“I know well how devastating it can be,” Andrews said in her first public appearance in three years. “May we all become a beacon of light to stop it.”
WASHINGTON — An Arizona conference on Parkinson’s disease was alive with the sound of Julie Andrews this week, as the 90-year-old “Mary Poppins” actress and dame recorded a message for attendees.
“I’m Julie Andrews, and I’m pleased to welcome you to the Seventh World Parkinson’s Congress,” the actress said Sunday while appearing on camera at the start of the research forum.
“I know well how devastating it can be,” Andrews said of the neurodegenerative disease. “May we all become a beacon of light to stop it.”
The four-day gathering of medical professionals and people with Parkinson’s in Phoenix was scheduled to wrap up Wednesday.
Instantly recognizable even when out of view from her poised, received pronunciation, the English actress has lent her voice to a host of iconic characters within the past 25 years, including in the “Shrek” and “Despicable Me” movie series. Dame Andrews also serves as the omniscient gossip Lady Whistledown on Netflix’s “Bridgerton,” for which the actress won an Emmy just for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance.
That honor was just the most recent accolade for Andrews.
The actress won an Academy Award in 1965 for her portrayal of the musical umbrella-bound caretaker Mary Poppins and was made a dame by Queen Elizabeth II on New Year’s Eve 1999 to celebrate the new millennium. Andrews has also won two Grammy Awards related to an audiobook narration and “Mary Poppins” and has been nominated for three Tony Awards.
Andrews most recent on-screen film performance was opposite Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the 2010 comedy “The Tooth Fairy.” While on television, the actress most recently appeared in 2023 tributes for her comedy counterpart, Carol Burnett, and her “Mary Poppins” co-star Dick Van Dyke. Her last public appearance was at the premiere for Burnett’s “90 Years of Laughter + Love.”