Heaven's heavenly chorus added a beautiful new voice on Sunday.
Movie singer Marni Nixon passed away at the age of 86. Nixon was famous for being the voice of many a Hollywood actress in some of the great musicals from the Golden Era. If you thought you were listening to Deborah Kerr singing "Getting to Know You" in
The King and I (1956) or Natalie Woods crooning "Tonight, Tonight" in
West Side Story (1961) or Audrey Hepburn twittering "I Could Have Danced All Night" in
My Fair Lady (1964) you were beguiled by arguably the best ghost singer in the industry.
Studios needed Nixon to help cover-up the fact that the actors cast in their musicals while stars, weren't always the best singers. So Nixon was used to sing full roles and sometimes as in the case with a high note in "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" for Marilyn Monroe- bits of numbers. Nixon went unheralded for much of her career, but in an interview the gracious lady gave a couple years ago at a
King and I screening, she admitted that Kerr was happy to tell the press it wasn't her singing. Wood, however, was devastated that the producers didn't use her voice and was always touchy about the subject.
Nixon took her unheralded work in stride and made many stage appearances as well as playing small parts in movies and television. Yes, she's Sister Sophia in
The Sound of Music (1965).
Nixon was an integral part of some magical movie moments- and I for one, will not forget that voice.
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