You might not know the name Marni Nixon, but you know her voice. Nixon was a singer, actress, author, and music professor, with an extensive filmography. The strange part of her film career is that she was often uncredited. Nixon sang the songs that made other actresses famous.
Classically trained, Ms. Nixon was throughout the 1950s and ’60s the unseen — and usually uncredited — singing voice of the stars in a spate of celebrated Hollywood films. She dubbed Deborah Kerr in “The King and I,” Natalie Wood in “West Side Story” and Audrey Hepburn in “My Fair Lady,” among many others.
Her other covert outings included singing for Jeanne Crain in “Cheaper by the Dozen,” Janet Leigh in “Pepe” and Ida Lupino in “Jennifer.” “The ghostess with the mostest,” the newspapers called her, a description that eventually began to rankle.
While these musicals went on to win multiple Academy Awards, Nixon was under contract to keep her involvement a secret, which bothered her more and more as time went on. She eventually vowed to never sing in secret again. It’s Nixon’s voice you hear in these songs, courtesy of Metafilter:
- "Getting to Know You", for Deborah Kerr in The King and I
- "Tonight", for both Natalie Wood and Rita Moreno in West Side Story
- "I Could Have Danced All Night", for Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (listen to Audrey's version here!)
- "Honor to Us All", as Grandmother Fa's singing voice in Disney's Mulan
- "How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria?", as Sister Sophia in The Sound of Music, one of her only on screen roles
- Bonus Sound of Music footage: Marni singing all the songs in a screen test for foreign dubbing
- "A Spoonful of Sugar", for Julie Andrews on an LP of songs from Mary Poppins
Ms. Nixon died of breast cancer in Manhattan on Sunday. She was 86.
(Image credit: Flickr user John Morton)