By Ligia Fernandez
To access past Entertainers columns, click on the Entertainers archive
link to the left.
August 2007
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Source: Movie Maidens.com
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Jeanette MacDonald
(1903 - 1965)
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The acknowledged queen of the movie musical operetta,
Jeanette MacDonald began her career as a dancer and featured performer in a
number of 1920s Broadway musicals, including IRENE, SUNNY DAYS, BOOM BOOM
and TANGERINE. She was screen-tested and signed by
Paramount Pictures in 1929 making her film debut opposite Maurice Chevalier
in the hit musical THE LOVE PARADE. She re-teamed with Chevalier on
three other films - ONE HOUR WITH YOU, LOVE ME TONIGHT and an adaptation of
Lehar's THE MERRY WIDOW.
She joined MGM in 1934, where she was paired with her most
famous co-star, Nelson Eddy, in nine popular musicals, many of them based on
famous stage operettas -- NAUGHTY MARIETTA, ROSE-MARIE, MAYTIME, THE
FIREFLY, THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST, SWEETHEARTS, NEW MOON, BITTERSWEET and
I MARRIED AN ANGEL.
In 1937, she married actor Gene Raymond. The
Raymonds starred in their only film together, the sentimental wartime
musical drama, SMILIN' THROUGH, in 1941.
Ill health forced her into semi-retirement after the
1940s, although she and Eddy teamed up again to record an album of their
popular movie hits in 1958. The album went gold and is still available
today.
She died of heart failure in 1965. |
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Source:
Playbill.com |
James Naughton
(1945 - ) |
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Cabaret entertainer and Broadway leading man James Naughton
is best-known for his Tony-awarding role of Detective Stone in Cy Coleman's
CITY OF ANGELS (1989). He made his Broadway debut in another Coleman show, I
LOVE MY WIFE, and was the original Billy Flynn in the current long-running
revival of CHICAGO. In 1992, he participated in the
memorable SONDHEIM: A CELEBRATION AT CARNEGIE HALL extravaganza, performing
"Live Alone and Like It" from DICK TRACY and joining George Lee Andrews and
Michael Jeter for "Waiting for the Girls Upstairs" from FOLLIES.
He's appeared extensively in a number of hit TV shows,
including THE PAPER CHASE, BARNABY JONES, WHO'S THE BOSS and ALLY MCBEAL.
One of his most recent movie roles had him playing Meryl Streep's neglected
husband in THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA.
In 1999, he mounted an award-winning, off-Broadway solo
show, JAMES NAUGHTON: STREET OF DREAMS, an eclectic evening of showtunes,
standards and newer songs. In 2002, a revised version titled JAMES
NAUGHTON: BACK TO THE STREET ran at Cafe Carlyle. A few months later,
his debut solo CD, IT'S ABOUT TIME, was released.
Naughton's children, Keira and Greg, are also actors and
have both appeared with their father in various stage projects. |
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