Mary Poppins star Julie Andrews used to shout out swear words live on set
Dame Julie Andrews - famed for her prim and regal nature - has confessed to having foul-mouthed screaming moments while on set.
Hollywood treasure Julie Andrews has brought joy to countless millions for almost sixty years with her classic, wholesome family films Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music.
But the beloved British actress and singer, now 83, says fans would have been shocked by the expletives she let fly while shooting famous scenes from both movies.
Ms. Andrews, who won an Oscar and Golden Globe for 1964’s Mary Poppins, has revealed her costars and crew needed more than a spoonful of sugar to sweeten her swearing when she squeezed into the harness she had to wear to make the magical nanny appear to fly.
It was so tight it left her badly bruised and, on one occasion, she was hurled to the ground when the harness became unhooked from an overhead line. “I landed hard and was quite shaken,” Ms. Andrews said in a new US interview with Jimmy Fallon, adding: “I have to admit, I let fly a stream of colourful expletives.”
The following year, the hills were alive with the sound of X-rated language when she was filming one of her most memorable scenes in The Sound of Music on a bitterly cold, rain swept Austrian mountainside.
It was shot from a helicopter-mounted camera and, after each take, the downdraft from the chopper’s rotor blades “flung me into the grass. We did this about six or seven times, and I was spitting dirt and hay.”
Despite often loudly cursing her on-set upsets, however, the twice-married mother-of-three – who voiced the character Marlena in last year’s animated sequel Minions: The Rise of Gru and is also the voice of Lady Whistledown in hit TV series Bridgerton – says she took her own mother’s advice to heart and refused to ever formally complain about working conditions.
“Thankfully, I was willing to pay my dues and to learn,” Ms. Andrews added. “My mum would drill into me: ‘Don’t you dare complain about anything. Get on with it and you’ll be respected so much more.”
Don't miss...
Heather Graham totally unrecognizable in gory new horror movie [PICTURES]
Keanu Reeves blows minds with first-look at new Disney+ project [FIRST LOOK]
Tom Cruise 'almost certain' to be witness in alarming Scientology 'abuse' case [EXCLUSIVE]
The veteran star, who was made a Dame of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000, shows no sign of slowing down and is co-producing a planned animated remake of The Pink Panther that will feature the voice of Eddie Murphy.
Ms. Andrews says she is now much more comfortable handling the pressure of fame then she was at the premiere of Mary Poppins – the film that turned her into a household name – that was a lavish Hollywood red-carpet night organised by Walt Disney himself.
“I was unprepared for all the pressure and scrutiny,” she recalls, “the feeling of being pulled, poked and shouted at.
“I never sat down and I don’t recall eating a morsel. I couldn’t wait to go home.”
