When Julie Andrews accepts the American Film Institute’s life achievement award on Thursday (June 9), she’ll become the fifth winner of that prestigious award who is primarily known for music and/or movie musicals, following Fred Astaire (1981), Gene Kelly (1985), Barbra Streisand (2001) and composer John Williams (2006).
Andrews was first announced as the AFI life achievement award recipient way back on Sept. 20, 2019. She was to receive the honor on April 25, 2020, but on March 7 of that year the AFI announced that, owing to a strange new pandemic, “the event will be rescheduled for a date in early summer.” We all know how that turned out. The event was canceled in both 2020 and 2021.
Andrews has had a very unique history on the Billboard charts. She starred in two Broadway musicals with cast albums that topped the Billboard 200, as well as two films with soundtracks that topped that chart, but her only album under her own name to make the chart is Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall, the soundtrack to a 1962 TV special in which she starred with another future legend, Carol Burnett. It peaked at No. 85. (The special won two Emmys, including outstanding program achievement in the field of music.)
Andrews has also had only one entry on the Billboard Hot 100, “Super-cali-fragil-istic-expi-ali-docious,” a novelty song from Mary Poppins on which she teamed with Dick Van Dyke and The Pearlies. The tongue-twister single reached No. 66 in 1965.
Andrews had a glorious singing voice, but for some reason it didn’t translate to the pop music world. Still, her work in soundtracks and cast albums can’t be denied. In 2011, she received a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy. Burnett wrote the appreciation that appeared in the Grammy program book that year, saying “Her talent is unsurpassed. She’s a consummate actress and her voice is a gift from the gods.”
Andrews is three-quarters of the way to EGOT status. She has won two Emmys, two Grammys (plus that lifetime achievement award) and an Oscar, but has yet to win a Tony, despite three nominations. She appeared to finally be headed for a Tony win in 1996 for her lead role in the Broadway adaptation of Victor/Victoria, but when she was the only person from the show to receive a nomination, she famously declined the nod, telling a matinee audience two days after the nominations were announced: “I have searched my conscience and my heart and find that I cannot accept this nomination, and prefer instead to stand with the egregiously overlooked.”
That rather arch phrasing was mocked, but Andrews’ principled stand was admired. Andrews remained on the ballot, but having signaled disinterest in the award, it was no surprise when she lost to Donna Murphy for The King and I.
Despite that kerfuffle, Andrews remains strongly identified with Broadway. She won an Emmy in 2005 (outstanding non-fiction series) for hosting Broadway: The American Musical on PBS. She has received two Grammy nominations for best traditional pop vocal performance, both for Broadway collections – Julie Andrews Broadway/Here I’ll Stay (1997) and Julie Andrews – Broadway – the Music of Richard Rodgers (1995). (Richard Rodgers, of course, was the composer of The Sound of Music and Cinderella.)
Andrews has won a slew of career achievement awards, including the Kennedy Center Honors (2001), a Life Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild Awards (2006) and a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy (2011). Now, as she receives the AFI life achievement award, pundits are already looking ahead to who might be the next film music luminary to receive the honor.
Here are eight soundtracks or cast albums Andrews recorded that made waves on the Billboard 200.
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‘My Fair Lady’ original cast album
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Highlights: “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “Show Me,” “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly,” “Just You Wait,” “The Rain in Spain”
This album hit No. 1 on July 14, 1956, dislodging Elvis Presley’s Elvis Presley from the top spot. It logged a total of 15 weeks at No. 1, a total equaled or surpassed by only one cast album in the history of the Billboard 200 (which dates to March 1956). (The Sound of Music, headlined by Mary Martin, had 16 weeks on top in 1960.) My Fair Lady, which returned to No. 1 in 1957, 1958 and 1959, is the only album to appear at No. 1 in four calendar years. This album pre-dates the Grammy Awards, which launched in 1958, but the album was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1977 and the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry in 2007. My Fair Lady won seven Tony Awards, including best musical. Andrews starred in the show with Rex Harrison (who won a Tony for his performance).
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‘Cinderella’ TV soundtrack
Highlights: “In My Own Little Corner,” “Impossible: It’s Possible,” “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful?”
This TV soundtrack hit No. 15 in April 1957. Eight years before Andrews starred in the film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music, she starred in this made-for-TV musical also written by the legendary team. Cinderella is the only Rodgers and Hammerstein musical written for television. It was originally broadcast live on CBS on March 31, 1957. The broadcast, which also starred Jon Cypher as The Prince, was viewed by more than 100 million people. Andrews received an Emmy nomination for actress-best single performance-lead or support. The show received two other nods — best live camera work and one to Rodgers for best musical contribution for television. (How odd that the Emmys didn’t list Rodgers and Hammerstein as a single entry in that category. The award went to Leonard Bernstein for Omnibus.)
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‘Camelot’ original cast album
Highlights: “The Lusty Month of May,” “Then You May Take Me to the Fair,” “What the Simple Folk Do,” “The Simple Joys of Maidenhood,” “I Loved You Once in Silence”
This album hit No. 1 on June 5, 1961, dislodging Presley’s G.I. Blues soundtrack. The album remained on top for six weeks. The album received a 1960 Grammy nod for best show album (original cast) and was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2006. Camelot won four Tony Awards. Andrews starred in the show with Richard Burton (who won a Tony for his performance; I’m starting to see a pattern here!), Robert Goulet and Roddy McDowall. Goulet sang the best show’s finest song, “If Ever I Would Leave You.” The Golden Globes thought so much of the song they allowed it to win best original song seven years later when the film version was released.
The album earned a footnote in American political history following President Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963. Presidential historian Theodore White interviewed Jacqueline Kennedy on the night of Nov. 29, 1963, one week after the assassination. His article, “For President Kennedy: An Epilogue,” published in the Dec. 6, 1963 issue of LIFE, included the first use of the term “Camelot” in print to characterize the Kennedy era. The former first lady said, “At night, before we’d go to sleep, Jack liked to play some records; and the song he loved most came at the very end of this record. The lines he loved to hear were: ‘Don’t let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment/that was known as Camelot.” Mrs. Kennedy added: “There’ll be great Presidents again – and the Johnsons are wonderful, they’ve been wonderful to me – but there’ll never be another Camelot again.”
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‘Mary Poppins’ soundtrack
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Highlights: “Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag),” “A Spoonful of Sugar,” “Chim Chim Cher-ee,” “Super-cali-fragil-istic-expi-ali-docious,” “Jolly Holiday”
This album hit No. 1 on March 13, 1965, dislodging The Beatles’ Beatles ’65. It was bumped down to No. 2 for three weeks by the Goldfinger soundtrack, but returned to No. 1 on April 10. The film won five Oscars on April 5. The album logged a total of 14 weeks on top – one of the five longest runs by a soundtrack in the 1960s. When Andrews won an Oscar for best actress for her first film role, she graciously said, “I know you Americans are famous for your hospitality but this is really ridiculous.” The Sherman Brothers won two Oscars – best original score and best original song for “Chim Chim Cher-ee.” The album also brought Andrews her first Grammy Award – best recording for children. The album was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014. Mary Poppins ranked No. 6 on the 2006 roster of AFI’s Greatest Movie Musicals. The tongue-twister “Super-calif-fragil-istic-expi-ali-docious” ranked No. 36 on the 2014 broadcast, AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs. Andrews starred in the film with Dick Van Dyke, who shot the film in between Seasons 2 and 3 of his classic sitcom, The Dick Van Dyke Show.
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‘The Sound of Music’ soundtrack
Image Credit: ©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection Highlights: “The Sound of Music,” “I Have Confidence,” “My Favorite Things,” “Do-Re-Mi,” “Something Good,” “Edelweiss”
This album hit No. 1 on Nov. 13, 1965, dislodging The Beatles’ Help! soundtrack. The album logged 109 weeks in the top 10, the longest run in the top 10 since separate mono and stereo charts were consolidated into one comprehensive listing in August 1963. The album received a Grammy nod for album of the year. It was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998 and the National Recording Registry in 2017. The film won five Oscars, including best picture. Andrews was vying to become the first actress to win back-to-back awards in this category in nearly 30 years, but she lost to another Julie, Julie Christie (for Darling). Andrews starred in the film with Christopher Plummer and Peggy Wood (who was also Oscar-nominated for her performance). Three songs from the film made AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs, a 2004 TV special. The title song was No. 10, followed by “My Favorite Things” at No. 64 and “Do-Re-Mi” at No. 88. Only two other films, Singin’ in the Rain and West Side Story, each had three songs on the list. The Sound of Music ranked No. 4 on the 2006 roster of AFI’s Greatest Movie Musicals.
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‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’ soundtrack
Highlights: “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” “Baby Face,” “Poor Butterfly”
This album peaked at No. 16 on June 3, 1967. It spent six weeks in the top 20, where it vied with albums by such varied artists as The Monkees, Aretha Franklin and Jefferson Airplane – as well as The Sound of Music soundtrack, which was still riding high. Andrews starred in the film with Carol Channing (who was Oscar-nominated for her performance) and Mary Tyler Moore. The film marked Andrews’ return to musicals after starring roles in the political thriller Torn Curtain and the epic drama Hawaii. Movie marketers trumpeted her return. “Julie as you love her in the happiest motion picture hit of the year,” the poster read. The title song received an Oscar nomination. Elmer Bernstein won an Oscar for best original music score.
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‘Darling Lili’ soundtrack
Highlights: “Whistling Away the Dark,” “Darling Lili,” “Your Good-Will Ambassador”
This album peaked at No. 116 in the summer of 1970. The film featured “Whistling Away the Dark,” a hypnotic Henry Mancini/Johnny Mercer ballad which received an Oscar nod for best original song. (Shirley Jones sang the song on the Oscar telecast). Mancini and Mercer also received an Oscar nod for best original song score and a Grammy nod for best original score written for a motion picture or a television special. “Whistling Away the Dark” won a Golden Globe for best original song, but “For All We Know,” boosted by the Carpenters’ smash hit, swooped in and won the Oscar. Andrews starred in the film, a box-office bomb, with Rock Hudson.
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‘Victor/Victoria’ soundtrack
Highlights: “Le Jazz Hot!,” “Crazy World,” “The Shady Dame From Seville,” “You and Me”
This album peaked at No. 174 in June 1982. The film brought Andrews her third Oscar nod for best actress. Andrews starred in the film with Robert Preston and Lesley Ann Warren, both of whom also received Oscar nominations. Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse won an Oscar for best original song score and its adaptation or adaptation score. Alas, neither “Le Jazz Hot!” or “Crazy World” was nominated for best original song. (It was a highly competitive category that year.) Mancini also received a Grammy nod for best album of original score written for a motion picture or a television special.