Julie Andrews

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Julie Andrews, the star of such film favourites as Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. Julie Andrews discovered she had an unusual talent for singing quite early and first appeared on stage alongside her step-father and her mother in their act, touring the Variety theatres of Great Britain in the 1940s and early 1950s. She had an enormous hit in a show at the London Hippodrome Theatre when she was just a teenager, and then appeared regularly on Educating Archie, one of radio's biggest programmes in the 1950s.

But it was appearing on Broadway that led her to being cast in the stage version of My Fair Lady, with Rex Harrison that really began to establish her as an international star, and then her first movie role, as Mary Poppins, which won her an Oscar that brought her to the attention of millions worldwide.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Piano Concerto in G by Maurice Ravel Book: The Once and Future King by T H White Luxury: Piano