Marni Nixon

Loverly soprano Marni Nixon has ensured herself a proper place in film history although most moviegoers would not recognize her if they passed her on the street But if you heard her that might be a horse of a different color Marni is one of those unsung heroes or should I say much sung heroes whose incredible talents were given short shrift at the time For those who think film superstars such as Deborah Kerr Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn possessed not only powerhouse dramatic talents but amazing singing voices as wellthink again Kerrs Anna in The King and I 1956 Natalies Maria in West Side Story 1961 and Audreys Eliza in My Fair Lady 1964 were all dubbed by the amazing Marni Nixon and nowhere in the credits will you find that fact Born Marni McEathron in Altadena California she was a former child actress and soloist with the Roger Wagner Chorale in the beginning Trained in opera yet possessing a versatile voice for pop music and easy standards as well she not only sang for Arnold Schönberg and Igor Stravinsky but also recorded light songs Marni made her Broadway musical debut in 1954 in a show that lasted two months but nothing came from it In 1955 the singer contracted to dub Deborah Kerr in The King and I 1956 was killed in a car accident in Europe and a replacement was needed Marni was hiredand the rest is history Much impressed the studios brought her in to ghost Ms Kerrs voice once again in the classic tearjerker An Affair to Remember 1957 From there she went on to make Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn sound incredibly good with such classic songs as Tonight and Wouldnt It Be Loverly She finally appeared on screen in a musical in The Sound of Music 1965 starring Julie Andrews who physically resembles Marni The role is a small one however and she is only given a couple of solo lines in How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria as a singing nun Marnis vocal career in films dissolved by the mid 1960s but she continued on with concerts and in symphony halls while billing herself as The Voice of Hollywood in onewoman cabaret shows Throughout the years she has played on the legit stage including the lead roles in The King and I and The Sound of Music and in her matronly years has been seen as Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret and in the musicals Follies and 70 Girls 70 Her last filmed singing voice was as the grandmother in the animated feature Mulan 1998 in the 1990s Married three times twice to musicians one of her husbands Ernest Gold by whom she had three children was a film composer and is best known for his Academy Awardwinning epic Exodus 1960 Marni Nixon died July 24 2016 age 86 in New York City New York USA