Singer Marni Nixon — the voice behind Audrey Hepburn, Deborah Kerr and Marilyn Monroe — was probably the most famous movie star we only ever heard
SHE was known as the ghost voice. But Marni Nixon, who died on Sunday, was probably the most famous movie star we only ever heard.
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PLENTY of people have moments when they recognise a star’s face but don’t know the name. In Marni Nixon’s case her voice was familiar to millions but relatively few would have known her face.
Nixon, who died on Sunday, was probably the most famous movie star we only ever heard. She dubbed the voices of Deborah Kerr, Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, Marilyn Monroe and Natalie Wood, among others, but often went uncredited, unknown to the public.
Born Margaret Nixon McEathron on February 22, 1930, her father Charles Nixon McEathron was a Scottish-born factory manager and singer. Her mother Margaret (nee Wittke) was a teacher who started Marni learning music at an early age.
Violin lessons began at age four, within six months Nixon was playing in Karl Moldrem’s Hollywood Baby Orchestra and at five doing solo recitals. When a movie producer was looking for a red-headed girl violinist, Moldrem put forward seven-year-old Marni. It led to other extras roles and bit parts that paid her musical tuition.
Because some people had difficulty pronouncing her Scottish last name, she started using just Nixon. At age 11, when she won a singing competition, she gave up violin, taking voice lessons from former opera star Vera Schwarz.
It led to stage musical roles, work in a choral group and, in 1947, her solo debut at the Hollywood Bowl, performing under the baton of conductor Leopold Stokowski. She decided not to be pigeonholed as a classical or popular music singer. “When I was 17, it seemed natural to flit from one persona and style to the other, and I merrily accepted whatever opportunity came along without question.”
While working at MGM in the mail room, composer Bronislaw Kaper asked her if she could sing in Hindi. Although she had never done it before, she replied “yes” and was hired to dub Margaret O’Brien’s vocals in 1949 film The Secret Garden.
It launched a new career. More dubbing roles followed, including Jeanne Crain’s voice in Cheaper By the Dozen (1950). Meanwhile she had an established career singing classical works and pieces by some of the great composers of the time, including Stravinsky and Schoenberg.
In 1950 she married film composer Ernest Gold. They had three children Andrew, Martha and Melanie.
At the time Nixon was becoming the go-to woman for dubbing. When Marilyn Monroe had trouble hitting high notes in Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend in the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) they called Nixon. The death of a singer contracted to do Deborah Kerr’s vocals in the 1956 film The King And I, resulted in a desperate plea for Nixon’s talents. She and Kerr rehearsed songs together so the singing was seamless on screen. Nixon also dubbed some of Sophia Loren’s vocals in the 1957 film Boy On A Dolphin.
In the 1961 film West Side Story, Natalie Wood couldn’t quite get the sound of a teenager so Nixon dubbed all songs. Nixon worked with Audrey Hepburn on My Fair Lady (1964), believing a blend of their voices would be used, but in the final mix the singing was all Nixon, upsetting both women.
Nixon was mostly uncredited for the dubbing and received no royalties for best-selling soundtrack albums. In 1964 Time magazine outed the singer as “the ghostess with the mostess”, an epithet she hated. Nixon said: “I’d lent my voice to so many others that I felt it no longer belonged to me. It was eerie; I had lost part of myself.”
But the controversy stirred by Time helped Nixon get deserved recognition. She was soon in demand for talk shows, concerts and musicals. In 1964 she played the lead role of Maria in a stage production of The Sound Of Music and in 1965 the public got a rare glimpse of her adult face on film when she played Sister Sophia in the film version.
Her marriage to Gold ended in 1969 and in 1971 she married Dr Fritz Fenster. She continued singing at concert and taught music at the California Institute of Arts and then the Music Academy of the West. Her marriage to Fenster ended in 1975. She married Albert Block in 1983. She survived breast cancer in 1985 and continued to work on stage, in TV shows and in films until her death this week from breast cancer. She is survived by her children and husband.
Originally published as Singer Marni Nixon — the voice behind Audrey Hepburn, Deborah Kerr and Marilyn Monroe — was probably the most famous movie star we only ever heard
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