The Screen Actors Guild has selected Julie Andrews as the recipient of its lifetime achievement award, citing her half century of work as an actor in every medium as well as an author and goodwill ambassador. She will receive the award, given annually to an actor who fosters the "finest ideals of the acting profession," at the 13th annual SAG Awards on January 28, 2007.
SAG president Alan Rosenberg said in a statement that Andrews "embodies and transcends the memorable roles she has created. Julie has been a positive presence in my life and continues to inspire multiple generations."
Andrews won the Best Actress Academy Award for Mary Poppins and was nominated for The Sound of Music and Victor/Victoria. Recent film credits include the two Princess Diaries films and the voice of the Queen in the second and third Shrek films. She received Tony nominations for My Fair Lady, Camelot and Victor/Victoria. Andrews moved on to directing with a revival of her first Broadway hit, The Boy Friend, at Sag Harbor's Bay Street Theatre co-founded by her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton; it toured throughout North America. Her children's books include Mandy, Little Bo and The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles. She and Hamilton recently teamed up to write a theater-oriented book for children, The Great American Mousical.
