By Cynthia Charlene Greason

FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Mitzi Gaynor (born Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber; September 4, 1931 – October 17, 2024) was an American actress, singer, and dancer. Her notable films included We’re Not Married! (1952), There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954), The Birds and the Bees (1956), and South Pacific (1958) – for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical at the 1959 awards.

Mitzi Gaynor was born Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber in Chicago on September 4, 1931, to Henry de Czanyi von Gerber, a violinist, cellist, and music director of Hungarian descent, and his wife Pauline, a dancer.

By her father’s second marriage, she became stepsister to anti-war activist Donald W. Duncan. The family first moved to Elgin, Illinois, and then to Detroit, and later when she was age 11, to Hollywood She trained as a ballerina as a child and began her career in the corps de ballet. At 13, she was singing and dancing with the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera company. She lied about her address so she could attend Le Conte Junior High in Hollywood.

From 1954 until his death in 2006, Gaynor was married to Jack Bean, who also served as her manager. In 1960, they would acquire a Beverly Hills home which they lived in up until Bean’s death. Gaynor and Bean had no children.

Gaynor died from natural causes in Los Angeles on October 17, 2024, at the age of 93.