Marni Nixon (born February 22, 1930) is an American
sopranoA soprano is a singing voice with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music...
renowned for dubbing the singing voices of featured actresses in well known movie musicals. This has earned her the
sobriquetA sobriquet is a nickname or a fancy name, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. It is usually a familiar name, distinct from a pseudonym assumed as a disguise, but a nickname which is familiar enough such that it can be used in place of a real name without the need of explanation...
"The Ghostess with the Mostess", and also "The Voice of Hollywood". She has also spent much of her career performing in concerts with major symphony orchestras around the world and in operas and musicals throughout the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Biography
Born
Margaret McEathron in
Altadena, CaliforniaAltadena is an unincorporated census-designated place in Los Angeles County, California, approximately from the downtown Los Angeles Civic Center. The population was 42,610 at the 2000 census....
, Nixon began singing at an early age in choruses. At the age of 14, she became part of the newly formed Los Angeles Concert Youth Chorus – whose other members included a 13-year-old
Marilyn HorneMarilyn Horne is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer who is particularly associated with the music of Rossini and Handel. She began her career as a light lyric soprano; however, as the years progressed, the voice settled and matured into a mezzo-soprano instrument with a full and rich timbre...
and a 19-year-old
Paul SalamunovichPaul Salamunovich KCSG is an American choral conductor and educator.He is the Music Director Emeritus of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, after having served as Music Director from 1991 to 2001. He served as Director of Music at St. Charles Borromeo Church in North Hollywood, California, for 60...
, among many others – under famed conductor
Roger WagnerRoger Wagner was an American choral musician, administrator and educator. For five decades championed and refined the art and propelled it forth around the world. His musical and personal impact was profound...
; this choir evolved into the Roger Wagner Chorale in 1948, and later into the
Los Angeles Master ChoraleThe Los Angeles Master Chorale is a famous professional chorus in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1964 by Roger Wagner to be one of the three original resident companies of the Music Center of Los Angeles County...
in 1964.
She went on to study
singingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist...
and
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
with
Carl EbertCarl Ebert was a German theatre and opera producer and administrator.-Biography:He worked as an actor and theatre director in Germany from 1915 to 1927, directing Brecht's In The Jungle of Cities in Darmstadt in 1927...
, Jan Popper,
Boris GoldovskyBoris Goldovsky was a Peabody Award-winning promoter and popularizer of opera working in the United States of America. As a broadcaster, impresario, conductor, and opera producer, he became prominent within the American operatic community between 1946 and 1985...
and
Sarah CaldwellSarah Caldwell was a notable American opera conductor, impresario, and stage director of opera.- Life :Caldwell was born in Maryville, Missouri, and grew up in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She was a child prodigy and was giving public performances on the violin by the time she was ten years old...
. She embarked on a varied career, involving
filmFilm encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects....
and musical comedy as well as
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
and concerts. She appeared extensively on American television, dubbed the singing voices of film actresses in
The King and I,
West Side StoryWest Side Story is a 1961 American film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. It is an adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name, which itself was adapted from Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, and...
and
My Fair LadyMy Fair Lady is a musical film adaptation of the Lerner and Loewe stage musical, My Fair Lady, based on the film adaptation of the stage play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. The ending and the ballroom scene are from the 1938 film Pygmalion rather than Shaw's original stage play...
, and acted in several commercial stage ventures. Her light, flexible, wide-ranging soprano and uncanny accuracy and musicianship have made her valuable in more classical ventures, and have contributed to her success in works by
Anton WebernAnton Webern was an Austrian composer and conductor. He was a member of the Second Viennese School. As a student and significant follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known exponents of the twelve-tone technique; in addition, his innovations regarding schematic organization of...
,
Igor StravinskyIgor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor, widely acknowledged as one of the most important and influential composers of 20th century music. He was a quintessentially cosmopolitan Russian who was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of...
,
Charles IvesCharles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is widely regarded as one of the first American composers of international significance. Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years...
,
Paul HindemithPaul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, Germany, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
and
Alexander GoehrAlexander Goehr is an English composer and academic.He was born in Berlin in 1932, son of the conductor and Schoenberg pupil Walter Goehr. Still in his early twenties, he emerged as a key figure in the Manchester School of post-war British composers. In 1955–56 he joined Oliver Messiaen's...
, many of which she has recorded.
Nixon's opera repertory includes Zerbinetta in
Ariadne auf NaxosAriadne auf Naxos is an opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal.- Versions :The opera as originally conceived was to be a thirty-minute divertissement to be performed at the end of Hofmannsthal's adaptation of Molière's play Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme...
, Susanna in
Le nozze di Figaro, both Blonde and Konstanze in
Die Entführung aus dem SerailDie Entführung aus dem Serail is an opera Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie...
, Violetta in
La traviataLa traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on the novel La dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils, published in 1848. The title "La traviata" means literally The Woman Who Strayed, or perhaps more figuratively, The...
, the title role in
La PéricholeLa Périchole is an opéra bouffe in three acts by Jacques Offenbach. Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy wrote the French-language libretto based on the 1829 one act play Le carrosse du Saint-Sacrement by Prosper Mérimée, which was revived on 13 March 1850 at the Théâtre-Francais...
and Philine in
MignonMignon is an opéra comique in three acts by Ambroise Thomas. The original French libretto was by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Goethe's novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre. The Italian version was translated by Giuseppe Zaffira...
. Her opera credits include performances at
Los Angeles OperaThe Los Angeles Opera is an opera company in Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, part of the Los Angeles Music Center.-Current leadership:...
,
Seattle OperaThe Seattle Opera is an opera company located in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1963 by Glynn Ross, who served as the company's first general director through 1983, Seattle Opera's season runs from August to late May, with five or six operas offered and with eight to ten performances each, often...
,
San Francisco OperaSan Francisco Opera is the second largest opera company in North America after the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola...
and the Tanglewood Festival among others. In addition to giving recitals, she appeared with the
New York PhilharmonicThe New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
under
Leonard BernsteinLeonard Bernstein was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
, the
Los Angeles PhilharmonicThe Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...
, the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra,
Toronto Symphony OrchestraThe Toronto Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario.The TSO was founded in 1922 as the New Symphony Orchestra, and gave its first concert at Massey Hall in April 1923. The orchestra changed its name to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1927. The TSO continued to give...
, the
London Symphony OrchestraThe London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
and the
Israel Philharmonic OrchestraThe Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in Tel Aviv is the leading symphony orchestra in Israel. It was originally known as the Palestine Orchestra, and in Hebrew as התזמורת הסימפונית הארץ ישראלית The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in Tel Aviv (abbreviation IPO; Hebrew: התזמורת הפילהרמונית הישראלית,...
among others. She taught at the California Institute of Arts from 1969–1971 and joined the faculty of the
Music Academy of the WestThe Music Academy of the West is a music conservatory located in Montecito, California near Santa Barbara, California. Every year, it hosts a summer music festival for the community highlighted by concerts and workshops directed by famous composers, conductors, and artists.A yearly maximum of 135...
, Santa Barbara, in 1980 where she taught for many years.
Career highlights
Nixon's dubbing career includes:
- The voices of the angels heard by Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress in the first Tony Award ceremony in 1947. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...
in Joan of ArcJoan of Arc is a 1948 Technicolor film directed by Victor Fleming; starring Ingrid Bergman as the French religious icon and war heroine. It was produced by Walter Wanger. It is based on Maxwell Anderson's successful Broadway play Joan of Lorraine, which also starred Bergman, and was adapted for the...
(1948)
- The singing voice of Margaret O'Brien
Margaret O'Brien is an Academy Award-winning American film actress, and although her career was brief, was one of the most highly regarded child actors in cinema history....
in The Secret GardenThe Secret Garden is a 1949 American drama film, the second screen adaptation of the classic 1909 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The screenplay by Robert Ardrey was directed by Fred M. Wilcox...
(1949)
- Providing Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe , born Norma Jeane Mortenson, but baptized Norma Jeane Baker, was an American actress, singer and model....
with a few top notes in her performance of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend"Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" is a song introduced by Carol Channing in the original Broadway production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes , which was written by Jule Styne and Leo Robin...
" in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
- An eerie, wordless vocal as part of George Antheil
George Antheil was an American avant-garde composer, pianist, author and inventor. A self-described "Bad Boy of Music", his modernist compositions amazed and appalled listeners in Europe and the US during the 1920s with its cacophonous celebration of mechanical devices...
's score for Dementia (1955)
- The singing voice for Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr, born Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer, CBE was a British stage, television and film actress...
in the Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and IThe King and I is a musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II based on the book Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon. The plot comes from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became school teacher to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s...
(1956) (in one number deleted before release, Kerr's and Nixon's voices were skillfully intertwined).
- Dubbing Deborah Kerr's singing voice again in An Affair to Remember
An Affair to Remember is a 1957 film starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, and directed by Leo McCarey.The film is considered one of the most romantic of all time, according to the American Film Institute. The movie was a remake of McCarey's 1939 film Love Affair, starring Irene Dunne and Charles...
, one year after dubbing her in The King and I
- The singing voice for Natalie Wood
Natalie Wood was an American actress....
as Maria in West Side StoryWest Side Story is a 1961 American film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. It is an adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name, which itself was adapted from Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, and...
(1961). Nixon also sang some parts of the score of Anita played by Rita MorenoRita Moreno is a Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress. She is the first and only Hispanic female and one of ten performers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony and at the time the second Puerto Rican to win an Academy Award.-Early years:Moreno was born Rosita Dolores Alverío in...
, sharing the load with co-dubber Betty WandBetty Wand is an American singer and author, best known as the singing voice dubbed in for various actresses in musical films, including Leslie Caron in Gigi and Rita Moreno in West Side Story...
and Moreno herself. In parts of the quintet setting of the song "Tonight", she sings both Maria and Anita's lines, according to her autobiography.
- The singing voice for Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian.Born in Ixelles as Audrey Kathleen Ruston, Hepburn spent her childhood chiefly in the Netherlands, including German-occupied Arnhem, Netherlands, during the Second World War...
as Eliza in My Fair LadyMy Fair Lady is a musical film adaptation of the Lerner and Loewe stage musical, My Fair Lady, based on the film adaptation of the stage play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. The ending and the ballroom scene are from the 1938 film Pygmalion rather than Shaw's original stage play...
(1964)
Except for
Dementia, in which she received on-screen credit as "Featured Voice", the credits for her many dubbing roles did not appear on the titles of any of the films, and Nixon did not begin to be fully credited or widely acknowledged until the movies' subsequent release on VHS decades later.
My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music
Ms. Nixon gained much notoriety for
My Fair LadyMy Fair Lady is a musical film adaptation of the Lerner and Loewe stage musical, My Fair Lady, based on the film adaptation of the stage play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. The ending and the ballroom scene are from the 1938 film Pygmalion rather than Shaw's original stage play...
, as news-eager journalists ripped apart the customary veil of secrecy. Industry buzz has said this to have been the cause of Hepburn's failing even to get nominated for an
Academy AwardThe Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. The formal ceremony at which the awards are presented is...
for the demanding role.
Nixon finally appeared on screen singing for herself as Sister Sophia in the film
The Sound of MusicRodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music is a musical film directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews in the lead role. The film is based on the Broadway musical The Sound of Music, with songs written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and with the musical book written by the...
.
Julie AndrewsDame Julie Elizabeth Andrews, DBE is a British film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honours...
, the star of the film of
The Sound of Music, had played Eliza Doolittle in the stage version of
My Fair LadyMy Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins so that she can pass as a lady...
, but had lost the film role to Audrey Hepburn. Andrews greeted Nixon with a hearty handshake and said, "I really love your work!" In fact, the two had already worked on the same song in a previous film: Nixon voiced one — or more — of the trio of geese in the animated "Jolly Holiday" sequence of
Mary PoppinsMary Poppins is a 1964 musical film starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, produced by Walt Disney, and based on the Mary Poppins books series by P. L. Travers with illustrations by Mary Shepard. The film was directed by Robert Stevenson and written by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, with songs by...
(1964). Nixon also sang the role of Mary Poppins herself on a collection of songs from the film released on Disneyland records in 1964, in new arrangements that were considerably different from the ones used in the film.
Later Work
When Hollywood musicals gave her less work, she started to perform on stage, as Eliza Doolittle in
My Fair LadyMy Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins so that she can pass as a lady...
and as Fraulein Schneider in
CabaretCabaret is a musical with a book by Joe Masteroff, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and music by John Kander. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, she hosted a children's television show in Seattle on
KOMO-TVKOMO-TV is a television station in Seattle, Washington. It is an affiliate of ABC and broadcasts on digital channel 38. KOMO is the flagship station of Fisher Communications, and its studios are located in Fisher Plaza along with sister stations KOMO AM, KPLZ-FM, and KVI, directly across the street...
channel 4 called
Boomerang. In 2001, she replaced
Joan RobertsJoan Roberts is the American actress who created the role of Laurey in the original Broadway production of Oklahoma! in 1943. She is one of the few surviving cast members of the original production...
as Heidi Schiller in the
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
revivalA revival is a restaging of a stage production after its original run has closed. New material may be added. A filmed version is said to be an adaptation and requires writing of a screenplay....
of
Stephen SondheimStephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre , multiple Grammy Awards, and a Pulitzer Prize...
's
FolliesFollies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. Several of its songs have become standards, including "Broadway Baby," "I'm Still Here," "Too Many Mornings," "Could I Leave You?" and "Losing My Mind." The play was nominated for eleven Tonys and won...
. In 2003, she returned to Broadway as a replacement in role of Guido's mother in the revival of
Nine.
In the 1998 Disney film
MulanMulan is a 1998 American animated feature film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, and released by Walt Disney Pictures on June 19, 1998...
, Nixon sang the role of Grandmother Fa.
In March 2007 she was involved in a concert version of
My Fair LadyMy Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins so that she can pass as a lady...
, in which she performed the role of Mrs. Higgins, Professor Higgins's mother.
On June 18, 2007, Marni joined a group of volunteers who were inspired by the documentary film "Tocar y Luchar."
http://tocaryluchar.com/
They are trying to bring more music education to all children.
http://elsistemanyc.net/
Nixon performed on the U.S. National Tour of
Cameron MackintoshSir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh is a British theatrical producer notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. He is described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York Times...
's U.K. revival of
My Fair LadyMy Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins so that she can pass as a lady...
through July 2008, replacing
Sally Ann HowesSally Ann Howes is an English actress and singer, who currently holds dual British-American citizenship. Her career on stage, screen and television has spanned over six decades...
in the role of Mrs. Higgins.
Under her own name, she has also recorded songs by
Jerome KernJerome David Kern was an American composer of popular music. He wrote around 700 songs, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A Fine Romance", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "All the Things You Are", "The Way You Look Tonight", and "Who?", a 6-week number 1 hit for...
,
George GershwinGeorge Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are universally familiar....
,
Arnold SchönbergArnold Schoenberg was an Austrian and later American composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
,
Charles IvesCharles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is widely regarded as one of the first American composers of international significance. Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years...
, and
Anton WebernAnton Webern was an Austrian composer and conductor. He was a member of the Second Viennese School. As a student and significant follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known exponents of the twelve-tone technique; in addition, his innovations regarding schematic organization of...
.
One of her three husbands,
Ernest GoldErnest Gold , born Ernst Sigmund Goldner, was an American award-winning composer. Born in Vienna, Austria; Gold wrote nearly 100 film and television scores between 1945 and 1992...
, composed the theme song to the movie
ExodusExodus is a 1960 epic war film made by Alpha and Carlyle Productions and distributed by United Artists. It was produced and directed by Otto Preminger from a screenplay by Dalton Trumbo from the 1958 novel, Exodus, by Leon Uris. The Super Panavision 70 cinematography was by Sam Leavitt...
. They had three children together, one of whom is the singer and songwriter
Andrew GoldAndrew Gold is an American singer, musician and songwriter, best known in his homeland for his 1977 Top 10 single "Lonely Boy" and the 1978 single "Thank You for Being a Friend." His best known solo single in the UK is "Never Let Her Slip Away", which reached number 5 in the UK Singles Chart in 1978...
("Lonely Boy" and "Thank You For Being a Friend").
On Saturday October 27, 2008, Marni Nixon was presented with the Singer Symposium's Distinguished Artist Award in New York City.
Sources
- Nixon, Marni, with Cole, Stephen. I Could Have Sung All Night: My Story. New York, Billboard Books. 2006. ISBN 0-8230-8365-9.
- Internet Movie Database
External links