Top 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsMost Popular Video GamesMost Popular Music VideosMost Popular Podcasts
    Release CalendarBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersEmmysSTARmeter AwardsSan Diego Comic-ConNew York Comic-ConSundance Film FestivalToronto Int'l Film FestivalAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Biography
  • Awards
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Deanna Durbin(1921-2013)

  • Actress
  • Soundtrack
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Deanna Durbin, c. 1945.
In New York, a woman who partially witnesses a killing from a train window seeks the aid of a crime novelist to solve the murder.
Play trailer2:13
Lady on a Train (1945)
2 Videos
99+ Photos
The girl who one day would be known as "Winnipeg's Sweetheart" was born at Grace Hospital on December 4, 1921, as Edna Mae Durbin. In her early childhood there were no obvious signs that one day she would be a bigger box office attraction than Shirley Temple. Renamed Deanna Durbin for show business purposes, by age 21 she was the most highly paid female star in the world. Her major motion pictures were Three Smart Girls (1936), Mad About Music (1938) and That Certain Age (1938). By the time she was 18 her income was $250,000 a year. Her voice was often described as "natural and beautiful" and her version of "One Fine Day" from Madame Butterfly, became a classic. Deanna was a Hollywood star in every way. There were Deanna Durbin dolls and dresses. An engineering firm named its so-called dream home in her honor. Her first screen kiss was described in a headline story across the continent. What makes Deanna Durbin's story different is that she was never comfortable with adulation. When she was at the top of her career as Hollywood's leading actress and singer, she turned her back on that world for a life of seclusion. Her first two marriages had failed, and before she married her third husband, director Charles David, she set one condition: he had to promise that she could have what she yearned for - "the life of nobody". Her seclusion is incomplete. She lives in the French village of Neauphlé-le-Château, and for over 35 years has resisted every approach from film companies. Her husband has told journalists that "Mario Lanza pleaded with her for years to make a film with him. But she will never go back to that life." She granted only one interview since 1949 to film historian David Shipman in 1983.
BornDecember 4, 1921
DiedApril 17, 2013(91)
BornDecember 4, 1921
DiedApril 17, 2013(91)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Awards

Photos308

Deanna Durbin in Christmas Holiday (1944)
Deanna Durbin and Gale Sondergaard in Christmas Holiday (1944)
Gene Kelly, Deanna Durbin, and Gale Sondergaard in Christmas Holiday (1944)
Deanna Durbin in Christmas Holiday (1944)
Deanna Durbin and Gale Sondergaard in Christmas Holiday (1944)
Deanna Durbin in Christmas Holiday (1944)
Deanna Durbin in Christmas Holiday (1944)
Deanna Durbin in Something in the Wind (1947)
Deanna Durbin and John Dall in Something in the Wind (1947)
Deanna Durbin in Something in the Wind (1947)
Deanna Durbin in Something in the Wind (1947)
Deanna Durbin and Donald O'Connor in Something in the Wind (1947)

Known for

Charles Laughton, Deanna Durbin, and Robert Cummings in It Started with Eve (1941)
It Started with Eve
7.6
  • Anne Terry
  • 1941
Ralph Bellamy, Deanna Durbin, Dan Duryea, Edward Everett Horton, David Bruce, and Allen Jenkins in Lady on a Train (1945)
Lady on a Train
6.8
  • Nikki Collins
  • 1945
Deanna Durbin, Lewis Howard, and Walter Pidgeon in It's a Date (1940)
It's a Date
6.4
  • Pamela Drake
  • 1940
Deanna Durbin in Christmas Holiday (1944)
Christmas Holiday
6.5
  • Jackie Lamont
  • Abigail Martin
  • 1944

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actress

  • Deanna Durbin, Jeffrey Lynn, and Edmond O'Brien in For the Love of Mary (1948)
    For the Love of Mary
  • Vincent Price, Deanna Durbin, and Dick Haymes in Up in Central Park (1948)
    Up in Central Park
  • Deanna Durbin, John Dall, and Donald O'Connor in Something in the Wind (1947)
    Something in the Wind
  • William Bendix, Deanna Durbin, Tom Drake, and Adolphe Menjou in I'll Be Yours (1947)
    I'll Be Yours
  • Charles Laughton, Deanna Durbin, and Franchot Tone in Because of Him (1946)
    Because of Him
  • Ralph Bellamy, Deanna Durbin, Dan Duryea, Edward Everett Horton, David Bruce, and Allen Jenkins in Lady on a Train (1945)
    Lady on a Train
  • Deanna Durbin, Leonid Kinskey, Robert Paige, and Akim Tamiroff in Can't Help Singing (1944)
    Can't Help Singing
  • Deanna Durbin in Christmas Holiday (1944)
    Christmas Holiday
  • Deanna Durbin in The Shining Future (1944)
    The Shining Future
  • Deanna Durbin, Pat O'Brien, Akim Tamiroff, and Franchot Tone in His Butler's Sister (1943)
    His Butler's Sister
  • Joseph Cotten, Deanna Durbin, Gus Schilling, and Charles Winninger in Hers to Hold (1943)
    Hers to Hold
  • Deanna Durbin and Edmond O'Brien in The Amazing Mrs. Holliday (1943)
    The Amazing Mrs. Holliday
  • Charles Laughton, Deanna Durbin, and Robert Cummings in It Started with Eve (1941)
    It Started with Eve
  • Deanna Durbin, Robert Stack, and Franchot Tone in Nice Girl? (1941)
    Nice Girl?
  • Deanna Durbin, Mischa Auer, Kenneth Brown, Robert Cummings, and Billy Lenhart in Spring Parade (1940)
    Spring Parade

Soundtrack

  • Danny Boy: The Ballad That Bewitched the World (2013)
    Danny Boy: The Ballad That Bewitched the World
    • (uncredited)
  • Capitalism: A Love Story (2009)
    Capitalism: A Love Story
  • Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1940s: Stars, Stripes and Singing (2009)
    Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1940s: Stars, Stripes and Singing
    • (uncredited)
  • Poster Design by Alexander Kellas, Pandiscio Co.
    Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
  • That's Entertainment! (1974)
    That's Entertainment!
    • (uncredited)
  • Deanna Durbin, Jeffrey Lynn, and Edmond O'Brien in For the Love of Mary (1948)
    For the Love of Mary
    • (uncredited)
  • Vincent Price, Deanna Durbin, and Dick Haymes in Up in Central Park (1948)
    Up in Central Park
    • (uncredited)
  • Deanna Durbin, John Dall, and Donald O'Connor in Something in the Wind (1947)
    Something in the Wind
  • William Bendix, Deanna Durbin, Tom Drake, and Adolphe Menjou in I'll Be Yours (1947)
    I'll Be Yours
  • Charles Laughton, Deanna Durbin, and Franchot Tone in Because of Him (1946)
    Because of Him
  • Deanna Durbin, Leonid Kinskey, Robert Paige, and Akim Tamiroff in Can't Help Singing (1944)
    Can't Help Singing
    • ("CAN'T HELP SINGING")
  • Deanna Durbin in Christmas Holiday (1944)
    Christmas Holiday
  • Deanna Durbin in The Shining Future (1944)
    The Shining Future
    • (uncredited)
  • Deanna Durbin, Pat O'Brien, Akim Tamiroff, and Franchot Tone in His Butler's Sister (1943)
    His Butler's Sister
  • Joseph Cotten, Deanna Durbin, Gus Schilling, and Charles Winninger in Hers to Hold (1943)
    Hers to Hold

Videos2

Trailer
Trailer 1:56
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:13
Official Trailer

Personal details

Edit
    • December 4, 1921
    • Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
    • April 17, 2013
    • Paris, France(natural causes)
    • Charles DavidDecember 21, 1950 - March 1, 1999 (his death, 1 child)
    • (Sibling)
  • Other works
    (2/7/44) Radio: Appeared (as "Ann Carter") in a "Lux Radio Theater" broadcast of "Her Butler's Sister".
  • Publicity listings
    • 2 Portrayals
    • 5 Articles
    • 2 Pictorials
    • 2 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    By twenty-one, she was the highest-paid woman in the United States and the highest-paid female movie star in the world.
  • Quotes
    I couldn't go on forever being Little Miss Fixit who burst into song.
    • It Started with Eve
      (1941)
      $400,000

Related news

Contribute to this page

Suggest an edit or add missing content
  • Learn more about contributing
Edit page

More to explore

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb App
  • Get the IMDb App
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • IMDb Developer
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.