“South Pacific” star was 93

Mitzi Gaynor, star of 1950s movie musicals including “South Pacific” and “Les Girls” as well as a number of popular 1970s variety specials, died Thursday. She was 93.

Gaynor's management team, Rene Reyes and Shane Rosamonda, confirmed this diversity that she died of natural causes.

“For eight decades she entertained audiences in films, on television and on stage. “She has truly enjoyed every moment of her professional career and the great privilege of being an entertainer,” Reyes and Rosamonda wrote in a statement on Gaynor’s X account. “Off stage she was a vibrant and extraordinary woman, a caring and loyal friend and a warm, kind, very funny and overall wonderful human being.”

Gaynor played the role of Marine Nurse Nellie Forbush in the 1958 film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, along with Rossano Brazzi as French planter Emile De Becque and John Kerr as Lt. Cable. Gaynor sang for herself while many others in the cast did not, and as Nellie she sang the famous song “I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair”, which became associated with her for the rest of her life became life.

A year earlier, she starred alongside Gene Kelly and Kay Kendall in the George Cukor-directed musical Les Girls.

Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber was born in Chicago. Her mother was a dancer, her father a violinist and cellist. The family moved to Detroit and then to Los Angeles when she was eleven, so she continued her dance studies with the same teacher who had moved. In 1942 she became a member of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera's corps de ballet.

Gaynor's career can be neatly divided into two key periods: the 1950s, in which she appeared in a number of film musicals, the most famous of which were “Les Girls” and “South Pacific”; and a later period in which, as The New York Times said, “Her brassy zeal and inexhaustible stamina as a leggy dancer in the splendor of Bob Mackie found their ultimate expression in a groundbreaking series of television specials that aired from 1967 to 1978.” .”

Gaynor was “never a vocal powerhouse,” said the Times, “but her singing conveyed enough verve and personality to make for a sparkling production number.”

When she was young, attractive, blonde Gaynor combined innocence and a certain knowing cheek.

Gaynor made her feature film debut in 1950 in “My Blue Heaven” with Dan Dailey and Betty Grable. The next year, she had her first starring role in the musical Golden Girl, playing real-life Civil War-era entertainer Lotta Crabtree. She was part of the ensemble cast of 1952's “We're Not Married!” along with Marilyn Monroe and Zsa Zsa Gabor; That same year, she starred in the musical “Bloodhounds of Broadway,” based on stories by Damon Runyon and set among gangsters in the 1920s.

Gaynor appeared in the musicals There's No Business Like Show Business (1954) with Ethel Merman, Donald O'Connor and Marilyn Monroe, and Anything Goes (1956) with Bing Crosby and O'Connor.

She had a supporting role in Frank Sinatra's film The Joker Is Wild in 1957 (significantly, however, she was listed second only to Sinatra, despite only playing a relatively few minutes in the film).

After “South Pacific,” Gaynor appeared in only three more films: the romantic comedy “Happy Anniversary” with David Niven; the Stanley Donen-directed comedy “Surprise Package,” in which the actress starred alongside Yul Brynner and Noel Coward; and the 1963 comedy “For Love or Money” with Kirk Douglas.

But it wasn't Gaynor's film career that was over so much as the era of the movie musical. “Les Girls” was the last musical Gene Kelly made for MGM, which has produced many of Hollywood's best musicals over the past three decades.

The actress, dancer and singer first appeared on variety shows such as “The Frank Sinatra Show,” “The Ed Sullivan Show” and “The Dick Clark Show”; The first original special was an episode of The Kraft Music Hall series entitled “Mitzi Gaynor Christmas Show” in 1967. It released standalone specials in 1968 (guests included George Hamilton and Phil Harris) and 1969 (Ross Martin ). and 1973 (Ken Berry, Dan Dailey and Mike Connors). In 1974, “Mitzi…A Tribute to the American Housewife” was released, which also starred Ted Knight, Jerry Orbach, Jane Withers, Cliff Norton and Suzanne Pleshette; the next year there was “Mitzi and a Hundred Guys,” starring Jack Albertson, Michael Landon and many other celebrities; 1976's Mitzi…Roarin' in the 20's, starring Carl Reiner and Ken Berry (who won an Emmy for Bob Mackie's costume designs); next came “Mitzi… Zings Into Spring” (1977), starring Roy Clark and Wayne Rogers; and finally there was 1978's Mitzi… What's Hot, What's Not, which starred Gavin MacLeod, John McCook and Benny Goodman. In total, the nine specials received 16 Emmy nominations.

Gaynor also remained in the public eye through appearances at award ceremonies. At the 1967 Oscars, she sang the theme from “Georgy Girl” and danced to thunderous applause.

Gaynor recorded two albums for Verve, Mitzi and Mitzi Gaynor Sings the Lyrics of Ira Gershwin, and she performed regularly in Las Vegas and at nightclubs in the United States and Canada.

From 2008 to 2011, Gaynor toured on and off with her show “Mitzi… Razzle Dazzle!” like Howard Hughes, Gene Kelly, Marilyn Monroe and their “There's No Business Like Show Business”. Co-star Ethel Merman, who, according to Gaynor, told the dirtiest joke she had ever heard.

The New York Times was somewhat skeptical in 2010, saying the “mixed-media autobiography she brought to Feinstein's could be described as a chic, cheesy opportunity to meet the star.”

On July 30, 2008, Gaynor, along with Shirley MacLaine and a number of others, participated in the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' “TV Moves Live,” a celebration of six decades of dance on television.

Also in 2008, the documentary Mitzi Gaynor Razzle Dazzle: The Special Years aired on PBS, looking back at her vaudeville years.

Gaynor was married to agent and producer Jack Bean from 1954 until his death in 2006.