Julie Andrews: 'Gaga called me before Oscars tribute to make sure I was OK'

Lady Gaga phoned Julie Andrews a week before her Sound of Music tribute at the Oscars to make sure the movie veteran was OK with her planned performance.

Andrews admits she never met the pop star before walking out onstage at the Academy Awards last month (Feb15), and the two women only had the briefest chats backstage at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, but they had a long phone chat before the big night.

The actress tells Billboard, "(It was) to make sure I wasn't in any way unhappy or upset that she was doing this. And of course I wasn't. I said, 'Just have a good time and enjoy it! Go for it!'

"She said she wanted to do it as a tribute to me, and she was singing everything in my key, to which I said, 'Why? It's so high!' And she said, 'Because I wanted to honor you'. She just, having done so brilliantly that night, then gave the evening to me on a platter, so to speak, and was very generous about it.

"It was lovely! I was very busy at that time concentrating on her because I felt I had to get to her and tell her how great it was. It's only by seeing a little clip of it afterward that I realized how lovely that was. And I must say, the audience was amazingly kind and loving and welcoming, too."