81 Facts About Jeanette MacDonald

Jeanette Anna MacDonald was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy.

Jeanette MacDonald later appeared in opera, concerts, radio, and television.

Jeanette MacDonald was born Jeannette Anna McDonald on June 18,1903, at her family's Philadelphia home at 5123 Arch Street.

Jeanette MacDonald later took lessons with Al White and began touring in his kiddie shows, heading his "Six Little Song Birds" in Philadelphia at the age of nine.

In November 1919, Jeanette MacDonald joined her older sister Blossom in New York.

Jeanette MacDonald took singing lessons with Wassili Leps and landed a job in the chorus of Ned Wayburn's The Demi-Tasse Revue, a musical entertainment presented between films at the Capitol Theatre on Broadway.

Jeanette MacDonald played the second female lead in this long-running musical which starred Mitzi Hajos.

In 1925, Jeanette MacDonald again had the second female lead opposite Queenie Smith in Tip Toes, a George Gershwin hit show.

Jeanette MacDonald finally landed a starring role in Yes, Yes, Yvette in 1927.

Jeanette MacDonald played the lead in her next two plays: Sunny Days in 1928 in her first show for the producers Lee and JJ Shubert, for which she received rave reviews; and Angela, which the critics panned.

Jeanette MacDonald cast her as the leading lady in The Love Parade, his first sound film, which starred Maurice Chevalier.

Jeanette MacDonald's first, The Love Parade, directed by Ernst Lubitsch and co-starring Maurice Chevalier, was a landmark of early sound films, and received a Best Picture nomination.

Broadway star Dennis King reprised his role as 15th-century French poet Francois Villon, and Jeanette MacDonald was Princess Katherine.

Jeanette MacDonald's footage singing a duet of "Come Back to Sorrento" with Nino Martini was cut from the release print due to copyright reasons with Universal Studios, which had recently acquired the copyright to the song for an upcoming movie, King of Jazz.

Jeanette MacDonald introduced "Beyond the Blue Horizon," which she recorded three times during her career, including performing it for the Hollywood Victory Committee film Follow the Boys.

In hopes of producing her own films, Jeanette MacDonald went to United Artists to make The Lottery Bride in 1930.

Jeanette MacDonald next signed a three-picture deal with the Fox Film Corporation, a controversial move in Hollywood; every other studio was far superior in the eyes of many, from their budgets to the fantastical entertainment of their films.

Jeanette MacDonald took a break from Hollywood in 1931 to embark on a European concert tour, performing at the Empire Theater in Paris and at London's Dominion Theatre, and was invited to dinner parties with British Prime Minister Ramsay Jeanette MacDonald and French newspaper critics.

Jeanette MacDonald returned to Paramount the following year for two films with Chevalier.

In 1933, Jeanette MacDonald left again for Europe, and while there signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

In Rose-Marie, Jeanette MacDonald played a haughty opera diva who learns her young brother has killed a Mountie and is hiding in the northern woods; Eddy is the Mountie sent to capture him.

The Firefly was Jeanette MacDonald's first solo-starring film at MGM with her name alone above the title.

Jeanette MacDonald's co-star was tenor Allan Jones, who she demanded get the same treatment as she would, such as an equal number of close-ups.

Jeanette MacDonald's performance was subdued, and choreographer Busby Berkeley, just hired away from Warner Bros.

Jeanette MacDonald remained for one last film, Cairo, a cheaply budgeted spy comedy co-starring Robert Young as a reporter and Ethel Waters as a maid, whom Jeanette MacDonald personally requested.

Jeanette MacDonald is shown during a concert singing "Beyond the Blue Horizon," and in a studio-filmed sequence singing "I'll See You in My Dreams" to a blinded soldier.

Jeanette MacDonald returned to MGM after five years off the screen for two films.

Jeanette MacDonald played a widow who has lost her son, but warms to orphan Claude Jarman Jr.

Jeanette MacDonald frequently attempted a comeback movie, even financing and paying a screenwriter.

One of the possible film reunions with Nelson Eddy was to be made in England, but Eddy pulled out when he learned Jeanette MacDonald was investing her own funds.

Eddy preferred to publicly blame the proposed project as mediocre, when in fact Jeanette MacDonald was uninsurable due to her heart condition.

Jeanette MacDonald began limiting her appearances, and a reprisal of Bitter Sweet in 1959 was her last professional stage appearance.

The leading role of "The Actress" was changed to "The Singer" to allow Jeanette MacDonald to add some songs.

Jeanette MacDonald sang and danced at The Sands and The Sahara in Las Vegas in 1953, The Coconut Grove in Los Angeles in 1954, and again at The Sahara in 1957, but she never felt entirely comfortable in their smoky atmospheres.

Jeanette MacDonald performed at the Mayo Civic Auditorium in Rochester, Minnesota on April 19,1939, to open that venue before an audience.

Jeanette MacDonald sang several times at the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall.

Jeanette MacDonald closed with "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," and 20,000 voices spontaneously joined in.

Jeanette MacDonald auctioned off encores for donations and raised almost $100,000 for the troops.

Jeanette MacDonald did command performances at the White House for President Dwight D Eisenhower.

Jeanette MacDonald began training for this goal with Lotte Lehmann, one of the leading opera stars of the early 20th century.

Jeanette MacDonald made her opera debut singing Juliette in Gounod's Romeo et Juliette in Montreal at His Majesty's Theatre.

Jeanette MacDonald quickly repeated the role in Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto, and Windsor.

Jeanette MacDonald sang Marguerite in Gounod's Faust with the Chicago Opera.

Jeanette MacDonald was on the Academy Awards ceremony broadcast in 1931.

Jeanette MacDonald hosted her own radio show, Vicks Open House, from September 1937 to March 1938, for which she received $5,000 a week.

In 1953, MacDonald sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the inauguration of President Dwight D Eisenhower, broadcast on both radio and TV.

Jeanette MacDonald sang frequently with Nelson Eddy during the mid-1940s on several Lux Radio Theater and The Screen Guild Theater productions of their films together.

Jeanette MacDonald appeared as his guest several times on his various radio shows such as The Electric Hour and The Kraft Music Hall.

Jeanette MacDonald was a surprise guest when she hosted a war-bonds program called Guest Star, and they sang on other World War II victory shows together.

Jeanette MacDonald appeared on early TV, most frequently as a singing guest star.

Jeanette MacDonald sang on The Voice of Firestone on November 13,1950.

On February 2,1956, Jeanette MacDonald starred in Prima Donna, a television pilot for her own series, written for her by her husband Gene Raymond.

When Jeanette MacDonald was born, her father quickly doted on her.

Jeanette MacDonald was the only daughter in the family that had inherited both her father's red hair and blue-green eyes, although she often admired her sisters' beauty, such as Blossom's dimples and her elder sister Elsie's blonde hair and blue eyes.

Jeanette MacDonald suffered from stage fright throughout her life to the point that her therapist told her to imagine that all of the members of the audience were lettuce.

Jeanette MacDonald was a Republican, but she mostly avoided commenting on politics.

Jeanette MacDonald met Jack Ohmeis at a party during her appearance in Tangerine.

Jeanette MacDonald was an architecture student at New York University and the son of a successful bottle manufacturer.

Jeanette MacDonald's family was hesitant about the relationship, assuming that MacDonald was a gold-digger, but accepted her after they met.

Unfortunately, the Ohmeis family would lose a lot of their fortune after the Wall Street Crash, so Jeanette MacDonald loaned money to Jack, and he repaid her as soon as he could, which was as late as the 1950s.

Jeanette MacDonald eventually dated a Wall Street rep named Robert Ritchie, 12 years her senior, who claimed that he was the son of a fallen millionaire.

Jeanette MacDonald later relocated to Europe as an MGM representative, becoming responsible for recruiting Greer Garson, Hedy Lamarr, and Luise Rainer.

Jeanette MacDonald met him at a Hollywood party two years earlier at Roszika Dolly's home; MacDonald agreed to a date, as long as it was at her family's dinner table.

Jeanette MacDonald died at the Houston Methodist Hospital from heart failure on January 14,1965, with Raymond by her hospital bed.

Jeanette MacDonald said that their last conversation was when MacDonald said, "I love you," and he replied, "I love you too;" she then sighed deeply, and her head hit the pillow.

Jeanette MacDonald was crowned as the Queen of the Movies in 1939 with Tyrone Power as her king.

Jeanette MacDonald was awarded an honorary doctor of music degree from Ithaca College in 1956.

Jeanette MacDonald was named Philadelphia's Woman of the Year in 1961.

Shortly after Jeanette MacDonald's death, surviving classmates from her high school contributed a $150 donation in her name to the Children's Heart Hospital of Philadelphia.

Jeanette MacDonald wanted her readers to both be inspired by her career and understand how she had coped with balancing a public and personal life.

Jeanette MacDonald hired and fired other ghostwriters and wrote a manuscript solo but it was rejected by the publisher for being "too genteel"; MacDonald refused to include many personal details about Eddy and she deleted already typed pages admitting to one single pregnancy that ended in miscarriage.

Jeanette MacDonald said that publishers wanted her to spice up her story.

Jeanette MacDonald refused to gossip about her colleagues and said she did not live that kind of life.

Jeanette MacDonald had a reported eight pregnancies by Eddy, the first while they were filming Rose Marie.

Rich's findings included documentation that Raymond physically and emotionally abused Jeanette MacDonald, and had affairs as early as their honeymoon when Jeanette MacDonald allegedly discovered Raymond in bed with Buddy Rogers.

Raymond's wedding to MacDonald, orchestrated by Louis B Mayer, forced MacDonald to become Raymond's "beard," and the 1938 arrest resulted in Mayer blacklisting him in Hollywood for almost two years.

The situation ended with Jeanette MacDonald losing her baby at nearly 6 months.

Nelson Eddy had his own apartment on the 7th floor of the West building, and allowed Jeanette MacDonald to decorate it; they used it as a rendezvous spot until she was too weak to walk the few yards over to his building.

Jeanette MacDonald performed and recorded more than 50 songs during her career, working exclusively for RCA Victor in the United States.

Jeanette MacDonald did some early recordings for HMV in England and France while she was there on a concert tour in 1931.

Jeanette MacDonald earned three gold records, one for the LP album, Favorites in Stereo that she did with Nelson Eddy in 1959.