Mitzi Gaynor died today of natural causes, at the age of 93.
She is probably best known for her role as Nellie Forbush in the movie of South Pacific. I also liked her as the sister in There’s No Business Like Show Business, four years earlier. Kind of a thankless role, but she gave it all she had.
Her last movie was in 1963; she apparently felt more suited to stage work, and she did a lot of shows in Las Vegas after that.
Surprised she was stll around, but I also thought she was a bit older than she was.
I hadn’t seen her in a long time, and I had actually been wondering about her.
I saw her on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show (which, according to iMDB must have been in the 1970s) and was dazzled by her energetic and athletic performance. It had been a quarter of a century since South Pacific and I must have thought she was much older than she was (she must have only been in her forties), but anything else I’d see n her in was already ancient history, so I was impressed. Evidently that was the start of a touring show of hers.
I don’t know much to add about her except Monty Python named a princess after her in a fairy tale parody they did in a book released in the late '70’s I believe. I don’t remember the name of the book, but I know I still have it somewhere. I would never willfully part with a Monty Python book.
Anyway, I wish her loved ones the best.
It was on one of their records (Monty Python’s Previous Record) and on their TV show, “The Tale of Happy Valley”
She was on the Ed Sullivan show the night of the Beatles’ first appearance.
She was only 27 when she made “South Pacific” in 1958. I saw that movie in a re-release around 1963 or 64, and to my young eyes, she was a real dish (using a description that would have been popular in 1958.) She was really a talented entertainer of the old style: actor, singer, dancer.
I find very often I am surprised to learn entertainers from my own youth aren’t as old as I thought. When Cyndi Lauper appeared on Mad About You in the early 1990s I was a bit suprised by how young she looked. She was only in her early 40s, but sine I my first impressions of her were formed when I was seven, I just expected her to be much older. Don’t even get me started on Gillian Anderson playing a medical doctor/FBI Agent at the tender age of 25.
Back to Mitzi. While I like musicals, I’m not a die hard fan, but I’ve seen the movies she was in. And you’re right, she was gorgeous. I’m glad she lived a good long life.
Some enchanted evening
You’ll meet Mitzi Gaynor…
Sullivan referred to her as, “Chicago’s Hungarian eyeful”.