Julie Andrews Featured in Rare Video for Parkinson’s Disease Conference

Julie Andrews was just featured in a rare new video in a message for folks attending a Parkinson’s disease conference.

On Monday, May 25, the Sound of Music and Mary Poppins actress, 90, appeared in a 36-second clip posted on YouTube by the World Parkinson Coalition. In it, Andrews spoke directly to attendees of the conference, held in Phoenix, Arizona, from Sunday, May 24, through Wednesday, May 27.

“Good evening, everyone, I’m Julie Andrews. And I’m pleased to welcome you to the seventh World Parkinson’s Congress,” she began the message. “Your participation is invaluable as we seek to find a cure to this terrible disease,” she continued. “I know well how devastating it can be.”

To conclude the short clip, Andrews declared, “May we all become a beacon of light to stop it in its tracks. Count me in as a red thread. Thank you.”

Andrews has not often appeared in videos, for interviews or otherwise, in recent years. One of the latest on-camera appearances by the Thoroughly Modern Millie star included an interview with CBS News Sunday Morning in 2024, when she and her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton, promoted their children’s book Waiting in the Wings.

Andrews is best known for playing Maria, a nanny to the von Trapp family, in the 1965 film The Sound of Music. She earned a Golden Globe for her performance in the musical, in which she starred alongside Christopher Plummer. Additionally, Andrews snagged an Oscar for her titular role in 1964’s Mary Poppins opposite Dick Van Dyke.

Decades later, the iconic actress went on to capture the hearts of a whole new generation when she played Clarisse Renaldi in The Princess Diaries with Anne Hathaway. Andrews also lent her voice to Lady Whistledown in the Netflix series Bridgerton, for which she won an Emmy for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance.