Julie Andrews reveals she 'almost died' on the set of Mary Poppins

As genteel as it all seemed on screen, Julie Andrews has revealed that ‘a few Anglo-Saxon four-letter words’ were used when a harness stunt went wrong while making ‘Mary Poppins’

Andrews was appearing Stephen Colbert’s ‘The Late Show’ in the US when she revealed the near catastrophic incident.

“There was a very dangerous day right at the end of filming when I was in this excruciatingly painful harness,” she said.

“And I was hanging around up there for the longest time with the umbrella.

“I thought I felt the wire leave and drop about six inches. I was nervous… and very tired.

“So, I called down and I said: ‘Excuse me, when you do let me down, could you let me down really gently, because I felt myself slip and I just don’t feel too safe up here’.”

So what happened next?

“I plummeted to the stage. I did. And there was an awful silence for a minute and I did let fly with a few Anglo-Saxon four-letter words, I have to admit.”

Arguably the most classic of Disney musicals, it was unveiled 53 years ago, when Andrews – now 83-years-old – was 28.

A sequel, ‘Mary Poppins Returns’, is scheduled for release in 2018, with Emily Blunt in the role of the magical nanny.

She’ll be joined by Ben Whishaw as the grown-up Michael Banks, Emily Mortimer as his grown-up sister Jane, along with Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Angela Lansbury, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Dick Van Dyke, who of course played chimney sweep Burt in the original, will also be making a cameo.

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