deanna durbin interview
She was young, beautiful, possessed all the glory of the world, but she preferred quietness, protection from reporters and insects. (Photo by Universal Pictures/De Carvalho Collection/Getty Images), FORMER 40S STAR VERONICA LAKE WROTE SHE HAD TO GET OUT OF HOLLYWOOD BEFORE HER TRAGIC DEATH. [19][20], On December 21, 1950, Durbin married French director-producer Charles Henri David, who had previously directed her in Lady on a Train. She had one older sister, Edith (later Mrs. Heckman, born in England, died in California). Her major motion pictures were Three Smart Girls (1936), Mad About Music (1938) and That Certain Age (1938). The return to way musical melodramas also did not bring success.Film studio fired Deanna, indicating the cause of her age and lack of talent for working in serious films.And then Deanna did what was never expected of her: she completely stopped her acting career.It was the 1950s, Deanna was only 29 years old. [8], The success of Durbin's films was reported to have saved Universal from bankruptcy. Try Guaranteed Income Programs, Affirmative Action Cases May Force Colleges to Rethink Everything, House GOP Invokes Church Committee, but Echoes Earlier McCarthy, Historians of Science: What Exxon Knew About Oil and the Climate, and When, Two Black GI's Deaths Show the Racism in the WWII Military, What Jill Lepore Got RightAnd WrongAbout January 6 Committee, Hamline Administrators Won't Let the Academic Freedom Controversy Die, Hillsdale College's New Strategy in the School Wars Merges Curriculum and Privatization through "Choice", "You Don't Have the Votes": The House Speaker Fight Echoes 1839, My First Trip to Russia 30 Years Ago Is a Cautionary Tale Now. [4] Durbin soon became Thomas's prize pupil, and he showcased her talent at various local clubs and churches. Whenever I complained or asked for story or director approval, the studio refused. Durbin and David raised a son, Peter David (born in June 1951), as well as Durbin's daughter Jessica, on a farm outside of Paris. However, Durbin was unhappy by the role, and that Universal had not given support to the career of her first husband assistant director Vaughn Paul, whom she had married in April 1941. It seems that back in the early 1950s, when Durbin had been retired for a few years, that the writers of the still untested MyFair Ladywent to see her to convince her to play Eliza Doolittle. How did her rather wild personal life (three marriages and two out of wedlock pregnancies) affect her? [citation needed] When she was an infant, her family moved from Winnipeg to Southern California, and the family became United States citizens in 1923. Deanna married director Charles Davis when she was 28 and retired to live in a French farmhouse. 30S STAR THELMA TODD WAS BECOMING' TIRED 'OF HOLLYWOOD' BEFORE HER MYSTERIOUS DEATH, BOOK CLAIMS, Judy Garland (left) with Deanna Durbin, circa 1936. Los Angeles Times 28 Oct 1949: 2. In 1941, Durbin starred in It Started with Eve (1941), her last film with Pasternak and director Henry Koster. The couple welcomed a daughter before the couple called it quits in 1949. Universal cast Durbin in a film called Three Smart Girls (1936), about a trio of plucky sisters determined to reunite their estranged parents. And then she vanished from the public eye. For one thing, just take a look at my last four films and youll appreciate that the stories I had to defend were mediocre, near impossible. Durbin was a child actress who made her first film appearance with Judy Garland in Every Sunday (1936), and subsequently signed a contract with Universal Studios. When her former producer Joe Pasternak tried to dissuade her, she told him, "I can't run around being a Little Miss Fix-It who bursts into songthe highest-paid star with the poorest material. Her first screen kiss was described in a headline story across the continent. 01:04. What I did find difficult was that this acquired maturity had to be hidden under the childlike personality my films and publicity projected on me., I hated being in a goldfish bowl. Deanna Durbin (Edna Mae Durbin), singer and actor, born 4 December 1921; died April 2013, Child star with a powerful singing voice who played the perfect girl next door in Hollywood films of the 30s and 40s, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Deanna Durbin in It's a Date, 1940. If I went to New York, I had to stay in my hotel room or go everywhere under guard, whisked away in a big black limousine, terrified that the fans running alongside would get hurt in the traffic. Her talk with me was her first interview since . ), Edward Everett Horton,Deanna Durbin,Charles David, I did not find the Deanna Durbin interview at the site you mentioned. *For donate* https://www.paypal.me/womanandtime Deanna Durbin (1921-2013) was one of the brightest stars of Hollywood and world cinema in the 1930s and 1940s.She began her career in 1936, when she was still a child. Nobody knows very much about her. Louis B. Mayer decided to sign both, but by then, Durbin's contract option had lapsed. [4], In early 1935, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was planning a biographical film on the life of opera star Ernestine Schumann-Heink and was having difficulty finding an actress to play the young opera singer. Harper pointed out that while Durbin could have easily made a comeback in her later years, she preferred her private life with the family --far away from the glaring studio lights. Chanson, Comedy/Novelty Music, Educational, Field Recording, Film Score/Soundtrack, Interview/Dialogue, Minstrel, Monolog, Music Hall, Musical/Original Cast, Natural Sounds, Poetry, Prayers/Sermons, Radio Play/Show, Schlager, Special Effects . She granted only one interview since 1949 to film historian David Shipman in 1983. LORETTA YOUNGS SON SAYS 40S STAR REMAINED DEVOTED TO HER FAITH DURING FINAL YEARS: SHE HAD A MORAL COMPASS, Actress Deanna Durbin her husband Charles David at Mocambo's in Los Angeles, California, circa the 1950s. Item Information. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. These films, produced by frequent collaborator and second husband Felix Jackson, were not as successful; she continued in musical roles until her retirement. Deanna Durbin : biography December 4, 1921 - April, 2013 Personal life Durbin married an assistant director, Vaughn Paul, in 1941; the couple divorced in 1943. Encounter with Siodmak On August 22, 1948, Universal-International announced a lawsuit which sought to collect wages the studio had paid Durbin in advance. Below are some excerpts: I knew that sooner or later I would give an interview and decided that I would do it with you. Deanna Durbin has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1722 Vine Street. ", "David, thanks for reprinting this fascinating interview. However, film historians seem to agree that in that era Durbin was one of the most beloved actresses in the world. 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Deanna Durbin, the former child actress who was born Edna Mae Durbin in Winnipeg, Canada on December 4, 1921, has passed away at age 91, according to her son, Peter H. David, who said she died "a few days ago." . She fled to Europe and completely turned her back to Hollywood., RELATED: 16 Old Hollywood Bombshells: See Photos Then And Now. [9][10] In late January 1942, Durbin and Universal settled their differences, with the studio conceding to Durbin the approval of her directors, stories, and songs.[11]. People remembered her, but they just didnt talk about her anymore.. (1941). If she did have any regrets we will probably never know because very little is written about her life, once she retired. Lets hope we get a well researched biography. The actress, who was born Edna Mae Durbin, married her third husband, 44-year-old French director Charles Davis, at age 28, and retired to a French farmhouse. But after having been a Top Paid Actress in Hollywood, she could hardly expect people to not seek her out. TYRONE POWERS DAUGHTER SAYS 30S HOLLYWOOD IDOL WAS A DEVOTED FATHER BEFORE HIS TRAGIC DEATH: I FELT SAFE, Canadian actress and singer Deanna Durbin (1921-2013) wearing a black sleeveless dress in a publicity shot once used for the cover of the magazine Yank, The Army Weekly, 1944, United States. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. [7] That same year, Cesar Sturani, the general music secretary of the Metropolitan Opera, offered Durbin an audition. When she was at the top of her career as Hollywood's leading actress and singer, she turned her back on that world for a life of seclusion. Durbin's singing is featured in Alistair MacLean's 1955 novel HMS Ulysses, being broadcast over the wartime ship's internal communication system. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, Are you sure you want to report this post for ? There is no rough styling, trying to make it seem, without understanding the essence. The girl who one day would be known as "Winnipeg's Sweetheart" was born at Grace Hospital on December 4, 1921, as Edna Mae . She fled to Europe and completely turned her back to Hollywood.. ". "Beneath The Lights Of Home" being the most requested record. It's a Date (1940) Approved | 103 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance 6.4 Rate I knew a little bit about Durbin, the Canadian born singer who rocketed to fame by the age of 15, but not much. They put me in the town jail for safety and to avoid the mob still waiting at the station, they flagged the train down in the middle of nowhere, where I got on safely., Just once was I seriously tempted (to return to performing), by the prospect of My Fair Lady on Broadway. Theme images by, WHERE ARE THEY NOW: FORGOTTEN CHILD STARS, HOLLYWOOD LOVE: DINAH SHORE AND BURT REYNOLDS, Tonight's Movie: Francis in the Navy (1955) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review, The Brass Bottle: A Comfort Comedy with a Genie and a Future Jeannie, Danny G's Sunday Serenade with Dino: "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm", The Classic Film Collective: 7 Life Lessons from Cicely Tysons Memoir, CMBA Profile -- Real Weegie Midget Reviews, Fifty Years of Film in 50 Weeks, #45: Repulsion, 1965, JERRY LEWIS TO BE HONORED AT TCM FESTIVAL, PHOTOS OF THE DAY: CLASSIC STARS AND HORSES. Not be published, broadcast, rewritten, Are you sure you want to report this post for in... Quietness, protection from reporters and insects three marriages and two out of wedlock )!, broadcast, rewritten, Are you sure you want to report this post?! Secretary of the world, but they just didnt talk about her life, once she retired report post! Never know because very little is written about her anymore.. 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