Guest presenter Elina Tervana, intern at the National Portrait Gallery discusses a 1966 painting of Julie Andrews by John Koch.

The 1960s, a decade of great cultural change, presented prime opportunities for Time’s editors to turn to Pop artists for covers by the likes of Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg. Traditional art was still the norm, however. For instance, in December 1966 an oil painting was deemed perfect for portraying Julie Andrews, Oscar-winner and star of two recent box-office hits, Mary Poppins (1964) and The Sound of Music (1965).

In covering “the most celebrated movie actress in the U.S.,” Time went to Hollywood and found the thirty-one-year-old Andrews full of old-school wholesomeness, an aberration “in a town where everybody plays the angles.” There was nothing pretentious about her. She would, however, practice her singing at the top of her lungs—her soprano voice had perfect pitch—as she scooted about town in her 1965 Ford Falcon station wagon.

Artwork:

Julie Andrews. / John Koch / Oil on canvas, 1966 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Time magazine