Trapped Twice

Walt Disney first produced The Parent Trap, starring Hayley Mills, in 1961. The film was Mills’s 2nd film for the studio after she had previously appeared in Pollyanna (1960), where she acted under “Parent Trap,” director David Swift and won the Academy Award for Best Juvenile Performance by an Actress in Leading Role, being the last recipient of that award. 37 years later, Nancy Meyers, and former husband Charles Shyer, re-adapted The Parent Trap for Disney, starring a then-unknown Lindsay Lohan in 1998. (Lohan beat out Mara Wilson and an unknown Scarlett Johannsson for the role.) Both films have roughly the same plot line: two pre-teen identical twin girls discover they are sisters and decide to set a trap in order to get their divorced parents back together. Besides sharing a plot, there are both intriguing similarities and differences between the films as well that doesn't exactly meet the eye.

In the 1961 version, one of the sisters, Sharon, brings the mother, Maggie (played by Maureen O’Hara) from Boston, Massachusetts, out to Monterrey, California where the other sister, Susan and the Dad, Mitch (played by Brian Keith), live. When Mitch and Maggie are reunited, they feel very resentful of one another, and the fact that Mitch is engaged to a Vicky Robinson, doesn’t make it any less awkward. Ultimately, Mitch and Maggie discover that they are still in love, when Vicky’s true nature is revealed in the camping trip scene in the film. Mitch discovers that she is, in fact, a gold digger, who is marrying him for his money (definitely not for love), and he remarries Maggie, and everyone is happy in the end.

The 1998 version is more modernized. Just like before, the Dad, Nick (played by Dennis Quaid) lives in California and is engaged to be married (to Meredith Blake, played by Elaine Hendrix). One of the sisters, Hallie, brings the mother, Elizabeth (played by Natasha Richardson), to Napa, California where he and the other sister, Annie live. However, what makes the 1998 version very different is that Elizabeth lives in London, England, rather than Boston and they are reunited at the Stafford Hotel in San Francisco, rather than Nick’s house. When Nick and Elizabeth are reunited in the film, they do experience similar awkwardness just like Mitch and Maggie in the 1961 version, but they are actually quite happy to see each other and do not feel resentment. Instead fear blinds them from the idea of reuniting, because they’re both afraid that if they get back together, it just won’t work out. When Nick finally discovers Meredith’s true nature, he and Elizabeth both find they don’t need to be afraid.

In both versions of “Parent Trap,” each parents have servants who work for them in their households. In the 1961 film, the servants just do their job and have no real involvement in the story whatsoever. In the 1998 film, Nick’s housekeeper, Chessy, and Elizabeth’s butler, Martin, meet, fall in love, and get engaged to be married at the end of the movie.

In the 1998 film, Lindsay Lohan plays Hallie Parker and Annie James. Both twins are named after Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyers real-life daughters who both have bit parts in the movie. (Both girls have had bit parts in the parents’ other films as well.)

Joanna Barnes played Vicky Robinson in the 1961 film. When the 1998 film was in-production, Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer asked her to play Meredith Blake’s mom, Vicky Blake, in the film. It is ironic that both of Barnes’s character names in the films were the same in both movies. And in the 1998 film, she called Lindsay Lohan “pet,” just like her mother in the 1961 film called Hayley Mills “pet.” It’s very likely that Barnes was basically playing the exact same character in both movies. 

Both films of “The Parent Trap,” did exceptionally well for Disney. The 1961 adaptation received 2 Academy Award Nominations and spawned 3 television sequels. While the 1998 adaptation received no major award nominations, it was positively received by critics and the public and Lindsay Lohan did go on to make several other films for Disney, including Freaky Friday (2003) (which, just like her first Disney film was based on an earlier film of the same name, which starred Jodie Foster), Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004) and Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005). She also made 2 Disney Channel films, Life-Size (2000) and Get a Clue (2002).

Tom and Meg: Romance in Movies

Film studios have, of course, cast dozens and dozens of pairs of actors as “couples” in both dramatic films and romantic comedies. For the most part, the pairs are used only once, but on occasion the pairs are reunited for different movies (i.e. Bogie and Bacall, Hepburn & Tracy, etc.). Sometimes the actors’ first pairing is a hit, and they have good chemistry, but there’s likely no pair with as much success as Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, and their four onscreen appearances.

Having won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the romantic comedy, Moonstruck (1987), John Patrick Shanley cast Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in his directorial debut, Joe Versus the Volcano (1990). The film did only moderately well with critics, audiences, and finances, but despite that, writer/director Nora Ephron immediately saw the chemistry in Hanks and Ryan being together on-screen, and she cast them in her next film at the time, Sleepless in Seattle (1993). (Ephron had previously written and received an Oscar Nomination for Best Original Screenplay for When Harry Met Sally (1989), which also starred Meg Ryan. She received another nomination for “Sleepless.” Ephron also cast Tom Hanks’s real spouse, Rita Wilson, as his sister, Suzy in “Sleepless.”) Five years after “Sleepless,” Nora Ephron reunited Hanks and Ryan for a 3rd time in You’ve Got Mail (1998). (In both “Volcano,” and “Mail,” Tom Hanks’s character’s first name was Joe.) Recently, Meg Ryan, herself made her directorial debut with the indie drama, Ithaca (2016), which she also starred in and was paired with Hanks and her real son, Jack Quaid. Both Hanks and Ryan became close on “Volcano” and have remained good friends.

In addition to their four films together, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan both have been in a number of Disney-produced/distributed films both for the Disney label as well as other Disney-owned companies like Touchstone and Miramax.

Tom Hanks made his Disney debut in Touchstone Pictures’s fantasy/romantic comedy Splash (1984). (Because “Splash” was a hit for the studio, it ignited production on The Little Mermaid (1989)). Next, he starred in Touchstone’s Turner & Hooch (1989). Following that, he was hired by the Pixar Studios to provide the voice Woody in Pixar’s first collaboration with the Disney Studios, Toy Story (1995). He reprised the character for Toy Story 2 (1999), Toy Story 3 (2010), each of the Toy Story Toon Shorts (2011-) and television spin-offs, i.e. Toy Story of Terror (2013) and Toy Story That Time Forgot (2014), and is currently set to reprise the character yet again for the upcoming sequel, Toy Story 4, set to be released in 2018. In between the “Toy Story,” theatrical sequels, Tom Hanks starred in the Coen Bros. film, The Ladykillers (2004), which was also produced by Touchstone Pictures. And After voicing Woody for the 3rd time, Hanks portrayed Walt Disney himself in the “Mary Poppins,” biopic, Saving Mr. Banks (2013). Hanks’s most recent Disney film was Bridge of Spies (2015).

Meg Ryan made her Disney debut starring in the ABC original series Wildside (1985). Next, she starred opposite future husband Dennis Quaid in Touchstone’s D.O.A. (1988). She also made Touchstone’s When a Man Loves a Woman (1994) starring opposite Andy Garcia and Mae Whitman, who is Disney’s current voice for the Tinker Bell movie series (2008-). In 1997, Ryan lent her voice to 20th Century Fox’s animated movie-musical, Anastasia, in which she was under the direction of former Disney animators, Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. In 2001, she was paired Hugh Jackman in Miramax’s (then-owned by Disney) Kate & Leopold (2001).

The chemistry that Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan have in each of their movies has continued to entertain the world for nearly 30 years now. One might characterize Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan as a “modern Rock Hudson and Doris Day.” (Like Hanks and Ryan, Hudson and Day were good friends, and made three romantic comedies together, Pillow Talk (1959), Lover Come Back (1961), and Send Me No Flowers (1964)). Hanks and Ryan make it look easy, as real-life friendship appears to help their on-screen romance seem more believable and entertaining. Had they not befriended one another on “Joe Versus the Volcano,” they more than likely, never would have made “Sleepless in Seattle,” “You’ve Got Mail,” or “Ithaca,” which continue to entertain their fans!

The Xerox Orthodox

The Xerox Process was invented at the Walt Disney Studios in 1959. Around that time, every studio in the motion picture industry was having to modernize their styles of filming because of how much cultures around the world were changing at that time. All the gaudy, colorful movie-musicals that they had produced in previous decades had lost their touch with film audiences. The Disney Studios were no exception. They released Sleeping Beauty on January 29th, 1959, and it unfortunately turned out to be a flop. At that point, they considered closing down the entire studio, something they also considered 10 years earlier before Cinderella (1950). When “Beauty,” flopped they had to fire 5% of their employees, and they were in desperate need of a film that could be a hit for the studio. That hit turned out to be 101 Dalmatians (1961), which was the first film produced by the studio completely on “ the Xerox Process” and that played a huge role in making “Dalmatians,” so successful.

This process was invented by Ub Iwerks, Walt Disney’s long-term business partner who was “in charge of special processes at the studio.” He invented a Xerox camera that transferred drawings by animators directly to animation cels. It excluded the “inking” process (painting each cel) thus saving time and money while maintaining the spontaneity of the penciled elements. However, because of its limitations the camera was not able deviate from a black scratchy outline and lacked the fine lavish quality of hand inking. When “Dalmatians” was released, it earned the studio back all the money they had lost on “Sleeping Beauty.” The Xerox Process continued to be used on every film that the studio produced, even after Walt’s death, from The Jungle Book (1967) and The Aristocats (1970) all the way to The Fox and the Hound (1981). 

In the 1980s, computer animation was first beginning to make its way into the Hollywood limelight. At that time, the Disney Studios invented the Computer Animation Production System, or CAPS, for short. CAPS allowed them to use computer generated imagery for special sequences in their movies, while the rest of the movie would maintain the Xerox style. It was first applied to The Black Cauldron (1985), then to The Great Mouse Detective (1986), The Little Mermaid (1989), The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and The Lion King (1994). It was also applied to Pocahontas (1995) but with the triumphant success of Toy Story (1995), the very first film produced completely with computer animation, CAPS began to decline. CAPS was applied to every animated film that Disney produced from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) to Home On the Range (2004), but has since then been shut down and disassembled and with the success of films like Frozen (2013) and Zootopia (2016). It is unlikely that CAPS or Xerox will ever make a return to the big screen. (Disney’s more recent hand-drawn animated films, i.e. The Princess and the Frog (2009) and Winnie the Pooh (2011) were produced with more updated version of CAPS entitled “Toon Boom Harmony” computer software.)

Walt Disney Animation has progressed a great deal since Walt was alive. From the Xerox Process, to CAPS, to complete CGI. Today, the CAPS and complete CGI films might resonate with us as a film audience better than the Xerox films, but if Xerox hadn’t been invented, CAPS and complete CGI more than likely never would have come along. The Xerox process paved the way for filming styles we see in animated movies today, so it deserves every movie lover’s respect.  

As They Wish

October 9th, 2017, will mark 30 years since Rob Reiner’s Oscar-nominated, cult-classic film, The Princess Bride was released. There a great deal of reasons of why “The Princess Bride,” is a special film. It features a heartwarming story-and for its fans-a great deal of quotable dialogue from screenwriter William Goldman, (who also wrote the original book). Plus each of the characters within the story are brought to life by the wonderful talents of a star-studded. Did you happen to know that many of the film’s stars went on to lend their voices to Disney Animation?

Wallace Shawn, who played Vizzini in “Princess Bride,” provided the voice of Rex the Dinosaur in the Toy Story Trilogy, Principal Mazur in A Goofy Movie (1995), and Principal Crosby Strickler in Teacher’s Pet the television series (2000-2005) and the movie (2004). He also voiced Bob’s irritating boss, Mr. Gilbert Huph, in The Incredibles (2004), and Billy in the direct-to-video sequel to Air Bud (1997), Air Buddies (2006). Shawn also had a small part in The Haunted Mansion (2003), based on the Disney Park attraction of the same name. Shawn had one of “Princess Bride’s” most quotable lines with “Inconceivable!” Due to a fear of heights, he was very scared to shoot the “Cliffs of Insanity” scene in the film, but Andre the Giant assured him that he would take care of him, and his fear lessened as a result. 

Billy Crystal, who played Miracle Max in the film, voiced Mike Wazowski in Monsters, Inc. (2001) and its prequel, Monsters University (2013). Crystal was reunited with Rob Reiner for his next film after “Princess Bride,” released 2 years later, When Harry Met Sally (1989). During the filming of the “Miracle Max” scene in the film, Crystal was so hilarious and made everyone laugh so hard, that Reiner had to leave the set and co-star Mandy Patinkin, (who played Inigo Montoya) bruised a rib, trying to withhold his laughter.

Carol Kane, who played Miracle Max’s wife Valerie, lent her voice to many Disney Channel television shows. She provided the voices of Brawnhilda in Aladdin (1994-1995), Nana Shapiro in Phineas and Ferb (2007-2015), and the Sea Witch in Jake and the Neverland Pirates (2011-present). She also had small parts in the live-action Disney films, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004) and The Pacifier (2005). Aside from her film career, in 2006, she permanently took over the role of Madame Morrible in the musical Wicked on Broadway, succeeding Rue McClanahan who reprised the show’s original, Carole Shelley. Prior to that, she originated the role in Wicked’s 1st National Tour (which I got to see in Dallas!)

Chris Sarandon, who portrayed Prince Humperdink in “Princess Bride,” provided the speaking voice of Jack Skellington in Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). He shared the role with Danny Elfman, who provided Jack’s singing voice. (Elfman also scored and wrote the songs “Nightmare Before Christmas,” and has written material for the majority of all of Tim Burton’s movies). Chris Sarandon brought his children to the set of the film because they had heard that their father was starring opposite a large giant, and when his son took one look at Andre the Giant he screamed at the top of his lungs and ran away as a result. Cary Elwes who played Westley and Fred Savage who played the Grandson in the film have also done voice work for Disney.

We might remember each of these people as their characters from “Princess Bride,” better than as the cartoon characters they voiced for Disney, though their roles for Disney did give more versatility to their careers. Some of them were even fortunate enough to receive Oscar nominations in their careers, including Carol Kane, Chris Sarandon and Peter Falk. (Kane: Best Actress in Hester Street (1975), Sarandon: Best Supporting Actor in Dog Day Afternoon (1975) and Falk: Best Supporting Actor in Murder, Inc. (1960) and Best Supporting Actor in Pocketful of Miracles (1961)). But it was thanks to their acting, William Goldman’s beautiful words, and Rob Reiner’s direction (and co-production with Andrew Schienman) that “The Princess Bride,” became the classic that it remains to this day! 

Buddy Ebsen: The Tin Man that Might Have Been

When we hear the name Buddy Ebsen, we usually think of Jed Clampett in the sit-com, The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-1971), which was his most famous role. We might also remember him as Barnaby Jones in the dramatic series of the same name which ran from 1973-1980 or as Doc Golightly in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). Did you happen to know, however, that Buddy Ebsen was Metro Goldwyn Mayer’s first choice to portray the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz (1939)? He also was Walt Disney’s first choice to play the role of Davy Crockett in the movie, Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier (1955). In this blog, I’d like to tell you a little bit about the man who gave life to the words, “Welllll, doggies.”

When MGM cast “The Wizard of Oz,” when they originally hired Ebsen to play the Scarecrow and Ray Bolger to play the Tin Man. Bolger, however, desperately wanted to play the Scarecrow, and the studio reconsidered and switched their roles. Ebsen was flexible about playing the Tin Man, but unfortunately had to quit the movie when he suffered a near-death reaction to the Tin Man’s makeup, which consisted of aluminum powder. (He revealed in a late-in-live interview that he also almost had his testicles cut off by the Tin Man’s costume!) MGM replaced him with Jack Haley and the makeup was changed from aluminum powder to aluminum paste. (Unfortunately for Haley though, some of the makeup got into his eye, and he had to go to see the studio doctor for an eye infection!) 

Interestingly, for the song “We’re off to see the Wizard,” the studio kept Buddy Ebsen’s vocals for the song in the final cut of the film, and didn’t even bother to record to Jack Haley singing it. They did, however, record Haley singing “If I Only Had a Heart,” and “If I Only Had the Nerve.” (Jack Haley eventually became in-laws with “Oz” co-star, Judy Garland, when his son, Jack Haley, Jr., married her daughter, Liza Minnelli. Haley also was godfather to John Lahr, the son of Haley’s other “Oz” co-star, Bert Lahr.)

When Walt Disney was casting “Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier,” he seriously considered Ebsen for the title character. When he saw Fess Parker in the movie Them! (1954), however, he said, “That’s my Davy Crockett,” and decided to cast Ebsen as Crockett’s sidekick, George Russel. Ebsen and Parker became best friends in real life, and reprised their roles for the sequel, Davy Crockett and the River Pirates (1956), as well as several mini “Crockett,” movies in the television show, Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color (1954-1992). (In “King of the Wild Frontier,” Parker and Ebsen both worked with Hans Conried, who is best known to Disney as the voice of Captain Hook/Mr. Darling in Peter Pan (1953)). 

“Davy Crockett,” was Ebsen’s only acting gig for the Disney Studios, but he was hired to narrate the Disney Channel Series, The Disney Family Album in 1984. The show aired until 1986. Since then, Ebsen has also appeared as himself in many Disney documentaries and specials including Walt Disney: A Golden Anniversary Salute (1973), Kraft Salutes Disneyland’s 25th Anniversary (1980), Walt: The Man Behind the Myth (2001) and numerous others. (Disney also hired Ebsen’s “Beverly Hillbillies co-star, Nancy Kulp, twice. Kulp played “Miss” Jane Hathaway on “Beverly Hillbillies.” She played Miss Grunecker in The Parent Trap (1961) and provided the voice of Frou-Frou the horse in The Aristocats (1970)).

Buddy Ebsen lived a long life, passing away at the age of 95 due to complications from pneumonia on July 6th, 2003. He neither won nor received any major award nominations for any of his work, but he had a remarkable career. When we look at “The Wizard of Oz” today it seems impossible that there’s no one else we could think of in the role of the Tin Man, other than Jack Haley. Unlike Haley, Ebsen managed to have a far more successful and versatile career in  Hollywood. He might have been a great Tin Man, but he certainly made an excellent Jed Clampett and a wonderful George Russel! 

Broadcast News Legacy

Do you remember the film Broadcast News (1987)? Released on Christmas Day of 1987 - the same year as many other memorable ‘80s classics, like The Last Emperor, Moonstruck, Wall Street, and Fatal Attraction - the film was a financial, critical, and public success and garnered seven well-deserved Academy Award Nominations, including Best Picture, and received 5 Golden Globe Nominations, but disappointingly won none. Despite that, the film has become one of the 1980s most popular films and quotable films. In 1998, the film received a nomination from American Film Institute as one of the top 100 Greatest Movies and in 2005, Aaron’s line from the film, “I’ll meet you at that place near the thing where we went that time,” received another nomination from AFI as one of the top 100 Greatest Movie Quotes. Beyond that, each of the principal stars for the film have made something for Disney at different points in their careers.

James L. Brooks, who served as writer/producer/director of the film, received Oscar and Golden Globe Nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. He lost both of them: to John Patrick Shanley for his Screenplay for “Moonstruck,” and to Jeremy Thomas who produced “The Last Emperor.” However, he had already won the Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture Oscars for his directorial debut with Terms of Endearment (1983), which starred “Broadcast News” star Jack Nicholson. Nicholson won his 2nd of 3 Oscars for “Terms of Endearment,” in the category of Best Supporting Actor. Brooks also directed Nicholson in his 3rd Academy-Award-Winning performance in As Good as It Gets (1997). He also directed Nicholson, in what to this day, has been his last film appearance in How Do You Know (2010).         

William Hurt, who portrayed Tom Grunick in the film, received an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Nomination for his performance in the film. He lost the primary to Michael Douglas in “Wall Street” and the latter to Robin Williams in Good Morning, Vietnam (1987). (He won the Best Actor Oscar for Kiss of the Spider Woman two years earlier, in 1985). He played the role of Angus Tuck in Disney’s Tuck Everlasting (2002), and most recently, was seen as Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross in Disney/Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War (2016). (Interesting trivia: Stephen Mendillo, who played Tom’s father in “News” in real life, is just 8 years William Hurt’s senior.  

Holly Hunter, who played the role of Jane Craig in the movie, was a last-minute replacement for James L. Brooks, who had originally cast Debra Winger. Hunter replaced Winger just two days before shooting was to begin, because Winger had become pregnant with her son, Noah Hutton. Hunter also received Academy Award and Golden Globe Nominations for her performance in the film, but lost both awards to Cher in “Moonstruck.” (Her one and only win would come six years later with The Piano (1993)). She provided the voice of Helen Parr/Mrs. Incredible in Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles (2004), and while there is currently a sequel to “The Incredibles” in-production at Pixar, whether she will reprise the character has yet to be confirmed. (More trivia: Holly Hunter was also initially offered the role of Carol Connelly in “As Good as It Gets,” before Helen Hunt was cast.)  

Albert Brooks, who has no relation whatsoever, to James L. Brooks, played Aaron Altman in the movie. James L. Brooks previously directed Albert Brooks in “Endearment.” Like both of his co-stars, he received an Oscar Nomination for his performance and was beaten by Sean Connery in The Untouchables (1987). For Disney, Brooks voiced Nemo’s father, Marlin, in Finding Nemo (2003), and most recently reprised the role in Finding Dory (2016). (Trivia: The scene in “Broadcast News,” where his character, Aaron, sweats badly, was Brooks’s idea, when he saw a reporter on CNN sweat profusely in real life when he happened to be reading the scene for the first time in the script for the film.) 

Joan Cusack, who portrayed Blair Litton in “Broadcast News,” received no award nominations for her performance in the film. She did, however, receive the first of her two Best Supporting Actress Oscar Nominations for Working Girl (1988), which was released the very next year. The latter nomination would be for In & Out (1997). Two years after “In & Out,” she was hired by Disney to lent her voice to Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl in Toy Story 2 (1999). She has reprised the role for Toy Story 3 (2010) and all of the Toy Story Shorts that have come since. In addition to the “Toy Story,” Franchise, Cusack also voiced Abby Mallard in Chicken Little (2005) and the Mom in Mars Needs Mom (2011). She played Jenny Portman in Touchstone Pictures’s Raising Helen (2004) and Joan Carlyle in Disney’s live-action film, Ice Princess (2005), and is currently attached to reprise her role as Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl in Toy Story 4 (2018).

In addition to Aaron’s special line nominated by AFI, each of these actors were given tons of other hysterical one-liners in the movie, thanks to James L. Brooks. Some of my personal favorites:

“Except for socially, you’re my role model,” 

“Wouldn’t this be a great world if insecurity and desperation made us all look more attractive? If ‘needy’ were a turn-on,” 

“I lost one of you’re shoulder pads. I think it drowned.”

While this ‘80s flick might not have any visual effects like Ghostbusters (1984) or stunt doubles like the Indiana Jones series, it because of James L. Brooks’s hilarious writing and the brilliant performances of William Hurt, Holly Hunter, Albert Brooks, Joan Cusack, and the rest of the cast, that this movie has the potential to be remembered as a classic.    

Julie Andrews: The Epitome of Poppins

“Do you really think so?” These are the very first words that Dame Julie Andrews spoke on camera on the first day of filming one of the biggest blockbuster movies of all time-certainly for Walt Disney Studios, but also for films in general. She was cast as the lead in Mary Poppins (1964) by Walt Disney, despite the fact that she had never been in a motion-picture before, but she quickly rocketed to the top! Let’s take a look at what Dame Julie has done for the Walt Disney Studios, and the irony of her resulting Oscar Win.

At the age of 21, Julie Andrews was cast as Eliza Doolittle in the Learner and Lowe musical, My Fair Lady, based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. Starring opposite Rex Harrison as Professor Henry Higgins and Stanley Holloway as her dustman father, Alfred P. Doolittle, she was well-received by audiences and critics alike, and the whole production was a big hit.

Jack L. Warner, one of the four founding fathers of Warner Bros. Pictures, saw the original Broadway production and purchased the film rights. He cast Harrison and Holloway in their stage roles. However, because Harrison and Holloway were both big names in terms of film and Andrews was not, Warner did not cast Andrews. Instead, Warner asked Academy-Award-Winner Audrey Hepburn to play Eliza in the film. (Harrison and Holloway both received Tony Nominations for their roles on stage as well as Academy Award Nominations for the film version and Harrison won both!) Because Audrey Hepburn couldn’t sing, Warner Bros. contracted Marni Nixon to provide Audrey Hepburn’s singing voice.

Disheartened, though still overtly ambitious, Julie Andrews went on to star in a television adaptation of Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1957) and more than 100 million viewers tuned in the evening it aired on March 31st, 1957. Next she played the female lead in Lerner and Lowe’s next musical project, Camelot, based on the legends of King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, and the Nights of the Round Table. In 1961, she performed excerpts from that musical in an episode of The Ed Sullivan Show (1948-1971), and the episode was seen by the Disney composer/lyricist team of Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman.

As they worked on “Poppins,” Disney, along with the Shermans (and Screenwriter Don DaGradi and Co-Producer Bill Walsh) had been considering the likes of Mary Martin, Bette Davis, and Angela Lansbury for the role of the magical nanny. However, after Andrews’ Ed Sullivan performance they knew instantly that they had found their “Mary.” The Shermans recommended Julie Andrews for the role to Walt Disney and he went to see her in the actual show. After he had seen “Camelot,” Disney agreed she would be perfect for the role, and went backstage after the performance to offer it to her. Julie was hesitant to accept, because at this time she was pregnant with her daughter Emma Walton, at the time. Walt Disney offered to wait to begin filming until she had her baby, and after that, she agreed. Disney also offered her then-husband, Tony Walton, the job of designing costumes and some sets for the film. (In the film, Julie Andrews also makes an uncredited voice-over appearance as the whistling Robin that flies on to Mary Poppins's hand in the "Spoonful of Sugar" sequence.)

Julie Andrews went on to receive Golden Globe and Oscar Nominations for her performance as “Mary Poppins,” and was very fortunate enough to receive both. In the ultimate irony, she beat Audrey Hepburn, who had been nominated that year for the Golden Globe in My Fair Lady (1964), and as a result of that, Julie Andrews thanked Jack L. Warner for making her win possible. (Hepburn was not nominated for the Academy Award.) It would be nearly 4 decades before she made another film for the Walt Disney Studios again. 

After undergoing a traumatic throat surgery, which unfortunately took away her singing voice, the late-great Garry Marshall (1934-2016) hired her to play Mia’s grandmother, Queen Clarisse Renaldi in Disney’s The Princess Diaries (2001). The role did not require her to sing. She reprised the role of Queen Clarisse Rendaldi for the sequel, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, which was released in 2004. She was also fortunate enough to perform a song in the film that didn’t have a great deal of range with co-star, Raven-Symone. (Garry Marshall later went on to say that Julie Andrews was one of his favorite people to work with of all time.) In between the “Princess,” movies, she appeared as the nanny on ABC Television in the television movies based on the Eloise books, entitled Julie Andrews Eloise at the Plaza (2003) and Eloise at Christmastime (2003). For the 2004, 40th Anniversary DVD Edition of “Mary Poppins,” Andrews narrated a short created especially for the DVD entitled “The Cat That Looked at a King,” which is based on an excerpt taken out of the book Mary Poppins Opens the Door (1943). She was also the narrator in Enchanted (2007).

Andrews went on to receive 2 other Academy Award nominations in the category of Best Actress throughout her career, for her performances as Maria Rainer von Trapp in The Sound of Music (1965) and as Victoria Grant in Victor/Victoria (1982). (In “Victor/Victoria,” she was directed by her second spouse, the late-great Blake Edwards (1922-2010). The film also marked her 2nd pairing with 3-time co-star, James Garner. With Garner, she made her only black-and-white film, The Americanization of Emily (1964), released the same year as “Poppins.” She and Garner were reunited in the made-for television film, One Special Night (1999).”  To this day, she remains the only Oscar-Winning movie star to win an Oscar for a performance in a Disney film. (Meryl Streep received her record-breaking 19th nomination for Disney’s Into the Woods (2014), but was beaten that year by Patricia Arquette in Boyhood (2014) and Johnny Depp was also nominated for his performance as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), but was beaten by Sean Penn in Mystic River (2003)). 

With everything that she made for Disney, Julie Andrews personified the nanny and/or grandmother that everyone wishes they could have with her incredibly beautiful song and dance skills and her very proper British diction. It’s hard to believe she only got the role because she didn’t get the one she wanted in the first place!