Kathryn Grayson, star of ’40s, ’50s musicals, dies

February 19, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kathryn Grayson, whose beauty and lilting soprano voice brightened such popular MGM musicals of the 1940s and ’50s as “Anchors Aweigh,” “Show Boat” and “Kiss Me Kate,” has died at age 88.

Grayson died Wednesday at her Los Angeles home, her longtime secretary and companion, Sally Sherman, told The Associated Press.

“She just went to sleep and didn’t wake up,” Sherman said Thursday.

Grayson’s youthful ambition was to sing opera, but she wasn’t able to accomplish that dream until after her movie career ended. While still a teenager, she was placed under contract at MGM at a time when the studio was assembling a stable of musical talent that would dominate the era of great musicals.

“I thought they were wasting their time and money,” Grayson recalled of her first days at the studio. “I even told [studio boss] Louis B. Mayer that. He said he knew a lot more than a 16-year-old girl who is and who isn’t good material for pictures.

“He offered a deal: I would make a screen test, and if the studio liked the test, I would shut up forever. If not, I would go.

“It was the longest test in motion picture history. They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars; it was almost a two-reeler. I did everything— opera, popular songs, drama, comedy. ... The studio liked it. I told Mr. Mayer I didn’t like it. He went home with a heart attack.”

Concerned, Grayson agreed to stay, and she turned down an offer to sing “Lucia” at the Metropolitan Opera. She later learned that Mayer had two ploys to persuade recalcitrant actors: to cry or to claim a heart attack.

Like Lana Turner, Esther Williams, Donna Reed and other MGM newcomers, Grayson was given a tryout as Mickey Rooney’s sweetheart in the studio’s popular Andy Hardy film series. She played the title role in “Andy Hardy’s Private Secretary” and sang Strauss’s “Voices of Spring.” Mayer was convinced that he had a future star.

She was cast in three minor films, including a musical with Abbot and Costello, then played Gene Kelly’s girlfriend in a wartime revue that included major MGM stars, “Thousands Cheer.”

“Anchors Aweigh,” a 1945 hit with Kelly and Frank Sinatra, confirmed her star status. Her bell-like soprano made her the ideal co-star with Hollywood’s full-voiced male singers in operettas and other musicals. She made three films with Howard Keel, two with Mario Lanza and one with Gordon MacRae.

Born Zelma Kathryn Hedrick on Feb. 9, 1922, in Winston-Salem, N.C., Grayson’s father was a building contractor and real estate agent. Because of his business, the family moved frequently, eventually settling in St. Louis Her parents recognized her gifted voice and arranged an audition before opera star Frances Marshall. She encouraged the girl to continue her music lessons.

The family then moved to Los Angeles so Kathryn could have more professional training. She came to the attention of Mayer, who had been searching for a lovely young soprano to rival Universal’s sensational Deanna Durbin (Durbin had been under contract to MGM, but she was dropped in favor of Judy Garland).