Mitzi Gaynor

Mitzi Gaynor , also Francesca Marlene von Gerber or Mitzi Gerber (born September 4, 1931 in Chicago , Illinois ) is an American actress , singer and dancer .

biography

Mitzi Gaynor was trained as a ballerina as a child and attended Hollywood High School in Hollywood together with the future film actor Stuart Whitman and the future postmaster General Anthony M. Frank . She began her career as a choir dancer. She played, sang and danced - often together with well-known male musical stars - in a number of musical adaptations. These included Rhythm in Blood (1954) with Ethel Merman and Marilyn Monroe (with music by Irving Berlin ), Die Girls (1957, directed by George Cukor ) with Gene Kelly and Kay Kendall and Broadway Magic (Anything Goes) (1956) along with Bing Crosby and Donald O'Connor .

Her most famous role was in the film adaptation of the musical Südpazifik (South Pacific) by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II , one of the most successful musicals of all time. For her contribution, she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for best actress.

Gaynor has made films with other well-known actors including Ginger Rogers , Frank Sinatra , David Niven , Dan Dailey , Betty Grable and Oscar Levant . She made her last films in the early 1960s. One of her very last films was the British production A Present for the Boss (1960, directed by Stanley Donen ) with Yul Brynner and Noël Coward and the score by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn .

Even after her active film career, Gaynor was publicly active. She has performed songs at the Academy Awards , starred in a number of television series, and featured in a television monograph.

Gaynor survived cancer.

Trivia

Mitzi Gaynor was mentioned several times in the Simpsons episode S19E20.

Filmography

• 1949: It's Your Health
• 1950: My Blue Heaven
• 1951: Take Care of My Little Girl
• 1951: Golden Girl
• 1952: We're Not Married (We're Not Married!)
• 1952: Bloodhounds of Broadway
• 1953: The I Don't Care Girl
• 1953: Down Among the Sheltering Palms
• 1954: Three Young Texans
• 1954: Rhythm in the Blood (There's No Business Like Show Business)
• 1956: The Birds and the Bees
• 1956: Broadway Magic (Anything Goes)
• 1957: Melody of Destiny (The Joker Is Wild)
• 1957: The Girls (Les Girls)
• 1958: South Pacific
• 1959: Marriage Secrets (Happy Anniversary)
• 1960: A present for the boss (surprise package)
• 1963: The Fox Trap (For Love or Money)

literature

• Frank, Anthony M. In: Charles Moritz (editor): Current Biography Yearbook 1991 , Volume 52. New York 1991, pages 226-229, here 227.

Web links

Commons : Mitzi Gaynor  - collection of images

• Mitzi Gaynor in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Mitzi Gaynor in the German dubbing index

supporting documents

1. ^ Moritz 1991 .