Shirley Ross (b. January 7 1913, Omaha, Nebraska - d. March 9 1975) was an American actress and singer.
Born as Bernice Grant in Omaha; her family moved to California when she was a child. She studied at Hollywood High School and the University of California and auditioned successfully for Gus Arnheim's band during her second year at university. She made her first recordings with Arnheim in 1933.
Her film career began in 1933 and she first achieved prominence appearing opposite Bing Crosby in the 1937 film Waikiki Wedding. In The Big Broadcast of 1938 she sang "Thanks for the Memory" with Bob Hope. She re-teamed with Hope the following year to sing "Two Sleepy People" in the 1938 film, Thanks for the Memory. She also introduced "The Lady's in Love with You" from the 1939 film, Some Like It Hot, which is not the comedy starring Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis, although both films share the same name.
Her sole Broadway appearance was in the Rodgers and Hart musical Higher and Higher in 1940. Shirley Ross recorded four songs from the show including "It Never Entered My Mind".
She made her final film, A Song for Miss Julie, in 1945. She died of cancer in Menlo Park, California, aged 62.
Blonde, vivacious and obviously talented, Shirley Ross had the promisings of a big musical film star but her career remained strictly second-string throughout her fairly short career. Making a mark for herself proved difficult; in fact, she is best remembered through her pairing with an entertainment legend. Shirley was afforded the opportunity of duetting with Bob Hope on the song "Thanks for the Memory" in the splashy musical The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938). The song, of course, became Bob's beloved signature tune. Shirley was born Bernice Gaunt, the daughter of C. Burr and Maude C. Gaunt in Omaha, Nebraska in 1913 (some sources say 1909). Her family moved west and she attended Hollywood High School, later studying at UCLA. Blessed with a gorgeous musical instrument and an adept piano player as well, Shirley went on to sing with Gus Arnheim's band on the west coast, appearing at all the swanky clubs of the day, including the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, while making a decent name for herself on radio. She also appeared in a west coast production of "Anything Goes." MGM initially scooped her up, making her unbilled debut in the Jean Harlow starrer Blonde Bombshell (1933). She continued on just as obscurely in the films Hollywood Party (as herself) 34, Manhattan Melodrama (1934), The Girl from Missouri (1934), The Merry Widow (1934), and Age of Indiscretion (1935), but was finally promoted to a minor featured role in the classic earthquake epic San Francisco (1936) with Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald, in which Shirley sang "Happy New Year." In 1936, she found more visible work over at Paramount and spent the next few years there paired up vocally and romantically with either Bing Crosby or Bob Hope in their popular vehicles - The Big Broadcast of 1937 (1936), Waikiki Wedding (1937), Thanks for the Memory (1938), Paris Honeymoon (1939) and Some Like It Hot (1939). Though most were trifling, insignificant time fillers, she was a diverting beauty and quite serviceable in them. She was even given the chance to topline a few of her own movies such as Prison Farm (1938), Sailors on Leave (1941) and A Song for Miss Julie (1945), which was her swan song. After leaving pictures, she was little heard or seen. Married to agent Ken Dolan, she had three children - two sons and a daughter. Shirley died in Menlo Park, California of cancer in 1975. Though gone and mostly forgotten, by having had some "Hope" in her life, hopefully a flicker of "Thanks for the Memory" will be in remembrance of Shirley Ross.
