Marni Nixon

Margaret Nixon McEathron, known professionally as Marni Nixon, was an American soprano born on February 22, 1930, in Altadena, California. She began her career as a child actress and debuted as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1947. Nixon achieved fame as a "ghost singer," providing the singing voices for lead actresses in prominent musical films. Her notable dubbing work included Deborah Kerr in The King and I and An Affair to Remember, Natalie Wood in West Side Story and Gypsy, and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady. Beyond film, her career included opera roles such as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos and Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro. She frequently performed as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein. From 1969 to 1971, Nixon taught at the California Institute of the Arts. She hosted the children's television program Boomerang from 1977 to 1981, winning four Emmy Awards. In 2006, she published her autobiography, I Could Have Sung All Night. Nixon died of breast cancer on July 24, 2016, in New York City.