BEFORE KATHRYN GRAYSON and Jane Powell captured moviegoers? imagination by hitting those high notes in great Hollywood musicals, there was Deanna Durbin. Her career lasted a mere dozen years, but she is remembered to this day. Deanna was as beautiful as she was musically gifted.

The extremely pretty soprano dished out standards and operatic arias with equal ease.

Talent

In 1935, MGM discovered the young singing talent and gave her the name, Deanna. The studio?s vocal coach, Andres de Segurola, a former Metropolitan Opera singer, believed she had a future in opera.

The studio didn?t know what to do with their two teenage singers, the other being Judy Garland. So, MGM?s bigwigs cast them in ?Every Sunday? to decide which one to keep as a contract actress. Mogul Louis B. Mayer decided to keep both, but his decision came a little late, because Universal had already grabbed Deanna, who was cast in a series of musicals, including ?Three Smart Girls.?

Bankruptcy

Deanna became a popular young star. Her movies at Universal became so successful that it was said that they saved the studio from bankruptcy. She became Hollywood?s box-office queen.

After a while, however, the actress wanted more challenging roles and opted to take on sophisticated characters in ?Christmas Holiday? and ?Lady on a Train.? Sadly, both failed at the tills. By this time, Deanna had already undergone two failed marriages.

To everybody?s surprise, Durbin retired in 1948. Efforts were made to lure her back to the spotlight, but to no avail. Two years later, she married film producer, Charles Henri David, moved to a farmhouse at the outskirts of Paris, and withdrew from public life.