Mary Virginia Martin

 Mary Virginia Martin (December 1, 1913 – November 3, 1990)

A muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein, she originated many leading roles over her career, including Nellie Forbush in South Pacific and Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music. She was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1989. She was also the mother of actor Larry Hagman. Martin began her radio career in 1939 as the vocalist on a short-lived revival of The Tuesday Night Party on CBS. In 1940, she was a singer on NBC's Good News of 1940, which was renamed Maxwell House Coffee Time during that year. In 1942, she joined the cast of Kraft Music Hall on NBC, replacing Connie Boswell. She was also one of the starts of Stage Door Canteen on CBS, 1942-1945. She appeared on Broadway in South Pacific, opening on April 7, 1949, as nurse Nellie Forbush. Her performance was called "memorable...funny and poignant in turns", and she earned a Tony Award. Richard Watts, Jr. of the New York Post wrote: "nothing I have ever seen her do prepared me for the loveliness, humor, gift for joyous characterization, and sheer lovableness of her portrayal of Nellie Forbush.... Hers is a completely irresistible performance."She opened in the West End production on November 1, 1951. Her next major success was in the role of Peter in the Broadway production of Peter Pan in October 1954, with Martin winning the Tony Award. Martin opened on Broadway in The Sound of Music as Maria on November 16, 1959, and stayed in the show until October 1961. She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. The musical gave Martin "the chance to display her homespun charm."

In 1966, she appeared on Broadway in the two-person musical I Do! I Do! with Robert Preston, and was nominated for the Tony Award (Leading Actress in a Musical). Although Martin appeared in nine films during her career, all between 1938 and 1943, she was generally passed over for the filmed version of the musical plays in which she starred. She herself once explained that she did not enjoy making films, because she did not have the "connection" with an audience that she had in live performances. Mary Martin died a month before her 77th birthday from colorectal cancer at her home in Rancho Mirage, California, on November 3, 1990. She is buried at City Greenwood Cemetery in Weatherford, Texas.