Edna Mae Durbin December 4 1921 April 17 2013 known professionally as Deanna Durbin was a Canadianborn actress and singer who moved to the USA with her family in infancy She appeared in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s With the technical skill and vocal range of a legitimate lyric soprano she performed many styles from popular standards to operatic arias In 1946 Durbin was the secondhighestpaid woman in the United States just behind Bette Davis her fan club ranked as the worlds largest during her active years Durbin was a child actress who made her first film appearance with Judy Garland in Every Sunday 1936 and subsequently signed a contract with Universal Studios She achieved success as the ideal teenaged daughter in films such as Three Smart Girls 1936 One Hundred Men and a Girl 1937 and It Started with Eve 1941 Her work was credited with saving the studio from bankruptcy and led to Durbin being awarded the Academy Juvenile Award in 1938 As she matured Durbin grew dissatisfied with the girlnextdoor roles assigned to her and attempted to move into sophisticated nonmusical roles with film noir Christmas Holiday 1944 and the whodunit Lady on a Train 1945 These films produced by frequent collaborator and second husband Felix Jackson were not as successful she continued in musical roles until her retirement Upon her retirement and divorce from Jackson in 1949 Durbin married producerdirector Charles Henri David and moved to a farmhouse near Paris She withdrew from public life granting only one interview on her career in 1983
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