Did Julie Andrews reject a tony nomination for Victor/Victoria

[ben1986]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 9:53am

Did Julie Andrews reject a tony nomination for Victor/Victoria? I was watching a tony clip on youtube and there is a scene where she states that she cannot except the nomination. Can anyone explain the full story behind this?

[tophertilson]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 9:57am

She was upset that V/V received no other nominations. It was on that day that the word "egregious" entered the official lexicon of show queens everywhere.

TT

[Princeton78]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 10:13am

I don't think you can flat out reject a Tony nomination. She simply didn't show up for the ceremony. Nathan Lane poked fun at her. Bernadette and Liza presented the award. Everyone held their breath, and Donna Murphy won.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 10:19am

Princeton, she called a press conference to reject it.

Remember, it was her and her husband's production company - with the loss of revenue from lack of nominations, they had to do something to garner attention and make up for it at the box office.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 10:21am

She SAID it was cos of the lack of the other noms for "the show." What she meant was that they didn't nom her husband Blake Edwards. A good wife - if a bit self important.

[Princeton78]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 10:26am

Rath,
I know she tried to reject it. But my point was, she can't make them take her name off of the ballot.

[Enjolras77]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 10:31am

Another fun tidbit about this story involves David Merrick. Merrick, who was fighting the Tonys over the lack of nominations for his production of State Fair had already stated that he would not be attending the ceremony in protest. Then Julie Andrews stated that she declined her nomination and would be not attending either due to the lack of nominations for Victor/Victoria. On the day of the awards, Merrick took an ad out in the New York Times. It was, maybe, five inches by seven inches and all it said was:

Julie,
Dinner at 9?

David


Updated On: 5/15/06 at 10:31 AM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 10:38am

If I recall, she also made an announcement at the curtain call of V/V with the whole cast standing behind her.

[factorykid2]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 10:47am

RE: Nathan Lane's great bit at the Tony Awards. The curtain rises, the performer's back is to the audience, wearing a Faboulous cape and a near-replica of the headress that Julie wore in the "Le Jazz Hot" number of V/V.

Pause, Pause, performer turns around to face the audience and it is Nathan Lane. Audience Explodes with laughter and applause. Pause, Pause, Nathan says something like "Oh come On...you didn't really think she would be here tonight!!!"

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 10:49am

Yes, that clip can be found on youtube.

Posted: 5/15/06 at 10:54am

I believe William Daniels also rejected his "supporting" nomination for 1776 because it was a leading role and he felt bad competing with his genuinely supporting costars-- one of whome won instead of him.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 10:59am

This wasn't the first time a Tony nomination was rejected. William Daniels was nominated as "Best Featured Actor in a Musical" for 1776, and he was SO furious he was relegated to a supporting category, when he clearly had the leading role in that show... he rejected the nomination outright and publicly, and his name was, in fact, removed from the final ballot.

His actions prompted the league to change their eligibility rules for category nominations. Up to that point, you had to be billed above the title of the show to receive a nomination as a leading performer. This caused several strange awards to be handed out: Yul Brynner as the King, Barbara Cook as Marian in the Music Man, and Isabel Bigley as Sarah Brown in Guy & Dolls, all won SUPPORTING Tonys for their work as leading characters, simply because they were billed below the title. William Daniels had been given (what is called) "favored nations" billing, where the entire cast, regardless of role, was billed alphabetically. After his "stink" they changed the rule... allowing for people like Donna McKechnie (also billed alphabetically in A Chorus Line) to be considered in a leading category.

A long story, but Julie wasn't the first to reject a nomination and be removed from consideration.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 11:02am

Julie was still on the ballot. She actually lost (probably due to the egregious statement.) I remember she didnt request her name to be removed from consideration in time...so she was still up for the award.

Daniels, however, was actually taken off the ballot.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 11:06am

I didn't realize they left Julie's name on the ballot after she publicy rejected it!

Would have been very interesting if she'd won anyway! I guess William Daniels had a more "agreeable" committee, since he was actually removed from final consideration.

Reminds me of George C. Scott, who publicy rejected his Oscar nomination for "Patton," but WON the award anyway! If you see clips of Golde Hawn reading the winner, she says, "Oh, my GOD... it's George C. Scott!"

Too funny.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 11:07am

Why did George C. Scott reject his Oscar nod?

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 11:12am

He said he didn't believe in the awards... That actors should not be pitted against each other in this type of competition. That it was a big joke and an unhealthy practice.

And he was touted as the favorite all along.

To this day, his Oscar sits in the Academy vault, unclaimed. He never did pick it up.

...Unlike Marlon Brando's win for The Godfather. He did not reject it until he actually won, and sent Sasheen Littlefeather (sp?) up to the podium. She said Mr. Brando rejected the award, because it wasn't fair to celebrate things like this when the Native Americans were being so unfairly treated. (I'm paraphrasing.) The early '70s was a very politically volatile time, and everyone wanted to step up to the podium and be heard.

Years, later, he finally accepted the Award and they sent it to him.

Updated On: 5/15/06 at 11:12 AM

[Princeton78]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 11:15am

I remember that Bernadette and Liza presented, and Liza opened with "And now it's time to present..........the award."
*giggle from audience*

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 11:15am

yep...her name was read (and expected to win) along with the other nominees on Tony night, and she is in databases as a nominee. Daniels doesnt even appear in any databases as a nominee.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 12:43pm

"Daniels doesnt even appear in any databases as a nominee."

I know, ain't it strange? There's only three nominees listed in the Featured Actor in a Musical category for 1969. They just left it alone when they removed his name from consideration. They didn't add a "new fourth."

All other acting categories have the expected four names.

[ben1986]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 3:12pm

Thanks for the answers everyone, I really appreciate it.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 3:20pm

SideBar:
LittleFeather turned out not to even be a real Indian!

[temms]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 3:35pm

I can't believe it was that long ago already - but I remember it vividly. I was visiting New York at the end of my Senior Year in college, and that was the week the Tony noms were announced. If you remember, "Big" and "Victor/Victoria" were touted to be the huge shows of the season, but then they both had bad out of town tryouts ("V/V" in Chicago and "Big" in Detroit - both of which I saw), at the same time "Rent" and "Bring In 'Da Noise/Bring In 'Da Funk" were opening downtown (I had managed to score a cancellation ticket to "Rent" at NYTW over Spring Break. It was a good season for me.) David Merrick also had "State Fair" that season.

So it was generally assumed that "Rent" and "Noise/Funk" were guaranteed Best Musical nominations, the question was which two of the other three, "Big", "V/V", and "State Fair" would be the other two. It was assumed that "State Fair" would be shut out, but to everyone's surprise, the other two nominations turned out to be two closed shows - "Chronicle Of a Death Foretold" and "Swinging On A Star".

Julie Andrews was the only nominee from "V/V". It was all such a big deal that the Tonys were on the cover of the New York Post for three consecutive days. The first day, the headline was "Tony Baloney" and reported the furor over "Big" and "V/V"'s snub. I was staying with a friend who was a press agent, and he called mid-morning saying to get over to the Marquis that afternoon because Julie Andrews was going to be declining her Tony nomination.

So I went over and partook of the madhouse - got to hang around watching Frank Rich give interviews and stuff like that. The next day, the front page of the Post was "Mary Poppins Hoppin' Mad". And, as noted above, "egregiously overlooked" became an iconic phrase instantly. I forget what the third day's headline was, but it was was quite a spectacle all around that year.

It's things like this that, in retrospect, make me think that I've seen my own Golden Age of Broadway.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 4:22pm

"So it was generally assumed that 'Rent' and 'Noise/Funk' were guaranteed Best Musical nominations, the question was which two of the other three, 'Big', 'V/V', and 'State Fair' would be the other two. It was assumed that 'State Fair' would be shut out, but to everyone's surprise, the other two nominations turned out to be two closed shows - 'Chronicle Of a Death Foretold' and 'Swinging On A Star'."

And honestly, I do not see how Chronicle and Swinging were viewed as better shows than Big or V/V. It still baffles me to this day.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 4:26pm

Funk should've won Best Musical.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 5/15/06 at 4:28pm

State Fair was absolutely horrible. Andrea McArdle was out the night I saw her and her understudy was not a very good singer (and that's putting it nicely).