Julie Andrews at 90: the magical nanny with a sideline in the sly, sexy and subversive

The Guardian ^ | 10/1/25 | Pamela Hutchinson

[Borges]

Britain’s practically perfect star enters her 10th decade today. To celebrate we look back over the remarkably rich, radical – and sometimes risqué – career of an actor best known for tucking up children in the mid 1960s

Dame Julie Andrews, so crisply accented, sweetly tuneful and girlish in her most famous movie musicals, has always had a sense of humour about her angelic image. She won the 1965 Oscar for playing a “practically perfect” English nanny for Walt Disney, but that didn’t stop her from driving around Los Angeles with a “Mary Poppins Was a Junkie” bumper sticker on her car. Or telling journalists that “I hate the word wholesome”, and her Hollywood nickname was “the nun with the switchblade”. Andrews turns 90 today, one of the most beloved of Hollywood stars, with one of cinema’s most astonishing voices. She can look back on a fascinating film career that includes such sweet spoonfuls of sugar as Mary Poppins (1964) and The Sound of Music (1965) to The Princess Diaries (2001), but just as many films that are explicit, dark, or just plain surprising.

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TOPICS: TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: tabloidnooz; thugardlydotcrap

[telescope115]

YES!

[Fiji Hill]

I actually like “Do Re Mi” because if you analyze the lyrics carefully, they describe a drug deal.

Do—a dear, a female dear
(a “female dear” is a gangster’s moll)
Re—a drop of golden sun
(”golden sunshine” is a street name for marijuana)
Mi—a name i call miself
(Why would you call yourself by a name other than your own unless you were doing something illegal)
Fa—a long, long way to run
(from the mountains of Laos to the streets of LA is a long, long way to run drugs)
Sol—a needle pulling thread
(a “thread,” or dose through a hypodermic needle)
La—a note that follows Sol
(an additional fix)
Ti—a drink with jam and bread
(”jam” is another street name for marijuana, this time mixed into a drink and paid for with cold cash—”bread”)
That will bring us back to Do
(the deal is complete)

[stevio]

Whoa, I guess I lived a sheltered life.

[PGR88]

I read the headline as: the magical nanny with a sideline in the sly, sexy and SUBMISSIVE."

[dfwgator]

” and that “do re mi” song

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Do - the stuff that buys me beer
Re - the guy who sells me beer
Mi - the guy who drinks the beer
Fa - the distance to my beer

So - I think I’ll have a beer
La - La la la la la beer
Ti - No thanks I’m drinking beer

And that will bring us back to *sees empty glass* D’OH!

[Bratch]

[Fiji Hill]

"The Sound of Music" should have featured this version of "Edelweiss" ("noble white," a small flower), the story of a young man who wins over a girl by climbing high into the mountains to pick the flower and then giving it to her.

Edelweiss--Friedrich Ahlers (1939)

[Beowulf9]

That so grossed me out I have not been able to stand ths sight of her ever since.

[MayflowerMadam]

That’s funny. Did you make that up?

[MayflowerMadam]

Very cute!

[Allegra]

And then there’s this version:

Do - The stuff that buys me beer
Re - The guy who sells me beer
Me - The guy who drinks the beer
Fa - The distance to my beer
So - I think I’ll have a beer
La - La la la la la beer
Ti - No thanks I’m drinking beer
And that will lead us back to.......D’OH!

[Allegra]

Dang it - ya beat me! 😄

[OKSooner]

Indeed, at age 46. Magnificent.

I wish that I had been consulted about staging that story though. It woulda been... lighter, let's say. And repetitive...

[OKSooner]

And perfect pitch.

[Nervous Tick]

>> “My Favorite Things” and that “do re mi” song. Just eeewww.

IT WAS A MUSICAL! 😠🤣

[Deaf Smith]

I do not remember her exposure of that time.

But once you’ve seen one breast, you want to see them all… best recollection of a Ron White line.

[OKSooner]

Those two are highly recommended... the scene where it happens is frankly rather demonic in nature though. Why did it have to be that way? They coulda done something else that would have been more good clean naughty fun.

[crusty old prospector]

I thought it was in Victor/Victoria. Maybe both.

[decal]

The story goes that during its initial run in the theatres, some enterprising chap in South Korea found a way to show the movie a lot more times a day:

He cut out all the singing bits.

[bray]

Sound of Music was one of the best movies made.