Kathryn Grayson (born February 9, 1922) is an American actress and singer who was born Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Hedrick family later moved to Franlin, St Louis, where she was discovered singing on the empty stage of the St Louis Municipal Opera House by a janitor, who introduced her to Frances Marshall of the Chicago Civic Opera, who gave the twelve-year-old girl voice lessons.
In Hollywood she would marry twice: first to actor John Shelton; secondly to actor/singer Johnnie Johnston. She has one daughter. Throughout the 1950's, she carried on an affair with mogul Howard Hughes, and was briefly engaged to him (although this was not included in the film The Aviator, as the film only profiled Hughes through the late 1940s).
Though she started out as MGM's answer to Deanna Durbin (with films such as Seven Sweethearts and Anchors Aweigh), she proved herself a top star in "Thousands Cheer", "Anchors Aweigh' and "Two Sisters From Boston". and in the film versions of the Broadway hitKiss Me, Kate (1953). In this film, she teamed up with Howard Keel, with whom she had starred earlier in the 1951 Technicolor remake of Show Boat, and in 1952's Lovely To Look At, a 1952 Technicolor version of Roberta. She and Keel also appeared together in a highly successful cabaret act in the 1960's. She also appeared in a duo of films with tenor Mario Lanza - The Toast of New Orleans and That Midnight Kiss.
With the end of MGM's great era of musicals, so ended Miss Grayson's film career. Kathryn was on stage in numerous stage musicals such as Show Boat, Rosalinda, Kiss Me, Kate, Naughty Marietta, and The Merry Widow, for which she was nominated for Chicago's Sarah Siddons Award. This led to her as a replacement for Julie Andrews on Broadway in 1962 in Camelot, scoring a great success as Queen Guenevere, before going on to star in the National tour for over sixteen months, after which she left the show due to health problems. During her period with the Camelot tour, all box-office records were broken and she gained uniformly excellent notices. Grayson had a lifelong dream of being an opera star, and she appeared number of operas in the '60s, such as La Boheme, Madame Butterfly, Orpheus in the Underworld and La Traviata. Her dramatic and comedy stage roles included Night Watch, Noises Off, Love Letters and Something's Afoot as Dottie Otterling.
She also appeared on television occasionally. Her first TV appearances were in the 1950s, and she received an Emmy nomination in 1956 for her performance in the General Electric Theater episode Shadow on the Heart with John Ericson. Most recently, she appeared in several episodes of Angela Lansbury's long-running series Murder, She Wrote in the late 1980s.
Never to be overshadowed these days by other talented or exciting MGM contemporaries such as Jane Powell, Ann Miller, Cyd Charisse, Esther Williams and Ann Blyth, Miss Grayson has gained cult status among a large, and wildly devoted, crowd of fans. Today, Kathryn supervises the Voice and Choral Studies Program at the Idaho State University.
Kathryn Grayson was born Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick in Winston-Salem, N.C. on February 9, 1922. This pretty, petite, brunette with a heart-shaped face, was discovered by MGM talent scouts while singing on the radio. MGM quickly signed her to a contract, and was given acting lessons along with taking countless publicity photos. Kathryn, a coloratura soprano, made her first film in 1941, the movie was a B picture named Andy Hardy's Private Secretary. She soon was cast opposite some of MGM's top musical stars of the 40s, such as, 'Gene Kelly (I) and Mario Lanza. She was paired with Lanza a few times, but the two never got along, mainly due to Lanza's hot temper and alcohol abuse. The pairing of Lanza and Grayson would never match the success of lyrical soprano Jeanette MacDonald and baritone, Nelson Eddy. Although, Kathryn and Jeanette MacDonald did become great friends. Jeanette became a mentor and an older sister figure for Kathryn. Kathryn's most memorable roles came in the early 1950's. They were, 'Show Boat' (1951) where she played Magnolia, opposite Ava Gardner and Howard Keeland in 'Kiss Me Kate' (1953) playing actress Lilli Vanessi, who portrayed Katherine in the movie's "show within a show," a musical version of The Taming of the Shrew. In 1956, she left MGM and made a few pictures for Paramount, but soon left the movie industry. She later worked in nightclubs and on stage.
