# RIP Mitzi Gaynor (93) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [October 18, 2024, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mitzi-gaynor-93/1008935 "2024-10-18T02:36:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mitzi-gaynor-93/1008935/1 "2024-10-18T02:36:49Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mitzi-gaynor-93/1008935/2 "2024-10-18T03:15:06Z")
Surprised she was stll around, but I also thought she was a bit older than she was. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mitzi-gaynor-93/1008935/3 "2024-10-18T11:55:25Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mitzi-gaynor-93/1008935/4 "2024-10-18T12:45:07Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mitzi-gaynor-93/1008935/5 "2024-10-18T13:17:47Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > 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. It was on one of their records (Monty Python’s Previous Record) and on their TV show, “The Tale of Happy Valley” > **[The Tale of Happy Valley (The Princess with the Wooden Teeth)](https://montypython.fandom.com/wiki/The_Tale_of_Happy_Valley_(The_Princess_with_the_Wooden_Teeth))** > > The Tale of Happy Valley (The Princess with the Wooden Teeth) is a sketch from Episode 2 of Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus. Once upon a time, there lay in a valley in the mountains a kingdom called Happy Valley. It was ruled by a king called Otto.... ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mitzi-gaynor-93/1008935/6 "2024-10-18T14:38:49Z")
She was on the Ed Sullivan show the night of the Beatles’ first appearance. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mitzi-gaynor-93/1008935/7 "2024-10-18T14:49:55Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mitzi-gaynor-93/1008935/8 "2024-10-18T16:54:34Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mitzi-gaynor-93/1008935/9 "2024-10-18T17:14:48Z")
Some enchanted evening You’ll meet Mitzi Gaynor… ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mitzi-gaynor-93/1008935/10 "2024-10-18T17:18:51Z")
Sullivan referred to her as, “Chicago’s Hungarian eyeful”.