Mitzi Gaynor, born September 4, 1931 is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Her notable films include There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954), which featured Irving Berlin’s music and also starred Ethel Merman, Dan Dailey, Marilyn Monroe, Donald O’Connor, and Johnnie Ray; and South Pacific, the 1958 motion picture adaptation of the stage musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Following her film work, Gaynor remained a popular favorite. She often performed songs at Academy Awards ceremonies. At the 1967 Oscar telecast, she sang the theme from the film Georgy Girl. Gaynor later added the number to her concert repertoire. Throughout the 1960s and ’70s, she starred in nine acclaimed television specials that garnered 16 Emmy nominations.
As an interesting historical footnote, she appeared between two sets by The Beatles when they made their second appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show of February 16, 1964. She performed for an unprecedented nine-minute segment from the stage of the Deauville Hotel, in Miami Beach, separated with one commercial break. She sang “Too Darn Hot” and a blues medley. Gaynor recorded two albums for the Verve label, one called Mitzi and the second called Mitzi Gaynor Sings the Lyrics of Ira Gershwin. She is thought to have earned more from the record royalties on the South Pacific soundtrack album than her salary for the movie. She also recorded the title song from her film Happy Anniversary for the Top Rank label. For several decades, Gaynor appeared regularly in Las Vegas and at nightclub and concert venues throughout the United States and Canada.[citation needed]
During the 1990s, Gaynor also became a featured columnist for the influential newsmagazine The Hollywood Reporter. During her nightclub years, Gaynor rehearsed and broke in her routines at The Cave, a popular club in Vancouver. She developed an affinity for the city and was much appreciated by both the local media and the viewing public, frequently making guest appearances on local television for interviews. “Mitzi’s back in town” became an annual slogan when Gaynor would come to the city for a number of weeks each year to break in her Las Vegas routines. On December 4, 2006, Jack Bean, Gaynor’s husband of 52 years, died of pneumonia in the couple’s Beverly Hills, California home, aged 84. A producer and personal manager, Bean guided Gaynor’s career.
On July 30, 2008, Gaynor, along with Kenny Ortega, Elizabeth Berkley, Shirley MacLaine, and cast members from High School Musical, So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing with the Stars, and a host of others, participated in the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences TV Moves Live, a celebration of 60 years of dance on television. Gaynor appeared performing the final few bars of “Poor Papa”, a song-and-dance number from her 1969 TV spectacular, Mitzi’s 2nd Special. Four months later, on November 18, City Lights Pictures released Mitzi Gaynor Razzle Dazzle: The Special Years, a new documentary celebrating Gaynor’s annual television specials of the ’60s and ’70s. The film, which was broadcast on public television and released on DVD, includes show-stopping moments from the original specials (digitally remastered in 5.1 stereo) along with newly taped interviews with Gaynor colleagues, friends, and admirers, including Bob Mackie, Carl Reiner, Kristin Chenoweth, Rex Reed, Tony Charmoli, Alton Ruff, Randy Doney, and Kelli O’Hara. Gaynor’s one-woman show, Razzle Dazzle: My Life Behind the Sequins, toured the United States and Vancouver, from 2009 thru 2014, including an acclaimed 2 week engagement in NYC.
