Books : Home: A Memoir of My Early Years

Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.4028092
EAN: 9780786865659
ISBN: 0786865652
Label: Hyperion
Manufacturer: Hyperion
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: April 01, 2008
Publisher: Hyperion
Release Date: April 01, 2008
Studio: Hyperion
Sales Rank: 4708

Related Items:

Editorial Review:

Book 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.

Amazon.com:
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

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Bittersweet memoir filled with grace
In Home, A Memoir of My Early Years, Julie Andrews reveals a difficult childhood in war torn Britain. Born to a mother with dreams of stardom of her own and a father prone to drink, she weathers the German's Blitz that ravaged London. Her parents eventually divorce and her mother remarries. Julie begins her performing career locally and eventually branches out to radio, music halls and eventually a command performance before the Queen (the youngest solo performer age the age of 12). Continuing ... Read More

Rating:

- Tough Life; Tough Woman
This memoir reads as if it were two different books. The part dealing with her early work in British musical theater (after her emergence from the dying music hall tradition) reads mostly, but not entirely, like a stereotypical "show-biz" memoir, full of good friends, great colleagues and generally lovely people. It is saved from utter cliche by two things: First, Andrews clearly portrays the hard, wearing and sometimes humiliating work that goes into performing at the highest levels (particularly ... Read More

Rating:

- Loved it!
Even though I was born 6 years after the release of Mary Poppins and this book is about Julie Andrew's life up to being hired for Mary Poppins, I enjoyed every single page! I have always been a huge Julie Andrew's fan; however, I had no idea about her life prior to her films. Her grace and humor shines throughout the book. It is also evident how much work went into it as the memories are described so wonderfully. I really hope she will follow up with another book to bring us to date to where she ... Read More

Rating:

- Boring
I adore Julie Andrews so this book was a huge disappointment. I was so looking forward to getting lost in her words. By page 5, I was beginning to skimread over her tedious and depressing genealogy. Only halfway through the book does she begin describing her acting career. The book ends as she signs up for Mary Poppins. Where was an editor to suggest that anyone other than a devoted fan would find the minutiae of her family troubles a dull read?

Rating:

- I'm glad this book covers the early years in such evocative detail...
Julie Andrews' new autobiography, "Home," is a must-read for anyone who loves Disney, entertainment, England and great family stories. She is a consummate writer -- yes, she is one of the celebrities who writes her own books -- and evokes the mood, settings, and even the smells of her early life, from a dysfunctional but loving family and the last days of British Vaudeville to Broadway stardom and getting the role of Mary Poppins.

I was not aware that two Disney legends crossed paths twice ... Read More

Browse for similar items by category:

Biographies & Memoirs - Subjects - Books - Actors & Actresses
Subjects - Books - General
Biographies & Memoirs - Subjects - Books - Women
Subjects - Books - Memoirs
Specialty Stores - Books - Formats