Nelson Eddy

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Nelson Ackerman Eddy (born June 29, 1901 in Providence , Rhode Island , † March 6, 1967 in Miami Beach , Florida ) was an American opera singer (baritone) and film actor. Eddy achieved his greatest popularity through eight joint film appearances with Jeanette MacDonald , with whom he formed a permanent screen couple in the 1930s and 1940s .

Life

Nelson Eddy studied singing as a child and in 1924 he won a competition and thus gained the opportunity to appear before the Philadelphia Opera Society . The Philadelphia Civic Opera conductor Alexander Smallens began training and promoting Eddy. In the late 1920s, Eddy appeared with the Philadelphia Civic Opera Company and sang a wide repertoire of 28 operatic roles, including Le nozze di Figaro . Eddy also performed with the Savoy Company , which produced popular operettas by Gilbert & Sullivan . Eddy studied briefly with David Scull Bispham, and later switched to William Vilonat. In 1927 he went to Dresden with his teacher , which was considered an essential training station among American singers at the time. However, Eddy turned down an offer of engagement at a small German opera and returned to the United States, where he pursued a concert career over the next seven years and rarely appeared on the opera stage. In 1928 Theodore (Ted) Paxson became his piano accompanist and friend. The close collaboration lasted until Eddy's death. Even in later years the singer often changed his teachers and tried out new singing techniques. He ran a recording studio in his home where he studied his own performances. The recording technique fascinated him so much that Walt Disney's animated film The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met ( Make Mine Music ) contributed three-part harmonies (soprano, tenor, baritone) he had developed.

Film career

The Hollywood film industry became aware of Nelson Eddy when he replaced Lotte Lehmann at the last minute in a sold out concert hall in Los Angeles on February 28, 1933 . His appearance was followed by 18 curtains and several film offers. Eddy signed a seven-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , which gave him three months of concert tours per year. Concert appearances became increasingly lucrative for Eddy with the film fame; On the other hand, he only sang occasionally on the opera stage. Eddy made his debut in 1933 in Just Dance for You , a revue film that highlighted the popular duo Joan Crawford and Clark Gable . The dancer Fred Astaire also had his first appearance in the sound film in the opulent flick. The MGM producers didn't know what to do with Eddy at first, only used his voice in the first film and only let him perform for individual songs in the following films. Since the audience reacted favorably, Eddy was given the male lead in 1935 alongside Jeanette MacDonald in the adaptation of Victor Herbert's operetta Tolle Marietta . The film was a surprise hit and the signature song Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life earned Eddy his first gold record . The film was nominated for an Oscar , received a Photoplay Award, and was named one of the ten best films of 1935 by the New York Film Critics .

In the following years MGM produced seven more films with the screen couple MacDonald / Eddy. The audience reacted positively to the mostly very elaborately produced operettas. One of the greatest successes was Rose-Marie from 1936, in which Eddy sings the two popular songs Song of the Mounties and Indian Love Call . The two stars had their greatest financial success in 1937 with the film Maienzeit , which grossed over 4 million US dollars at the box office. The song Will You Remember earned him another gold record. Sweethearts from 1938 was the first film that MGM produced using the three-stripe Technicolor process. The film, which won the Photoplay Award, is a comedy that tells the adventures of a stage couple who have been appearing in Victor Herbert's operetta of the same name for years. The screenplay was written by Dorothy Parker and is set as the first film of the two stars in the present. Nelson Eddy also appeared with other leading actresses over the years, such as Rosalie with Eleanor Powell and Balalaika , where he appeared alongside Ilona Massey . The Chocolate Soldier was an adaptation of a Viennese operetta by Ferenc Molnár . In addition to the Met singer Risë Stevens , Eddy appeared in a double role. It was not until 1940 before the two singers returned to the screen with New Moon , the adaptation of a musical by Sigmund Romberg . In the same year, the two shot Bitter Sweet , a Technicolor film version of Noël Coward 's operetta of the same name . After the financial failure of I Married an Angel , both stars decided to end their contracts with MGM. In 1942 Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald left MGM. In 1943 Eddy signed a contract with Universal for 2 films: Phantom of the Opera and Follow the Boys . The film musical Phantom der Oper , which was lavishly produced in Technicolor, was based on the famous novel by Gaston Leroux and songs by Edward Ward . Eddy appeared next to Susanna Foster and Claude Rains , but was so dissatisfied with the film that he broke off the ongoing filming for Follow the Boys , in which he would again have been seen alongside Jeanette MacDonald, and left Universal .

For his last films Eddy went under contract with different production companies. Knickerbocker Holiday was based on a popular musical by Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson . In addition to Charles Coburn and Constance Dowling , Eddy appeared in the role of a young newspaper publisher who came into conflict with politics in the 17th century in Nieuw Nederland . For the Walt Disney animation film Make Mine Music , Eddy set the sequence The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met to music in 1946 . Using a technique that he had developed in his home studio, Eddy sang polyphonic pieces (including a sextet) for the soundtrack, singing all voices from bass to soprano. Under the title The Operatic Whale brought RKO this sequence in 1954 as a short film out again. In his last movie, the Western Outpost , Eddy appeared again alongside Ilona Massey.

Record recordings

From 1935 to 1964 Nelson Eddy made more than 290 records, including songs from his films, opera arias, operetta and folk songs and hits. In the years 1935–1938, Eddy and MacDonald were jointly under contract with RCA Victor , which enabled them to record the popular duets from their films together. In 1938 Eddy signed a contract with Columbia Records that ended the record marketing of this duet. It was not until 1957 that Eddy and MacDonald released another record that was sung about together.

Radio, television and club appearances

From the mid-1920s until his death, Nelson Eddy appeared on the radio more than 600 times. In addition to his many guest appearances, he hosted a number of programs himself (e.g. The Voice of Firestone , 1936; Vicks Open House , 1936; The Chase and Sanborn Hour , 1937-39; Kraft Music Hall , 1947-48). In 1942/43 he had his own show at CBS . Eddy often used his radio shows to promote the careers of young singers. From 1952 onwards, Eddy made frequent guest appearances on television.

Since concert appearances lost profitability after the spread of television, Eddy came to the decision in the early 1950s to develop a vaudeville act ( nightclub act ) with which he could perform at different venues in order to secure his income in the long term . The number premiered in January 1953. Eddy's stage partners were singer Gale Sherwood and pianist Ted Paxson . The show number was extremely successful with the audience, existed for 15 years and experienced four tours to Australia. Jeanette MacDonald's death affected Nelson Eddy emotionally. During a performance at the Sans Souci Hotel in Palm Beach , Florida, he collapsed on stage due to a cerebral hemorrhage. A few hours later, in the early morning hours of March 6, 1967, he died. Eddy is buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery next to his wife Ann, who outlived him by 20 years.

Private life

In 1939 Nelson Eddy married Ann Denitz Franklin, who had previously been married to the director Sidney Franklin and brought their son, Sidney Jr., into the marriage. There were no children of their own from this marriage, which lasted until Eddy's death in 1967. Eddy is said to have had a love affair with his film partner Jeanette MacDonald since the late 1930s. This thesis is hotly and very controversially discussed among the couple's followers. A biographer of the screen couple, Sharon Rich, suspects in her book that MGM boss Louis B. Mayer arranged MacDonald's marriage to Gene Raymond to prevent a marriage between MacDonald and Eddy.

effect

Over the course of his 40-year career, Eddy was honored with three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1 star each for film, vocal recording and radio), he left his footprint in the cement at Grauman's Chinese Theater, earned 3 gold records and was invited to singing for President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the third inauguration ceremony.

Filmography

Films with Jeanette MacDonald are marked with an asterisk *:

literature

  • Gail Lulay: Nelson Eddy, America's Favorite Baritone: An Authorized Biographical Tribute. Authors Choice Press, 2000, ISBN 0-595-13879-9 .
  • Sharon Rich: Nelson Eddy: The Opera Years. Bell Harbor Press, 2001.
  • Sharon Rich: Sweethearts: The Timeless Love Affair - On-Screen and Off- - Between Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. Bell Harbor Press, 2001, ISBN 0-9711998-1-7 .
  • Philip Castanza: The Films of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. Citadel Press, 1978, ISBN 0-8065-0600-8 .
  • Eleanor Knowles: The Films of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. Booksurge LCC, 2007, ISBN 1-4196-0100-8 .

Web links

Commons : Nelson Eddy  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Eddy, Nelson
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Eddy, Nelson Ackerman (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American opera singer (baritone) and film actor
DATE OF BIRTH June 29, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Providence , Rhode Island
DATE OF DEATH March 6, 1967
Place of death Miami Beach , Florida