A SPOONFUL of sugar isn’t going to help the medicine go down for “Mary Poppins” legend JULIE ANDREWS – her beautiful voice is never coming back! But the Oscar-winning actress is already overcoming the low note in her once high-octave career.
Rather than wallow in anguish, the 77-year-old has found a new voice writing children’s books and directing stage shows based on her stories.
“Believe it or not, Julie feels blessed at losing her voice at this stage in her life,” said a friend. “Rather than continuing with what she had been doing her whole life, it pushed her to be bold and try something new.
“After the misery of her health problems, it has left her feeling back on top of the world.”
Julie, who also starred in “My Fair Lady” on Broadway and classic film “The Sound of Music,” admitted in a recent interview that her voice never recovered from a botched operation to remove non-cancerous throat nodules in 1997. The surgery permanently limited her range and her ability to hit her signature high notes.
But Julie has reinvented herself as a children’s author. She recently released her latest effort, “Little Bo in London” – the 27th book she’s co-written with daughter Emma Walton Hamilton.
The career transformation has been a vital part of rebuilding her life following the loss of her husband of 41 years, “Pink Panther” director Blake Edwards, to complications of pneumonia in late 2010.
Julie is also taking her talents to the stage. She’s directing a musical theater adaptation of another of her books, “The Great American Mousical,” about a troop of mice living beneath the floor of a theater.
A former stage star herself, Julie is hoping to bring the show to Broadway, where she plans to direct and produce.
