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Mitzi Gaynor
Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber (September 4, 1931 – October 17, 2024), known professionally as Mitzi Gaynor, was an American actress, singer, and dancer. Her notable films included We're Not Married! (1952), There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), The Birds and the Bees (1956), and South Pacific (1958) – for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical at the 1959 awards.
Gaynor was one of the last surviving actors of the "Golden Age" of the Hollywood musical.
Mitzi Gaynor was born Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber in Chicago on September 4, 1931, to Henry de Czanyi von Gerber, a violinist, cellist, and music director of Hungarian descent, and his wife Pauline, a dancer.
By her father's second marriage, she became stepsister to antiwar activist Donald W. Duncan. The family first moved to Elgin, Illinois, then to Detroit, and later, when she was 11, to Hollywood. She trained as a ballerina as a child and began her career in the corps de ballet. At 13, she was singing and dancing with the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera company.
Gaynor signed a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox at age 17. She sang, acted, and danced in a number of film musicals, often paired with some of the male musical stars of the day. A Fox Studio executive thought Mitzi Gerber sounded like the name of a delicatessen, so they came up with a name that used the same initials.
Gaynor made her film debut in the musical My Blue Heaven (1950); Betty Grable and Dan Dailey starred and she had a supporting role. A college drama Take Care of My Little Girl (1951) followed, with Gaynor playing the roommate of Jeanne Crain.
Fox then gave Gaynor a star part playing Lotta Crabtree in the musical biopic Golden Girl (1951). It was a modest success at the box office. Gaynor was one of several stars in the 1952 anthology comedy We're Not Married! and was top-billed in the 1952 musical Bloodhounds of Broadway, which made $2 million (equivalent to $23.68 million in 2024).
Fox cast her in The I Don't Care Girl (1952) as Eva Tanguay. The film made $1.25 million. Gaynor starred in Down Among the Sheltering Palms (1953), playing a South Sea island girl. She was the female lead in Three Young Texans (1954). Gaynor's most popular film in her time at Fox was Irving Berlin's There's No Business Like Show Business (1954). She was billed after Ethel Merman, Donald O'Connor, Marilyn Monroe, Dan Dailey, and Johnnie Ray.
Mitzi Gaynor
Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber (September 4, 1931 – October 17, 2024), known professionally as Mitzi Gaynor, was an American actress, singer, and dancer. Her notable films included We're Not Married! (1952), There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), The Birds and the Bees (1956), and South Pacific (1958) – for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical at the 1959 awards.
Gaynor was one of the last surviving actors of the "Golden Age" of the Hollywood musical.
Mitzi Gaynor was born Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber in Chicago on September 4, 1931, to Henry de Czanyi von Gerber, a violinist, cellist, and music director of Hungarian descent, and his wife Pauline, a dancer.
By her father's second marriage, she became stepsister to antiwar activist Donald W. Duncan. The family first moved to Elgin, Illinois, then to Detroit, and later, when she was 11, to Hollywood. She trained as a ballerina as a child and began her career in the corps de ballet. At 13, she was singing and dancing with the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera company.
Gaynor signed a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox at age 17. She sang, acted, and danced in a number of film musicals, often paired with some of the male musical stars of the day. A Fox Studio executive thought Mitzi Gerber sounded like the name of a delicatessen, so they came up with a name that used the same initials.
Gaynor made her film debut in the musical My Blue Heaven (1950); Betty Grable and Dan Dailey starred and she had a supporting role. A college drama Take Care of My Little Girl (1951) followed, with Gaynor playing the roommate of Jeanne Crain.
Fox then gave Gaynor a star part playing Lotta Crabtree in the musical biopic Golden Girl (1951). It was a modest success at the box office. Gaynor was one of several stars in the 1952 anthology comedy We're Not Married! and was top-billed in the 1952 musical Bloodhounds of Broadway, which made $2 million (equivalent to $23.68 million in 2024).
Fox cast her in The I Don't Care Girl (1952) as Eva Tanguay. The film made $1.25 million. Gaynor starred in Down Among the Sheltering Palms (1953), playing a South Sea island girl. She was the female lead in Three Young Texans (1954). Gaynor's most popular film in her time at Fox was Irving Berlin's There's No Business Like Show Business (1954). She was billed after Ethel Merman, Donald O'Connor, Marilyn Monroe, Dan Dailey, and Johnnie Ray.
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