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Deanna Durbin

Edna Mae Durbin (December 4, 1921 – April 17, 2013), known professionally as Deanna Durbin, was a Canadian-born actress and singer, who moved to the USA with her family in infancy. She appeared in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s. With the technical skill and vocal range of a legitimate lyric soprano, she performed many styles from popular standards to operatic arias.

Durbin was a child actress who made her first film appearance with Judy Garland in Every Sunday (1936), and subsequently signed a contract with Universal Studios. She achieved success as the ideal teenaged daughter in films such as Three Smart Girls (1936), One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937), and It Started with Eve (1941). Her work was credited with saving the studio from bankruptcy, and led to Durbin being awarded the Academy Juvenile Award in 1938.

As she matured, Durbin grew dissatisfied with the girl-next-door roles assigned to her and attempted to move into sophisticated non-musical roles with film noir Christmas Holiday (1944) and the whodunit Lady on a Train (1945). These films, produced by frequent collaborator and second husband Felix Jackson, were not as successful; she continued in musical roles until her retirement. Upon her retirement and divorce from Jackson in 1949, Durbin married producer-director Charles Henri David and moved to a farmhouse near Paris. She withdrew from public life, granting only one interview on her career in 1983.

Birth and Death Data: Born December 4, 1921 (Winnipeg), Died April 17, 2013 (Paris)

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1936 - 1971

Roles Represented in DAHR: vocalist

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings (Results 1-25 of 63 records)

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Decca 61475 10-in. 12/12/1936 Someone to care for me Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca 61476 10-in. 12/12/1936 Il bacio Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca 61481 10-in. 12/15/1936 Il bacio (The kiss) Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca 61482 10-in. 12/15/1936 Someone to care for me Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca DLA 963 10-in. 9/23/1937 Libiamo n' lieti calici (from La Traviata) (Verdi) Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca DLA 964 10-in. 9/23/1937 It's raining sunbeams Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca DLA 1695 10-in. 12/12/1938 Les filles de Cadix (The maids of Cadiz) (Delibes) Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca DLA 1696 10-in. 12/12/1938 My own Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca DLA 1755 10-in. 4/5/1939 Alleluja (Mozart) Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca DLA 1756 10-in. 4/5/1939 Ave Maria (Bach-Gounod) Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca DLA 1810 10-in. 7/7/1939 Because Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca DLA 1811 10-in. 7/7/1939 The last rose of summer Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca DLA 1812 10-in. 7/7/1939 Home. sweet home Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca DLA 1828 12-in. 7/21/1939 One fine day Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca DLA 1829 12-in. 7/21/1939 Spring in my heart Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca DLA 1960 10-in. 2/28/1940 Musetta's waltz song (from La Boheme) (Puccini) Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca DLA 1961 10-in. 2/28/1940 Ave Maria (Schubert) Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca DLA 1962 10-in. 2/28/1940 Amapola Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca DLA 1963 10-in. 2/28/1940 Loch Lomond Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca DLA 1964 10-in. 2/28/1940 Love is all Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca DLA 2092 10-in. 8/29/1940 Blue Danube dream Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca DLA 2093 10-in. 8/29/1940 Waltzing in the clouds Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca DLA 2094 10-in. 8/29/1940 It' s foolish. but it's fun Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca DLA 2095 10-in. 8/29/1940 When April sings Deanna Durbin vocalist  
Decca DLA 2370 10-in. 1/22/1941 Beneath the lights of home Deanna Durbin vocalist  
(Results 1-25 of 63 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Durbin, Deanna," accessed March 28, 2024, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/313255.

Durbin, Deanna. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved March 28, 2024, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/313255.

"Durbin, Deanna." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 28 March 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/313255

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