Mary Poppins (character) Mary Poppins (character) Mary Poppins is a fictional character and the eponymous protagonist of P. L. Travers's "Mary Poppins" books and all of their adaptations. A magical English nanny, she blows in on the East Wind and arrives at the Banks home at Number Seventeen Cherry Tree Lane, London, where she is given charge of the Banks children and teaches them valuable lessons with a magical touch. Travers gives Poppins the accent and vocabulary of a real London nanny: cockney base notes overlaid with a strangled gentility. Julie Andrews, who played the character in the 1964 film adaptation, won the
Mary Poppins (film) of Mary Poppins soon after she was passed over by Jack L. Warner and replaced with Audrey Hepburn for the role of Eliza Doolittle in his screen adaptation of "My Fair Lady", even though Andrews had originated the role on Broadway. When Disney first approached Andrews about taking on the role, Andrews was three months pregnant and therefore was not sure she should take it. Disney assured her that the crew would be fine with waiting to begin filming until after she had given birth so that she could play the part. Andrews also provided the voice in two other