Deanna Durbin, Plucky Movie Star of the Depression Era, Is Dead at 91

[alp227]

Source: NYT

Deanna Durbin, who as a plucky child movie star with a sweet soprano voice charmed American audiences during the Depression and saved Universal Pictures from bankruptcy before she vanished from public view 64 years ago, has died, a fan club announced on Tuesday. She was 91.

In a newsletter, the Deanna Durbin Society said Ms. Durbin died “a few days ago,” quoting her son, Peter H. David, who thanked her admirers for respecting her privacy. No other details were given.

Ms. Durbin had remained determinedly out of public view since 1949, when she retired to a village in France with her third husband.

From 1936 to 1942, Ms. Durbin was everyone’s intrepid kid sister or spunky daughter, a wholesome, radiant, can-do girl who in a series of wildly popular films was always fixing the problems of unhappy adults.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/01/movies/deanna-durbin-1930s-star-of-universal-pictures-dies-at-91.html

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

1. always hate to see the classic film stars leave us

[Rowdyboy]

2. Only a few of the real old timers left....Olivia DeHavilland is 97-her sister, Joan Fontaine is 95..

The greats are fading away.

[Warpy]

3. She was one of the better child/teenager stars

who managed to deliver her lines with more realism than too many others of the period. I seem to remember she also had a beautiful singing voice.

It's surprising to me that her career was only six years long, but they were on a treadmill back in those days, cranking out multiple films per year. Our loss was France's gain.

[Blandocyte]

7. And very plucky

One of the pluckiest of the time.

[Sherman A1]

4. RIP

Sorry to see her pass on.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. You think of the young ingenues with amazing voices from that era.

Deanna Durbin
Judy Garland
Gloria Jean

[swag]

6. Reading Deanna Durbin's obit today reminded me of this anecdote from Gore Vidal's "Palimpsest"

Deanna Durbin [was] a child soprano and competitor of Judy Garland, whose imitations of her rival were marvelously cruel, invoking a crooked arm and a radiant mad smile to match luminous crossed eyes. But Garland could be equally mordant about herself. When she had made her triumphant comeback at the Palladium in London, inspired by merry schadenfreude, she rang her now-forgotten rival. After many delays and false starts, Garland got the sleepy, ill-tempered Durbin at home in the French countryside. "Tonight I had the greatest audience of my life!" At length, Judy recounted her triumph. Finally, out of breath, she stopped. There was a long silence. Then a pitying voice said: "Are you still in that asshole business?"

[kelliekat44]

8. RIP. nt

[Beacool]

9. I remember her from the old musicals.

She was lovely and had a beautiful soprano voice.

Rest in peace.