‘Ghostess’ gave voice to legends
MARNI NIXON was known as the “ghostess with the mostest”. While few people could have put a face to the name, they certainly had heard her voice. Marni was an American soprano who dubbed the voices of some of the most famous actresses in the world.
It is her voice that is heard singing in The King And I, West Side Story and My Fair Lady and not that of Deborah Kerr, Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn. But she also had a decent career in her own right that encompassed television, opera, concerts and musicals.
Margaret Nixon McEathron was born to Charles and Margaret Elsa in Altadena, California and showed musical ability as a child.
She performed from an early age in choirs, played the violin and soon became a child actress before training as an opera singer.
Her film career began in 1948 when she sang the voice of the angels heard by Ingrid Bergman in Joan Of Arc and started her dubbing career in the same year, standing in for Margaret O’Brien in Big City in 1948. From that point on the high-profile singing roles flooded in, including Marilyn Monroe’s high notes in Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend.
When it came to West Side Story, Natalie Wood wasn’t actually told her own voice was not being used. And Marni also provided the high notes for Rita Moreno’s Tonight in the same film. Meanwhile, before dubbing Audrey Hepburn’s voice in My Fair Lady she actually played the role on a New York stage.
But none of this film work was credited, leading Time magazine to describe her as “the ghostess with the mostest”. She finally made it on to the silver screen herself in 1965 as a nun in The Sound Of Music. More recently she was the singing voice of Grandmother Fa in Disney’s 1998 film Mulan.
A varied career followed, including opera performances, years hosting an award-winning children’s TV show, tours with Liberace and Victor Borge and her own cabaret.
Marni taught at the California Institute of the Arts and then the Music Academy of the West for many years. She also released a number of albums and was nominated for two Grammy awards.
In 2000 she returned to Broadway after nearly half a century’s absence which led to more appearances, including a 2008 tour of My Fair Lady. Her autobiography, I Could Have Sung All Night, came out in 2006.
Marni was married three times, first to composer Ernest Gold. Their three children include the singer/ songwriter Andrew Gold.
After their divorce in 1969 she married Dr Lajos “Fritz” Fenster in 1971 and after that divorce, four years later married woodwind player Albert Block in 1983. The marriage lasted until his death last year.
Marni died from breast cancer in New York.