1. Margaret Nixon McEathron, known professionally as Marni Nixon, was an American soprano and ghost singer for featured actresses in musical films.
24 Facts About Marni Nixon
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Marni Nixon was the singing voice of leading actresses on the soundtracks of several musicals, including Deborah Kerr in The King and I and An Affair to Remember, Natalie Wood in West Side Story, and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, although her roles were concealed from audiences when the films were released.
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Marni Nixon went on to study singing and opera with, among others, Vera Schwarz, Carl Ebert, Boris Goldovsky and Sarah Caldwell.
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In 1947, having adopted the stage name "Marni Nixon", she made her Hollywood Bowl solo debut in Carmina Burana with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under conductor Leopold Stokowski.
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Marni Nixon sang for Jeanne Crain in Cheaper by the Dozen and dubbed Marilyn Monroe's high notes in "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
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Marni Nixon appeared on Broadway in 1954 in The Girl in Pink Tights.
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In 1957 Marni Nixon again worked with Kerr to dub her voice in An Affair to Remember.
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In 1961's West Side Story, the studio kept her work on the film a secret from Wood, and Marni Nixon dubbed Rita Moreno's singing in the film's "Tonight" quintet.
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Especially in the 1960s, but earlier and later, Marni Nixon made concert appearances, specializing in contemporary music as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, and gave recitals at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Town Hall in New York City.
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Marni Nixon taught at the California Institute of the Arts in Montecito from 1969 to 1971 and joined the faculty of the Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara, in 1980, where she taught for many years.
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Marni Nixon toured with Liberace and Victor Borge and later in her own cabaret shows.
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Marni Nixon originated the role of Sadie McKibben in Opal, and she had a 1997 film role as Aunt Alice in I Think I Do.
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Under her own name, beginning in the 1980s, Marni Nixon recorded songs by Jerome Kern, George Gershwin and various classical composers.
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Marni Nixon was nominated for two Grammy Awards for Best Classical Performance, Vocal Soloist, one for her Schonberg album and one for her Copland album.
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Marni Nixon continued to teach voice and judge vocal competitions.
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In 2001, Marni Nixon replaced Joan Roberts as Heidi Schiller in the Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's Follies.
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Marni Nixon played Eunice Miller in 70, Girls, 70 in a 2002 production in Los Angeles.
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Marni Nixon performed in the 2008 North American Tour of Cameron Mackintosh's UK revival of My Fair Lady in the role of Mrs Higgins.
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In 1950, Marni Nixon married the first of her three husbands, Ernest Gold, who composed the musical score for the movie Exodus.
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Marni Nixon was married to Lajos "Fritz" Fenster from 1971 to 1975, and to woodwind player Albert Block from 1983 to his death in 2015.
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Marni Nixon survived breast cancer in 1985 and 2000 but died from the disease on July 24,2016, in New York, aged 86.
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On October 27,2008, Marni Nixon was presented with the Singer Symposium's Distinguished Artist Award in New York City.
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Marni Nixon was an honorary member of Sigma Alpha Iota International Women's Music Fraternity.
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In 2011, Marni Nixon was the recipient of the George Peabody Award for Outstanding Contributions to American Music.