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Oscar-winning actress and singer Julie Andrews will be honored by the Venice Film Festival with its Golden Lion award for lifetime achievement.
Best known for her iconic roles in “Mary Poppins” and “The Sound of Music,” Andrews has starred in more than 40 movies, including a memorable performance as Victoria Grant and Count Victor Grezhinski in “Victor Victoria” (1982), which was directed by her late husband, Blake Edwards. He also directed Andrews in “10” (1979) and in “S.O.B.” (1981).
“This Golden Lion is the well-deserved recognition of an extraordinary career which has admirably parsed popular success with artistic ambition, without ever bowing to facile compromises,” Alberto Barbera, the Venice Film Festival’s artistic director, said in a statement.
“I am so honored to have been selected as this year’s recipient of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement,” Andrews said, thanking the festival’s parent organization, the Venice Biennale, “for this acknowledgment of my work.”
In 2010, Andrews starred as the Tooth Fairy Matriarch in Michael Lambeck’s “Tooth Fairy,” in a performance praised by Variety as “practically perfect in every way.” She has also recently played several voice roles in the “Shrek” and “Despicable Me” franchises and in recent Warner Bros. blockbuster “Aquaman.” She starred in 2001’s “The Princess Diaries” alongside Anne Hathaway, which was one of the most successful family films that year, and reprised her role as Queen Renaldi in 2004’s “The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.”
Barbera said that, during the course of her career, Andrews has gone out of her way “to avoid remaining confined” to just being an icon of family movies, accepting roles that are “diverse, dramatic, provocative and imbued with scathing irony.” As examples of her range, Barbera cited Andrews’ early role as a war widow with a penchant for falling in love with soldiers in Arthur Hiller’s anti-war romcom “The Americanization of Emily,” as well as the comedies she made with Edwards.
Born in 1935 into a musical family in England, Andrews was already a stage star, first in Britain and subsequently on Broadway – where she was nominated for Tony Awards for her roles in “Camelot” and “My Fair Lady” – before “Mary Poppins,” for which she won an Oscar. She has been a beloved stage, screen, and TV star ever since.
The 76th Venice Film Festival will run Aug. 28 to Sept. 7.
https://variety.com/2019/film/news/julie-andrews-venice-film-festival-lifetime-achievement-award-1203158233/?fbclid=IwAR2zsAW0LXRlCYcQ5-BwVtm5uHg0E2A6JKISlc-HdOnVjMp4EsSrKDCgBSU
The acknowledgement to the great English actress will be presented during the 76th Venice International Film Festival (28 August > 7 September 2019).
The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 76th Venice International Film Festival has been awarded to the great English actress Julie Andrews, the star – among her many international successes – of classic movies beloved all the world over, such as Mary Poppins (1964), The Sound of Music (1965), and Victor Victoria (1982), among many others.
The decision was made by the board of the Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta, which espoused the proposal made by the Director of the Festival, Alberto Barbera.
Julie Andrews, accepting the proposal, declared: “I am so honored to have been selected as this year’s recipient of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. The Venice Film Festival has long been recognized as one of the world’s most esteemed International Film Festivals. I thank La Biennale for this acknowledgement of my work and I look forward to being in that beautiful city in September for this very special occasion.”
Regarding this award, Alberto Barbera declared: “At a very young age, Ms Andrews made a name for herself in the music halls of London and, later, on Broadway thanks to her remarkable singing and acting talent. Her first Hollywood movie, Mary Poppins, gave her top-tier star status, which was later confirmed in another treasured film, The Sound of Music. Those two roles projected her into the Olympus of international stardom, making her an iconic figure adored by several generations of moviegoers. Above and beyond the different interpretations that can be given to her two most famous films (and highlighting the transgressive value of her characters rather than their apparent conservatism), it must be remembered that Andrews went out of her way to avoid remaining confined as an icon of family movies. She accepted roles that were diverse, dramatic, provocative and imbued with scathing irony. For example, The Americanization of Emily by Arthur Hiller, and the many movies directed by her husband Blake Edwards, with whom she formed a very profound and long-lasting artistic partnership, a marvelous example of human and professional devotion to a captivating esthetic project that prevailed over the commercial success of the individual movies. This Golden Lion is the well-deserved recognition of an extraordinary career which has admirably parsed popular success with artistic ambition, without ever bowing to facile compromises.”
In this follow-up to her critically acclaimed and bestselling memoir Home, the enchanting Julie Andrews picks up her story with her arrival in Hollywood, sharing the career highlights, personal experiences, and reflections behind her astonishing career, including such classics as Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, Victor/Victoria and many others.
In Home, the number one New York Times international bestseller, Julie Andrews recounted her difficult childhood and her emergence as an acclaimed singer and performer on the stage. In her new memoir, Home Work, Julie picks up the story with her arrival in Hollywood and her astonishing rise to fame as two of her early films — Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music — brought her instant and enormous success, including an Oscar. It was the beginning of a career that would make Julie Andrews an icon to millions the world over.
In Home Work, Julie describes her years in Hollywood-from the incredible highs to the challenging lows. Not only does she detail her work in now-classic films and her collaborations with giants of cinema and television; she also unveils her personal story of adjusting to a new and often daunting world, dealing with the demands of unimaginable success, being a new mother, moving on from her first marriage, embracing two step-children, adopting two more children, and falling in love with the brilliant and mercurial Blake Edwards. The pair worked together in numerous films, culminating in Victor/Victoria, the gender-bending comedy that garnered multiple Oscar nominations.
Told with her trademark charm and candor, Home Work takes us on a rare and intimate journey into an astonishing life that is funny, heartbreaking, and inspiring.
Released in UK September 5 2019
Released in US October 15 2019
Also out as audio book!
Will be posting more news when we hear it.
