Julie Andrews was moved by the rendition of Do Re Mi. Photo / Getty Images
Julie Andrews was moved by the rendition of Do Re Mi. Photo / Getty Images
Nearly 60 years after preaching virtues of patience and modesty as Mary Poppins and governess Maria, Dame Julie Andrews declared herself "gobsmacked" to have her career honoured at a glitzy Hollywood gala.
"I didn't know or think that it would ever come," the 86-year-old said on the red carpet beforereceiving the American Film Institute's life achievement award in Los Angeles, bestowed upon one silver screen legend each year.
"But it's just as well, because you can't go around expecting awards and things like that."
In fact, Andrews won the Oscar for best actress with her very first big-screen role — 1964's Mary Poppins — having rapidly progressed from child singer touring British music halls to a Broadway starlet spotted by Walt Disney.
A year after playing the magical and squeaky-clean nanny, and still in her twenties, Andrews sealed a permanent place among Tinseltown's elite with The Sound of Music.
Five of the actors who played the Von Trapp children — a wealthy Austrian family in need of governess Maria's singing lessons, and help in evading the Nazis — attended Thursday's ceremony, along with four of Andrews' real-life offspring.
(L-R) Debbie Turner, Angela Cartwright, honoree Julie Andrews, Nicholas Hammond, Kym Karath, and Duane Chase make up the surviving members of the Von Trapp family.
In moving scenes, Duane Chase (Kurt), Kym Karath (Gretl), Angela Cartwright (Brigitta), Debbie Turner (Marta), and Nicholas Hammond (Friedrich) surprised Andrews by performing a rendition of Do Re Mi.
Charmian Carr, who played eldest sister Liesel and died in 2016, and Heather Menzies-Urich, who played Louisa and died a year later, were the only children missing.
Julie Andrews is surprised by her kids from THE SOUND OF MUSIC and joins them in a sing-a-long of ‘Do-Re-Mi’ to kick off the AFI Life Achievement Award presentation to her — what a beautiful moment! pic.twitter.com/TZYT7UNPhr
Andrews went on to star in several films during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, with some racy — even topless — scenes, which shocked audiences more used to her straight-laced characters.
In 2000, she was made a Dame by the Queen for services to acting and entertainment.
The Von Trapp family singing from the 1965 film The Sound of Music. Photo / Getty Images
After a personal disaster when her vocal cords were damaged in an operation, Andrews revived her career with The Princess Diaries (2001) and its sequel in 2004.
Her voiceover work as Queen Lillian in the Shrek animated film series, Gru's mother in the Despicable Me franchise and Lady Whistledown in the hugely popular Netflix series Bridgerton earned her a new generation of young fans.
Andrews was due to receive the AFI award — billed as "the highest honour for a career in film — in 2020 and again in 2021, but the gala was postponed both times due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"When they asked me even two-and-a-half years ago — and Covid is what kept us from doing it then — I was gobsmacked," she said.
