I did 'My Fair Lady' for almost 3 1/2 years, eight performances a week. It was a marathon.
My mother and stepfather were in Vaudeville. And my stepfather was an alcoholic. It was a lot of roller coaster times. But it's all I knew. I think they did the best they could under the circumstances, with me and all the family.
Who would have thought that a story about a professor of phonetics would result in it being probably one of the great shows ever for musical theatre? It's a seemingly odd subject.
Broadway is a tough, tough arena for singing.
I was named after my two grandmothers - Julia Elizabeth.
I know I probably have a lot of rage in me that I don't show. But I'm not about to wallow in it or reveal it.
There's nothing like the joy of the arts, and promoting the arts early in children is going to give them such a start in life in a way.
There are elements of me in the roles I've played in the past. But people forget that Mary Poppins was just a role, too.
By nature, I really am a fairly bouncy and sunny individual.
I think every young girl at some point in her early life wonders what it's like to be a princess. They like the idea of dressing up and the fun of it.
I am told that the first comprehensible word I uttered as a child was 'home.'
I'd say just go with the flow. And I take my hat off to any mother out there who works full-time and raises a family as well. It's hard work.
Growing up in England, of course you do absorb certain ways the royals wave their hands and carry themselves.
Programs that bring the arts to young kids are always the first to be cut. It's mind-boggling to me.
Like most girls, I fantasized about being some sort of a princess.
You take any job that comes along, and if you're really lucky, the movie takes off.
Did you ever notice the color of Mary Poppins' petticoats? They were kind of orange and apricot and red. I think she had a secret life going on there.
For me, whenever I choose a song to sing, it's about the lyric first.
I have always wished I could learn to be a potter. I love collecting ceramics; it would be so fulfilling to create something lovely.
I don't want to be thought of as wholesome.
I seem to be very busy, and I seem always to be working.
Garry Marshall is a joy. I feel so utterly safe in his hands.
I am an optimistic lady.
I'd love to have a really flourishing vegetable garden, and I'd love to have a better area for a rose garden or a cutting garden, but I don't. You have to develop a garden in the way that it's meant to be developed.
On the whole, I think women wear too much and are to fussy. You can't see the person for all the clutter.
If you've been fortunate enough to do a film that appeals to the entire family, that's the audience that's probably going to come back to you in something else.
In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun and - SNAP - the job's a game!
Because of the Thames I have always loved inland waterways - water in general, water sounds - there's music in water. Brooks babbling, fountains splashing. Weirs, waterfalls; tumbling, gushing.
I am very proud to be British. I'm very conscious of carrying my country with me wherever I go. I feel I need to represent it well.
I'm never sure one is exactly ready. You jump in, with both feet, into a very big fish pond.
The arts bridge cultures; they're good for the economy, and they're good for fostering empathy and decency.
I'm the lucky one who got asked to do 'The Sound of Music' and all the other lovely things that I did.
I'm not very good with some of the more modern songs that have an awful lot of 'doo wah wahs,' if you know what I mean, because I can't do anything with them.
Actually, I had a lot of good people with me - my mother's sister did a lot of taking care of me, and I suppose I got more attention than my stepbrothers because at least I got to travel with my parents.
A lot of my life happened in great, wonderful bursts of good fortune, and then I would race to be worthy of it.
I'm resilient, and I'm professional.
I think it's the essence of any film and any stage production - any work where you do work with other people - of course collaboration is hugely important. One does, for awhile, become family.
One of our books has been made into a musical, 'The Great American Mousical,' which I directed at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut. And another, 'Simeon's Gift,' has been adapted for a symphony orchestra and five performers. I'm also a very proud member of the board of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
I was working from a very early age.
I love singing, and I came to absolutely adore it in the later part of my career.
You can't bring the arts too soon to kids.
I do not knock 'Poppins' or 'The Sound of Music.' They gave me pleasure, and I know they've given a lot of people enormous pleasure.
My sense of the family history is somewhat sketchy, because my mother kept a great deal to herself.
I'm not very good with rap and things like that.
All careers go up and down like friendships, like marriages, like anything else, and you can't bat a thousand all the time.
I think I'm just proudest to be the lady who was asked to play Mary Poppins. She's such a wonderful character, and there's so much tremendous talent out there. So I feel very lucky to be the one who got to play her.
In my early years, I was much too ignorant and didn't realize how desperately important it all is, how really important the lyrics are. And for me as a singer, I am a lady who takes the lyrics first.
I was a child prodigy who had a freak voice of something like four octaves.
I love to prune my roses. That's the one thing I really feel I do pretty well. Other things I usually, because I travel so much, leave to my gardeners who know what I love. But I do love to prune them, because you forget everything else. It's like if you're a painter, you can forget everything else while you're doing it.
