Nan Wynn

Nan Wynn

Wynn and pianist Alec Templeton in 1941.
Born Marsha Vatz
(1915-05-08)May 8, 1915
Johnstown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died March 21, 1971(1971-03-21) (aged 55)
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Cause of death Cancer
Occupation Singer, actress
Years active mid-1930s to mid-1950s
Spouse(s) Cy Howard (1944–47, divorced)
Thomas Baylek (1949-1952, divorced)
John Small (1956–1971) (her death)
Children Jane Baylek

Nan Wynn, born Marsha Vatz[1] (May 8, 1915 - March 21, 1971) was an American big-band singer, and Broadway and film actress. She sang and recorded throughout the 1930s and 1940s with the Emery Deutsch, Rudy Vallee, Eddie Duchin, Richard Himber, Hal Kemp, Hudson-DeLange, Raymond Scott, Teddy Wilson and Freddie Rich orchestras.[2][3] Wynn was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania and grew up in Wheeling, West Virginia, where she attended high school, and sang in the school choir.[4]

Career

Wynn's father owned a department store in Wheeling, and traveled often to New York.[5]

At the age of sixteen, while spending a weekend in New York City with her mother, her singing came to the attention of a retired producer who was guesting at the same establishment. He booked Wynn at a Peekskill vaudeville house, the owner of which engaged her to sing at his two other New York State properties, in Kingston and Newburgh. After working the vaudeville circuit, the late 1930s saw Wynn landing at radio station WNEW[6] in New York for a thirteen show per week stint and honing her talent under the mentorship of Jimmy Rich, the singing coach to Dinah Shore, Bea Wain, and Barry Wood, among others.[7] Radio show stints followed with Rudy Vallee's orchestra, and with Hal Kemp's orchestra on his "Time to Shine" radio show. Having earned the moniker "molten mama with the lava larynx", she caught the eye of a Warner Bros. movie scout while singing at Chicago's Pump House, leading to a role in Million Dollar Baby (1941).

Wynn is perhaps best known for dubbing Rita Hayworth's singing voice in several films, including "The Strawberry Blonde" (1941),[8] My Gal Sal (1942), and You Were Never Lovelier (1942),[9]

In the late 1940s she appeared on the Morey Amsterdam and Ed Sullivan shows. Wynn's career was cut short abruptly in 1949 by the loss of her voice following the surgical removal of a cancerous tumor which resulted in a severed facial nerve. Refusing to accept the medical prognosis that a recovery was not possible, Wynn regained her speech and facial control by 1955, at which point she was briefly signed to RCA Victor.[10]

Films

She appeared on the silver screen, often as a nightclub singer, in such films as Million Dollar Baby (1941), Pardon My Sarong (1942), Right Guy, (1943), Princess O'Rourke (1943), Is Everybody Happy? (1943), Jam Session (1944) and Intrigue (1947). She had a starring role opposite William Lundigan in the 1941 film A Shot in the Dark (1941).

Broadway

Wynn appeared in Billy Rose's 1944 Broadway musical, The Seven Lively Arts and Finian's Rainbow in 1948.

Personal life

Wynn was married three times. Her first husband, from 1944 to 1947 was producer, writer, and director Cy Howard (Seymour Horowitz). In 1949 she married Dr. Thomas Baylek, with whom she had a daughter, Jane.[11] At the time of her death in 1971 she was described as the widow of John Small[12]

Wynn retired from show business in 1951, following complications and facial paralysis due to her 1949 surgery, and settled into the life of a housewife in York, Pennsylvania. She eventually recovered the use of her facial muscles and became involved in the state cancer crusade in 1959, after which she appeared at American Cancer Society events for several years.[13][14]

Death

Wynn died of cancer on March 21, 1971 in Santa Monica, California, aged 55, survived by her daughter and two brothers, Robert and Irvin Vatz.[15]

References

  1. ↑ New York Times & Arno Press The New York Times biographical service, Volume 2, page 1013; 1971
  2. ↑ Examiner.com, The Big Band vocalists-Female (6) - National Swing and Big Band
  3. ↑ Red Hot Mama Becomes Million Dollar Baby', The Sunday Morning Star, Wilmington, Delaware, May 18, 1941, page 34
  4. ↑ The Playbill for the Forty-Sixth Street Theatre, Finian's Rainbow, week beginning Monday August 9, 1948
  5. ↑ Soph Hop Publicity Drive Intensified by Committee, Penn State Collegian, November 8, 1939, page 2, http://digitalnewspapers.libraries.psu.edu/Repository/PSC/1939/11/03/036-PSC-1939-11-03-001-SINGLE.pdf
  6. ↑ Lundigan Haunts All Nan's Debuts, The Pittsburgh Press, April 19, 1941, page 8.
  7. ↑ The Daily Collegian, Penn State University, April 13, 1941, page 7
  8. ↑ Hagen, Wagner, and Tompkins "Movie Dubbers", http://www.barbaralea.com/Dubbers/dubberslist.html
  9. ↑ McLean, Adrienne L. Being Rita Hayworth: Labor, Identity, and Hollywood Stardom, page 252; Rutgers University Press, 2004.
  10. ↑ Nan Regains Lost Chord, Billboard, November 12, 1955; page 17.
  11. ↑ Institute for Research in Biography, Inc., Who's Important in Medicine Part 2, page 88; 1952.
  12. ↑ New York Times & Arno Press The New York Times biographical service, Volume 2, page 1013; 1971
  13. ↑ Beaver County Times - March 25, 1965, page 2
  14. ↑ Nan's Story - Something to Sing About, The Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah, September 16, 1963, page B-1
  15. ↑ New York Times & Arno Press The New York Times biographical service, Volume 2, page 1013; 1971
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