Biographical Notes
1921
Edna Mae Durbin is born on December 4, 1921 in Winnipeg, Manitoba,
Canada.
1922
Edna and her family (including father James, mother Ada, and older
sister Edith) move to Los Angeles, California.
1932
Edna begins taking singing lessons, partially financed by her older
sister Edith, a schoolteacher.
1935
Edna is "discovered" by talent agent Jack Sherrill while singing
at a recital. She signs a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the
biggest and best movie studio at the time at the young age of fourteen.
1936
Edna films a screentest with another young singer/actress under
contract at M-G-M, Judy Garland. According to Judy Garland biographer
John Fricke, the screentest (now lost) contrasted the two girls' singing
styles and was filmed in spring.
Edna's option at M-G-M is allowed to lapse in June, after six short
months. She signs a contract with the financially troubled Universal
on June 13.
Edna returns to M-G-M in late June/early July to film the short
"Every Sunday" with Judy Garland.
The July 1 edition of the Hollywood Reporter states that
Universal has changed Edna's first name to "Dianna" [sic].
Deanna Durbin becomes a star virtually overnight after the success
of her debut film, Three Smart Girls at Universal,
coupled with appearances on Eddie Cantor's popular radio show.
1937
Deanna Durbin's second film, One Hundred
Men and a Girl is a box-office smash. Its tremendous success,
as well as that of Three Smart Girls practically
saves Universal from bankruptcy.
1938
Mad About Music, Deanna's third film,
premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theater on February 7. She is honored
by having her hand and footprints immortalized in cement in the theater
forecourt.
Deanna's fourth film, That Certain Age,
is released.
1939
Deanna and fellow teen movie star Mickey Rooney are honored at
the Eleventh Annual Academy Awards ceremony on February 23 when famous
ventriloquist Edgar Bergen presents them both with an Honorary Academy
Award for their "significant contribution in bringing to the screen the
spirit and personification of youth, and as juvenile players setting a
high standard of ability and achievement."
Deanna stars in a sequel to her first film, Three
Smart Girls Grow Up.
Deanna makes headlines after receiving her first screen kiss from
Robert Stack in First Love.
1940
Deanna Durbin stars in It's a Date.
Spring Parade becomes Deanna's eighth
straight hit film.
1941
Deanna's ninth film, Nice Girl? is
released.
Deanna marries fellow Universal employee Vaughn Paul on April 18
at the age of nineteen.
Deanna plays a grown, independent woman for the first time in It
Started with Eve.
1942
Vaughn Paul enlists in the Navy and Deanna embarks on a tour of
Eastern Army camps.
1943
Deanna stars in The Amazing Mrs. Holliday.
Hers to Hold, a very loose sequel
to Three Smart Girls and Three
Smart Girls Grow Up is released.
Deanna stars in His Butler's Sister.
Deanna and Vaughn Paul divorce on December 14.
1944
Universal's film version of W. Somerset Maugham's novel Christmas
Holiday gives Deanna her first straight dramatic role.
The Jerome Kern scored Can't Help Singing
is Deanna's first (and last) Technicolor film.
1945
Deanna stars in Lady on a Train.
Deanna, 23, marries former European playwright Felix Jackson, 43,
on June 13.
1946
Deanna is reunited with both Charles Laughton and Franchot Tone
in Because of Him.
Deanna has a daughter, Jessica Louise Jackson.
1947
I'll Be Yours, a remake of The
Good Fairy is released with Deanna in the lead role.
Something in the Wind is released,
starring Deanna Durbin and Donald O'Connor.
1948
Deanna stars in the film version of the Sigmund Romberg stage hit
Up in Central Park.
For the Love of Mary, Deanna's
final film is released.
1949
Deanna Durbin leaves Universal after thirteen years.
Deanna and Felix Jackson divorce on October 27.
1950
Deanna, 29, marries French film technician Charles David, 45, who
directed her in Lady on a Train in 1945.
They move to Neauphle-le-Chateau, on the outskirts of Paris. Deanna
retires from show business, opting instead to live a quiet life outside
of Hollywood's spotlight. She declines all offers for a comeback
and interviews as well, wishing to live a private life with her family.
1980
Deanna Durbin David submits a recent photo of herself to the Editors
of Life Magazine in order to dispel rumors that she is overweight, hoping
that the photo "...might set straight the false rumors about my figure.
These, after so many years of happy oblivion, still disturb me a little
and are not compensated by that first sentence of old friends when meeting
me: 'Deanna! But you're not at all plump!' No, I can
still pass under the Arc de Triomphe without holding my breath."
1998
Deanna Durbin David just recently celebrated her seventy-seventh
birthday on December 4, 1998. Though having been retired for many
years, she is still very dedicated to her many fans, by doing such things
as answering almost all of her fan mail, and by sending messages to her
fans through her fan club, "The Deanna Durbin Society."
1999
Deanna's third, longest, and happiest marriage ends when Charles Henri David, her husband of over 48 years, passes away on March 1 in France.
Picture credits:
1. Picture courtesy of Darlene Harris.
2. Picture courtesy of Darlene Harris.
3. Picture courtesy of Darlene Harris.
4. Picture scanned by webmaster.
5. Picture scanned by webmaster.
6. Picture courtesy of Darlene Harris.
7. Picture scanned by webmaster.
8. Picture courtesy of Darlene Harris.
9. Picture scanned by webmaster.
10. Picture courtesy of Darlene Harris.
11. Picture scanned by webmaster.
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