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IMDbPro

Jeanette MacDonald(1903-1965)

  • Actress
  • Soundtrack
IMDbProStarmeter
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Jeanette MacDonald
Watch Official Trailer
Play trailer2:32
The Sun Comes Up (1949)
9 Videos
99+ Photos
She was the third daughter of Daniel and Anne MacDonald, younger sister to Blossom (MGM's character actress Marie Blake), whom she followed to New York and a chorus job in 1920. She was busy in a string of musical productions. In 1928 Paramount tested and rejected her, but a year later Ernst Lubitsch saw her test and picked her to play opposite Maurice Chevalier in The Love Parade (1929). Musicals went into decline and Paramount dropped her in 1931; her next pictures with Chevalier went nowhere. She went to Europe where she met Irving Thalberg and his wife Norma Shearer (whom she loaned both her hairdresser and chauffeur). She got the lead in Thalberg's property The Merry Widow (1934), and her next MGM vehicle, Naughty Marietta (1935) brought her together with Nelson Eddy. For her next project she insisted Clark Gable should co-star. He at first refused - "I just sit there while she sings. None of that stuff for me." - the movie, of course, was San Francisco (1936). During World War II she often did USO shows. She hoped to enter grand opera; she did take lessons and gave concert recitals. Her last public appearance, singing "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life", was at the funeral of Louis B. Mayer. She suffered heart ailments and, after an arterial transplant in 1963, died of a heart attack in Houston in 1965. Emotionally tearful, but polite crowds listened to a recording of "Ah, Sweet Mystery" at her Forest Lawn funeral, which was attended by Hollywood celebrities ranging from Mary Pickford and Charles (Buddy) Rogers to Nelson Eddy, Irene Dunne, and Ronald Reagan.
BornJune 18, 1903
DiedJanuary 14, 1965(61)
BornJune 18, 1903
DiedJanuary 14, 1965(61)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Awards

Photos517

Jeanette MacDonald in Let's Go Native (1930)
Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, and Jeanette MacDonald in San Francisco (1936)
Reginald Denny and Jeanette MacDonald in Oh, for a Man! (1930)
Reginald Denny and Jeanette MacDonald in Oh, for a Man! (1930)
Jeanette MacDonald, Victor McLaglen, and Roland Young in Annabelle's Affairs (1931)
Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald in The Love Parade (1929)
Jack Buchanan and Jeanette MacDonald in Monte Carlo (1930)
Maurice Chevalier, Minna Gombell, and Jeanette MacDonald in The Merry Widow (1934)
Ramon Novarro and Jeanette MacDonald in The Cat and the Fiddle (1934)
Jeanette MacDonald
Kay Francis, Jeanette MacDonald, and Jack Oakie in Let's Go Native (1930)
Jeanette MacDonald in Annabelle's Affairs (1931)

Known for

Robert Young, Jeanette MacDonald, Reginald Owen, and Ethel Waters in Cairo (1942)
Cairo
6.1
  • Marcia Warren
  • 1942
Lew Ayres and Jeanette MacDonald in Broadway Serenade (1939)
Broadway Serenade
5.7
  • Mary Hale
  • 1939
Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald in San Francisco (1936)
San Francisco
7.2
  • Mary Blake
  • 1936
Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald in The Merry Widow (1934)
The Merry Widow
7.2
  • Sonia
  • 1934

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actress

  • "Eighty Yard Run, The" (Playhouse 90) Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. 1957 CBS
    Playhouse 90
  • Screen Directors Playhouse (1955)
    Screen Directors Playhouse
  • The Sun Comes Up (1949)
    The Sun Comes Up
  • Three Daring Daughters (1948)
    Three Daring Daughters
  • Marlene Dietrich, Orson Welles, W.C. Fields, Laverne Andrews, Maxene Andrews, Patty Andrews, Susanna Foster, Grace McDonald, Donald O'Connor, George Raft, Peggy Ryan, Dinah Shore, Vera Zorina, and The Andrews Sisters in Follow the Boys (1944)
    Follow the Boys
  • Robert Young, Jeanette MacDonald, Reginald Owen, and Ethel Waters in Cairo (1942)
    Cairo
  • Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in I Married an Angel (1942)
    I Married an Angel
  • Brian Aherne, Ian Hunter, and Jeanette MacDonald in Smilin' Through (1941)
    Smilin' Through
  • Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in Bitter Sweet (1940)
    Bitter Sweet
  • Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in New Moon (1940)
    New Moon
  • Lew Ayres and Jeanette MacDonald in Broadway Serenade (1939)
    Broadway Serenade
  • Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in Sweethearts (1938)
    Sweethearts
  • Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in The Girl of the Golden West (1938)
    The Girl of the Golden West
  • Allan Jones and Jeanette MacDonald in The Firefly (1937)
    The Firefly
  • Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in Maytime (1937)
    Maytime

Soundtrack

  • Mafia: Definitive Edition (2020)
    Mafia: Definitive Edition
  • 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)
  • Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1930s: Dancing Away the Great Depression (2009)
    Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1930s: Dancing Away the Great Depression
    • (uncredited)
  • Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1920s: The Dawn of the Hollywood Musical (2008)
    Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1920s: The Dawn of the Hollywood Musical
    • (uncredited)
  • Huell Howser in California's Gold (1991)
    California's Gold
    • (uncredited)
  • That's Entertainment! III (1994)
    That's Entertainment! III
    • (uncredited)
  • Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990)
    Mr. & Mrs. Bridge
  • Hooray for Hollywood (1982)
    Hooray for Hollywood
  • The Waltons (1972)
    The Waltons
  • That's Entertainment, Part II (1976)
    That's Entertainment, Part II
  • That's Entertainment! (1974)
    That's Entertainment!
    • (uncredited)
  • The Love Goddesses (1965)
    The Love Goddesses
  • The Big Record (1957)
    The Big Record
  • MGM Parade (1955)
    MGM Parade
    • (uncredited)
  • Moments in Music

Videos9

Trailer
Trailer 3:24
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 3:17
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:16
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:32
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 3:04
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 4:12
Official Trailer
Maytime
Trailer 4:04
Maytime
San Francisco
Trailer 2:09
San Francisco
Three Daring Daughters
Trailer 2:09
Three Daring Daughters

Personal details

Edit
    • Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy Homepage
    • June 18, 1903
    • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
    • January 14, 1965
    • Houston, Texas, USA(heart attack)
    • Gene RaymondJune 16, 1937 - January 14, 1965 (her death)
    • Marie Blake(Sibling)
  • Other works
    Grand Opera: Appeared in "Romeo and Juliet", Montreal, Canada.
  • Publicity listings
    • 2 Biographical Movies
    • 9 Print Biographies
    • 1 Portrayal
    • 1 Interview
    • 5 Articles
    • 4 Pictorials
    • 7 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Always considered her older sister, Marie Blake, to be the more talented of the two, and was happy for her when she finally attained some measure of recognition, late in life, as Grandmama Addams (under her married name, Blossom Rock) on the popular The Addams Family (1964) TV show. According to biographer Sharon Rich, Ms. MacDonald never missed watching the show each week for that reason.
  • Quotes
    I've been told I have an Irish temper, I know I have Scottish thrift, and, like the English, I love a good show.
    • The Cat and the Fiddle
      (1934)
      $4,000 /week

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