May 1 (Reuters) – Deanna Durbin, a singing child movie star
of the 1930s who became one of the world’s highest paid
actresses before turning her back on stardom, has died at the
age of 91.
Her son Peter H. David was quoted as telling The Deanna
Durbin Society newsletter that the actress died “a few days
ago”, thanking her admirers for respecting her privacy. No other
details were given.
The actress was born Edna Mae Durbin in Winnipeg, Canada,
but moved to California with her British-born parents when she
was young. She broke into the movies in 1936, aged 14, when she
appeared in “Every Sunday” with Judy Garland, according to her
biography on the IMDb film website.
She made her name playing the ideal teenage daughter in
“Three Smart Girls” in 1936 and in its profitable follow-up the
next year, “One Hundred Men and a Girl”, which was credited with
saving Universal studios from bankruptcy.
Capitalising on her fame, Universal cast Durbin in a series
of musical movies including “That Certain Age” and “Mad About
Music” which made the actress with the sweet soprano voice into
one of Hollywood’s most popular stars.
Durbin shared a special Juvenile Award with Mickey Rooney at
the 1938 Oscars for their “significant contribution in bringing
to the screen the spirit and personification of youth”.
At 25, Durbin was the second highest-paid woman in America
behind her fellow actress Bette Davis, according to the New York
Times, and her fan club ranked as the world’s largest during her
active years.
But Durbin found fame hard to handle and, despite trying to
move on from her image as the perfect daughter with films such
as “Christmas Holiday” (1944) and “Lady on a Train” (1945), she
walked away from stardom aged about 28.
“I couldn’t go on forever being Little Miss Fixit who burst
into song,” she once said.
From 1949 she stayed out of the limelight, moving to France
with her third husband, the French director Charles David. She
gave only one interview in the following decades and rejected
all offers of a comeback. Her husband died in 1999.
(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
