Ghost Voices….
…the actors we never see!

They lend their voices to the silver screen in dialogue and song without fanfare or acknowledgement while the stars get all the accolades. Now it is time we give credit where credit is due and celebrate these talented people we so often overlook.                    

Marni Nixon…              “The Ghostess with the Mostest!”

She was the singing voice for Margaret O’Brien, Jeanne Crain, Deborah Kerr, Natalie Wood, Rita Moreno, Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn. She was one of the angel voices Ingrid Bergman heard in “Joan of Arc” and sang “I’m Coming, Virginia” for Ethel Waters on a television show when Ethel could no longer reach the high notes. Then finally in 1965, Marni Nixon came out of the shadows to sing and act for herself as Sister Sophia in “the Sound of Music”.
                      

Marni as Sister Sophia (second from the left)

Born Margaret Nixon McEathron February 22, 1930 in Altadena, California, her name was soon shortened to Marni. She was the third of four daughters in the McEathron household and the family insists she was singing in her crib at 18 months old. But it was the violin that Marni conquered first….she played her first violin recital before she was 6. At age 7, while appearing with the Karl Moldrem Baby Orchestra, Marni answered a casting call from Republic Studio for a red-haired little girl who could play the violin. She fit the role exactly and got a fat $20 check for a half hour’s work. Now the little violin virtuoso was an actress as well and soon Marni and her younger sister Midge found themselves bit players in over 50 movies!               

Marni's first speaking part in "The Bashful Bachelor" with Lum 'n Abner.

At age 11, Marni abruptly switched from the violin to voice lessons (financed by her movie roles) and caught the attention of Ida Koverman (  L.B. Mayer’s executive secretary at MGM) and renowned soprano Vera Schwarz who became her first voice teacher. Other equally talented teachers followed and, in 1946, Marni won second prize in a singing contest sponsored by the city of Los Angeles. She was heartbroken that she didn’t get the top prize to be given out by her singing idols, Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. However, she did get an invitation to join the prestigious Roger Wagner Chorale and in 1947, little Marni Nixon McEathron made her singing debut with Leopold Stokowski at the Hollywood Bowl. She was 17 years old.
                              

Marni’s first dubbing challenge also came in 1947 when she had to do a Hindu lullaby for Margaret O’Brien in “the Secret Garden”. Margaret could act rings around anyone and could cry on command but she couldn’t sing no matter how hard she tried. Marni had to do the song in dialect and as close to Margaret’s vocal quality as possible while the actress herself had to lip-synch to Marni’s voice rather than the other way around. Now Marni had stepped into another career…one filled with “ghosts”!
                         

Marni sang a little for Jeanne Crain in "Cheaper by   the Dozen" here with Betty Lynn, Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy.

By 1950 Marni was an accomplished vocalist in everything from opera to pop and had sung for Arnold Schonberg and Igor Stravinsky, recorded many of the popular standards and dubbed Marie Windsor in “Dakota Lil”. She also took time to marry Viennese composer Ernest Gold and, in August, 1951 had a son Andrew. For the next 4 years she had to learn all the ins and outs of combining wife, mother, actress, vocalist and “ghost” duties. She sang a bit for Jeanne Crain in “Cheaper by the Dozen”, sang part of a line for Marilyn Monroe in “Gentleman Prefer Blondes”, did a Broadway show “The Girl in Pink Tights’ with Zizi Jeanmaire and  added a baby girl, Martha to her little family in 1953.
                

It was Marni not Marilyn who sang"  ...these rocks don't lose their shape.."

In August, 1955  Jean Bradley. who had been signed to dub Deborah Kerr’s songs for “The King and I” suddenly died and a frantic call went out to Marni who had just returned to Los Angeles from New York. She would only have a month to learn the songs and study Kerr’s speaking voice.  Marni agreed to do it and even reluctantly signed the “no credit, no soundtrack royalties” clause. Deborah Kerr was perfect for the role of Anna Leonowens but her singing voice wasn’t up to all the tasks required for the music. Rather than using the usual lip synching methods, it was decided that both star and “ghost” would rehearse together and then meld the voices on one track. The end result was two voices perfectly blended until it was impossible to detect where Kerr ended and Nixon took over.
                             

Marni and Deborah Kerr on the set of "An Affair..."

Marni kept her word to 20th Century Fox and never spilled the beans about her dubbing in the film. But before the movie ever opened, Deborah Kerr told the whole world! She revealed to Earl Wilson, the syndicated columnist, that “I lead into (the song)…and when I can’t go any further Marni’d take over”. Later she told Photoplay magazine “The dubbing was so perfect I almost convinced myself that I had sung all the numbers.” In 1957 Marni again did the vocals for Deborah in “An Affair To Remember” but this time the singing was all Marni. And when the film went international, Marni did the foreign language dubbing as well.  
                       

Marni borrowed this gown...

...and also this one when she played Anna!

Marni sang for Maria as Tony dies

Marni appeared as Anna in the San Bernardino Light Opera production of  “The King and I’ in 1958 and the company borrowed the original costumes, including the beautiful  Irene Sharaff ball gown from the “Shall We Dance?” number.  Then it was back to ghosting in 1961 when she was asked to dub Natalie Wood’s vocals as Maria in “West Side Story” even though the actress insisted on prerecording the songs herself. After the filming wrapped and Natalie went off to shoot “Gypsy” (where she did her own singing), the powers that be at the studio used only Marni’s voice for all of the songs and Maria’s last few lines of dialogue in the scene where Tony was killed. Ironically she also had to re-dub a small bit of Rita Moreno’s part in “Quintet” with Maria thus singing a duet with herself!

Marni sings "Somewhere" for public radio

1962 proved to be bittersweet for Marni. Her husband Ernest Gold won the Academy Award for Best Score in a Drama for “Exodus” and  in September, she had her third child and second daughter, little Melani. But her 12-year marriage was beginning to have serious problems and, though it would last another 8 years before ending in divorce, there would be many separations. Marni again took up her real life keeping her family together and being herself when she worked. Then, in May, 1963, she was asked to audition to be the singing voice of Audrey Hepburn in “My Fair Lady”. It would be the biggest “ghost” appearance of her career.
                        

Audrey Hepburn was given the film role of Eliza despite Julie Andrew’s smash performance in that role on Broadway. It was another case of using a Hollywood star over a Broadway star/Hollywood nobody at least in the yes of the studio and Jack Warner in particular. Marni found that learning to imitate Audrey’s unusual speech patterns was no easy task but, in the end, it was Marni’s voice that “Eliza” used, not Audrey’s. It was a fatal mistake for Jack Warner. When it came to the 12 Oscar nominations the picture garnered (it won 8 including Best Picture), none went to Best Actress. Audrey was shunned because she did only half of the role that many felt should have gone to Julie Andrews.
                        

Then, suddenly in 1965, the “ghost” materialized…into a nun! Marni was chosen to play Sister Sophia in “The Sound of Music” with none other than the original Eliza, Julie Andrews. Of course she had already sung in another picture that starred Julie….she was all of the three geese in “Mary Poppins”! By this time Marni Nixon had sung in more top grossing Hollywood musicals than almost any star in Hollywood.
                                

Marni joins Kelli Martin in a "My Fair Lady" revival as Higgins' mother

By the end of the 1960s the musical boom was over and, again, Marni went back to the stage. She also went on tour with Liberace, worked with Victor Borge, took up a teaching career and got married again…. twice. Her second marriage to physician  Layos Fenster lasted from 1971 to 1975 but her third to musician Albert Block in 1983 has now lasted 24 years.

Marni is still actively teaching and has never left the stage. She is also the author of an autobiography “I Could Have Sung All Night”. But, at 77, she is now the real Marni all of the time, not just a “ghost” of herself .