Dutch postcard by Van Leer's Fotodrukindustrie N.V., Amsterdam, no. 351. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Kathryn Grayson in The Kissing Bandit (László Benedek, 1948).
Belgian collector card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine, no. C 298 (Series C 229 - C324). Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Kathryn Grayson and Mario Lanza in That Midnight Kiss (Norman Taurog, 1949).
Belgian collector card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine, no. C 324 (Series C 229 - C324). Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Kathryn Grayson in The Toast of New Orleans (Norman Taurog, 1950).
Dutch postcard by Filmphoto Service, Amsterdam, series KF 16. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Vintage card. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Major MGM musicals
Kathryn Grayson was born Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick in Winston-Salem, NC, in 1922. She was the third child of Charles Hedrick, a building contractor-realtor, and Lillian Hedrick born Grayson. Kathryn later performed under her mother's maiden name. She was born in North Carolina but grew up in Kirkwood, Missouri, where her family moved in 1927.
The entire family sang. Grayson's sister Frances Raeburn (born Mildred Hedrick) was also an actress and singer, appearing along with her in the film Seven Sweethearts. They had two brothers, Clarence "Bud" E. Hedrick, and Harold. At 12, Kathryn was discovered on an empty stage of the St. Louis Municipal Opera House by a janitor. He introduced her to Frances Marshall of the Chicago Civic Opera, who trained her voice, a coloratura soprano. Kathryn moved to California with her family when she was 15. She attended school at Manual Arts High in Los Angeles.
Her solos at school and church eventually attracted the attention of Art Rush at RCA Redseal Records, who quickly signed her to a contract. Sam Katz, a producer at film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer who was looking for a counterpart to teenage singer and actress Deanna Durbin, discovered Kathryn in 1939. He offered her a contract, but she declined, preferring opera to film. She later changed her mind and signed the contract, but remained active only as a singer for a long time. In 1940, she took her first screen test, but it was unsuccessful. Studio boss Louis B. Mayer was dissatisfied with her acting and ordered her to take acting lessons. Grayson took a year of acting lessons and had to pose for countless publicity photos.
In 1941, Kathryn made her first film, as secretary Kathryn Land in Andy Hardy's Private Secretary (George B. Seitz, 1941), starring Mickey Rooney. She participated in three musical numbers. Critics praised her acting and she became an overnight star. She married singer-actor John Shelton in Las Vegas at the age of 19. Studio bosses immediately pushed for a divorce, as she had built an image as a good young lady. She refused, however, and remained married to Shelton until 1946. Her career did not suffer. In 1942, she co-starred with Van Heflin in Seven Sweethearts (1942). Grayson played the youngest of seven daughters from Holland, Michigan, who is hired by reporter-photographer Heflin to serve as a model and secretary while he covers the town's tulip festival, and with whom he falls in love.
She next appeared in major MGM musicals, including Thousands Cheer (George Sidney, 1943) and Anchors Aweigh (George Sidney, 1945), both with Gene Kelly. Anchors Aweigh was the fifth-highest-grossing film of 1945. Between these two films, she performed for the troops. Notably, it is reported that she would only perform under the condition that the audience was integrated, as troops were segregated at the time. On the set of Ziegfeld Follies (Vincente Minnelli, a.o., 1946), she met actor Johnny Johnston. She married him in 1947 and gave birth to a daughter in 1948. She was cast alongside Mario Lanza in That Midnight Kiss (Norman Taurog, 1949) just ten days later. This became a success and they became a popular film couple. They went on many tours together and, due to their popularity, starred in another film together, The Toast of New Orleans (Norman Taurog, 1950). The two never got along due mostly to Lanza's hot temper and alcohol abuse. Their pairing never matched the success of lyrical soprano Jeanette MacDonald and baritone Nelson Eddy, although Kathryn and MacDonald did become friends.
Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art L.A.B., Bruxelles (Brussels), no. 2012. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Kathryn Grayson and Van Heflin in Seven Sweethearts (Frank Borzage, 1942).
Belgian postcard by Les Editions d'Art L.A.B., Bruxelles (Brussels), no. 2020. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Kathryn Grayson and Gene Kelly in Thousands Cheer (George Sidney, 1943).
Vintage card. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Mario Lanza and Kathryn Grayson in The Toast of New Orleans (Norman Taurog, 1950).
Vintage card. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Kathryn Grayson and Ava Gardner in Show Boat (George Sidney, 1951).
Belgian postcard by Nieuwe Merksemsche Chocolaterie S.P.R.I., Merksem (Anvers), no. B 21. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Kathryn Grayson and Van Heflin in Seven Sweethearts (Frank Borzage, 1942).
Most memorable roles
Kathryn Grayson's most memorable roles came in the early 1950s. In Show Boat (George Sidney, 1951), she played Magnolia Hawks opposite Ava Gardner and Howard Keel. Previously, she had performed as Magnolia in a scene from this musical for Till the Clouds Roll By (George Sidney, a.o., 1946), a fictionalised biopic of composer Jerome Kern, portrayed by Robert Walker. Show Boat (George Sidney, 1951) was the third film adaptation of the 1927 Hammerstein and Kern musical and one of her most popular films.
Her personal life, however, was not so successful. Johnny Johnston's This Time for Keeps (Richard Thorpe, 1947) co-star, Esther Williams, claimed in her 1999 autobiography that while making the film, Johnston would read Grayson's intimate letters aloud to the girls in his fan club, including the "all-too-graphic details concerning what she liked about his love-making." In 1951, Grayson was given a divorce from Johnston on the grounds of mental cruelty. She would never marry again.
Meanwhile, musicals were losing popularity. She was released to the Warner Brothers studio in January 1953, with the stipulation that she return to MGM for one more film. It was the musical Kiss Me Kate (George Sidney, 1953) with Howard Keel and Ann Miller. She played actress Lilli Vanessi, who portrays Katherine in the film's 'show within a show, a musical version of William Shakespeare's 'The Taming of the Shrew'. Lilli and her co-star, once married to each other, get off-stage into another fight. The film was based on the 1948 Broadway musical of the same name by Samuel and Bella Spewack with songs by Cole Porter. Kiss Me Kate was shot in 3D, a novelty in the 1950s and deployed by the film industry to win the battle against emerging television.
Although this film became a success, she retired from the film industry. She made only one more film, the musical romance The Vagabond King (Michael Curtiz, 1956), at Paramount. In 1954 Kathryn re-signed with RCA Records and recorded four songs with ex-husband Johnny Johnston. In the next year, she made her nightclub debut at the Sahara in Las Vegas. She later worked in nightclubs, on TV, and on stage in such musicals as 'Camelot' (1962–1964). In 1982, Kathryn made her non-singing stage debut with 'Night Watch'.
Kathryn Grayson also starred in several operas in the 1960s, including 'La Bohème', 'Madama Butterfly', 'Orpheus in the Underworld' and 'La Traviata' and worked at Idaho State University, teaching voice. Kathryn Grayson passed away in 2010 in Los Angeles, California. Upon her death, she was cremated. She was married twice. Her first husband was actor John Shelton (1941-1946). Her second marriage was to actor and singer Johnny Johnston (1947-1952), with whom she had a daughter, Patricia Kathryn Johnston (1948).
Belgian collector card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine, no. C. 26 (series C. 1 to 98). Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
French postcard by Editions P.I., no. 258. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1950.
Belgian postcard by LAB AB, no. 1034. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Kathryn Grayson in Thousands Cheer (George Sidney, 1943).
Dutch postcard. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Vintage postcard. Photo: M.G.M. Kathryn Grayson and her daughter Patty-Kate (Patricia Kathryn) Johnston (1948).
Sources: Wikipedia (English and Dutch) and IMDb.
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