I never wanted Mary Poppins to be my nanny. I wanted to be her when I grew up.
I'd love to work with Julia Roberts and Johnny Depp or Dick Van Dyke. I love 'Mary Poppins' - when I was little I was obsessed with it.
'Mary Poppins,' the movie, was an object of mockery if you were a student in the '60s, something to be laughed at.
I think, the 'Van Dyke Show' and 'Mary Poppins' are two of the best periods of my life. I had so much fun, I didn't want it to end.
In terms of influence, my style icons have been a mixture of Julie Andrews and Olivia Newton-John. When I was little I used to watch 'Grease,' 'Mary Poppins' and 'The Sound of Music' a lot. If you put all those things together you do kind of get my outfits. A slightly tarty nanny in a second-hand outfit. That is pretty much what I wear.
I think that 'Mary Poppins' needs a subtle reader, in many respects, to grasp all its implications, and I understand that these cannot be translated in terms of the film.
I loved Disney. 'Fantasia' was my first, favorite Disney movie. And it just kept going. I loved 'Bambi.' I loved 'Cinderella,' 'Lady and the Tramp' and 'Snow White' and even 'Mary Poppins' which wasn't even fully animated - it was just a little bit animated. They were such a part of my growing up years; I was just very connected to them.
I'm not always optimistic. You wouldn't have all cylinders cooking if you were always like Mary Poppins.
I get little kids who recognize me from 'Mary Poppins,' and it just delights me because it's our third generation.
At one point, my house was a school for autistic children. I opened up my doors to about 30 kids and their families at the time. I was turning into Mary Poppins because I had to do something for these kids who have nowhere to go. So my house was the school for two years.