Ethel Merman

Parents are Edward Zimmerman (1879-1977) and Agnes Zimmerman (1883-1974).

) Ethel Merman's lifetime facts: her dare of birth, was on Thursday, January 16th, 1908 & her life expired on Wednesday, February 15th, 1984.

Born in the Astoria section of Queens, New York City, Ethel Merman surely is the pre-eminent star of 'Broadway' musical comedy. Though untrained in singing, she could belt out a song like quite no one else, and was sought after by major songwriters such as Irving Berlin and Cole Porter. Having debuted in 1930 in "Girl Crazy, " she is yet remembered for her marvelous starring appearances in so many great musicals that were later adapted to the silver screen.

Among the film versions, Merman herself starred in Anything Goes (1936) and Call Me Madam (1953).

She had two children with her second husband, Robert: daughter, Ethel (born July 20, 1942), and son, Robert Levitt Jr. (born August 11, 1945). Ethel died of a drug overdose that was ruled accidental, on August 23, 1967.

Besides Betty Hutton, other Merman screen stand-in roles include Lucille Ball, (in Du Barry Was a Lady (1943)), Ann Sothern, (in Panama Hattie (1942)), Vivian Blaine (in Something for the Boys (1944)) and Rosalind Russell (in Gypsy (1962)). (Russell could never render Stephen Sondheim and Jule Styne's "Everything's Coming Up Roses" the way the immortal Merman did, over and over again.

That wonderfully boisterous blonde, Betty Hutton, had the Merman lead in both Red, Hot and Blue (1949) and Annie Get Your Gun (1950).

Won a Tony Award for her role in the musical "Call Me Madam" (1951); Tony-nominated for musical "Happy Hunting" (1957); Tony-nominated for the musical "Gypsy" (1960); Recipient of Tony Special Award (1972).

Nominated for 1957 Tony Award for Leading Actress in a Musical for "Happy Hunting".

Nominated for 1960 Tony Award for Leading Actress in a Musical for "Gypsy".

Her daughter Ethel Levitt was married to William Geary in 1960. She gave birth to Merman's first grandchild, Barbara Jean, on February 20, 1961. She later gave birth to a son, Michael Geary.

Thrice-wed Merman married twice-wed Ernest Borgnine in 1964. The couple separated just 11 days after the wedding and Borgnine filed for divorce on October 21, charging extreme mental cruelty. They had announced their impending nuptials at the legendary New York night spot P.J. Clarke's, but Borgnine, who was riding high as the star of McHale's Navy (1962) at the time, said the marriage began unraveling on their honeymoon, when he received more fan attention than she did. The competitive Merman was left seething. "By the time we got home, it was hell on earth," Borgnine recalled in a 2001 interview. "And after 32 days I said to her, 'Madam, bye'." Merman filed a cross-complaint shortly thereafter charging Borgnine with extreme cruelty. She was granted a divorce on November 18, 1964, after 22 minutes of testimony. Borgnine went on to marry a fourth time, but Merman remained single after her divorce. In her 1978 biography, she devoted a chapter of her autobiography to the marriage: It consisted of one blank page.

Along with Milton Berle, Vincent Price and Liberace, she is one of only four actors to both play a Special Guest Villain in Batman (1966) and guest star in The Muppet Show (1976) and the only woman to do so.

The role of Dolly Gallagher Levi in the Broadway musical Hello, Dolly! was originally written for Merman, but she turned it down. She did eventually play the role in 1970, however, and remained with the show until it closed on December 27, 1970.

Winner of a 1972 Special Tony Award (New York City).

In 1979, she released her most controversial album-to-date, a disco LP simply titled "The Ethel Merman Disco Album". Despite it not even charting on the Billboard charts, and many people's skepticism about the then 71-year-old veteran performing her Broadway hits to a disco beat, it was a smash hit, being played in Studio 54 regularly, with live appearances by Merman, herself. It also became a staple period album for the majority of the gay community.

One of Merman's last appearances was a hilarious cameo in 1980's Airplane, in which she played a patient in a military mental ward who "thinks he's Ethel Merman." When the angle cut to that patient's bed, Merman sat up and sang "Everything's coming up roses" from her Broadway hit Gypsy.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 560-562. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.

On April 7, 1983, Merman collapsed in her in Manhattan apartment while preparing to leave for Los Angeles to appear on the 55th Academy Awards. She was taken to Roosevelt Hospital, where, after undergoing exploratory surgery on April 11, the actress was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma. It was reported that she underwent brain surgery to have the tumor removed, but in fact, it was inoperable and her condition was deemed terminal. Her health eventually stabilized enough for her to be brought back to her apartment in Manhattan. However, on February 15, 1984, Merman died of natural causes, 10 months after she was diagnosed with brain cancer.