Home: A Memoir of My Early Years (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780786865659)

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.

Author: Julie Andrews
ISBN-10: 0786865652
ISBN-13: 9780786865659
Publisher: Hachette Books
Language: English
Published: 04/01/2008
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.50w x 1.40d

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 01/01/2008 pg. 21
Publishers Weekly 01/14/2008 pg. 48
Kirkus Reviews 02/15/2008 pg. 175
Library Journal 03/01/2008 pg. 83
Entertainment Weekly 03/28/2008 pg. 68
New York Times Book Review 03/30/2008 pg. 16
Time 04/07/2008 pg. 63
Newsweek 04/14/2008 pg. 78
People Weekly 04/21/2008 pg. 57
Publishers Weekly Best Books 03/23/2009 pg. 21

About the Author
Julie Andrews' legendary career encompasses the Broadway and London stages, cinema, television, concert tours, recordings, directing assignments, and the world of children's publishing. In 2000 the title of Dame Commander of the British Empire was bestowed upon her for lifetime achievements in the arts and humanities. Her many other honors include six Golden Globes, three Grammys, two Emmys, an Oscar and a Kennedy Center honor. She was married to film director Blake Edwards for forty-one years, and the couple have five children, ten grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.