Retro Crimbo: Julie Andrews/ Phoebe Cates ~ Festive Fancies

Talent…

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… These are the lovely ladies and gorgeous girls of eras gone by whose beauty, ability, electricity and all-round x-appeal deserve celebration and – ahem – salivation here at George’s Journal…

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Yes, like it or not, we’re all sliding into the inescapable seasonal snowdrift that’s Christmastime (is it me or has everyone willingly started earlier this year?), in which case here’s a real bobby dazzler of a prezzie from me to all you good, good people… a double pictorial tribute to the stars of a trio of (more or less) timeless yuletide big screen faves, namely the delightful Julie Andrews and the delicious Phoebe Cates. Welcome please then, peeps, the latest, yup, practically perfect pair to enter this blog’s Talent corner…
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Profiles

Names: Dame Julie Elizabeth Andrews (real surname: Wells)/ Phoebe Cates Cline (née Phoebe Belle Cates)

Nationalities: English/ American

Professions: Actress, singer, theatre director, dancer and author/ Actress, entrepreneur and model

Born: October 1 1935, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey / July 16 1963, New York City

Known for: Julie  – playing the leads in the perennially-popular-at-this-time-of-year family musical classics The Sound Of Music (1965) and Mary Poppins (1964), the latter for which she won a Best Actress Oscar. Starting out as a West End child-star performing with her parents, she eventually moved Stateside to fill out the female leads in the Broadway productions of My Fair Lady (1956) and Camelot (1961), the latter opposite Richard Burton. Later, she consolidated her Hollywood success in flicks such as Torn Curtain (1966) and Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), before – following a career decline, during which she married ace comedy director Blake Edwards – she appeared in her spouse’s movies 10 (1979), as a transvestite stage performer in Victor Victoria (1982) and, seemingly in an effort to defy her cuddly persona, bared her breasts in S.O.B. (1981). In recent years, she’s played supporting roles in The Princess Diaries (2001) and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004), lent her voice to the three Shrek sequels (2004, ’07 and ’10) and Despicable Me (2010), and directed an off-Broadway production of musical The Boy Friend (2003). She was made a Dame in the Queen’s 2000 New Year’s Honours List/

Phoebe – starring as hero Zach Galligan’s lovely love interest in the ‘anti-‘ Christmas flick Gremlins (1984) and its sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1981), after gaining exposure (in more ways than one) in nudity-fest Paradise (1982), sex comedy Private School (1983) and teencom classic Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982). Initially starting out as a model, she appeared on the covers of magazines Seventeen and Teen Beat and later headlined the movies Drop Dead Fred (1991) and Princess Caraboo (1994), the latter opposite husband Kevin Kline, whom she married in 1989. After retiring to raise her children, she returned to the screen in The Anniversary Party (2001) as a favour to its actor-director and Fast Times co-star Jennifer Jason Leigh. Nowadays she runs a boutique she opened on New York’s Madison Avenue.

Strange but true: Despite her successes on Broadway, what really introduced Julie to America was her eponymous role in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical version of Cinderella, broadcast by CBS in 1957 – it bagged more than 100 million viewers; Phoebe’s father co-created the game show The $64,000 Question (1955-58) and her uncle produced several Academy Award ceremonies.

Peak of fitness: Julie – flirting with Dick Van Dyke‘s Bert as they enjoy their jolly animated holiday in Mary Poppins/ Phoebe – equally as cute as Gizmo in Gremlins she may be, but it has to be emerging from the swimming pool in that red bikini as the fantasy object of Judge Reinhold’s desire in Fast Times At Ridgemont High.

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CLICK on the images for full-size

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