[Deathwatch] Kathryn Grayson, actress and singer, 88

[Notification of departing celebrities]

*Actress and soprano singer Kathryn Grayson dies at 88*

By Bob Thomas
Friday, February 19, 2010

Kathryn Grayson, 88, whose beauty and lilting soprano voice brightened 
such popular MGM musicals of the 1940s and '50s as "Anchors Aweigh," 
"Show Boat" and "Kiss Me Kate," died Feb. 17 at her home in Los Angeles. 
The cause of death was not reported.

While still a teenager, Ms. Grayson was placed under contract at MGM at 
a time when the studio was assembling a stable of musical talent that 
would dominate the era of great musicals.

Like Lana Turner, Esther Williams, Donna Reed and other MGM newcomers, 
Ms. Grayson was given a tryout as Mickey Rooney's sweetheart in the 
studio's popular Andy Hardy film series. She played the title role in 
"Andy Hardy's Private Secretary" and sang Johann Strauss's "Voices of 
Spring."

Ms. Grayson was cast in three minor films, including a musical with 
Abbott and Costello, then played Gene Kelly's girlfriend in "Thousands 
Cheer," a wartime revue that included major MGM stars.

"Anchors Aweigh," a 1945 hit with Kelly and Frank Sinatra, confirmed her 
star status. Her bell-like soprano made her the ideal co-star with 
Hollywood's full-voiced male singers in operettas and other musicals, 
including three films with Howard Keel, two with Mario Lanza and one 
with Gordon MacRae.

Normally Ms. Grayson was the most congenial of actresses during filming, 
but she did have one public flare-up with the temperamental Lanza. She 
told an interviewer she objected to Lanza's behavior on the set, 
especially his vulgar language.

Ms. Grayson's last film, "The Vagabond King" in 1956, soured her on 
movies. She was scheduled to be reunited with Lanza, but he pulled one 
of his characteristic no-shows. When a stand-in couldn't speak English, 
director Michael Curtiz asked Ms. Grayson to speak Lanza's lines, which 
were dubbed after the filming.

"It never should have been made," she said.

Zelma Kathryn Hedrick was born Feb. 9, 1922, in Winston-Salem, N.C. Her 
father was a building contractor and real estate agent who moved 
frequently, eventually settling in St. Louis and later Los Angeles, so 
Ms. Grayson could have more professional training. She came to the 
attention of MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer, who had been searching for 
a young soprano to rival Universal's Deanna Durbin.

After her movie career ended, Ms. Grayson finally realized her long-held 
ambition to sing opera and starred in stage productions of "The Merry 
Widow," "Rosalinda," "Naughty Marietta" and "Camelot." She and Howard 
Keel toured extensively in "Man of La Mancha" and appeared together in 
Las Vegas.

She married and divorced MGM contract players John Shelton and Johnny 
Johnston. The marriage to Johnston produced her only child, Patricia 
Towers, who survives, along with several grandchildren and 
great-grandchildren.


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