Deanna Durbin | |
|---|---|
 Durbin in 1944 (publicity photo forCan't Help Singing) | |
| Born | Edna Mae Durbin (1921-12-04)December 4, 1921 |
| Died | April 17, 2013(2013-04-17) (aged 91) Paris, France |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, singer |
| Years active | 1935–1949 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
Edna May Durbin (December 4, 1921 – April 17, 2013),[1] known professionally asDeanna Durbin, was a Canadian-born Americanlyric soprano and actress, who moved to the United States with her family in infancy. She appeared inmusical films in the 1930s and 1940s. Additionally, she performed mostly classical concerts and recitals as well as concerts with semi-classical and popular music. She specialized in opera arias, art song, and semi-classical songs, which is today known as classical crossover.
Durbin was achild actress who made her first film appearance withJudy Garland inEvery Sunday (1936), and subsequently signed a contract withUniversal Pictures. She achieved success as the ideal teenaged daughter in films such asThree Smart Girls (1936) andOne Hundred Men and a Girl (1937). Her work was credited with saving the studio from bankruptcy,[2] and led to Durbin being awarded theAcademy Juvenile Award in 1938.
As she matured, Durbin grew dissatisfied with the girl-next-door roles assigned to her and attempted to move into sophisticated non-musical roles withfilm noirChristmas Holiday (1944) and thewhodunitLady on a Train (1945). These films, produced by frequent collaborator and second husbandFelix Jackson, were not as successful; and she continued in musical roles. Upon her retirement and divorce from Jackson in 1949, Durbin married producer-directorCharles Henri David and moved to a farmhouse near Paris. She withdrew from public life, granting only one interview on her career in 1983.
The younger child of James Allen Durbin and Ada Tomlinson Read, natives of Greater Manchester, England who relocated to Winnipeg, Canada, Deanna had an elder sister, Edith. When she was an infant, Durbin's family moved from Winnipeg to Los Angeles, and she and her family became United States citizens in 1928.[3][4] By the time she was 10, her sister recognized that she had definite talent and enrolled her in voice lessons at the Ralph Thomas Academy.[5] Durbin soon became Thomas's prize pupil, and he showcased her talent at various local clubs and churches.[5]
In early 1935,Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was planning a biographical film on the life of opera starErnestine Schumann-Heink and was having difficulty finding an actress to play the young opera singer. MGM casting director Rufus LeMaire heard about a talented young soloist performing with the Ralph Thomas Academy and called her in for an audition. Durbin sang "Il Bacio" for the studio's vocal coach, who was stunned by her "mature soprano" voice. She sang the number again forLouis B. Mayer, who signed her to a six-month contract.[5] She made her first film appearance in the shortEvery Sunday (1936) withJudy Garland, another teenage singer-actress whose career would rival Durbin's. The film was intended as a demonstration of their talent as performers as studio executives had questioned the wisdom of casting two female singers together. Louis B. Mayer decided to sign both, but by then, Durbin's contract option had lapsed.[2]
Universal Pictures producerJoe Pasternak wished to borrow Garland from MGM, but she was unavailable. When Pasternak learned that Durbin was no longer with MGM, he instead cast her in the film. At 14 years old, Durbin signed with Universal, giving her the professional name Deanna. Her first feature-length film,Three Smart Girls (1936), was a success and established Durbin as a young star. With Pasternak producing for Universal, Durbin starred in a succession of successful musical films, includingOne Hundred Men and a Girl (1937),[6]Mad About Music (1938),That Certain Age (1938),Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939), andFirst Love (1939)—most of which were directed byHenry Koster.[7]
Durbin also continued to pursue singing projects. In 1936, she auditioned to provide the vocals for Snow White in Disney's animated filmSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but was rejected byWalt Disney, who said the 15-year-old Durbin's voice was "too old" for the part.[8]Andrés de Segurola, who was the vocal coach working with Universal Studios that became her voice teacher—himself a former Metropolitan Opera singer—believed that Durbin was a potential opera star. De Segurola was commissioned to advise the Metropolitan Opera on her progress. Also in 1936, Durbin began a radio collaboration withEddie Cantor which lasted until 1938, when her heavy workload for Universal forced her to quit her weekly appearances.[9] During the 1940s, she put on several classical concerts and gave some recitals. She also performed concerts with semi-classical and popular music for the troops who were fighting in World War II.
The success of Durbin's films was reported to have saved Universal from bankruptcy.[2] In 1938, she received anAcademy Juvenile Award withMickey Rooney. Producer Joe Pasternak said:
Deanna's genius had to be unfolded, but it was hers and hers alone, always has been, always will be, and no one can take credit for discovering her. You can't hide that kind of light under a bushel. You just can't, no matter how hard you try![citation needed]
Durbin continued her success withIt's a Date (1940),Spring Parade (1940), andNice Girl? (1941).
In 1941, Durbin starred inIt Started with Eve (1941), her last film with Pasternak and director Henry Koster. Pasternak moved from Universal to MGM. Koster wanted to reunite Durbin withCharles Laughton as Christine and Erik in a new version ofThe Phantom of the Opera with Erik as Christines's father, but Durbin found the script too bloody and rejected it. This father-daughter element made it intoPhantom of the Opera (1943), but it was cut at a late stage.[10] Universal announced Durbin was to star inThey Lived Alone, scheduled to be directed by Koster. However, Durbin was unhappy with the role, and that Universal had not given support to the career of her first husband, assistant director Vaughn Paul, whom she had married in April 1941. Durbin turned down the role, and was suspended by the studio from October 16, 1941, to early February 1942.[11][12] In late January 1942, Durbin and Universal settled their differences, with the studio conceding to Durbin the approval of her directors, stories, and songs.[13]
In April 1942 Universal announced a second sequel toThree Smart Girls: the wartime-themedThree Smart Girls Join Up, in which Durbin would "wear overalls and be either a riveter or a welder".[14] Durbin issued a statement to the trade papers that she would no longer be appearing in anyThree Smart Girls pictures and was abandoning the "Penny Craig" character in favor of solo vehicles. The title was changed toHers to Hold (1943), revolving solely around her character. The film almost went unproduced; French directorJean Renoir was hired to directThree Smart Girls Join Up,[15] but a subsequent report announced that theThree Smart Girls picture was being replaced byThe Divine Young Lady[16] (the formerThey Lived Alone), a story of refugee children from China. The project was initially conceived without musical numbers, but Durbin finally relented to Universal's demand to include some. The finished film was released asThe Amazing Mrs. Holliday (1943), with the new title suggestive ofMGM's wartime hitMrs. Miniver.
Co-starJoseph Cotten would later speak highly of Durbin's integrity and character.[17] Durbin had an iron will, and was influential in executive decisions at Universal, being one of the company's major stockholders. Columnist Jack Lait reported that "Durbin has been hard to deal with since she married. Demands her husband (who was only an assistant) direct her, and what with the $25,000 [salary] ceiling, she'll do it her way or no way."[18] She dabbled in other genres, such as the romantic comedyHis Butler's Sister (1943) and the musicalWesternCan't Help Singing (1944), her onlyTechnicolor film, which was produced on location in southern Utah and co-starredRobert Paige. The film featured some of the last melodies written byJerome Kern.[19]
Durbin continued her push to establish herself as a more dramatic actress with the film noirChristmas Holiday (1944), directed byRobert Siodmak and co-starringGene Kelly. Siodmak praised Durbin's acting skills, but later recalled she was difficult as "she wanted to play a new part but flinched from looking like a tramp: she always wanted to look like nice, wholesome Deanna Durbin pretending to be a tramp."[20] Although the film received mixed reviews, Durbin later called it her "only really good film".[21] The whodunitLady on a Train (1945) also received mixed reviews.
Deanna Durbin's future husband Charles David and writer Hugh Gray prepared a dramatic thriller for Durbin,The Fairy Tale Murder, about a phobic young woman who is terrorized by mysterious criminals. Durbin rejected it, so it was reworked byLeslie Charteris, author of theSaint novels who had co-written Durbin'sLady on a Train, and reassigned to Universal's teenaged singing starGloria Jean. Charles David remained as director.Fairy Tale Murder was filmed in September and October 1944 but it was held back until September 1945, after Gloria Jean had left the studio's employ, and released asRiver Gang (international releases retained the originalFairy Tale Murder title).[22]
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Most of Deanna Durbin's pictures had been produced byFelix Jackson, whom she married in August 1945; they welcomed their daughter, Jessica Louise, in February 1946. She was then the second-highest-paid woman in the United States, just behindBette Davis;[7] her fan club ranked as the world's largest during her active years.[23] However, while her adult dramatic roles may have been more satisfying for Durbin, it was clear her fans preferred her in light musical confections.
In 1946, Universal merged with two other companies to createUniversal-International. The new regime discontinued much of Universal's familiar product and scheduled only a few musicals. Jackson left Universal in November 1946;[24] he also left Durbin in January 1947, although their separation was not announced until the following year.[25][26][27]
Durbin's final four pictures —I'll Be Yours (1947),Something in the Wind (1947),Up in Central Park (1948), andFor the Love of Mary (1948) — all reverted to her previous musical-comedy structure.[28] On August 22, 1948, Universal-International announced a lawsuit which sought to collect wages the studio had paid Durbin in advance.[29] Durbin settled the complaint by agreeing to star in three more pictures, including one in Paris; this did not materialize before Durbin's contract expired. She received a $200,000 ($2,600,000 in 2024)[30] severance payment.[31]
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Unsatisfied by her career options, Durbin chose to retire and move to Paris. When her former producer Joe Pasternak tried to dissuade her, she told him, "I can't run around being a Little Miss Fix-It who bursts into song—the highest-paid star with the poorest material."[32] In September 1949, Durbin filed for divorce from Jackson, which was finalized in November.[26][27]
On December 21, 1950, Durbin married French director-producer Charles David, who had previously directed her inLady on a Train. Durbin and David raised a son, Peter David (born in June 1951), as well as Durbin's daughter Jessica, on a farm outside of Paris. Durbin turned down several offers for a comeback, including a Broadway role as Eliza Doolittle inMy Fair Lady; she later said, "I had my ticket for Paris in my pocket."[33] In 1951, she was invited to play in London's West End production ofKiss Me, Kate, and in theMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer film version of the same in 1953, andSigmund Romberg's operettaThe Student Prince in 1954.[citation needed]
In 1983, film historianDavid Shipman was granted a rare interview by Durbin. Durbin acknowledged her dislike of the Hollywood studio system, emphasizing that she never identified herself with the public image that the media created around her.She spoke of the Deanna "persona" in the third person, and considered the film character "Deanna Durbin" to be a byproduct of her youth and not her true identity.[34] In private life, Durbin had continued to use her given name, Edna; salary figures printed annually by the Hollywood trade publications listed the actress as "Edna Mae Durbin, player".[35] Also in the interview, she steadfastly asserted her right to privacy, something she maintained until the end of her life, declining to be profiled on websites.[36]
Durbin's husband of almost 50 years, Charles David, died in Paris on March 1, 1999. On April 30, 2013, a newsletter published by the Deanna Durbin Society reported that Durbin had died "in the past few days", quoting her son, Peter H. David, who thanked her admirers for respecting her privacy. No other details were given.[7] According to theSocial Security Death Index (under the nameEdna M. David), she died on April 17, 2013[1][37] in the19th arrondissement of Paris.[38]
Deanna Durbin has a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame at 1722 Vine Street. She left her handprints and footprints in front of theGrauman's Chinese Theatre on February 7, 1938. Durbin was well known in Winnipeg, Manitoba (her place of birth), as "Winnipeg's Golden Girl" (a reference to one of the city's most famous landmarks, the statueGolden Boy atop theManitoba Legislative Building).
Frank Tashlin's Warner Bros. cartoonThe Woods Are Full of Cuckoos (1937) contains a turtlecaricature of Deanna Durbin called "Deanna Terrapin". An unnamed caricature of Durbin also appeared in the Warner Brother's cartoon "Malibu Beach Party" (1940).
Jean Hatton appeared in two Australian films being called "an Australian Deanna Durbin".[39]
She is also mentioned by the character Hatsumi in Haruki Murakami's novel Norwegian Wood (in chapter 8), when she says that her grandfather used to brag that he had met Durbin one time in New York. Durbin's singing is featured inAlistair MacLean's 1955 novelHMS Ulysses, which talks about her songs being broadcast over the wartime ship's internal communication system. Durbin figures prominently in the 1963Ray Bradbury short story "The Anthem Sprinters" (collected inThe Machineries of Joy). She is referenced inRichard Brautigan's 1967 novelTrout Fishing in America, when the narrator claims to have seen one of her movies seven times, but cannot recall which one.[40] She is mentioned by the character Hatsumi in Haruki Murakami's novelNorwegian Wood (in chapter 8), when Hatsumi says that her grandfather used to brag that he had met Durbin one time in New York.
In song, she is referenced in theGlenn Miller World War II novelty song "Peggy the Pin-up Girl", where Miller's lyrics pair her name with her first co-star Judy Garland: "Even a voice that's so disturbin' / Like Judy Garland or Miss Durbin / Can't compare to my pin-up queen". Durbin's name was included in the introduction to a song written by satirical writerTom Lehrer in 1965. Prior to singing "Whatever Became of Hubert?", Lehrer said that Vice PresidentHubert Humphrey had been relegated to "those where-are-they-now columns: Whatever became of Deanna Durbin, and Hubert Humphrey, and so on." InPhilippe Mora's filmThe Return of Captain Invincible (1983),Christopher Lee sings a song called "Name Your Poison", written byRichard O'Brien andRichard Hartley, which has the line, "Think of young Deanna Durbin / And how she sang on rum and bourbon."
Anne Frank was a fan of Durbin, and pasted two photos of her on the wall inthe family's hideout; the photos are still on the wall today. One of the photos is fromFirst Love.Winston Churchill was also a fan of Durbin, screening her films "on celebratory wartime occasions".[41] Russian cellist/conductorMstislav Rostropovich cites Durbin in the mid-1980s as one of his most important musical influences, stating: "She helped me in my discovery of myself. You have no idea of the smelly old movie houses I patronized to see Deanna Durbin. I tried to create the very best in my music, to try to recreate, to approach her purity."[42] Indian-Bengali film directorSatyajit Ray, in his 1992 acceptance speech for anAcademy Honorary Award, mentioned Deanna Durbin as the only one of the three cinema personalities (withGinger Rogers andBilly Wilder) he recalled writing to when young who had acknowledged his fan letter with a reply.[43]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1936 | Every Sunday | Edna | Co-starringJudy Garland |
| 1939 | For Auld Lang Syne: No. 4 | Herself | |
| 1941 | A Friend Indeed | Herself | For theAmerican Red Cross |
| 1943 | Show Business at War | Herself | |
| 1944 | Road to Victory | Herself | A promotional film to supportwar bonds; also known asThe Shining Future |
| Year | United States | UK |
|---|---|---|
| 1938 | 15th | 6th |
| 1939 | 12th | 1st |
| 1940 | 12th | 2nd |
| 1941 | 24th | 2nd |
| 1942 | 4th | |
| 1944 | 25th | 4th |
Between December 15, 1936, and July 22, 1947, Deanna Durbin recorded 50 tunes forDecca Records. While often re-creating her movie songs for commercial release, Durbin also covered independent standards, like "Kiss Me Again", "My Hero", "Annie Laurie", "Poor Butterfly", "Love's Old Sweet Song" and "God Bless America".
| Date | Series title | Episode title | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1943 | Screen Guild Theatre | "Shadow of a Doubt" | [44] |
| 1936–38 | The Eddie Cantor Show | (Series regular) | [45] |
| 1938 | Lux Radio Theatre | "Mad About Music" | [46] |
| 1943 | The Jack Benny Program | "Guest: Deanna Durbin" | [47] |
| 1948 | Screen Guild Players | "Up in Central Park" | [48] |
Among those regaining their citizenship was Deanna Durbin, the Canadian‐born actress, who has been living in Paris.
Media related toDeanna Durbin at Wikimedia Commons