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Marni Nixon

About this Artist

Born in Altadena, California, MARNI NIXON's career includes Opera, (Seattle, San Francisco, Ford Foundation TV Opera Cameos, the former Los Angeles Guild Opera and Cosmopolitan Opera), Chamber and Symphony Orchestra, Oratorio soloist and Grammy Nominated recordings both Popular and Classical (Boulez, Villa-Lobos, Ives, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Copland) including conductors Von Beinum, Wallenstein, Previn, Mehta, Stravinsky, Stokowski, Mauceri, Slatkin and Bernstein.

Awards include Four Emmys for Best Actress on her children's TV show called Boomerang and two Gold Records for Songs for Mary Poppins and Mulan (voice of Grandma Fa), 2 Classical Grammy Nominations... Broadway includes Heidi Schiller in Sondheim's Follies, and originating the roles of Sadie McKibben in Opal, and Edna in Taking My Turn, taped for PBS and Aunt Kate in James Joyce's the Dead also on tour in LA and the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. In Regional and Off-Broadway her roles have included Nurse in Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret, and recently Eunice Miller in Kander and Ebb's 70, Girls, 70. In the recent premiere of Richard Wargo's Opera Ballymore at Skylight Opera in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (taped for PBS) she originated the role of Mrs. Willson. She is a popular favorite on Garrison Keillor's MPR radio show Prairee Home Companion.

TV includes Boomerang (Children's show in reruns for 25 years, awarded 26 Emmy Awards and 4 personal Emmy's for Best Actress); The Mothers in-Law; Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; I've Got a Secret; To Tell the Truth; As the World Turns; frequent American Variety shows such as the Merv Griffin Show, Hollywood Palace, Today show, Tonight show and The Harry Secombe Show in the UK, The Best of Both Worlds (her own Special) on BBC and ITV. Formerly a frequent guest and side-kick for Liberace and Victor Borge, her national tours include her show Marni Nixon: The Voice of Hollywood. Recently she has been seen in many "the-making-of" documentaries. Film roles include Aunt Alice in I Think I Do; Sister Sophia in Sound of Music.

A much sought after judge of Metropolitan Opera Auditions, National Association of Teachers of Singing, etc. Nixon presents Master Classes in both Classical and Music theater repertoire, in Colleges and Universities and teaches privately throughout the USA. Nixon is the singing voice for Deborah Kerr, Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn in the Motion Pictures and on the Soundtracks of The King and I, An Affair to Remember, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, and Grandma Fa in The Legend of Mulan.

Her autobiography I Could Have Sung All Night, published by Billboard Books (Watson-Guptill), written with Stephen Cole, will be released in September 2006. The foreword is written by Marilyn Horne. Quotes: "joyous, humorous, honest, informative and lyrically detailed" (Polly Bergen); "not to be missed by anyone who loves music, theater, movies, or the follies of life itself."(Blythe Danner); "Inspirational", (Frances McDormand); "This book is honest, courageous, compassionate and very funny-just like its author" (Richard Nelson); "tremendous insight…with a deep understanding of musical life in Hollywood" (Zubin Mehta); "A joy to Read" (Leonard Nimoy).

06/06