Jeanette Anna MacDonald was born on June 18, 1903, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She took dance lessons as a young girl and her first professional jobs were as a dancer, but she later turned to singing, landing several choice roles in Broadway musicals. Her successes on Broadway were a springboard to her movie career. She was screen-tested and signed by Paramount Pictures, and her first appearance was in The Love Parade with Maurice Chevalier. The film propelled Jeannette and Chevalier to stardom and started the Hollywood career of director Ernst Lubitsch. The songs and action blended together seamlessly, and the film was a box-office success. Her second film came the next year: The Vagabond King, based on the novel by R.H. Russell. It, too, was a box-office hit. Paramount then filmed Monte Carlo with Jeanette in the lead role as Countess Vera Von Conti. The movie wasn't as big a hit as the studio thought it would be, however, mainly because of Jeanette's co-star, Jack Buchanan. After six mediocre films in 1931, 1932 saw Jeanette and Chevalier paired again with director Lubitsch in One Hour with You. Chevalier wanted his co-star to be Carole Lombard, but Lubitsch persuaded him to accept Jeanette instead. The chemistry between Jeanette and Chevalier made the movie yet another success. For some reason, though, the Paramount bosses never really liked her, and she was dropped by the studio. In 1934 she signed with MGM, which paired her with Ramon Novarro in The Cat and the Fiddle. The next year, however, was the beginning of her teaming with Nelson Eddy, and the two were to become as famous a singing team as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were a dancing team. The film was Naughty Marietta, and its success resulted in Jeanette's being cast with Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable in San Francisco, which became another in the long line of box-office hits for her. After The Firefly and Broadway Serenade, however, her career began to slow down a bit. She made three films in 1940, one in 1941, two in 1942, none in 1943, and one in 1944. She didn't appear in another film again for five years, when she played Helen Winter in The Sun Comes Up. Her final screen appearance was in Three Daring Daughters, after which she went into semi-retirement. Aside from a few personal appearances and TV spots, she never again entertained vast audiences. She and Eddy recorded an album of their favorite songs, which became a big seller. After that, however, she resumed her retirement and lived quietly with her husband, former actor/dancer Gene Raymond. On January 14, 1965, Jeanette passed away from a heart attack in Houston, Texas. She was 61 years old.
The Cat and the Fiddle (1934): $4,000/week

Originally wanted to be married on the 17th as it was the anniversary of their first date, but the church was unavailable and so they opted for the 16th. Sister of actress Marie Blake Born at 6:58am-EST Made 1 movie with husband Gene Raymond Smilin' Through Favorite film was Maytime Still has a large fan club, "The Jeanette MacDonald International Fan Club" she was given a honorary degree, 'Doctor of Music' from Ithaca College, New York. [30 May 1953] Jeanette's crowned "Queen of the movies" by 22,000,000 filmgoers in a New York Daily News Survey. [1939] Screen Actors Guild awarded Jeanette the 'Best Performance Award', for Maytime (1937) [1937] Jeanette was immortalized in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood. [4 December 1934] Has blue-green eyes. In many of Judy Garland's concerts, she featured "San Francisco, a song that MacDonald sang in San Francisco (1936) with Clark Gable. When Garland sang it, she sometimes added to the beginning, "I never will forget Jeanette MacDonald. Just to think of her, it gives my heart a pang. I never will forget just how that brave Jeanette just stood there, in the ruins, and sang. And sang." And then Judy would sing it. Jeanette was approached about it, and she said, "Oh, I don't mind... As long as it's Judy!" Interred at Forest Lawn, Glendale, California, USA, in the Freedom Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Heritage. Measurements: 35-27 1/4-33 (MGM desinger Adrian), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine) Her duets with Nelson Eddy are lampooned in the musical "A Day In Hollywood/A Night In The Ukraine." In the show, a movie star named Jeanette sings the song, "Oh, Nelson, What You're Putting Me Through" -- an operatic lament about her boring co-star -- while standing with a mannequin dressed in a Canadian Mounties uniform.