Shirley Ross
Shirley Ross (January 7, 1913 — March 9, 1975) was an American actress and singer.
Ross was born Bernice Gaunt in Omaha, Nebraska but her family relocated to California when she was a child. She studied at Hollywood High School and the University of California and auditioned successfully for Gus Arnheim's band during her second year at university. She made her first recordings at the age of 20 with Arnheim in 1933.
Her film career began in 1933 and the following year she introduced the melody of the song "Blue Moon" for the Clark Gable movie Manhattan Melodrama, only with different lyrics. Ross first achieved prominence appearing opposite Bing Crosby in the 1937 film Waikiki Wedding, in which she and Crosby sang "Blue Hawaii". In The Big Broadcast of 1938 she sang "Thanks for the Memory" with Bob Hope. She again teamed with Hope the following year to sing "Two Sleepy People" in the 1938 film Thanks for the Memory.
Ross also introduced "The Lady's in Love with You" in the 1939 film Some Like It Hot featuring Bob Hope, which is not the 1959 comedy starring Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, and Tony Curtis, although both films share the same name.
Her sole Broadway appearance was in the Rodgers and Hart musical Higher and Higher in 1940. Ross recorded four songs from the show including "It Never Entered My Mind". She made her final film, A Song for Miss Julie, in 1945.
She died from cancer in Menlo Park, California, aged 62.
[edit] External links
- 1913 births
- 1975 deaths
- American female singers
- American film actors
- American musical theatre actors
- People from Omaha, Nebraska
- Actors from Nebraska
- People from the Greater Los Angeles Area
- Cancer deaths in California
- Hollywood High School alumni
- University of California alumni
- People from Menlo Park, California
