Julie Andrews had her sweet revenge and last laugh.
Clutching her Golden Globe statuette in one hand, the British singer-actress stood on the stage of the fancy L.A. nightclub Cocoanut Grove, visibly enjoying her moment in the limelight. Just minutes before, Andy Williams, the popular crooner, and host for the 1965 Golden Globes, had handed her the Best Actress in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical award, for her work in Mary Poppins.
Andrews gracefully said her thanks and added: “This lovely honor is a wonderful memento of a very happy time. My thanks to a man who made a wonderful movie, and who made all this possible in the first place.”
Everybody in the audience assumed she was about to praise the powerful studio head behind Mary Poppins, Walt Disney. But then came her punchline: “Mr. Jack Warner.”
Roaring laughter. Thunderous applause.

After all, all of Hollywood knew the background story: Pygmalion, the 1913 play by George Bernard Shaw, had been adapted in 1956 as a musical with the more audience-friendly title My Fair Lady. It enjoyed a successful run on Broadway, where the stately Rex Harrison portrayed arrogant phonetics professor Henry Higgins, and Andrews played poor Cockney flower seller Eliza Doolittle.
Jack Warner, always ready to capitalize upon popular properties, bought the film rights and contracted George Cukor to direct, with Harrison set to reprise his role. But Warner rejected Andrews. He deemed her not well-known enough, and therefore box office poison. He instead cast Audrey Hepburn, who was not a singer but was famous.
Warner’s rejection freed Andrews to take the lead in Disney’s Mary Poppins, for which she was rewarded with a Golden Globe.

It was her first such award. Nine more Golden Globe Best Actress nominations followed over the years. Two of them yielded gold again: The Sound of Music and Victor/Victoria, the latter written and directed by her husband Blake Edwards.
Since that memorable moment on February 8, 1965, Julie Andrews has become very famous. Famous enough, one can guess, even for Jack Warner.