuns. All of these things, I learned, were embarrassing. I was supposed to turn my nose up when confronting those living hills and their thousand year old songs.
What can I say. I rejected this epiphany. In the Sound of Music scenario I'm most decidedly (and eternally) Maria. Other critics can play the stuffy nuns:
Cineastes/Nuns:"How do you solve a problem like Maria Nathaniel. A flibbertijibbet! A will-o'-the wisp! A clown! ...He is gentle! He is wild! He's a riddle! He's a child! He's a headache! He's an angel! He's a girl!" Maria/Nathaniel: "My heart wants to sing every song it hears"
About the music: I love every song. I believe that one of the principal reasons for the general musical's decline in modern times is the presence of song filler. I blame Andrew Lloyd Webber (come to think of it: I blame him for a lot of things). All songs in a musical should be memorable. Not just the main theme that you repeat over and over. There's not a clunker anywhere in this Rodgers & Hammerstein masterwork. Even the comic relief songs are hugely pleasureable. I know all the words to The Lonely Goatheard and sang them at the top of my lungs two nights ago @ Marie's Crisis (I was drunk. Don't judge!)
I love all seven and 1/2 hours of The Sound of Music. I love that Marni Nixon is in it (as opposed to just singing in it as she did for so many movie musicals) I love Julie Andrews. I even love that Aryan beauty Rolf (hey, I was like 4 when I first saw this...which is kind of like being Liesl. The Nazi thing escaped me.)
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