★ Kathryn Grayson A Tribute ★ 1.Make Believe

★ Kathryn Grayson A Tribute ★ 1.

vinyl

Kathryn Grayson A Tribute (1922-2010)
Make Believe

an operbathosa video

Kathryn Grayson (February 9, 1922 February 17, 2010[1]) was an American actress and operatic soprano singer. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

From the age of twelve, Grayson trained as an opera singer. She was under contract to MGM by the early 1940s soon establishing a career in films, mainly musicals. After several supporting roles, she was a lead performer in such films as Anchors Aweigh with Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly (1945), Show Boat (1951) and Kiss Me Kate (1953) with Howard Keel.

When the production of film musicals declined, she worked in theatre appearing in productions of Camelot from 1962 until 1964. Later in the decade, she performed in several operas, including La bohème, Madama Butterfly, Orpheus in the Underworld and La traviata.
Background
She was born Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Hedrick family later moved to St. Louis, Missouri, 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.
Career
Her first film appearance was in Andy Hardy's Private Secretary (1941) as Andy Hardy's secretary Kathryn Land.[7][8] Though she began as MGM's response to Deanna Durbin box-office appeal in films such as Seven Sweethearts (1942) and Anchors Aweigh (1945), she became a top star in Thousands Cheer, Anchors Aweigh and Two Sisters from Boston, and in the film versions of the Broadway hit Kiss Me Kate (1953), in which she re-teamed with Howard Keel, with whom she had starred in the 1951 Technicolor remake of Show Boat, and in 1952's Lovely to Look At, a 1952 Technicolor version of Roberta. She and Keel also appeared together in a highly successful cabaret act in the 1960s. She also appeared in a duo of films with tenor Mario Lanza, That Midnight Kiss (1949) and The Toast of New Orleans (1950).

Grayson appeared on television occasionally. Her first TV appearances were in the 1950s, and she received an Emmy nomination in 1956 for her performance in the General Electric Theater episode Shadow on the Heart with John Ericson. More recently, she appeared in several episodes of Angela Lansbury's series Murder, She Wrote in the late 1980s.
Stage career
With the end of MGM's great era of musicals, so ended Grayson's film career. She was on stage in numerous stage musicals such as Show Boat, Rosalinda, Kiss Me, Kate, Naughty Marietta, and The Merry Widow, for which she was nominated for Chicago's Sarah Siddons Award. This led to her as a replacement for Julie Andrews on Broadway in 1962 in Camelot, scoring a great success as Queen Guenevere, before going on to star in the national tour of the United States for over sixteen months, after which she left the show owing to health problems. During her period with the Camelot tour, all box-office records were broken and she gained uniformly excellent notices. Grayson had a lifelong dream of being an opera star, and she appeared in a number of operas in the 1960s, such as La bohème, Madama Butterfly, Orpheus in the Underworld and La traviata. Her dramatic and comedy stage roles included Night Watch, Noises Off, Love Letters and Something's Afoot as Dottie Otterling.

Grayson supervised the Voice and Choral Studies Program at the Idaho State University.[9][10]

[edit] Personal life
In Hollywood she married twice, first to the actor John Shelton and then to the actor/singer Johnnie Johnston. Both marriages ended in divorce. Her second marriage produced her only child, her daughter Patricia Kathryn Johnston (b. October 7, 1948).

Grayson died in her sleep at her home in Los Angeles, California on February 17, 2010, at the age of 88.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathryn_Grayson

Category:

Music

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[shanghaibenny2]

A voice from Heaven.

[cantorandopera]

What a beautiful reminder of a wonderful singer - many listener's won't know that this piece is not so easy to sing . . . you actually have to know what you are doing. Thanks, Paul, for these uploads of Miss Grayson, who died the other day.

[1peterpann]

She will always be cherished by fans who were mesmerized by her talent and beauty I love her too. Another fantastic piece she sings I love is Voices of Spring check it out if you haven`t already thanks.

[eastwood1941]

A voice from Heaven, and a woman from Heaven. I fell in love with her when I first saw "Showboat" at age 11, and I haven't fallen out since. Every time I see and hear her the same shivers run down my spine, and I can't take my eyes off the screen.

God bless you, Kathryn.

[mikeyzip]

Is Einstein still around, maybe he can turn the clock back to a better time with this great music. Again the computer has given us access to all of it.

[arolfe40]

So beautiful, both her voice and herself.  She was just too wonderful!

[ojkwurtz]

voice of an angle

[MsIncurableromantic]

What a voice - what a beauty - what a gal! She had it all, God bless her.

[kimmr100]

What a wonderful voice - and she was someone with the talent to project it on the big screen - a really outstanding performer in every way. God bless her.

[h2750n]

OMGOSH! So much beauty.

[katesinger]

@Baskerville22 haha! It would seem we have VERY similar musical taste! :P those 2 as well as Showboat and Les miserables are in my top 5 :D

[GJoeJ010841]

I loved everything about her in Showboat! Her voice was unbelievable! She was beautiful! Her real name was Zelma Hedrick, and she is probably the only Zelma who ever existed! I cry when I view the final sequence in which Keel sings to the little girl he never knew he had. 70 yrs old and still sentimental. It's now on DVD.