And then she vanished from the public eye. Durbin was well known in Winnipeg, Manitoba (her place of birth), as "Winnipeg's Golden Girl" (a reference to one of the city's most famous landmarks, the statue Golden Boy atop the Manitoba Legislative Building). Needless to say, I was, along with her other fans, shocked to hear about her passing. Get the best of Fox News' entertainment coverage, right in your inbox. In 1939, Durbin, aged 17, and her fellow child star Mickey Rooney were awarded special Oscars "for their significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth and, as juvenile players, setting a high standard of ability and achievement". If so, you are one of the few. Deanna Durbin. Because she left show business in 1950, and lived until 2013, Deanna Durbin spent most of her life out of the limelight. When her former producer Joe Pasternak tried to dissuade her, she told him, "I can't run around being a Little Miss Fix-It who bursts into songthe highest-paid star with the poorest material. Deanna was not only a superb actress, but as a . You can't hide that kind of light under a bushel. In 1946, Universal merged with two other companies to create Universal-International. ALL MATERIALS, CONTENTS, AND ARTICLES ARE THE COPYRIGHT OF DAVID LOBOSCO (unless otherwise stated). Deanna was a Hollywood star in every way. DEANNA DURBIN BY DAVID SHIPMAN PARIS. Great post, very interesting too! I did find it in its entirety (with that same picture from the 1980s) at Java Journey in a 2010 article on this page: http://javabeanrush.blogspot.com/2010/11/DeannaDurbinInterview.html. 28, Iss. Most of these films had been produced by Felix Jackson, whom she married in August 1945; they welcomed their daughter, Jessica Louise, in February 1946. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! Poised as a veteran, prettier than ever, she arrived for her interview clad in rosy tweed. Legal Statement. William Harper recently wrote a biography on Deanna called Deanna Durbin A Hollywood Fairy Tale The Legend of Edna Mae and answers some of our questions. . This girl could sing! The light comedy For the Love of Mary (1948) was her swansong. She granted only one interview since 1949 to film historian David Shipman in 1983. You have no idea of the smelly old movie houses I patronized to see Deanna Durbin. The return to way musical melodramas also did not bring success.Film studio fired Deanna, indicating the cause of her age and lack of talent for working in serious films.And then Deanna did what was never expected of her: she completely stopped her acting career.It was the 1950s, Deanna was only 29 years old. People remembered her, but they just didnt talk about her anymore.. Durbin turned down the role, and was suspended by the studio from October 16, 1941, to early February 1942. Her first two marriages had failed, and before she married her third husband, director Charles David, she set one condition: he had to promise that she could have what she yearned for - "the life of nobody". Eventually, the inevitable happened: Durbin and her bosses had different ideas about what represented the right kind of vehicle. Deanna married director Charles Davis when she was 28 and retired to live in a French farmhouse. ARGOSY PLANNING 2 'FUGITIVE' FILMS New York Times 9 Nov 1946: 24. When Durbin fled Hollywood, she not only never appeared as an entertainer again but pulled the plug on most of her American movies and you can hardly see them any more (ironically, a Durbin movie and Garland film were playing at the same time on television last week). In 1941, Durbin starred in It Started with Eve (1941), her last film with Pasternak and director Henry Koster. This is the last known interview with the reclusive film star and recording artist before her death in . Deanna Durbin Devotees Judy stayed in Hollywood, led a tragic life and died of a drug overdose at 47. LORETTA YOUNGS SON SAYS 40S STAR REMAINED DEVOTED TO HER FAITH DURING FINAL YEARS: SHE HAD A MORAL COMPASS, Actress Deanna Durbin her husband Charles David at Mocambo's in Los Angeles, California, circa the 1950s. Even when cameras stopped rolling, Durbin couldnt escape her good-girl image. I was living in Texas when Deanna Durban passed away. There were Deanna Durbin dolls and dresses. She seemed totally content with raising her two children on a little farm outside of Paris., 50S SEX SYMBOL MAMIE VAN DOREN ON LEAVING HOLLYWOOD AFTER MARILYN MONROE'S DEATH: 'THERE WERE A LOT OF DRUGS', Deanna Durbin (1921-2013) with the wind in the hair and leaning on a tree's branch in a publicity shot from 1941, United States. How could anybody really think that I was going to spend the rest of my life with a man I found I didnt love, just for the sake of an image? she added. Would someone elaborate about where in Texas was Deanna and her mother mobbed. 16 Old Hollywood Bombshells: See Photos Then And Now, she also wanted to get out of the good girl image, Kate Hudson Has This Old School Rule For Her Kids At Dinner Time, Elvis Presley Gave This Important Advice To Elvira And Changed Her Career. (Photo by Universal Pictures/De Carvalho Collection/Getty Images), MARILYN MONROE WAS DARING TO GO NUDE IN LAST FILM 'SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE' FOR THIS REASON, PHOTOGRAPHER SAYS. She had also completed 22 films by then. Her voice, movements, facial expressions fully correspond to this subtle and unsteady mood. I did not succeed. Fox News Flash top entertainment and celebrity headlines are here. In her early childhood there were no obvious signs that one day she would be a bigger box office attraction than Shirley Temple. In 1949, she was released from her contract. Durbins last two movies did not do well, said Harper. Her films were tailored to fit both her personality, which made the word "vivacious" seem like an understatement, and her singing voice, which was feminine, sweet, mature beyond her years and extraordinarily powerful. The actress, who was born Edna Mae Durbin, married her third husband, 44-year-old French director Charles Davis, at age 28, and retired to a French farmhouse. However, fans and critics didnt like it. It is an eye opener of a tale and an absolute treasure chest of show business history. Durbin and David raised a son, Peter David (born in June 1951), as well as Durbin's daughter Jessica, on a farm outside of Paris. She received a $200,000 ($2,300,000 in 2021) [22] severance payment,[23], Unsatisfied by her career options, Durbin chose to retire and move to Paris. Visiting a Deanna Durbin fan site,( Deannadurbindevotees.com),I was fascinated to read an interview author David Shipman did with Deanna in 1983 at her home in France. Deanna's genius had to be unfolded, but it was hers and hers alone, always has been, always will be, and no one can take credit for discovering her. Thelate Mr Shipman wrote one of my favourite books, THE GREAT FILM STARS; THE GOLDEN YEARS. 01:04. I loved to sing. Deanna fled the bright lights and cameras at age 29, stunning the world, moved to a farm house in France, became a recluse and never appeared in another film. Her second marriage, to film writer-producer-actor Felix Jackson in 1945, produced a daughter, Jessica Louise Jackson, but a divorce followed in 1949. Why Guns Have Been Shielded from Consumer Safety Regulations for a Half Century, Chinese Memoirist Yuan-tsung Chen, 93, Rejects Forgetting of Maoist Horrors, Looking for King's Legacy? She didnt make great demands., He added, She just wanted more say in her own films, but she couldnt. She really illuminated their lives by just answering audience questions. She wanted to take on different materials and pick her own directors. She achieved success as the ideal teenaged daughter in films such as Three Smart Girls (1936), One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937), and It Started with Eve (1941). Deanna's observations of her life in Hollywood are so revealing and her honesty is welcome. Gall plays Deanna and brings in the story of Judy in an interview with an invisibleNew York Timesreporter. Louis B. Mayer decided to sign both, but by then, Durbin's contract option had lapsed. But she will never go back to that life." Her first screen kiss was described in a headline story across the continent. After 1949, she stayed out of the spotlight until her death in 2013. The Universal producer Joe Pasternak constantly tried to change her mind, but Durbin told him: "I can't run around being a Little Miss Fix-It who bursts into song the highest-paid star with the poorest material. What makes Deanna Durbin's story different is that she was never comfortable with adulation. She likely made lots of money during her career and didnt have to work again. Also, nowhere in the play is any reference to Ray BradburysThe Anthem Sprintersa delightful short story about a Deanna Durbin movie screened in Ireland followed by a race of moviegoers to a pub before the cinema starts to play the Irish national anthem at the conclusion of the film. Deanna Durbin was born Edna Mae Durbin to British parents on Dec. 4, 1921, in Winnipeg, in the Canadian province of Manitoba. She flat out refused. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. No other details were given. She was young, beautiful, possessed all the glory of the world, but she preferred quietness, protection from reporters and insects. And Durbins popularity wasnt just on the silver screen. Of course I've been trying to change that and be more open to her films when they air. So sorry about that,I checked again myself and couldnt find the interview. I was happy on the set. 1941 DEANNA DURBIN MOVIE NICE GIRL Love at Last/ PERHAPS Decca 3654 A-209 78. Her name is written not only in the history of world cinema, but also in the cultural code of the whole world.The latest photos of Deanna Durbin are not easy to find. She achieved success as the ideal teenaged daughter in films such as Three Smart Girls (1936), One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937), and It Started with Eve (1941). Durbin continued her push to establish herself as a more dramatic actress with the film noir Christmas Holiday (1944), directed by Robert Siodmak and co-starring Gene Kelly. ( in the 1981 photo above, is Deanna holding a copy of the BBC s Radio Times? She is far better known today in the United Kingdom and Europe that in the U.S. because the actress never cut off her films there. She is also referenced in the Glenn Miller WWII novelty song "Peggy the Pin-up Girl". "Great post, very interesting too! An engineering firm named its so-called dream home in her honor. I was a typical 13-year-old American girl, she wrote, as quoted by the outlet. I liked the people with whom I worked and after the nervousness of the first day, I felt completely at ease in front of the camera. Durbin was also able to retool her second sequel to Three Smart Girls from Three Smart Girls Join Up to Hers to Hold (1943), revolving solely around her character. View Interview. Universal cast Durbin in a film called Three Smart Girls (1936), about a trio of plucky sisters determined to reunite their estranged parents. Also in 1936, Durbin began a radio collaboration with Eddie Cantor which lasted until 1938, when her heavy workload for Universal forced her to quit her weekly appearances. I could never believe that my contemporaries were my fans., They may have been impressed with my success, but my fans were the parents, many of whom could not cope with their own youngsters, she continued. Felix Jackson produced 7 of Deannas films from 1943 to 1947. You just can't, no matter how hard you try! [citation needed], In 1983, film historian David Shipman was granted a rare interview by Durbin. An interesting interview for sure and a shame it is so short. She was prolific, too: her second film, One Hundred Men and a Girl (with an orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski), was followed by Mad About Music (1938), in which she played a girl with a rich imagination; That Certain Age (1938), co-written by Billy Wilder; and Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939), a sequel to her debut feature, with the sisters this time caught up in a romantic conflict. [citation needed] When she was an infant, her family moved from Winnipeg to Southern California, and the family became United States citizens in 1923. Below are some excerpts: I knew that sooner or later I would give an interview and decided that I would do it with you. Mr. Chadwick can be reached atbchadwick@njcu.edu. TELEVISION ACADEMY and ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES are registered trademarks of ATAS. From the age of eight she started taking voice lessons and when she was 14 she was recommended to the MGM studio boss Louis B Mayer, who planned to cast her in a biopic of the opera singer Ernestine Schumann-Heink. Durbin was a child actress who made her first film appearance with Judy Garland in Every Sunday (1936), and subsequently signed a contract with Universal Studios. Kino Lorber has released three films featuring Deanna Durbin, the girl who singlehandedly saved Universal studios from bankruptcy in the late 1930s. I also enjoyed the company of my fellow actors What I did find difficult was that this acquired maturity had to be hidden under the childlike personality my films and publicity projected on me.". He kept the promise.Deanna died quite recently, in 2013, having outlived her husband by 14 years.She was not forgotten, and hardly ever will be forgotten. How about Judy Garland? ", "An interesting interview for sure and a shame it is so short. DEANNA DURBIN GETS SUSPENSION AT STUDIO: Penalized by Universal After It Refuses Concessions to Her I wonder now if there could be a demand for a biography of Deanna. The character I was forced into had little or nothing in common with myself - or with other youth of my generation, for that matter. Deanna married director Charles Davis when she was 28 and retired to live in a French farmhouse. Frank Tashlin's Warner Bros. cartoon The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos (1937) contains a turtle caricature of Deanna Durbin called "Deanna Terrapin". . The film was initially conceived without musical numbers, but Durbin finally relented to Universal's demand to include some. In 1944, she tried to get out of it by playing a prostitute in the movie Christmas Holiday. [3] At the age of one, Edna Mae was singing children's songs. What makes Deanna Durbin's story different is that she was never comfortable with adulation. In fact, there is still a Deanna Devotees fan club in England. When Pasternak learned that Durbin was no longer with MGM, he instead cast her in the film. Robert Stack was the actor chosen for the role. She spoke of the Deanna "persona" in the third person, and considered the film character "Deanna Durbin" to be a byproduct of her youth and not her true identity. In a 1958 letter declining an interview with an Associated Press reporter, Durbin wrote when she got on the plane for France, "Deanna Durbin was dead and my own life really began.". I suspect that had a lot to do with her decision to just quit.. I do my own shopping, bring up my two children and sing an hour every day.. Browse Deanna Durbin movies and TV shows available on Prime Video and begin streaming right away to your favorite device. All orders are custom made and most ship worldwide within 24 hours. Jackson left Universal in November 1946;[17] he also left Durbin in January 1947, although their separation was not announced until the following year. ", In 1950, she married the producer and director Charles David, with whom she had a son, Peter. In 1958 a letter she sent to the . [18][19][20], Durbin's final four pictures I'll Be Yours (1947), Something in the Wind (1947), Up in Central Park (1948), and For the Love of Mary (1948) all reverted to her previous musical-comedy structure. This is the last known interview with the reclusive film star and recording artist before her death in April of 2013. And so did film and music executives. Neighbors? Then in 1945, she tied the knot with 43-year-old producer Felix Jackson. This was a great read! A reviewer for the New York Times praised her 'phenomenal vocal cords'. [6], Durbin also continued to pursue singing projects. [4] She made her first film appearance in the short Every Sunday (1936) with Judy Garland, another teenage singer-actress whose career would rival Durbin's. *For donate* https://www.paypal.me/womanandtime Deanna Durbin (1921-2013) was one of the brightest stars of Hollywood and world cinema in the 1930s and 1940s.She began her career in 1936, when she was still a child. I liked your two books on the stars and such statements you made as, the system was firmly rigged against the individual in favor of the machine, . Why did she build such a successful career in a short time and then give it all up? There were Deanna Durbin dolls and dresses. By the time she was 18 her income was $250,000 a year. According to Harpers research, Durbin primarily kept at home where she happily raised her children and lived a private life. [12] Durbin also dabbled in other genres, such as the romantic comedy His Butler's Sister (1943) and the musical Western Can't Help Singing (1944), her only Technicolor film, which was produced on location in southern Utah and co-starred Robert Paige. Durbin, who has died aged 91, was the antithesis of the Hollywood glamour girl which made her the kind of star that teachers liked to offer as an example to their students. Her major motion pictures were Three Smart Girls (1936), Mad About Music (1938) and That Certain Age (1938). Over the next 62 years, she only gave one single media interview. They sort of adopted me as their perfect daughter., 'MUNSTERS' CHILD STAR BUTCH PATRICK EXPLAINS WHY HIT 60S SERIES CAME TO AN END, Deanna Durbin, Canadian-born singer and actress, pictured smiling with her chin resting on her right hand, circa 1935. Harper pointed out that while Durbin could have easily made a comeback in her later years, she preferred her private life with the family --far away from the glaring studio lights. In 1947, she was not only the highest paid actress in Hollywood but the highest paid woman in America. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. [30], In song, Durbin's name found its way into the introduction to a song written by satirical writer Tom Lehrer in 1965. Here is the full interview of Deanna Durbin with Wallace Beery in 1935, which she concludes by singing "One Night of Love" (the other version I have posted is a digital remastering). Photograph: Hulton/Getty, Durbin, centre, in Three Smart Girls, 1936, with Barbara Read, left, and Nan Grey. TYRONE POWERS DAUGHTER SAYS 30S HOLLYWOOD IDOL WAS A DEVOTED FATHER BEFORE HIS TRAGIC DEATH: I FELT SAFE, Canadian actress and singer Deanna Durbin (1921-2013) wearing a black sleeveless dress in a publicity shot once used for the cover of the magazine Yank, The Army Weekly, 1944, United States. But at this point, she just had enough. They also wanted her to be a good girl in real life, which just wasnt completely realistic. The spotlight until her death in Durbin primarily kept at home where she happily raised her children and lived 2013. She will never go back to that life. GOLDEN YEARS and find. Two other companies to create Universal-International answering audience questions Davis when she was never comfortable with adulation which... Next 62 YEARS, she just had enough are registered trademarks of.! Time and then give it all up own directors eye opener of a tale and an treasure... To film historian David Shipman was granted a rare interview by Durbin an opener. 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