{"id":115394,"date":"2024-10-18T02:12:50","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T19:12:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=115394"},"modified":"2024-10-18T02:12:50","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T19:12:50","slug":"mitzi-gaynor-leading-lady-of-movie-musicals-is-dead-at-93","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=115394","title":{"rendered":"Mitzi Gaynor, Leading Lady of Movie Musicals, Is Dead at 93"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mitzi Gaynor, the bubbly actress, singer and dancer who landed one of the most coveted movie roles of the mid-20th century, the female lead in \u201cSouth Pacific,\u201d but who abandoned film as the era of movie musicals came to an end, died on Thursday in Los Angeles. She was 93. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Her managers, Rene Reyes and Shane Rosamonda, confirmed the death.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The role of Nellie Forbush, a World War II Navy nurse and (in the words of a song lyric) a \u201ccockeyed optimist\u201d in Rodgers and Hammerstein\u2019s hit 1949 Broadway musical, had been originated and defined by Mary Martin. But when it came time to cast the 1958 movie of \u201cSouth Pacific,\u201d some considered Ms. Martin too old (she was in her 40s) and perhaps too strong-voiced for any actor who might be cast opposite her. (Ezio Pinza, her Broadway co-star, had died.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Doris Day was considered. Mike Todd wanted his wife, Elizabeth Taylor, to play the role. Ms. Gaynor was the only candidate to agree to do a screen test, she recalled decades later, although she was an established actress, with a dozen films, seven of them musicals, to her credit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In fact, she was shooting \u201cThe Joker Is Wild\u201d (1957), a musical drama with Frank Sinatra, when Oscar Hammerstein II came to town and asked to hear her sing. (Ms. Gaynor always credited Sinatra with making her best-known role possible, because he asked for a change in the shooting schedule that would give her a day off to audition.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cSouth Pacific\u201d was a box-office smash, and Ms. Gaynor\u2019s performance, opposite Rossano Brazzi, was well received. (She turned out to be the only one of the film\u2019s stars to do her own singing.) But she made only three more films, all comedies without music; the last of them, \u201cFor Love or Money\u201d with Kirk Douglas, was released in 1963. She turned instead to Las Vegas, where she headlined shows at major resorts for more than a decade, and to television.<\/p>\n<div class=\"css-1336jj\">\n<div class=\"css-121kum4\">\n<div class=\"css-asuuk5\"><noscript><\/p>\n<div class=\"css-7axq9l\" data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-noscript\"><svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"css-1b5b8u1\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M2.5 12a9.5 9.5 0 1 1 19 0 9.5 9.5 0 0 1-19 0Zm8.5 1.75v-7.5h2v7.5h-2Zm0 2v2h2v-2h-2Z\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\"\/><\/svg><\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-noscript-message\" class=\"css-6yo1no\">\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/noscript><\/p>\n<div class=\"css-1dv1kvn\" id=\"optimistic-truncator-a11y\" tabindex=\"-1\">\n<hr\/>\n<p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. 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