Deanna Durbin

Known for ActingBorn 1921-12-04Died 2013-04-20Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

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.Read more

Movies & web series

Hollywood’s Children

That's Entertainment!

First Love

Added Attractions: The Hollywood Shorts Story

Three Smart Girls Grow Up

His Butler's Sister

It Started with Eve

Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Song

Something in the Wind

Hers to Hold

Show-Business at War

Mad About Music

Spring Parade

The Amazing Mrs. Holliday

Lady on a Train

Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1940s: Stars, Stripes and Singing

Christmas Holiday

Cavalcade of the Academy Awards

Three Smart Girls

Up in Central Park

It's a Date

One Hundred Men and a Girl

Because of Him

For the Love of Mary

I'll Be Yours

Nice Girl?

Can't Help Singing

That Certain Age

Every Sunday

The Shining Future

Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1930s: Dancing Away the Great Depression

A Friend Indeed

Angels of Mercy