Kathryn Grayson

At 88 years old, Kathryn Grayson has this physical status:

Zelma Kathryn Hedrick (February 9, 1922 – February 17, 2010) was an American actress and coloratura soprano.

She was under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the early 1950s and soon embarked on a career largely based on her involvement in musicals.

She appeared in Thousands Cheer (1943), Anchors Aweigh (1945), Show Boat (1951) and Kiss Me Kate (1953), among other supporting actresses, before film musical performances faded.

In the decade afterward, she appeared in many operas, including La bohème, Madama Butterfly, Orpheus in the Underworld and La traviata.

Early life

Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, one of four children of Charles Hedrick, a building contractor-realtor, and Lillian Hedrick (née Grayson).

The Hedrick family later moved to Kirkwood, Missouri, just south of St. Louis, where Grayson was discovered 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 House, who gave the twelve-year-old girl voice lessons. Frances Raeburn (born Mildred Hedrick) was both an actress and singer who appeared alongside her in the film Seven Sweethearts. Clarence "Bud" E. Hedrick and Harold were her two brothers. When Grayson was 15 years old, the family moved to California.

Personal life

Grayson married twice, first to actor John Shelton and then to actor Johnnie Johnston. She was a Republican. Grayson remained devoted to Roman Catholicism.

Shelton and Grayson eloped to Las Vegas, where they were married on July 11, 1941. Since meeting while doing screen tests, the two were banned for 18 months. Shelton moved out of their Brentwood home and into his own apartment in July 1942. This came after a judge dismissed a petition by a month of reconciliation after a judge dismissed their divorce request. Shelton was charged by Grayson with mental abuse. They divorced on June 17, 1946.

In Carmel, California, Johnnie Johnston, a wed singer/actor, was born on August 22, 1947. Patricia "Patty Kate" Johnston, Grayson's only child, was born on October 7, 1948. Kristin and Jordan were married to Robert Towers and had two children. Jordy Towers joined the band SomeKindaWonderful as the lead singer.

Grayson and Johnston were born on November 15, 1950, on November 15, 1950. Grayson was granted a divorce from Johnston on October 3, 1951, owing to mental cruelty.

Esther Williams, a co-star in Johnston's This Time for Keeps, said in her 1999 autobiography that Johnston would read Grayson's intimate letters aloud to the girls in his fan club, as well as the "all-too-graphic information regarding what she liked about his lovemaking."

Grayson died in her sleep at her Los Angeles home on February 17, 2010, aged 88, according to her handler.

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Film career

Grayson appeared at a music festival in 1940, and an MGM talent scout saw him perform at a music festival. Metro was hoping to find a replacement for Deanna Durbin, who left the studio for Universal Pictures. Grayson's voice lessons, drama training, diction, diet, and exercise were all among his next 18 months. Grayson was the first screen test in less than a year. However, the studio executives were not happy, and she went through a further six months of lessons before making her first film appearance in 1941's Andy Hardy's Private Secretary as the character's secretary. She appears in three musical numbers in the film.

Two more films were planned for Grayson in 1941; White House Girl, which was later developed with Durbin in 1948, and Very Warm for May are two of the Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein musical of the same name. Ann Sothern had also been due to appear, but it didn't happen as well. Broadway Rhythm was later made in 1944.

She appeared in three films in 1942: The Vanishing Virginian, Rio Rita, and Seven Sweethearts. Rebecca, Grayson's adolescent daughter of Lynchburg, Virginia, appears in the first episode. The film, which was set in 1913, was based on Rebecca Yancey Williams' own family.

Grayson appeared in Rio Rita with Abbott and Costello. Rita Winslow, Grayson's title character, was portrayed. The film was supposed to be an adaptation of the 1927 Broadway musical; however, only two songs were retained for the film, the title song, and "The Ranger Song," which was performed by Grayson.

Van Heflin, Seven Sweethearts, co-starring Grayson. Grayson, the youngest of seven children from Holland, Michigan, who is recruited by photographer-photographer Heflin to act as both a model and secretary while reporting the town's tulip festival and with whom he falls in love.

Grayson appeared in the film Thousands Cheer (1943, originally named Private Miss Jones), alongside Gene Kelly, Mickey Rooney, Eleanor Powell, June Allyson, and others. The film was intended to be a morale booster for American troops and their families. Grayson appeared as the singing daughter of an Army general.

Grayson would appear in An American Symphony with Judy Garland in 1942. Garland was renamed "Two Sisters from Boston" and released in 1946, and was replaced by June Allyson.

Grayson did not appear in any films for nearly two years (from 1943 to 1945), but instead worked at entertaining troops during the war and appearing on radio programs. Notably, she will only perform under the condition that the audience was accepted, as troops were segregated at the time.

She appeared in Anchors Aweigh, a musical romantic-comedy set in Los Angeles, co-starring Kelly and Frank Sinatra. Anchors Aweigh was the fifth-highest grossing film of 1945, grossing over $4.779 million.

This was followed by Two Sisters from Boston and a guest appearance in Ziegfeld Follies and Till the Clouds Roll By. In a capsule version of the musical Show Boat, she appeared in Till the Clouds Roll By, she included "Make Believe" in a capsule version of the musical Show Boat, with Grayson in the lead role.

In 1947 and 1948, MGM repaired Grayson and Sinatra for two films, It Happened in Brooklyn and The Kissing Bandit. Both films did poorly at the box office, and viewers thought the plots were ridiculous. Grayson was partnered with tenor Mario Lanza in That Midnight Kiss in 1949 after the setbacks of Brooklyn and Bandit.

Grayson performed the Academy-Award-nominated song "Be My Love" in 1950 and was once more united with Lanza, portraying an opera singer in The Toast of New Orleans. Lanza continued to attempt to french kiss Grayson during the film's Madama Butterfly scene, which Grayson said was made even worse by the fact that Lanza would always eat garlic before shooting. Grayson hired costume designer Helen Rose, who turned pieces of brass into Grayson's gloves. Anytime Lanza attempted to french kiss her after that, she pounded him with the brass-filled glove.

She was a guest at an auction selling the film's costumes at the premiere of the film in New Orleans.

In 1951's Grounds for Marriage, Grayson replaced June Allyson in the role of Ina Massine. With Van Johnson, who played her doctor and love interest, she portrayed an opera singer with laryngitis. This was also her first non-singing role at MGM. Grayson's musical appearances do appear in the film, but not in the form of recordings.

Grayson appeared in the 1951 version of the 1927 Hammerstein and Kern musical, Show Boat, with Howard Keel and Judy Garland, who later departed, and Ava Gardner took the lead. Show Boat was the third-highest-grossing film of 1951, grossing over $5.533 million.

Grayson appeared in the 1952 Technicolor musical Lovely to Look At, a recreation of the 1935 Astaire and Rogers film Roberta.

In January 1953, she was released to the Warner Brothers studio with the stipulation that she return to MGM for one more film. She starred in Miss Me Kate for the third time with Howard Keel as Lilli Vanessi/Katharina. The film was lavishly produced (the only musical other than Those Redheads from Seattle (1953) to be shot in 3-D), with songs by Cole Porter, choreography by Hermes Pan, and musical direction by André Previn.

While on loan to Warner Bros, Brendane Gordon MacRae performed The Desert Song, her first musical appearance, in May 1953. She had been invited to appear La Bohème at the Central City Opera House in Central City, Colorado, but she had to cancel due to her filming commitments for The Desert Song. So This Is Love, Warner Bros. starred her in her second musical performance of the year.

Grayson appeared on television occasionally, while being guest starred in the CBS anthology film Shadow on the Heart, with John Ericson, and "Playhouse 90" in the title role of the Brothers Charles and William Bent, respectively, with Raymond Burr and Scott Brady. She Wrote that Grayson guest appeared in three episodes as the recurring character Ideal Molloy on Murder.

Stage career

Grayson appeared in numerous productions, including Show Boat, Rosalinda, Kiss Me, Kate, Naughty Marietta, and The Merry Widow, which was nominated for the Sarah Siddons Award in Chicago. Grayson wrote the story It's Greek to Me, written by Helen Deutsch, in 1953, and Cole Porter's score followed it. The tale was a mythical love tale about Hercules and Hippolyte, and Grayson hoped to be reunited with Howard Keel and take the show on the road. The scheme, on the other hand, fell apart.

Julie Andrews was replaced by her appearance in The Merry Widow in Camelot in 1962 as Queen Guinevere. She stayed on for more than six months in the country's national tour before deciding on health issues.

Grayson had a lifetime ambition to be an opera performer, and she appeared in a number of operas in the 1960s, including La bohème, Madama Butterfly, Orpheus, La traviata, and La traviata. Dottie Otterling, a dramatic and comedic actress, appeared in Night Watch, Noises Off, Love Letters, and Something's Afoot.

Musical career

Grayson began singing as an opera performer at the age of 12.

Grayson appeared on television as well as in her film roles. Grayson appeared on concert tours in the 1950s. Grayson had to postpone a concert tour due to being unknowingly cast in Lovely to Look At. "All of my concert reservations were pre-arranged." I was going to do this film in New York, so I said 'how ridiculous!'

', then boom!

"I got a phone call from my studio telegram requesting that I return for the photo the next day."

Grayson was paid more than $10,000 to appear at a week at the Riviera nightclub in New Jersey in 1952 before he was named The Desert Song. Grayson created a film of The Desert Song after filming The Desert Song.

A few times, Grayson performed at nightclubs and concert tours in Australia. Grayson appeared in Manila, the Philippines, in 1969, when she appeared at the New Frontier theater on one of her Far East trips.

Grayson was in charge of the Voice and Choral Studies Department at Idaho State University.

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