In what may or may not be a sign that life is almost, kind of back to normal, the American Film Institute is finally giving Julie Andrews that Life Achievement Award it promised her way back in 2019.
She was supposed to be officially honored in 2020, then again in 2021; in both years, the AFI was foiled by COVID-19. On June 9, however, the gala tribute at the Dolby Theatre will at last take place (TNT will televise the ceremony a week later), and Dame Andrews will be on site to remind everyone what achievement in cinema looks like.
For one thing: an 86-year-old star who didn’t let a global pandemic get in the way of a still extremely vital career — who managed to write three books, launch a podcast and voice the narrator of Shonda Rhimes’ smash hit “Bridgerton” without much leaving her home in Sag Harbor, New York.
