Marilyn Jeanne McGuire (February 22, 1926 – August 7, 2021) was an American actress and
contralto
A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type.
The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typica ...
singer who was active in the 1940s.
Life and career
McGuire was born on February 22, 1926,
to James Joseph McGuire, a film projectionist and Annona (née Crowley) McGuire. Her parents divorced in the early 1930s, while McGuire was still a child.
McGuire signed a contract with
RKO Pictures and was subsequently cast in her first film at the age of sixteen, ''
Seven Days' Leave'' (1942), which starred
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golde ...
.
Her other films include ''
Higher and Higher'' (1944, starring
Frank Sinatra), ''
Career Girl'' (1944), ''
Seven Days Ashore
''Seven Days Ashore'' is a 1944 American comedy film directed by John H. Auer and written by Edward Verdier, Irving Phillips and Lawrence Kimble. The film stars Wally Brown, Alan Carney, Marcy McGuire, Virginia Mayo, Elaine Shepard, Gordon Oliv ...
'' (1944), ''
It Happened in Brooklyn
''It Happened in Brooklyn'' is a 1947 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical romantic comedy film directed by Richard Whorf and starring Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson, Peter Lawford and Jimmy Durante, and featuring Gloria Grahame and Marcy McGuire. ''It ...
'' (1947) and ''
You Gotta Stay Happy'' (1948). Her penultimate film before retiring from Hollywood was ''
Jumping Jacks
''Jumping Jacks'' is a 1952 American semi- musical comedy film starring the comedy team of Martin and Lewis. The film was directed by Norman Taurog, and released by Paramount Pictures. It was one of the military comedies that marked the duo's ea ...
'' (1952), with
Dean Martin and
Jerry Lewis. She also had a minor uncredited role in
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
's ''
Summer Magic'' (1963) as a young maid named Ellen by putting on an
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
accent before her permanent retirement.
McGuire was married to actor
Wally Cassell
Wally Cassell (born Oswaldo Silvestri Trippilini Rolando Vincenza Castellano; March 3, 1912 – April 2, 2015) was an Italian-born American character actor and businessman.
Early years
Wally Cassell was born as Oswaldo Silvestri Trippilini ...
from 1947 until his death in 2015. The couple had two children.
She died in
Palm Desert, California
Palm Desert is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley, approximately east of Palm Springs, northeast of San Diego and east of Los Angeles. The population was 48,445 at the 2010 census. The city has bee ...
on August 7, 2021, at the age of 95. News of her death was only made public in August 2022, by film historians Austin and Howard Mutti-Mewse.
Filmography
References
External links
*
Marcy McGuireat the
American Film Institute
1926 births
2021 deaths
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American women
American film actresses
American women singers
RKO Pictures contract players
Actresses from Kansas City, Kansas
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