Her idol is Marlon Brando.
Her mentor, director John Schlesinger, envisioned a cast of Al Pacino, Julie Christie and Laurence Olivier for Marathon Man (1976). Pacino has said that the only actress he had ever wanted to work with was Christie, who he claimed was "the most poetic of actresses." Producer Robert Evans, who disparaged the vertically challenged Pacino as "The Midget" when Francis Ford Coppola wanted him for The Godfather (1972) and had thought of firing him during the early shooting of the now-classic film, vetoed Pacino for the lead, insisted on the casting of the even-shorter Dustin Hoffman instead! On her part, Christie -- who was notoriously finicky about accepting parts, even in prestigious, sure-fire material -- turned down the female lead, which was then taken by Marthe Keller (who, ironically, became Pacino's lover after co-starring with him in Bobby Deerfield (1977). Of his dream cast, Schlesinger only got Olivier, who wa
Her mother Rosemary, a Welsh painter, was a childhood friend of Richard Burton.
Her performance as Diana Scott in Darling (1965) is ranked #75 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
In 1967 Time magazine said of her, "What Julie Christie wears has more real impact on fashion than all the clothes of the ten Best-Dressed women combined".
In an April 29, 1966 Life Magazine cover story, Christie named Sidney Lumet as the only American among a list of directors she'd like to work with. Twenty years later, she got her wish, appearing in the Lumet-directed Power (1986).
Inspired the song "Julie Christie" on the Better Than Chocolate (1999) soundtrack.
Is currently active in nuclear disarmament and animal rights.
Julie gave friend Sharon Tate a copy of Thomas Hardy's novel "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" with the inscription "For my Hardy heroine" (Julie had recently become a Thomas Hardy heroine in Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)). Sharon gave the novel to her husband Roman Polanski shortly before her death. When Polanski later made the film Tess (1979) he dedicated it "For Sharon".
Julie's father ran a tea plantation in Assam, India, where she grew up.
Lived with Warren Beatty from 1967 to 1974.
Measurements: 35B-23-36 (in 1966, age 25) (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).
Member of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1979.
One of her first roles was playing young Anne Frank in a London theatrical production of "The Diary of Anne Frank".
Originally signed for the role of the Senator's wife in American Gigolo (1980) when Richard Gere was signed to the project, but quit when Gere was ditched in favor of John Travolta. Travolta later dropped out and Gere was hired for the film, but Christie was not offered the role that was eventually played by Lauren Hutton. Ironically, a rumor in the 1970s held that Christie and Hutton were lovers. Christie and Gere would eventually appear together in Sidney Lumet's Power (1986).
Producer Joseph Janni, who produced four of Christie's earliest pictures (Billy Liar (1963), Darling (1965), Far from the Madding Crowd (1967), and In Search of Gregory (1969)) and generally is credited, along with director John Schlesinger, in launching her career, created a complex tax shelter for Christie to insulate her earnings from the prohibitively high British tax rate during the 1960s. When the UK Inland Revenue finally investigated the tax shelter many years later, Inland Revenue officials declared it was one of the most complicated tax-avoidance scheme it had come across. Christie herself was cleared of any wrong-doing.
Ranked #29 in Mr.Skin's Top 100 Celebrity Nude Scenes.
Ranked #34 in Celebrity Skin's 50 Sexiest Starlets of All Time.
Ranked #5 in Hello Magazine's 25 British Beauties.
Ranked #9 in FHM magazine's '100 sexiest women of all time'.