Mitzi Gaynor is dead to me

Let your wingsh carry you to the sheleshtlial shtars shweet Mitzshi!

Skip it. The DL queens don’t like her hairstyle.

The celebrity deaths are coming hard and fast. I can’t breathe.

OP: Olivia D, still disparaging youth from the great cage in the sky

A poor man’s Marilyn Monroe.

She aged very well, by the looks of her Insta.

News on her Facebook page now too.

She was wonderfully feisty, always answering her fans on Facebook. She'll be a true absence on the TCM cruise this year.

Another “what? she was alive?!” RIP Mitzi.

She was deteriorating in last few years. Reduced to a wheelchair and fears she would have to have a leg cut off.

The last time I saw her was in 2007. She was sitting by herself in the Hamburger Hamlet on Sunset near Doheny. She was drunk and cursing the cute waiter who was doing his best to wait on her. At one point she screamed, "Don't you know who I am? I am the star of "South Pacific".

Frances Davis, the hostess, told us once that when Mitzi came in, she would have someone call the restaurant so she could be paged and sashay through the place, calling attention to herself.

She was profiled on CBS Sunday morning four years ago. She came across as honest and realistic about her career

Good timing for the author of a book coming out on her.

R12 but you can see in that interview that her past energy has gone.

A lovely and spunky presence in 1950s musical films, most notably SOUTH PACIFIC, LES GIRLS and THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS.

Her name encapsulates a bygone era of Vegas, variety shows, glitzy outfits, Steve Lawrence & Edie Gormé

Bob Mackie will be heartbroken.

Michael Feinstein can now concentrate all on Liza.

She says in that CBS Morning interview that as far as her Hollywood film career went, "the camera didn't love her" but I'd disagree. I think her film stardom simply came about 10 years too late.

She could have been a major box office star during the 1940s, not unlike a combo of Betty Grable and Betty Hutton. She would have been a brilliant and perfect Annie Oakley in the film of Annie Get Your Gun.

Mitzi was the first star Bob Mackie made the "naked" dress for.

Cher made it famous but Mitzi was first.

Great old broad, I'm sorry she's gone.

No snark.

Variety obit.

[quote]A poor man’s Marilyn Monroe.

She was never ever considered a poor man’s Marilyn Monroe.

Awwww......her variety shows at the local Starlight Musicals were always great.....

She was wanted for Some Like It Hot until Marilyn became available.

This was iconic. Everything about it.

Mitzi and genius choreographer Jack Cole proves she doesn't care in one of the most batshit insane musical numbers ever filmed. (Number begins at 2:20)

In the words of Oscar Levant: "She's EVIL, honey!"

R1, you’re as tired and as tedious as that played out joke.

[quote]Mitzi was the first star Bob Mackie made the "naked" dress for.

Here's the nude gown.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this number from one of her TV specials.

She sings off key, moves around rather than actually dancing....but it all works beautifully. So glamorous.

The staging, camera work and choreography here are soooo swanky. Spectacular.

The I Don't Care Girl film also has one of her best dance numbers - The Johnson Rag.

R27 Nothing so tired as a fat cunt playing Datalounge nun, slapping our hands with a ruler every time you deem something inappropriate.

There's always this to remember.

She was a thing of the past when she started, no wonder her star was dim. But you gotta give it to her who, with limited talent (she couldn't sing and she was a so-so dancer), managed to have a career at all. I personally had to shoot insulin every time she came on.

She has the bad luck to start at Fox just when a certain blonde emerged and stole the spotlight.

People

OMG. What happened?

I loved learning about her from a documentary that came out about 10 years ago. Let Go was iconic!

R35 It was The Vaxx!

93 year olds don't just die, y'know!

Two months after Mitzi McCall.

Even as a 10 year old gayling I wondered what the heck she was doing with a special variety show. Probably not enough of a fan base to carry a weekly show, but with just enough talent to put a show over for her audience, chiefly comprised of people who like to watch entertainers entertain.

That said, I'm always sorry to see these people dying off. They may not have been part of the Golden Age but they often worked with them when young and the memories of them get dimmer and dimmer.

Mitzi Zings Into the Grave!

Her specials always ranked high in the ratings.

Her Academy Award performance in 1967 (R31) was responsible for her comeback and lead to her TV specials.

One of the few times my mom went on an outing with the senior citizen group in our suburb (Chicago area) was to see Mitzi’s variety show. My mom had a wonderful time—she thought she put on a great show!

The RIP troll would have titled this post with the dignity Ms. Gaynor deserved.

RIP, RIP troll.

I liked her in Les Girls

RIP

Every Mitzi TV special ended with a bang: a gay gangbang backstage. So many men gucking around…without Mitzi. ;)

She did put on a great show. She was considered the Queen of Columbus, Ohio for her performances at the Palace. One memorable year, the show went on despite her sprain. Chorus boys carrying her from one side of the stage back, all evening long. Her feet never touching the ground. The audience loved her.

Sad but like Feinstein-We should put all our efforts into Saving Liza.

I saw her show at the Westbury. 1976.

R35 She was fighting a fire on an oil rig.

Mitzi is DEAD to US!

Never heard of her.

I agree with a poster above; Mitzi's talents were good, but not great and she hit the "scene" in Hollywood a few years too late.

For me, she was just adorable in There's No Business Like Show Business and I love her in this scene with Donald O'Connor and Marilyn Monroe.

Oh, and I saw her perform as Reno Sweeney in 1990s tour of Anything Goes with costumes by Bob Mackie (I know, what a surprise, right?!). Oy, that evening in the theatre... honestly, she was a bit long in the tooth for Reno 30 some odd years ago.

Oh, my. I got the great pleasure of sharing the stage and dancing with her in a performance at a special event around 1992 or so. She was delightful. RIP.

"South Pacific" ran in London for over 4 years, finally closing in 1962.

RIP

The movie ain’t that good. Brits were starved, pretty much for any, and every, entertainment then.

[quote]A poor man’s Marilyn Monroe.

What a stupid remark. That wasn't her career at all. You have her confused with Mamie Van Doren.

[quote]The movie ain’t that good. Brits were starved, pretty much for any, and every, entertainment then.

And yet "South Pacific" was the top-grossing movie of 1958.

In the clips at r25 and r28 she's supposedly only 38 years old, but looks like she's 50! The hair and makeup were conservative and aging. I guess that's how it was in the late 60s.

Someone her on DL used to post about her house in the Bev Hills flats, she'd lived there for decades with her late husband. There were photos - the inside had gold gilt on the walls or something similar, very grand, tacky Old Hollywood decor.

R57 and yet that doesn’t reflect is place in movie history

[quote]You have her confused with Mamie Van Doren.

Mamie was the poor man's Cleo Moore.

[quote]She was a thing of the past when she started

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

[quote]She couldn't sing and she was a so-so dancer.

More evidence that you have no idea what you're talking about. Mitzi Gaynor was a fine singer, and she made at least two solo albums that have some lovely stuff on them.

Mitzi's marriage, according to columnist Sheila Graham was "Lavender", one of the reasons for the lack of children.

r58 it's crazy how much older people looked back then. Look at any high school yearbook from the 1950s. Those 18 year-old kids look practically middle-aged.

I get her confused with Lola Falana, Joey Heatherton and Christine Jorgensen.

Not a good last few months for nonagenarian Mitzis.

Mitzi was a part of history when she shared the Ed Sullivan stage with the Beatles on Feb. 9, 1964.

[quote] An #Otwituary for Hollywood star #MitziGaynor

[quote] There are no showgirls now;

[quote] they have all been washed away

[quote] into the storm drains of Tinseltown,

[quote] set adrift on an ocean, clinging

[quote] to a raft of what might have been.

[quote]r60 = Mamie was the poor man's Cleo Moore.

Cleo was unable to come off as a tough cookie. You knew deep down that she was a good girl.

It’s true that her “Georgy Girl” number at the Oscars gave her career a big boost at the time, but she was absolutely terrible. A poor singer, passable dancer, full of stamina, I’ll give her that.

Yes, she was born too late, yes she completely lacked sex appeal (despite a lovely body), but Hollywood was still trying with Ann-Margret in similar roles a decade later. A-M had all the sex appeal Gaynor lacked, but A-M could act as well as conquer Vegas and TV musical specials at her peak.

Mitzi was a mediocrity, who made up in warmth, eagerness and energy what she lacked in talent. Adios, Mitzi.

Another Hollywood Mitzi gone this year ? First Mitzi McCall, now Mitzi Gaynor ? Are there any Mitzi's left?

[quote]Are there any Mitzi's left?

The Mitzi Newhouse Theeatre at Lincoln Center.

Mitzi was self-aware and stayed in her lane, r69. She was hardly a mediocrity. You may not like the *sound* of her voice, but it was good enough for R&H. To call her a "passable" dancer is ludicrous. How are *you* at executing Jack Cole choreography?

R62 - Mitzi was a dyke?!!

She was better than Day would have been in SP. Not to denigrate the great Day but she was a bit mature to be playing Nellie at that point. See Doris in the wonderful TPG the year before.

I wish Frances Nuyen could comment but she can't. But Juanita Hall would know.

(r73) I would believe it. I never got a real feminine vibe from her.

I never heard this. She made a big deal about saying how she had to keep Jack Bean away from Marilyn when making There's No Business.

[quote]I wish Frances Nuyen could comment but she can't.

There was more than one France Nuyen?

[quote]She made a big deal about saying how she had to keep Jack Bean away from Marilyn when making There's No Business.

Maybe he wanted to do Marilyn's hair.

T66 those four gays fucked more that night than The Beatles in 8 days.

R66^

So witty, R1!

Someone on All That Chat claims that Mitzi told a story about the original Nellie Forbush Mary Martin visiting her on the film set of South Pacific and being extremely bitchy and denigrating to Mitzi in front of composer Richard Rodgers. The ATC poster was challenged to cite a source and unable but swears he heard her tell the story numerous times in interviews.

Bonus points to any DLer who can find a link.

I thought she would have died at 93 about 20 years ago.

Mitzi was 61 when Liam Payne was born.

They fucked Mitzi? Or the Beatles? Anyway I'm sure they all had a great time those many years ago.

I had the great good fortune of seeing a TODD AO print of South Pacific on an 80 foot curved screen years ago. I was kind of dreading it as on tv it just lies there like a beached whale. It was actually enjoyable in the wide screen process and 6 track stereo. I was happily surprised. Had I been around when it played first run I would have seen it multiple times. I'm a size queen when it comes to movies.

Mitzi was one of my earliest memories of a big star. At least that's how I saw her.

I've seen all those you tube videos of Mitzi but I seem to have missed the one where she says Martin flew all the way to Hawaii to throw shade Mitzi's way. Though it must have hurt to have her two most iconic legendary performances on the Broadway stage played by others. She was human after all. And to know you are too old and even worse not photogenic enough to play 'your' roles on film cannot be pleasant to know.

Her specials were a big deal and delivered the ratings.

This scene is pretty fabulous. Few remember these guys today, but I recognize every one of them:

R89, That was fabulous!

From the very last go round of "The Mitzi Gaynor Show" (her live act). Not bad at all for her late 70s.

R89 Mitzi kisses 100 guys and gets cooties.

R89 today, that’d be worth an $800 million settlement from the L.A. Diocese of Networks.

She was a doll. In the late sixties my parents took us to Vegas, she had a show at the hotel casino. She came through the lobby and she was super friendly to my family. She asked my eight year old brother if he was a gambling man. She had such warmth and charisma. After that meeting my mother didn't miss a variety show or old movie with Mitzi. The people who worked at the hotel adored her. I can't remember if it was the Flamingo or the Sands.

Lyle Waggoner!!!!!

Marty Allen!

I laugh hearing about her dark side. I saw an interview she did with a live audience - I think it was in San Francisco. She was bitching about Marilyn and someone yelled out Her tits were bigger than yours. Mitzi yelled back - they were not! But her ass was bigger.

^Hello dere!

Cleavon Little was 🔥🍆

💋

New York Times obit.

They were married for 52 years...

He made her a very wealthy woman.

I guess she didn't survive after all.....

I remember as a child when she zinged into Spring

[quote]He made her a very wealthy woman.

So they actually had a *green* marriage.

Preferable to a lavender marriage.

But those damn filters in "South Pacific"!!!!

Maybe Our Mary had Mitzi confused with Janet Gaynor? (Or Gloria?)

Mitzi's performance in "South Pacific" is a perfectly competent acting and singing job, comparable to a talented high schooler. In fact, the girl who played Nellie opposite my Emile in high school, was more exciting. Mitzi works hard and one can admire that. However, nothing about the performance soars or leaves the audience thrilled. There's no "star quality". It's not embarrassing by any means, but its average.

[quote]Mitzi's performance in "South Pacific" is a perfectly competent acting and singing job, comparable to a talented high schooler.

Oh c'mon. She was better than that.

More on par with a talented Miss America contestant.

But she wasn't dumb and knew her limits. TV was just right for her.