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Kathryn Grayson

Kathryn Grayson
Kathryn Grayson
Born: Feb 09, 1922 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Occupation: Actor
Active: '40s-'50s, '80s
Major Genres: Musical, Romance
Career Highlights: Kiss Me Kate, Andy Hardy's Private Secretary, So This Is Love
First Major Screen Credit: Andy Hardy's Private Secretary (1941)
8 Videos for Kathryn Grayson
That's Entertainment Part II (1976) The Toast of New Orleans (1950) Anchors Aweigh (1945)
Kiss Me Kate (1953) Till the Clouds Roll By (1946) Thousands Cheer (1943)
Show Boat (1951) Ziegfeld Follies (1946)
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Biography:

Ever on the lookout for the new Deanna Durbin, MGM talent scouts discovered coloratura soprano Kathryn Grayson while she was the teenaged vocalist on Eddie Cantor's radio program. Grayson's first film was the 1940 MGM programmer Andy Hardy's Private Secretary, in which she was given the opportunity to sing Lucia and Voices of Spring.

Her first leading role was as the title character in MGM's 1942 remake of Rio Rita; years after the fact, Grayson would remember the kindnesses and helpfulness of her co-stars, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. Grayson herself leaned towards diva behavior the more popular she became, but audiences were less interested in backstage intrigues and more interested in the end result of such films as Anchors Aweigh (1943), The Kissing Bandit (1948), and The Toast of New Orleans (1950).

In many of her best films, notably Showboat (1951) and Kiss Me Kate (1953, in which her curvaceous figure was delightfully emphasized in form-fitting Elizabethan garb), Grayson was teamed with baritone Howard Keel, with whom she would later appear in nightclubs and tour in summer stock. Kathryn Grayson made her last film in 1956; she returned before the cameras in the 1980s on (where else?) Murder She Wrote.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide.