Mitzi Gaynor
1931-2024
Mitzi Gaynor (born Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber in Chicago, Illinois) to Henry de Czanyi von Gerber, a violinist, cellist and music director of Hungarian descent and his wife Pauline, a dancer. Gaynor was an American entertainer, a film actress, singer, dancer and theatre/nightclub performer. Her biggest international fame came from her starring role as Ensign Nellie Forbush in the film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific in 1958 for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical at the 1959 awards. Gaynor was one of the last surviving stars of the "Golden Age" of the Hollywood Musical.
South Pacific was filmed on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Mitzi became fast friends with Italian film star, Rossano Brazzi (1916-1994) who played her love interest Emile de Becque, a French plantation owner. To play Navy Ensign Nellie Forbush in the film, Mitzi, then 25, beat out several better-known actresses including Elizabeth Taylor, Doris Day and Mary Martin, who originated the role on Broadway. "I could sing and I could dance," she says of her advantage over Elizabeth while Doris and Mary were deemed too mature to play the ingenue role. "Filming the movie on location was hard work, but thrilling just the same. I adored working with Rossano. I would tease him in my best Italian .. "Rossano, you are the most handsome man in all of the movies" and his answer was .. "Mitzi Gaynor, I know".
South Pacific was filmed on Ha'ena Beach in the beautifiul Hawaiian Islands. There were 178 cast members for nine weeks. Rain and a tidal wave made for a challenging production schedule. Ha'ena Beach was used as the Bali Ha'i Village. Lumaha'i Beach is where Mitzi Gaynor washed that man right out of her hair and is located on the north shore of Kauai.
South Pacific would become the fifth highest-grossing film of 1958. Mitzi was one of the few actors in the film who performed their own singing and would go on to star in many other films though found career longevity in nightclubs, TV specials and as a recording star.
Her family first moved to Elgin, Illinois then to Detroit and later when she was age 11 to Hollywood, California. She trained as a ballerina as a child and began her career with the corps de ballet. Gaynor signed a seven-year contract with Twentieth Century-Fox at age 17. She sang, acted and danced in a number of film musicals, often paired with some of the male musical stars of the day. A Fox Studio executive tht Mitzi Gerber sounded like the name of a delicatessen and they came up with a name that used the same initials.
Gaynor married Jack Bean, a talent agent and public relations executive for Music Corp. of America (MCA), in San Francisco on November 18, 1954. Mitzi met Jack when she asked him to be her agent while she was under contract with 20th Century Fox. Bean was working as an agent for Ella Fitzgerald and others at the time. Their professional partnership and relationship eventually led to a 52-year marriage. They met on a blind date. At the time, she had just broken up with Mr. Howard Hughes after dating him for appproximately 8 months!
Mitzi and Jack
Following her film work, Gaynor performed in other media. She appeared between two sets by The Beatles when they made their second appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 16, 1964. She has recounted the irony of members of the band, already famous for their distinctive "mop-tops", borrowing her hair dryer behind the scenes. Afterward, she had dinner with them and they asked for her autograph. Through the 1960s and 1970s, she starred in nine television specials which garnered 16 Emmy awards.
I wouldn't have had the opportunity if I hadn't made South Pacific.
Mitzi Gaynor.
Thank you Mitzi for touching our lives with your extraordinary and memorable talent on stage and on screen .. and oh! that adorable wink she gave her audiences!
RIP Mitzi
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