A fair lady comes full circle in Disney film

Julie Andrews suddenly stops as she reaches Sound Stage 2 on the Disney lot.There is a bronze plaque by the door, which reads "Mary Poppins filmed here - 1964."

"I knew it had been a long time since I'd been at the Disney Studio," she says, "but seeing it spelled out in metal rather shocked me!"

Ms. Andrews is back at the studio where she made her film debut 37 years ago.Today, dressed in Armani and wearing $500,000 in jewels (with a security guard at her elbow), she is playing the role of a queen.

This real-life Dame Julie (officially designated by Queen Elizabeth II last year) is starring as Queen Clarisse Renaldi of Genovia in "The Princess Diaries," opening in theaters today (see review, page 15).

On this occasion, Andrews is filming the ballroom scene on the same soundstage where she and Dick Van Dyke performed their first song in "Mary Poppins."

"If I'd only known all the wonderful things that would come into my life," Andrews says, her eyes beginning to tear.

At that time, the young actress had just finished a Tony Award-winning performance, on Broadway with Rex Harrison, in "My Fair Lady."It wasn't the happiest of times. The hit musical was being made into a movie, with Mr. Harrison again playing Professor Henry Higgins, but with Audrey Hepburn starring as Eliza Doolittle.

The blow was softened when Walt Disney invited Andrews to come to Hollywood and star in a musical he was doing called "Mary Poppins."The film turned out to be a smash hit, and she went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1965.

" 'The Princess Diaries' is rather like 'My Fair Lady,' only the roles are reversed," Andrews says, explaining that she's more like Professor Higgins in her role as Queen Clarisse, who comes to San Francisco to find her granddaughter and tell her she's a princess and in line for the throne.

"Anne Hathaway is the delightful young actress who plays the Princess," Andrews says. "We had a lot of fun, especially when I showed her the proper way to drink a cup of tea, how to pluck her eyebrows so they didn't join in the center, and how to sit like a princess. You know, royalty don't cross their legs - only at the ankles!"

Speaking of her own experience with royalty, when Queen Elizabeth II bestowed upon her the title of dame, the British-born Andrews admits, "It was one of the loveliest, most private honors I've received. "I was only allowed to bring a few guests to the palace, so afterward, we had a big family gathering and I acted out every moment for them."

When Andrews and her husband of 32 years, writer-director-producer Blake Edwards, get the family together, it's quite a crowd.

"Between us, we have five children - Blake had two, I had one, and then we adopted two Vietnamese girls when they were 3 and 5 months old. They are now 26 and 27. Multiply this with husbands and wives and grandchildren, and we are a commanding group!"

The actress was born in Walton-on-Thames, England.

"My mother always said I began singing and speaking at the same time," she says. "I do know I had a three-octave range, which was quite freaky for an 8-year-old."

Her parents were in vaudeville, so Julie soon joined them. "When I was 12, I got my big break, singing in a revue that was opening in London."

But Andrews was dismissed just before opening night because the producers thought she was too young.

"Listen," the actress laughs, "they'd never seen my mother, my agent, or me with fire in our eyes. I can still hear my mum yelling, 'You can't take away this kid's big break!' Within 10 minutes, they surrendered."

On opening night, little Julie sang an aria that stopped the show. Her future was assured.

Andrews then auditioned for Rodgers and Hammerstein's new musical called "Pipedream" in New York. Richard Rodgers seemed pleased with her audition, Andrews recalls, and asked her if she had auditioned for anyone else.

"I brightly said yes, for two gentlemen called Alan J. Lerner and Frederick Loewe, and they are thinking about doing a musical based on 'Pygmalion,' " Ms. Andrews recounts."I remember he looked at me for a very long time, and finally said, 'Okay, if they asked you to do it, I think you should.If they don't, I'dvery much like to use you.' "

Andrews calls it the greatest advice she could have been given, because "it pointed me in the right direction." She signed on to the Lerner and Loewe musical, which was renamed "My Fair Lady."

Decades later, Andrews has just finished starring in the live TV drama "On Golden Pond" with her "Sound of Music" co-star, Christopher Plummer, and has been filming the coming movie drama, "Who Shot Victor Fox?" with Kathy Bates and Rupert Everett, to be released early next year.

"It's a small role that fits perfectly into the plot," she says. "I must admit I felt I could do the cameo with my eyes shut."

The role in question? She plays Oscar, Emmy, and Tony Award-winning Julie Andrews. She's got that part down pat.