Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years

352 Pages·2019·37.81 MB·english

by  Julie Andrews

Copyright © 2019 by Lacebark Entertainment, Inc.
Cover design by Amanda Kain
Front-of-jacket photograph © Bert Stern/Getty Images
Back-of-jacket photograph © Zoë Dominic
Cover copyright © 2019 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
Hachette Book Group supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The
purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich
our culture.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the
author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other
than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support
of the author’s rights.
Hachette Books
Hachette Book Group
1290 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10104
hachettebookgroup.com
twitter.com/hachettebooks
Instagram.com/HachetteBooks
First Edition: October 2019
Hachette Books is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The Hachette Books name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the
publisher.
The Hachette Speakers Bureau provides a wide range of authors for speaking events. To find out
more, go to www.hachettespeakersbureau.com or call [phone].
Print book interior design by Tom Louie.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019947243
ISBNs: 978-0-316-34925-3 (hardcover), 978-0-316-34923-9 (ebook)
E3-20190912-DA-NF-ORI
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Introduction
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Discover More
Photos
ALSO BY JULIE ANDREWS
For my grandchildren, with love.
Explore book giveaways, sneak peeks, deals, and more.
Tap here to learn more.
I know that I am—all that I am.
And all that I am
is full and ripe.

All that I am is standing still,
waiting and watching
and bursting with life.

Holding the straining seams of my skin,
my passion and wit
and my sanity in.

Waiting for someone
to soothe and to say
“I understand. You’re home.”

—Julie Andrews, 1978
Introduction
I
N MY FIRST MEMOIR, entitled Home, I wrote about my youth, growing up during
World War II, and my experiences performing in vaudeville from ages ten to
eighteen and on Broadway in my early twenties. I wanted to share what it was
like in those days; living through the Blitz, touring endlessly around England,
singing in the old music halls, trying desperately to learn my craft and feel at
home, in spite of my transience. Only when I became moderately successful on
Broadway did I dare to trust that I’d never have to go back to the bleak existence
of those early days.
In this new memoir, I describe my years working in Hollywood, beginning
with the filming of Mary Poppins. For those who did not read my first book, or
who might like a reminder of what led to this next chapter in my life, I offer the
following recap:

I WAS BORN in Walton-on-Thames, a small suburban village in the county of
Surrey, just eighteen miles southwest of London. My mother’s father was a coal
miner, and her mother was a chambermaid. My mother, Barbara Morris, was just
eighteen when her parents died within a year of each other. Her aspirations to
become a classical pianist were cut short by the fact that she was now the
primary caregiver to her thirteen-year-old sister, Joan. It wasn’t long before the
girls met my father, Ted Wells, an impoverished teacher. He fell madly in love
with my red-haired, vivacious mother, and offered stability for both sisters,
despite his economic status. When my parents married, they moved with my
aunt to a small cottage, which they called “Threesome.” My mother gave piano
lessons, and my aunt taught dance, to augment my father’s wages.
My father was the family’s rock. My brother, John, was born two years after
me, and Dad showed us the wonders of nature—trees, seasons, wildlife. Dad
adored rivers and lakes, and often took us rowing on the Thames. He wasn’t