Julie Andrews As 'Queen Lillian'

From "Mary Poppins" and "The Sound Of Music" to the family favorite, "The Princess Diaries," Julie Andrews has been mesmerizing audiences for more than four decades.

Now, she adds her distinct voice to "Shrek 2," the sequel to the animated hit movie.

Andrews tells The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm that playing the part of Queen Lillian of Far Far Away, Shrek's new mother-in-law, made her quite popular with her grandchildren.

"I rate tall as they say in my household," Andrews says. "I'm very modern."

It is the first time she has done an animated character. "I'd been in an animated film before but never done a character," she says. "It's fascinating, really."

It is also the first time Andrews had the chance to meet with John Cleese, who plays the king. They got the chance to work together, which Andrews notes is unusual for this kind of film.

"Usually, you're on your own and the director is feeding you the other person's lines. It's very lonely," says Andrews. "But they let me work with John for one day. And he's adorable. And we laughed and reminisced about England and seemed to have a similar sense of humor."

Her character, Queen Lillian, just wants her daughter to be happy, but she soon discovers Princess Fiona is now an ogress who has married an ogre. It is a union that Fiona's Fairy Godmother wants to break, so her handsome son can marry into the family.

Andrews says it is hard to say which of her movies holds the most special place in her heart.

"You love them all for a different reason," she says. "One might be location, one might be the people you worked with, one might be your director, and one might be the screenplay. I do have some favorites -- 'Victor Victoria' and 'Sound of Music.' I couldn't honestly say which I like best."

Next for Andrews is "Princess Diaries 2," which is coming out Aug. 11. There is also talk about her doing a little bit of speak singing in the film.

"At this point, I really don't know whether it's in the movie because I haven't seen it," Andrews says. "I wasn't sure about whether to do it or not because I'm not really singing, but it was too nice an opportunity to miss. So I was glad to do it."

When she is not in front of the cameras, Andrews is busy writing. "I have an imprint called The Julie Andrews Collection. At the moment, it's been running for two years, maybe three. We've got 17 books we've produced, mine and others that we've published. But I have a new book out this month called 'Dragon.' It's a young adult book."

She notes probably boys will enjoy it most. It is a medieval tale based on a true legend.