Deanna Durbin

Canadian singer and actress (1921-2013)

Person · Open Library

Born: 1921-12-04
Died: 2013-04-17
Works: 1

Top works

The Adventure of Blue Valley

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Acting · Winnipeg, 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…

Known for

Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1930s: Dancing Away the Great Depression — Self (archive footage)2009
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1940s: Stars, Stripes and Singing — (archive footage)2009
Added Attractions: The Hollywood Shorts Story — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)2002
Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Song — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)2002
Hollywood’s Children — Self (archive footage)1982

Article

Edna Mae Durbin (December 4, 1921 – April 17, 2013), known professionally as Deanna Durbin, was a Canadian-American lyric soprano and actress, who moved to the United States with her family in infancy. She appeared in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s. Additionally, she performed mostly classical concerts and recitals as well as concerts with semi-classical and popular music. She specialized in opera arias, art song, and semi-classical songs, which is today known as classical crossover.

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 Pictures. She achieved success as the ideal teenaged daughter in films such as Three Smart Girls (1936) and One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937). Her work was credited with saving the studio from bankruptcy, and led to Durbin being awarded the Academy Juvenile Award in 1938.