Kathryn Grayson, whose beauty and lilting soprano brightened MGM musicals of the 1940s and 1950s including ‘Anchors Aweigh,’ ‘Show Boat,’ ‘The Desert Song’ and ‘Kiss Me Kate,’ has died. Grayson died Wednesday of natural causes at her Los Angeles home, said the actress‘ longtime companion and secretary, Sally Sherman. Grayson had turned 88 on Feb. 9.

The actress was among the top movie musical performers of her day, starring opposite Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly in 1945′s “Anchors Away” and Ava Gardner and Howard Keel in 1951′s “Showboat.”

“She was a lady of class and quality, with the greatest sense of humor conceivable,” Sherman said.

Born in North Carolina on February 9, 1922, Grayson was raised in Missouri in a family that loved music. She began singing when she was 8 years old, training to be a soprano in the opera. But as a 15-year-old, the diminutive brunette signed a contract with MGM after studio executives heard her sing.

An aspiring opera singer, Grayson became an MGM contract player in the early ’40s, reportedly as a potential rival to Universal’s Deanna Durbin. Usually, the pretty, bosomy brunette didn’t have much to do on screen whenever she wasn’t belting out songs — except, of course, look pretty and bosomy. The exceptions to that rule were two George Sidney-directed early ’50s adaptations of Broadway musicals: Show Boat (1951, photo) and Kiss Me Kate (1953).

“I’m a Pollyanna,” Kathryn Grayson once said, explaining why she could never write her memoirs. “I had to stop writing because I love everybody and I was saying everyone was beautiful. I just happen to think people are pretty wonderful.”

Grayson was married and divorced twice, the first time to actor John Shelton and second to actor/singer Johnnie Johnston, with whom she had a daughter.

Grayson is survived by her daughter, two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

“No PlAcE LiKe www.pericardial-mesothelioma-symptoms.Co.CC”

More Hot Stories:
gordon lightfoot not dead
chris golightly disqualified
lindsey vonn boyfriend
tiger woods press conference
vonn wins gold
tiger woods press conference
video of nodar kumaritashvili’s death
alexander mcqueen dead
bill clinton hospitalized after chest pain
bill clinton hospitalized
rihanna rude boy official video
drew brees at lucy’s
 Phil Harris Cornelia Marie Dead
 john mayer black women playboy interview
john mayer black women
john mayer playb0y interview
megan fox’s thumb
is ray j with mz berry??
sports illustrated swimsuit 2010
Ali Leave the Bachelor!
kendra wilkinson crying
kendra wilkinson superbowl
kendra wilkinson crying
Queen Latifah, Carrie Underwood on super bowl
carrie underwood super bowl
plaxico burress sentence