Home: A Memoir of My Early Years
by: Julie Andrews
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Amazon.com Review:
Syphilis, alcoholism, infidelity, and indeterminate parentage may seem improbable touchstones in the back story of one who didn't so much portray as embody the blithe Maria in The Sound of Music. But as this memoir of her formative years makes clear, there is more gravitas to Andrews than meets the eye. From her childhood in rural England and initial forays into British theater, to her first massive successes on Broadway and in the West End--notably as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady--Home puts her celebrated career in context. While arguably offering more detail about the Andrews family than necessary, it nevertheless dishes wonderful anecdotes about legends and Andrews contemporaries like Noël Coward, Rex Harrison, Robert Goulet, Richard Burton, and Rodgers and Hammerstein, in prose as crisp and immaculate as the author herself. It also offers a revealing look into the intricate, exhaustive craft of performing--skills often taken for granted in tabloid times. Since the book ends just as Andrews is about to launch into the celluloid stratosphere, can Volume II be far behind? After Home, it would be most welcome. --Kim Hughes
Product Description:
Since her first appearance on screen in Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews has played a series of memorable roles that have endeared her to generations. But she has never told the story of her life before fame. Until now.
In Home: A Memoir of My Early Years, Julie takes her readers on a warm, moving, and often humorous journey from a difficult upbringing in war-torn Britain to the brink of international stardom in America. Her memoir begins in 1935, when Julie was born to an aspiring vaudevillian mother and a teacher father, and takes readers to 1962, when Walt Disney himself saw her on Broadway and cast her as the world's most famous nanny.
Along the way, she weathered the London Blitz of World War II; her parents' painful divorce; her mother's turbulent second marriage to Canadian tenor Ted Andrews, and a childhood spent on radio, in music halls, and giving concert performances all over England. Julie's professional career began at the age of twelve, and in 1948 she became the youngest solo performer ever to participate in a Royal Command Performance before the Queen. When only eighteen, she left home for the United States to make her Broadway debut in The Boy Friend, and thus began her meteoric rise to stardom.
Home is filled with numerous anecdotes, including stories of performing in My Fair Lady with Rex Harrison on Broadway and in the West End, and in Camelot with Richard Burton on Broadway; her first marriage to famed set and costume designer Tony Walton, culminating with the birth of their daughter, Emma; and the call from Hollywood and what lay beyond.
Julie Andrews' career has flourished over seven decades. From her legendary Broadway performances, to her roles in such iconic films as The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hawaii,10, and The Princess Diaries, to her award-winning television appearances, multiple album releases, concert tours, international humanitarian work, best-selling children's books, and championship of literacy, Julie's influence spans generations. Today, she lives with her husband of thirty-eight years, the acclaimed writer/director Blake Edwards; they have five children and seven grandchildren.
Featuring over fifty personal photos, many never before seen, this is the personal memoir Julie Andrews' audiences have been waiting for.
Syphilis, alcoholism, infidelity, and indeterminate parentage may seem improbable touchstones in the back story of one who didn't so much portray as embody the blithe Maria in The Sound of Music. But as this memoir of her formative years makes clear, there is more gravitas to Andrews than meets the eye. From her childhood in rural England and initial forays into British theater, to her first massive successes on Broadway and in the West End--notably as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady--Home puts her celebrated career in context. While arguably offering more detail about the Andrews family than necessary, it nevertheless dishes wonderful anecdotes about legends and Andrews contemporaries like Noël Coward, Rex Harrison, Robert Goulet, Richard Burton, and Rodgers and Hammerstein, in prose as crisp and immaculate as the author herself. It also offers a revealing look into the intricate, exhaustive craft of performing--skills often taken for granted in tabloid times. Since the book ends just as Andrews is about to launch into the celluloid stratosphere, can Volume II be far behind? After Home, it would be most welcome. --Kim Hughes
Product Description:
Since her first appearance on screen in Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews has played a series of memorable roles that have endeared her to generations. But she has never told the story of her life before fame. Until now.
In Home: A Memoir of My Early Years, Julie takes her readers on a warm, moving, and often humorous journey from a difficult upbringing in war-torn Britain to the brink of international stardom in America. Her memoir begins in 1935, when Julie was born to an aspiring vaudevillian mother and a teacher father, and takes readers to 1962, when Walt Disney himself saw her on Broadway and cast her as the world's most famous nanny.
Along the way, she weathered the London Blitz of World War II; her parents' painful divorce; her mother's turbulent second marriage to Canadian tenor Ted Andrews, and a childhood spent on radio, in music halls, and giving concert performances all over England. Julie's professional career began at the age of twelve, and in 1948 she became the youngest solo performer ever to participate in a Royal Command Performance before the Queen. When only eighteen, she left home for the United States to make her Broadway debut in The Boy Friend, and thus began her meteoric rise to stardom.
Home is filled with numerous anecdotes, including stories of performing in My Fair Lady with Rex Harrison on Broadway and in the West End, and in Camelot with Richard Burton on Broadway; her first marriage to famed set and costume designer Tony Walton, culminating with the birth of their daughter, Emma; and the call from Hollywood and what lay beyond.
Julie Andrews' career has flourished over seven decades. From her legendary Broadway performances, to her roles in such iconic films as The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hawaii,10, and The Princess Diaries, to her award-winning television appearances, multiple album releases, concert tours, international humanitarian work, best-selling children's books, and championship of literacy, Julie's influence spans generations. Today, she lives with her husband of thirty-eight years, the acclaimed writer/director Blake Edwards; they have five children and seven grandchildren.
Featuring over fifty personal photos, many never before seen, this is the personal memoir Julie Andrews' audiences have been waiting for.
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- As if we need an additional reason to love Julie Andrews...
I think you don't have to be a fan of Julie Andrews to really enjoy this book.Of course, I cannot imagine who these people are- these non-adorers of Andrews- but, charts were created to include outliers...
Although more heartbreaking than I had anticipated, the determination and talent makes this autobiography genuinely a satisfying read that propels you forward to turn the next page, and less glib than assumed.The Rex Harrison and Richard Burton bits were undeniably entertaining.
Rating: 
- fast shipping
received this in less than a week, book in good quality, really enjoyed the product.thanks!
Rating: - Becoming A Fair Lady
The story of Julie Andrews is not all light and joy.Rather she brightens it with her writing style.A story of a girl raised to support her family and all the love and anguish wrapped therein.Rather a heavy burden from which she derived many lessons which she passes on to the reader without sounding like Mary Poppins.She was raw talent who used her own intelligence to shape her gifts.
Rating: - Jim Herrin's review for www.thejaneellen.com
Home: A Memoir of My Early Years by Julie Andrews
As memoirs go, this book is better than most, perhaps because Andrews
is talking about events that happened many years ago and about people
who are long since dead. This is not an attempt to cover her entire
career and, unlike some autobiographies, doesn't really read like a
self-congratulatory "look at how great I am" recounting of her life.
What it offers, instead, is an intriguing look at the early life ... Read More
Rating: - BEAUTIFUL, REVEALING
For anyone on this planet, Julie Andrews - certainly her voice, well-known via SHREK - and her face (Princess Diairies, all the way back to Mary Poppins) - has reigned forever as one of our most identifiable and beloved cultural icons.It seems as if she has always been part of our lives, singing in that impossibly clear soprano, smiling to lift spirits, and always a touch regal.This book, which is exquisitely written, no muss, no fuss, and quite humble, is spellbinding in what it reveals about ... Read More
- As if we need an additional reason to love Julie Andrews...I think you don't have to be a fan of Julie Andrews to really enjoy this book.Of course, I cannot imagine who these people are- these non-adorers of Andrews- but, charts were created to include outliers...
Although more heartbreaking than I had anticipated, the determination and talent makes this autobiography genuinely a satisfying read that propels you forward to turn the next page, and less glib than assumed.The Rex Harrison and Richard Burton bits were undeniably entertaining.
- fast shippingreceived this in less than a week, book in good quality, really enjoyed the product.thanks!
- Becoming A Fair LadyThe story of Julie Andrews is not all light and joy.Rather she brightens it with her writing style.A story of a girl raised to support her family and all the love and anguish wrapped therein.Rather a heavy burden from which she derived many lessons which she passes on to the reader without sounding like Mary Poppins.She was raw talent who used her own intelligence to shape her gifts.
- Jim Herrin's review for www.thejaneellen.comHome: A Memoir of My Early Years by Julie Andrews
As memoirs go, this book is better than most, perhaps because Andrews
is talking about events that happened many years ago and about people
who are long since dead. This is not an attempt to cover her entire
career and, unlike some autobiographies, doesn't really read like a
self-congratulatory "look at how great I am" recounting of her life.
What it offers, instead, is an intriguing look at the early life ... Read More
- BEAUTIFUL, REVEALINGFor anyone on this planet, Julie Andrews - certainly her voice, well-known via SHREK - and her face (Princess Diairies, all the way back to Mary Poppins) - has reigned forever as one of our most identifiable and beloved cultural icons.It seems as if she has always been part of our lives, singing in that impossibly clear soprano, smiling to lift spirits, and always a touch regal.This book, which is exquisitely written, no muss, no fuss, and quite humble, is spellbinding in what it reveals about ... Read More
