Marni Nixon

Known as “the queen from the dubbers” by musical theater historian Kurt Gänzl, soprano singer Marni Nixon liked a lengthy job in film, opera, television, recordings, as well as the legitimate stage, despite the fact that her tone of voice was a lot more familiar towards the mass audience than her encounter or her name. Her status like a singer’s vocalist rests on the group of film musicals from the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s where she served like a “ghost vocalist,” dubbing in her tone of voice to displace that of such non-singing celebrities as Margaret O’Brien, Deborah Kerr, Natalie Real wood, and Audrey Hepburn. For the reason that capability, the an incredible number of moviegoers who noticed the films as well as the an incredible number of record purchasers who paid attention to the soundtrack albums of such well-known display efforts because the Ruler and I, Western Side Tale, and My Good Lady became acquainted with her tone of voice with no any idea who these were hearing. That wasn’t just because she had not been credited at that time, it had been also due to her remarkable flexibility, which allowed her, as Gänzl observed, to be similarly convincing as “the British” Anna Leonowens from the Ruler and I, the “Puerto Rican teen” Maria of Western world Side Tale, and “the cockney Eliza” of My Good Lady. Actually, her versatility expanded much beyond that, as showed by Grammy Prize nominations on her behalf traditional recordings and an effective stint because the hostess of the children’s tv series. Nixon was created Margaret Nixon McEathron in Altadena, California, on Feb 22, 1930. She was a kid celebrity along with a soloist using the Roger Wagner Chorale, and she got an extensive traditional music education. She researched with some educators: Carl Ebert in the College or university of Southern California in LA; Jan Popper at Stanford College or university; and Sarah Caldwell and Boris Goldovsky in the Berkshire Music Middle at Tanglewood, Massachusetts. At age 18, she undertook her 1st assignment like a ghost vocalist for the films, replacing the tone of voice of child celebrity Margaret O’Brien within the musical THE BEST City, which opened up in-may 1948. (She also got an off-screen vocal component in Joan of Arc, released that November.) A yr later on, she once again sang for O’Brien within the drama THE TRICK Garden. The next yr, she married display composer Ernest Yellow metal, a relationship that lasted until 1969 and created three children, included in this the recording musician Andrew Silver. Although Marilyn Monroe do the majority of her very own performing within the film edition from the Broadway musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, released in July 1953, Nixon overran the high records, demonstrating an capability to mix carefully using the celebrity she was ghosting to generate the result of an individual vocal functionality. In 1954, she made an appearance being a guest over the short-lived tv series Opera Cameos, which went over the Dumont network. Based on studio room logs, she was known as directly into sing “EASILY Loved You” for Shirley Jones within the film edition of Carousel, released in Feb 1956, although she later on professed to haven’t any memory of experiencing done therefore, and Jones, unlike lots of the stars for whom she worked well like a vocal stand-in, got an excellent performing tone of voice. There is, nevertheless, without doubt about her following soundtrack appearance, in another Rodgers & Hammerstein version, the June 1956 discharge The Ruler and I. Right here she overran the performing component for Deborah Kerr on such requirements as “I Whistle a Content Melody,” “Hello, Youthful Enthusiasts,” and “Shall We Dance?” The soundtrack recording, released by Capitol Information, hit number 1, remained within the graphs for a lot more than five years, and was qualified like a platinum record, reportedly offering more than a million copies. “Nixon was a splendidly guaranteed and tuneful voice-of-Anna,” published Gänzl within the Blackwell Guideline to Musical Theatre on Record, “providing her tunes just the type of warmness they required with oversinging.” The passionate tearjerker An Affair to keep in mind, which opened up in July 1957, had not been a musical by itself, but Deborah Kerr was noticed performing inside it, and Nixon once again dubbed in her tone of voice, having a soundtrack recording released by Columbia Information. Two months previous, she experienced stepped set for Sophia Loren in her American debut, Boy on the Dolphin, using a soundtrack record released by Decca Information. Nixon produced her first real appearance onscreen as a grown-up in March 1960 within the chorus from the film edition of Cole Porter’s Can-Can. In Oct 1961, she got her most prominent vocal stand-in component since The Ruler and I when she sang the section of Maria instead of Natalie Timber within the film version of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s Western world Side Story, an enormous hit, where she sang such tracks as “Tonight,” “Someplace,” “I’VE a Like,” and “PERSONALLY I THINK Pretty.” Based on Gänzl, she do “her normal amazing work,” offering “a efficiency of lightness and sweetness which matches the function delightfully.” The soundtrack record, released by Columbia Information, spent greater than a season at number 1, offering three million copies. A 12 months later on, in November 1962, she once again spelled for Natalie Solid wood within the display edition of Jule Styne and Sondheim’s Gypsy. The soundtrack LP, released by Warner Bros. Information, was a high Ten hit. Exactly the same month, she started a link with Walt Disney, showing up on the recording Great Operatic Composers and Their Tales, released on Disneyland Information. In 1964, Nixon done several tasks that unintentionally shadowed the task of stage celebrity and growing film celebrity Julie Andrews. Although Andrews experienced starred within the massively effective Broadway musical My Good Lady beginning in 1956, she was considered not really a big more than enough star to transport the film edition when it emerged period for creation in 1964, and Audrey Hepburn was ensemble within the function of Eliza Doolittle rather. Hepburn, nevertheless, couldn’t sing, therefore Nixon dubbed her. Prior to the film premiered in Oct 1964, Nixon produced her Broadway debut within a limited-run revival of My Good Lady installed by the brand new York City Middle Light Opera Firm that ran from May 20 to June 28. Exactly the same month, Disneyland Information released Ten Music from Mary Poppins, an LP which Nixon sang music such as for example “A Spoonful of Glucose” and “Super-cali-fragil-istic-expi-ali-docious” with songwriter Richard M. Sherman among others, before the forthcoming film edition of Mary Poppins, which, when it had been released in Sept 1964, starred Andrews (who, needless to say, did her personal performing onscreen). Also in-may 1964, Nixon made an appearance on the Disneyland Information LP known as The Tale of Hansel and Gretel. She adopted in January 1965 with Famous Arias from Aida (ALONG WITH OTHER Operas). Nixon’s Disney recordings didn’t garner a whole lot of interest, but My Good Lady, where she sang such tunes as “Wouldn’t It Become Loverly,” “Simply You Wait around,” and “I POSSIBLY COULD Have Danced FOREVER,” do. The soundtrack recording, released by Columbia Information, reached number 4, stayed within the graphs more than 2 yrs, and went precious metal. Interestingly, Nixon’s following film effort discovered her actually posting the display screen with Julie Andrews. In March 1965, Andrews starred within the film edition of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The Audio of Music, which continued to become the best grossing film released up compared to that period. In a uncommon display screen appearance, Nixon, ensemble in the tiny section of Sister Sophia, became a member of in the performing from the tune “Maria.” The Audio of Music proclaimed the finish of Nixon’s film profession for as soon as, but she continuing to operate in the favorite music world in the areas. On Feb 26, 1967, she sang and lent her speaking tone of voice to an cartoon musical edition of Jack as well as the Beanstalk on NBC-TV, a edition from the fairy tale created, directed by, and in addition offering Gene Kelly, with tunes by James Vehicle Heusen and Sammy Cahn. Hanna-Barbera Information released a soundtrack recording. She also continuing to work within the traditional world. In 1976, she gained her 1st Grammy Honor nomination for Greatest Classical Overall performance, Vocal Soloist, on her behalf recording 9 Early Tunes: The Cabaret Tunes of Arnold Schoenberg, released by RCA. And she proved helpful on-stage. On June 9, 1983, she made an appearance alongside Margaret Whiting and Cissy Houston within the off-Broadway musical Acquiring My Convert, which ran 345 shows and created a cast record released by Broadway Ltd. Information. In 1985, she documented Marni Nixon Sings Gershwin for Guide Recordings, associated with pianist Lincoln Mayorga. 3 years afterwards, they implemented with Marni Nixon Sings Common Kern. Among, she was nominated for the 1987 Grammy Prize for Greatest Classical Functionality, Vocal Soloist, on her behalf record Copland: 8 Poems of Emily Dickinson, also released by Guide Recordings. She made an appearance in a number of productions from the musical Opal and sang within the studio room cast recording documented in 1996. She made an appearance within the 1997 film I BELIEVE I REALLY DO. In 1998, she once again lent her tone of voice to a display character, in cases like this for the Disney cartoon feature Mulan. On January 11, 2000, she came back to Broadway inside a stage version of Wayne Joyce’s short tale The Dead, that was billed like a musical. It went 112 shows, through Apr 16, 2000. In 2002, she stepped in as an alternative cast member inside a Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies; the next yr, she did a similar thing to get a Broadway revival of Maury Yeston’s Nine. She continued to be active in to the middle-2000s, despite having transferred her 75th calendar year, appearing, for instance, in the summertime of 2005 within a creation of Follies made by the Barrington Stage Firm. Furthermore to these credits, Nixon also proved helpful regularly in opera, including productions of Mozart’s The Relationship of Figaro, Verdi’s La Traviata and Rigoletto, and Offenbach’s La Perichole, in addition to such contemporary operas as Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Miss Donnithrone’s Maggo (which she documented for the Musical Traditions Culture) and Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine. She also made an appearance being a soloist with orchestras throughout the U.S. and overseas and toured with her one-woman present, Marni Nixon: The Tone of voice of Hollywood. She trained on the California Institute from the Arts between 1969 and 1971 with the Music Academy from the Western in Santa Barbara, California, beginning in 1980. And she starred in her personal children’s tv series, Boomerang, while surviving in Seattle, Washington. Marni Nixon passed away in Manhattan in July 2016 at age 86.