Did you know... (XXII)

... that Margaret O’Brien (as Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden, 1949), Deborah Kerr (as Anna Leonowens in The King and I, 1956 and as Terry McKay in An Affair To Remember, 1957), Natalie Wood (as Maria in West Side Story, 1961), and Audrey Hepburn (as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, 1964) all share the same singing voice? Yep, they do. And it belongs to none of the abovementioned ladies.

It used to be common practice in Hollywood throughout the 40s, 50s, and 60s (the golden era of musicals, basically) to dub actors whose singing voices weren’t up to par with standards. This wasn’t necessarily an evil sham: even though a handful of the great, great actors of that time were musically talented, they couldn’t always pull off the unsettled rhythms and high-pitched notes of musical tunes to perfection. (Marilyn Monroe, who had a magical singing voice, allegedly also needed help in some parts of ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ that she sang as the ditzy but adorable Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 1953). Normally, the actors’ original singing would be recorded, and then blended with or, more commonly, dubbed over by a professional singer with a similar timbre. (Some of the original recordings are available on YouTube – I’ll leave it to you to decide which ones you think are more enjoyable!)

What made the whole operation interesting is that it was kept in utmost secrecy: dubbed actors often remained unaware of the shenanigans going on with their voice recordings, and playback singers were bound by contract not to disclose the nature of their work. None were ever credited. The film studios of that time were afraid that such tinkering might ward off audiences – a fear that proved unfounded once the information leaked (of course) and viewers seemed none too disturbed.

But who, then, is the owner of one of Hollywood’s most popular (and one of the world’s most enchanting, if you want my opinion) voices? She’s an American (funnily enough, since her most famous playbacks called for non-American accents) opera singer and actress, Marni Nixon. She’s the one whom you hear in classic songs such as ‘Shall We Dance’, ‘A Love Affair To Remember’, ‘I Feel Pretty’, ‘Wouldn’t It Be Loverly’, and yes, apparently even in parts of ‘Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend’. If you want to check out this amazing singer, have a look at her website, or dust off your copy of The Sound of Music and watch the first few minutes: you’ll spot Marni Nixon (in voice and in flesh) in the part of Sister Sophia in the sequence where the nuns are wondering about how to best solve a problem like Maria.