Known For
Acting
Born
Dec 04, 1921
Died
Apr 20, 2013
Place of Birth
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Credits
33 titles
Deanna Durbin
Biography
Edna Mae Durbin (December 4, 1921 – April 17, 2013), known professionally as Deanna Durbin, was a Canadian-born actress and singer, who moved to the USA with her family in infancy. She appeared in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s. With the technical skill and vocal range of a legitimate lyric soprano, she performed many styles from popular standards to operatic arias. In 1946, Durbin was the second-highest-paid woman in the United States, just behind Bette Davis; her fan club ranked as the world's largest during her active years. 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. 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). Her work was credited with saving the studio from bankruptcy, and led to Durbin being awarded the Academy Juvenile Award in 1938. As she matured, Durbin grew dissatisfied with the girl-next-door roles assigned to her and attempted to move into sophisticated non-musical roles with film noir Christmas Holiday (1944) and the whodunit Lady on a Train (1945). These films, produced by frequent collaborator and second husband Felix Jackson, were not as successful; she continued in musical roles until her retirement. Upon her retirement and divorce from Jackson in 1949, Durbin married producer-director Charles Henri David and moved to a farmhouse near Paris. She withdrew from public life, granting only one interview on her career in 1983.
Known For
Filmography
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1940s: Stars, Stripes and Singing
(archive footage)
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1930s: Dancing Away the Great Depression
Self (archive footage)
Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Song
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Added Attractions: The Hollywood Shorts Story
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Hollywood’s Children
Self (archive footage)
That's Entertainment!
(archive footage) (uncredited)
For the Love of Mary
Mary Peppertree
Up in Central Park
Rosie Moore
Something in the Wind
Mary Collins
I'll Be Yours
Louise Ginglebusher
Because of Him
Kim Walker
Lady on a Train
Nikki Collins / Margo Martin
Can't Help Singing
Caroline Frost
Christmas Holiday
Jackie Lamont / Abigail Martin
The Shining Future
Self
His Butler's Sister
Ann Carter
Hers to Hold
Penelope “Penny” Craig
Show-Business at War
Self
The Amazing Mrs. Holliday
Ruth Kirke Holliday
It Started with Eve
Anne Terry
Nice Girl?
Jane 'Pinky' Dana
A Friend Indeed
Self / Performer
Angels of Mercy
Self / Performer
Spring Parade
Ilonka Tolnay
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Self (archive footage)
It's a Date
Pamela Drake
First Love
Constance (Connie) Harding
Three Smart Girls Grow Up
Penny Craig
That Certain Age
Alice Fullerton
Mad About Music
Gloria Harkinson
One Hundred Men and a Girl
Patricia Cardwell
Three Smart Girls
Penny Craig
Every Sunday
Edna