Myrna Loy

She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6685 Hollywood Blvd.
. After surviving breast cancer and a double mastectomy, Myrna Loy died during cancer surgery in New York City and was cremated; her ashes are buried at Forestvale Cemetery, in Helena, Montana. Many consider her the leading Broadway musical performer of the twentieth century with her signature song being There's No Business Like Show Business. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center in 1986. Although she was never nominated for an Academy Award for any single performance, she received an Academy Honorary Award in 1991 "for her career achievement". Her rendition of "I Got Rhythm" in the show was popular, and by the late 1930s she had become the first lady of the Broadway musical stage. Her autobiography Being And Becoming Myrna Loy was published in 1987. She had already been engaged for Girl Crazy, a musical with songs by George and Ira Gershwin.

Her film career continued sporadically and she also returned to the stage making her Broadway debut in 1973. She eventually became a full time vaudeville performer, and played the pinnacle of vaudeville, the Palace Theater in New York City. From 1949 until 1954 she also worked for UNESCO. She began singing while working as a secretary. In later life she assumed a more influential role as Co-Chairman of the "Advisory Council of the National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing". She was known for her powerful alto voice, exact enunciation, and accurate pitch. Because stage singers performed without microphones when she began singing professionally, she had great advantages in show business. During her career she had championed the rights of black actors and characters to be depicted with dignity on film. Merman was married and divorced four times.

It also allowed Loy to make a film that demonstrated her social conscience. She was born Ethel Agnes Zimmermann, in Astoria, Queens, New York, of a German Lutheran father and Scottish Presbyterian mother, although many people assumed she was Jewish. In later years Loy would recall this film as her proudest acting achievement. Ethel Merman (January 16, 1908 - February 15, 1984) was a star of stage and film musicals, well known for her strident voice and comic acting. She returned to films with The Best Years Of Our Lives in 1946 and played the wife of returning serviceman Fredric March. 1985 Judy Garland: The Concert Years (archival footage from The Judy Garland Show). She helped run a Naval Auxilary Canteen and toured frequently to raise funds. 1978 A Special Sesame Street Christmas.

She was fiercely outspoken against Adolf Hitler and her name appeared on his "blacklist". 1977 The Love Boat (5 episodes). With the outbreak of World War II she all but abandoned her acting career to focus on the war effort and worked closely with the Red Cross. 1976 The Muppet Show. During this period she was one of Hollywood's busiest and highest paid actresses. 1975 Match Game PM. In 1936, she was voted "Queen of Hollywood" (in a contest which also voted Clark Gable "King") and was considered to epitomise the height of glamour and sophistication. 1972 'S Wonderful, 'S Marvelous, 'S Gershwin.

She and Powell proved to be a popular couple and appeared in 14 films together, the most prolific onscreen pairing in Hollywood history. 1970 Evening at Pops. Her performance in The Thin Man later the same year as William Powell's sophisticated, witty wife Nora made her a star. 1967 The Carol Burnett Show. The first was Manhattan Melodrama with Clark Gable and William Powell. 1967 That Girl. Her breakthrough occurred in 1934 with two very successful films. 1967 Annie Get Your Gun.

During her nine year struggle to establish herself, she appeared in nearly 80 films. 1966 Batman (as recurring character "Lola Lasagne"). Her silent film roles were mainly those of vampish exotic women and for a few years she struggled to overcome this stereotype with many producers and directors believing that while she was perfect as these femme fatales, she was capable of little more. 1965 An Evening with Ethel Merman. Rudolph Valentino arranged a screen test for her which she failed, but she persevered, and in 1925 appeared in the movie What Price Beauty. 1963 The Judy Garland Show (2 appearances). At the age of fifteen she began appearing in local stage productions. 1962 The Lucille Ball Show (2 appearances).

Born Myrna Adele Williams in Raidersburg (near Helena, Montana), she moved to Los Angeles, California when she was young. 1961 Merman on Broadway. Myrna Loy (August 2, 1905 - December 14, 1993) was a United States actress, well known for her motion picture work. 1958 Panama Hattie. Made for TV, and starring opposite Henry Fonda, this was Loy's final performance, save for a guest role in a 1982 episode of the television series Love, Sidney. 1954 Anything Goes. Summer Solstice (1981). 1954 There's No Business Like Show Business.

Just Tell Me What You Want (1980). 1953 The Ford 50th Anniversary Show. The End (1978). 1981 Something a Little Less Serious. Airport 1975 (1974). 1980 Airplane!. Midnight Lace (1960). 1979 Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July.

From the Terrace (1960). 1978 A Salute to American Imagination. Belles on Their Toes (1952). 1976 Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood. Cheaper by the Dozen (1950). 1971 Journey Back to Oz (voice). Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948). 1968 Around the World of Mike Todd.

Mr. 1967 Tarzan and the Mountains of the Moon. Song of the Thin Man (1947). 1965 The Art of Love. The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947). 1963 It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). 1954 There's No Business Like Show Business.