1987: JULIE ANDREWS: Music Hall to Mary Poppins | André Previn Talks to Julie Andrews | BBC Archive

"I had an adult larynx at seven or eight years old..."
In 1987, the BBC sent André Previn to interview his friend Julie Andrews and her then husband, Breakfast at Tiffany’s director Blake Edward. Already a close friend of the couple, André asked about things he already half-knew about, covering Andrews' start in music hall, singing in air raid shelters, being "starched and prim", her scandalous Mary Poppins bumper sticker, modern pop and how you know when you’ve gone too far.
Highlights taken from André Previn Talks to Julie Andrews, originally broadcast Friday 17 April 1987, on BBC Two.
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[@TheNinjaMarmot]

Thank you BBC Archivists!

[@hilaryepstein6013]

Happy birthday Julie Andrews - 88 today.

[@charityschiller4005]

No Julie Andrews birthday is in October

[@spankflaps1365]

Andrew Preview / Privet / Previn. (All the right names, but not necessarily in the right order)

[@simmadpaul2880]

That sketch had me in stitches

[@malcolmjawohowelll2892]

The sophiticate American maestro amd the elegant English actress ....when i think of real stars I think of a handful of names that stand out as having warmth and charisma in there performances.Julie Andrews mad erelative few films but something in her own voice and appeal ..came through in every single performance. Andre Previn was not only wondeerful in the world of music but he alsp possesed a warmth in conversationand a humour .Two of the unique talent we were blessed to have .

[@weekenderTone]

It's amazing that her first two films were Mary Poppins and Sound Of Music. She would never reach those heights again.

[@hilaryepstein6013]

By rights she really should have done My Fair Lady too (much as I love Audrey Hepburn she couldn't sing).

[@fredo1070]

What about the Princess Diaries?

[@weekenderTone]

@@fredo1070 Give me a break.

[@petergivenbless900]

She showed her boobies in SOB.😮

[@AndreinaGarban]

And the most appealing thing about her career is that after the heights of those films, she still is such an amazing talent. Her appealing is still there and goes generation after generation. I found that more wonderful! There is something about her that is certainly timeless!

[@robbflynn4325]

Happy Birthday Julie!🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@hannehansen4374]

Thank you so much for sharing such a gem with us!

[@Shamsithaca]

A great maestro interviewing one of the most beautiful voiced coloratura soprano. Wish there was more question on her music, singing and songs. She is also quite quick, very well spoken

[@G6JPG]

As he said, no-one compares to her in quality of diction. (Nana Mouskouri comes close, but no cigar [though Nana can do it in multiple languages!].) DJA's diction is amazing.

[@Shamsithaca]

@@G6JPG I think not just diction, but that incredible phrasing...few able to bring a legato style from the old belanto style...its pretty darn amazing to hear her sing legitimate, old art songs.

[@G6JPG]

@@Shamsithaca Doesn't always work, of course: when she does country music, you can hear the apostrophes clearly enunciated! (In lines like "lyin' on the ground.")

[@fredo1070]

Pure gold, a musician interviewing a singer about the craft. Grown ups were so serious in the olden days.

[@DebraMoses-r2l]

I ❤ Julie Andrews

[@TinLeadHammer]

Interesting, the BBC was shooting film in 1987.

[@positivelynegative9149]

Such an elegant conversation. Not something to which I am accustomed. 😔

[@davidevans3227]

she could've done opera

[@G6JPG]

But boy, am I glad she didn't.

[@snshull]

Great final remark from Mr Previn.

[@LPBineli]

Brazil 🇧🇷 here

[@simmadpaul2880]

Music snobs. Their material is the best and all the modern stuff is rubbish.

[@positivelynegative9149]

They didn't say any such thing. 🤦‍♂️

[@positivelynegative9149]

*Their

[@dean6816]

It#s hard to imaging that someone has lived through all the greatest decades on Planet Earth!!

[@lewis7515]

I don't understand why Blake Edwards is even there...

[@Friday0891]

He was her husband, and i think the interview took place at their family home. There is an extended version of this where both were interviewed

[@lewis7515]

@@Friday0891 I know who he was - but being a husband doesn't normally mean an interview can't take place without him... I meant - in terms of this video, not whatever longer edit there may be - he seems to be hovering with basically no contribution, at all: while Previn delves into all the history and details of Andrews' voice-box... It seems really weird - in this version.

[@Friday0891]

@lewis7515 Sure. This is just a relatively short edit of a much longer interview where both were interviewed. Perhaps you're looking into something that isn't there. If she wanted her husband by her side throughout the interview.. i see no issue personally.

[@lewis7515]

@@Friday0891 I get that there's a longer version that contextualise it - but that's, not, what this video is? It's quite simple: contemporaneously, I didn't know anything about another electrifying hour, or however long it is, where he did all the talking... What I knew about, was 10 minutes where he's just sitting there - pointlessly. That's not a matter of, "looking into something that isn't there", whatever that even means - that's a matter of what's actually in this video?.. I just don't know what to tell you? Unless you can demonstrate his compelling contribution to the discussion in _this_ video - which is the actual subject, not the untold hours of his stunning discourse that are _not_ in this video - you haven't actually said one thing of any meaning. If there are untold hours of his magnetic chat, but none of it is actually in this video - that's just Life: and nothing whatsoever to do with me.... What are you talking about?

[@positivelynegative9149]

​@lewis7515 Well, "This video" wasn't created by the interviewer or anyone involved in the original production of the full-length video. They merely conducted an interview of two people. Forgive them for lacking the foresight to remove one of the interviewees for portuons of the interview so that future clippings of the video would be more to your liking.