Kathryn Grayson (born February 9, 1922) is an American actress and singer who was born Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Hedrick family later moved to Franlin, St Louis, where she was discovered singing on the empty stage of the St Louis Municipal Opera House by a janitor, who introduced her to Frances Marshall of the Chicago Civic Opera, who gave the twelve-year-old-girl voice lessons.
In Hollywood she would marry twice: first to actor John Shelton; secondly to actor/singer Johnnie Johnston. She has one daughter. Throughout the 1950's, she carried on an affair with mogul Howard Hughes, and was briefly engaged to him (although this was not included in the film The Aviator, as the film only profiled Hughes through the late 1940s).
Though she started out as MGM's answer to Deanna Durbin (with films such as Seven Sweethearts and Anchors Aweigh), she proved herself a top star in "Thousands Cheer", "Anchors Aweigh' and "Two Sisters From Boston". and in...
Created by dipity on Feb 7, 2008
Last updated: 03/11/10 at 10:26 PM
Show Boat is the name of three musical films based on the stage musical of the same name by Jerome Kern (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (script and lyrics) and the novel by Edna Ferber. The song Bill featured lyrics by P.G. Wodehouse, and the original show featured two non-Kern songs, Goodbye, My Lady Love and After the Ball. For more about the musical and the plot see: Show Boat.
Show Boat is a cornucopia of famous, favorite songs -- songs that many people today do not realize first appeared in this musical. The score includes:
Kern and Hammerstein wrote an additional song for the original London production of the show in 1928, Dance Away the Night. While always used in London productions of the show, the song has never been heard in an American production.
There are also three songs written by Kern and Hammerstein for the 1936 film version:
And there is a song written especially by Kern and Hammerstein for the 1946 Broadway revival, Nobody Else But Me, written for Kim (Magnolia's...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044030
The Toast of New Orleans is a 1950 film directed by Norman Taurog and choreographed by Eugene Loring. It starred Mario Lanza, Kathryn Grayson, David Niven, J. Carroll Naish, James Mitchell and a teenaged Rita Moreno. The film was made in the wake of That Midnight Kiss, Lanza's successful film debut, as an opportunity for Lanza to sing on the big screen again.The plot revolves around Pepe Abellard Duvalle, a New Orleans fisherman, who falls in love with opera star, soprano Suzette Micheline (Grayson). It culminates with Michelin's manager, played by Niven, hearing Duvalle sing and offering him a position.In addition to arias from Carmen, Madama Butterfly, and La Traviata, the film includes the song Be My Love, which was nominated for an Academy Award....,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043053
That Midnight Kiss was the screen debut of tenor Mario Lanza, this 1949 MGM production also starred Kathryn Grayson. Among the supporting cast were Ethel Barrymore, conductor/pianist Jose Iturbi (playing himself), Keenan Wynn, J. Carroll Naish, and Jules Munshin. The commercially popular film was directed by Norman Taurog, who the following year would again direct Lanza and Grayson in the even more successful The Toast of New Orleans. Newsweek wrote of That Midnight Kiss:[citation needed]...,
Till The Clouds Roll By is an American musical-biographical film made by MGM in 1946.
The film is a fictionalized biography of composer Jerome Kern, who was originally involved with the production of the film, but died before it was completed. Robert Walker portrays Kern.
Till the Clouds Roll By is best remembered for its large cast of well-known musical stars of the day who appear in cameo roles performing Kern's songs. The first 20 minutes of the film consist of a condensed adaptation of Show Boat.
Stars appearing in the film include: Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson, Virginia O'Brien, Dinah Shore, Van Johnson, June Allyson, Lena Horne, Lucille Bremer, Van Heflin, Tony Martin, Cyd Charisse, and Angela Lansbury. Horne's appearance is of particular interest as she is shown performing as Julie in the Show Boat segment — a role she was considered for but ultimately denied when MGM came to adapt the complete show in 1951. Garland, meanwhile, was pregnant with her daughter,...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039035
Anchors Aweigh is a 1945 musical comedy film, directed by George Sidney in which two sailors go on a four-day shore leave in Hollywood, accompanied by music and song, meet an aspiring young singer and try to help her get an audition at MGM. It stars Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Kathryn Grayson, José Iturbi, and Dean Stockwell.
The movie was written by Natalie Marcin and Isobel Lennart and directed by George Sidney.
It won the Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture. In 2001, Kevin Spacey purchased this Oscar statuette at a Butterfield & Butterfield auction and returned it to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Anchors Aweigh was also nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Gene Kelly), Best Cinematography, Color (Robert Planck, Charles P. Boyle), Best Music, Song (for Jule Styne (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for "I Fall in Love Too Easily"), and Best Picture.
The movie is famous for a musical number where Gene Kelly dances with Jerry Mouse ...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037514
Thousands Cheer was an American musical-comedy released by MGM in 1943.
Produced at the height of the Second World War, the film was intended as a morale booster for American troops and their families.
The movie is essentially a two-part program. The first half consists of a romantic comedy storyline involving an aerialist, played by Gene Kelly, who is drafted into the US Army but really wants to join the air force. During training, he falls in love with Kathryn (played by Kathryn Grayson), the daughter of his commanding officer, who has similarly put her singing career on hold in order to serve by providing entertainment for the troops. Unusually for this type of a film (and for this era of Hollywood), the character Kathryn has only recently met her father for the first time since she was a baby, her parents having divorced. A related subplot has Kathryn conniving to get her parents (played by John Boles and Mary Astor) to reconcile. During the first part of the film, Grayson...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036432
Kathryn Grayson was born
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