You Know Her Songs, Not Her Face

March 9, 2007 — -- Almost everyone has heard her sing, though few know her name: Marni Nixon. In fact, some of the best-loved musical numbers of all time made movie history because of her.

Time magazine once called Nixon the "ghostess with the mostest," and The New York Times said she is "perhaps the most famous singing voice -- without a face."

There was once such secrecy surrounding her work that she might well have worked for the CIA. One studio threatened her, telling her if she ever revealed the nature of her work she would never work in Hollywood again.

Why all the fuss? Well, Marni Nixon can sing. Like an angel. And better than that … she could sing like some of the most-famous women in Hollywood, who could not sing like angels. Consider this: She dubbed the songs -- all the songs -- for Deborah Kerr in "The King and I," for Natalie Wood in "West Side Story," and for Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady."

And if that isn't enough, she utters perhaps the most famous lines in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." Nixon voiced the high notes for Marilyn Monroe in the classic song "Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friends."