Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #362453 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-28
• Released on: 2009-04-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

From Publishers Weekly
London-based stage/TV/film actor Stirling brings up the house lights to detail the entire life of the performer he has known since 1986. Having previously written about Andrews for the Evening Standard and other publications, he highlights recollections of her associates, in addition to his extensive archival research, plowing through some six decades of reportage and interviews in magazines, newspapers and books. Stirling grabs the reader's attention on the opening pages with a description of Andrews's 1997 Mount Sinai Hospital throat surgery, a normal operation that went tragically wrong: "Her principal trademark, the voice of mountain spring purity, was gone, as astonishingly as it had first appeared." Beginning with her childhood in London during the Blitz and youthful voice lessons, Stirling traces her career from post-WWII performances on BBC Radio and the London stage to her 1954 arrival in America with The Boy Friend. After acclaim for My Fair Lady and Camelot came the caravan of TV and movie roles that continue until the present day with voice work in the Shrek series and last year's Enchanted. The book successfully documents and details the professional and personal peaks of her life. With Andrews's memoir, Home, to be published in April, devoted fans are sure to turn to both. 8-page b&w photo insert not seen by PW. (Apr.)
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Review
"'Julie Andrews is, quite simply, a phenomenon. She has probably brought more joy to more people than any other star of her generation' - Richard Attenborough"

Review

Customer Reviews

As pleasant as the image she presents!
I wanted to know more about Julie Andrews. I adored her as Mary Poppins, loved her in The Sound of Music & was delighted by her comic performance in Thoroughly Modern Millie. I somewhat remember her "falling from grace" so to speak, making some unmemorable films, dissappearing...then suddenly it seems, she's back writing children's books & making successful movies again!

So I really wanted an overview of her entire life and that is why I chose this book by Richard Stirling over HOME which ends about the time that Julie's fame begins.

The book is an engaging, easy read that has generally fulfilled my expectations. It covers Julie's meteoric rise to the heights of fame and the painfully slow slide into a lingering sort of limbo that allowed her to triumphantly hold her head up occassionally but never again made full use of her sunny personality & gorgeous voice.

This book gave me the distinct impression that instead of being "ahead of her time" that unfortunately Julie Andrews showed up perhaps 20 years too late to be fully utilized in the field of musical/comedy films. (...and it teases us with the vehicles proposed for her but never made...) However, it also points to the fact that Julie is full of tenacity & perseverance. Of course, she is still around and that's a good thing.

Reasonably enjoyable
While I sort of agree with the reviewer who compared this book to an 8th grade book report, I enjoyed it nevertheless. A few observations:

1. The book borders on the hagiographic, which explains why Ms. Andrews comes across as a throughly decent woman, with no major faults to speak of, at least according to Mr. Stirling.

2. In the lives of most famous entertainers, there is a kind of "magic period", during with they are at the peak of their fame and doing whatever it is that makes them famous in the first place. Sooner or later that magic period disappears, and while they remain famous of course, the narrative of their lives becomes far less interesting. So it is with Ms. Andrews. Her magic period was from 1956 (when she began her role as Eliza Dolittle on Broadway) through 1965 (when The Sound of Music came out), with Camelot and Mary Poppins sandwiched in between. Once that was finished however, there simply isn't much left that is so fascinating afterwards. Obviously, her performing career was far from over at age 30, and Stirling dutifully records her career after this point. But, aside from a few brief highlights (Thoroughly Modern Millie and Victor/Victoria), there really isn't much left to speak of. To put it another way, if the biography of her life ended in 1965, one would be describing about 90%-95% of the portion of her life that makes her worthy of a biography in the first place. If it started in 1966, even though she was only 30 at the time, there would be very little else to say that is biography-worthy. It is interesting that Ms. Andrews' own autobiography almost DID end at this point (1964). However, if one were to write a biography of her life starting at age 30, no one would buy it. That not her fault of course, but it does present a problem for her biographers.

I regret purchasing this book
I ordered this book because since the 1960's I've adored Julie Andrews. I found here everything I wanted to know about her. But this book is not very "readable".

Mr Stirling often leads the reader down dead end paths - leaves them wondering "Where am I now?" and is often not fun to read. I enjoy a book that flows. This one jerks along like an old truck with a couple of flat tires on a bumpy forest road. Occasionally there's a well written story, but for the most part it's hard to follow and the stories he tells are truncated and with unrelated elements. It's like being in a forest and wondering where the path is. I'd rather have gotten (and will get) my information from other sources.