Nelson Eddy

The only career Nelson Eddy ever considered was singing. His parents were singers, his grandparents were musicians. Unable to afford a teacher, he learned by imitating opera recordings. At age 14 he worked as a telephone operator in a Philadelphia iron foundry. He sold newspaper advertising and performed in amateur musicals. Dr. Edouard Lippe coached him and loaned him the money to study in Dresden and Paris. He gave his first concert recital in 1928 in Philadelphia.

He had one child, Jon, with ex-girlfriend Maybelle Marston, born sometime in the early 1930s.

In 1933 he did 18 encores for an audience that included an assistant to MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer, who signed him to a seven-year contract.

After MGM acting lessons and initial trials, his first real success came as the Yankee scout to Jeanette MacDonald's French princess in Naughty Marietta (1935), a huge box-office success made on a small budget.

Eddy and MacDonald were paired twice more (Rose-Marie (1936), Maytime (1937)) when Metropolitan Opera star Grace Moore was unavailable; they became an institution.

Their last work together was in 1942. Critics nearly always panned his acting. He did have a large radio following (his theme song: "Short'nin Bread").

He was an accomplished sculptor, and often crafted bronze statues of his co-stars and directors. The statue he made of Susanna Foster was used in her film Phantom of the Opera (1943).

Plans to re-team Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald were announced by RKO in July 1945. Studio chief Charles Koerner was preparing a film version of the 1931 Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II stage musical "East Wind" to be filmed in Technicolor. Koerner's sudden death in February 1946 and the subsequent change in studio management ended the project.

At an MGM exhibitors sales convention in February 1949 it was announced that the studio would probably reunite Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald to star for producer Joe Pasternak in "His Excellency from Brazil." By the time the film was released the title had been changed to Nancy Goes to Rio (1950) and the parts were played by Ann Sothern and Barry Sullivan.

Eddy appeared with Jeanette MacDonald on Gordon MacRae's TV show in 1956. They each sang a solo and collaborated on a duet. Most critics agreed that her voice had faded. In 1957 and 1958 they collaborated on an album of their movie hits entitled "Favorites in Hi-Fi.".

In 1959 Eddy and MacDonald issued a recording of their movie hits which sold well.

In 1963 Ross Huntertried to entice Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald back onto the screen as an aging married couple who find themselves suddenly about to have a baby. They declined.

Was portrayed by Mick Hucknall in De-Lovely (2004). In the movie, his portrayal was a cameo.