Edna Mae Durbin

Edna Mae Durbin, known professionally as Deanna Durbin (1921-2013) : The best-loved and most fondly remembered singing star of Hollywood’s golden age !

She was a Canadian-born actress and singer, who moved to the USA with her family in infancy. She signed a contract with Universal Studios and appeared in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s. Her work was credited with saving the studio from bankruptcy ...

In 1946, Deanna Durbin was the second-highest-paid woman in the United States, just behind Bette Davis, her fan club ranked as the world's largest during her active years but she became disillusioned with Hollywood by the mid-’40s and chose to retire at age 28, move to Paris and married French director-producer Charles Henri David. She had also completed 22 films by then but at this point, she just had enough and completely turned her back to Hollywood !

- Anne Frank was a fan of Deanna Durbin, and pasted two photos of her on the wall in the family's hideout, the photos are still on the wall today at the 'Anne Frank House museum'.

- British prime minister Winston Churchill, had no need of photographs, he made sure to see the films (with Deanna Durbin) before they were released in England where she was even more beloved than she was in the U.S.A ... Churchill’s special favorite was 'One Hundred Men and a Girl' (1937).

- Cellist and composer Mstislav Rostropovich cites her as one of his most important musical influences in an interview from the mid-1980s : “She helped me in my discovery of myself. You have no idea of the smelly old movie houses I patronized to see Deanna Durbin. I tried to create the very best in my music, to try and recreate, to approach her purity.”

Deanna Durbin has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1722 Vine Street and left her hand and footprints in front of the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in 1938 ...

Because of him (1946) Directed by Richard Wallace