- Born
- Died
- Birth nameZelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick
- Nickname
- Graysie
- Height5′ 2″ (1.57 m)
- Kathryn Grayson was born Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick in Winston-Salem, NC, on February 9, 1922. This pretty, petite brunette with a heart-shaped face was discovered by MGM talent scouts while singing on the radio. The studio quickly signed her to a contract, and she was given acting lessons along and had to pose for countless publicity photos. Kathryn, a coloratura soprano, made her first film in 1941, a "B" picture called Andy Hardy's Private Secretary (1941). She soon was cast opposite some of MGM's top musical stars of the 1940s, such as Gene Kelly and Mario Lanza. She was paired with Lanza a few times, but the two never got along due mostly to Lanza's hot temper and alcohol abuse. The pairing of Lanza and Grayson would never match the success of lyrical soprano Jeanette MacDonald and baritone Nelson Eddy, although Kathryn and MacDonald did become great friends. Jeanette became a mentor and an older sister figure for Kathryn.
Grayson's most memorable roles came in the early 1950s. They were Show Boat (1951), where she played "Magnolia", opposite Ava Gardner and Howard Keel; Kiss Me Kate (1953), playing actress "Lilli Vanessi", who portrayed "Katherine" in the movie's "show within a show", a musical version of "The Taming of the Shrew". In 1953 she exited MGM, then made only one more film, The Vagabond King (1956), at Paramount. She later worked in nightclubs and on stage.- IMDb Mini Biography By: A. Nonymous
- SpousesJohnny Johnston(August 22, 1947 - October 3, 1952) (divorced, 1 child)John Shelton(July 11, 1941 - June 17, 1946) (divorced)
- ParentsCharles E. HedrickLillian Grayson Hedrick
- Howard Keel, her co-star in three movies, once described her in an interview as the most beautiful woman in the history of movies.
- Though she and Mario Lanza did not get on very well, Kathryn did take his wife, Betty, and their children into her home for a time after Mario's untimely death.
- Good friend of Ava Gardner.
- Not long after signing her MGM contract, Kathryn was asked to make her operatic debut in Donizetti's "Lucia Lammermoor" at New York's Metropolitan Opera. Louis B. Mayer talked her out of it, believing that it would damage her long-term image as a film star.
- In 1939, Sam Katz, the executive in charge of musicals at MGM, sought out a rival to Universal's popular Deanna Durbin and turned to Kathryn. She repeatedly turned him down at the time because she wanted an opera and not a movie career. She finally relented.
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