Los Angeles, March 12 (IANS): Veteran actress Julie Andrews says singer Lady Gaga called her before the Oscars to check if it was okay if she performed hits from "The Sound of Music" -- made famous by the legendary actress.

"She called me about 10 days before and she said, 'I just want to talk to you and make sure I don't offend. That what I'm doing is okay with you.' It was very generous of her," Andrews said.

"She said she'd been working so hard and she was singing everything in my keys. I said, 'Why? They're very high, even for me.' And she said, 'Because I wanted to honour you, so I did them in your keys.' That seemed like going one step beyond any place she needed to go," Andrews told people.com.

Andrews, who starred in the 1965 hit film, was incredibly impressed by the 28-year-old singer's performance, saying she "hit it out of the ballpark".

"She hit it out of the ballpark. And then she was gracious enough to hand it to me. So that's a really wonderful thing to do too, I think. As they say in Hollywood jargon, 'She rates tall in my book'," she said.