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The Sound of Music: Julie Andrews reveals famous scene that saw her knocked to ground nine times while filming

Oscar-winner’s new autobiography is out this week

Ellie Harrison
Monday 14 October 2019 15:28 BST
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Julie Andrews sings The Sound of Music in iconic mountain scene

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Julie Andrews has revealed that she was knocked to the ground nine times during the filming of a famous scene in The Sound of Music.

The Oscar-winning actor recounts the incident in her new autobiography, Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years, which was obtained by Deadline.

The scene in question was the one of Andrews twirling in a meadow in the 1965 film’s opening sequence, and in the book she writes about how the sheer force of the filming helicopter’s backwash repeatedly sent her flying.

Elsewhere in her memoirs, Andrews reveals that in her teenage years she discovered her biological father was a family friend with whom her mother had had an affair.

She also says her parents were alcoholics, and that her stepfather, the author Ted Andrews, tried to get into bed with her twice, and that she fitted a lock on her bedroom door to stop his attempts.

The autobiography is co-written by Andrews and her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton.

Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years is out on Tuesday.

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