Gisele MacKenzie was born Gisele Marie Louise Marguerite LaFleche in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1927.
17 Facts About Gisele MacKenzie
2.
The daughter of a Winnipeg doctor, MacKenzie spent her childhood in Manitoba where she studied violin and attended the Sacred Heart School as a child.
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Gisele MacKenzie had at least two Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio programs, Meet Gisele, where she played hostess to Jack Benny, Clark Gable, Loretta Young, Fred Astaire, and James Stewart; and Gisele and Mr Cable.
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Gisele MacKenzie took on the stage name MacKenzie and moved to Los Angeles, California in 1951 to replace The Andrews Sisters on CBS Radio's daily program, Club Fifteen, starring Bob Crosby, where she alternated as regular vocalist with Jo Stafford.
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Gisele MacKenzie recorded albums and singles on various record labels, most notably Capitol and RCA, Everest, Mercury, Liberty Sunset, and Cricket Playhour.
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Gisele MacKenzie's biggest selling song was "Hard To Get" in 1955.
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Gisele MacKenzie was an accomplished classical violinist, studying at The Royal Conservatory of Music; she performed many comedic musical duets with mentor Jack Benny.
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Gisele MacKenzie was a guest on such shows as The Jack Benny Program, The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford, The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom, The Bell Telephone Hour, The Colgate Comedy Hour, The Eddie Fisher Show, The George Gobel Show, and The Ed Sullivan Show.
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Gisele MacKenzie appeared frequently in Las Vegas venues and in numerous North American concerts.
10.
Gisele MacKenzie hosted a radio show entitled Airtime at the same time she was appearing on TV's Your Hit Parade.
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Gisele MacKenzie announced in 1957 that she would not be returning to the show for another season.
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Gisele MacKenzie went on to star in her own short lived Saturday night NBC variety program, The Gisele MacKenzie Show, and hosted such guests as Benny, Boris Karloff, Ronald Reagan, Bobby Diamond, and folk singer Jimmie Rodgers; it was cancelled after a half season.
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Gisele MacKenzie returned to television in 1963 as Sid Caesar's 4th television wife on The Sid Caesar Show, in which she did comedy with Caesar and sang a song each week.
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Gisele MacKenzie expanded her acting credits in the 1990s, making guest appearances on television series including Murder, Gisele MacKenzie Wrote, Boy Meets World, and MacGyver.
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Gisele MacKenzie has a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame at 1601 Vine.
16.
Gisele MacKenzie had a son, MacKenzie Duffy, and a daughter, contemporary jazz artist Gigi MacKenzie.
17.
Gisele MacKenzie died from colon cancer, aged 76, on September 5,2003, in Burbank, California.