Editing Kathryn Grayson (section)

==Film career==
===1940s===
In 1940, an MGM talent scout saw Grayson performing at a music festival. MGM hoped to find a replacement for [[Deanna Durbin]], who had left the studio for [[Universal Pictures]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Hedda Hopper's Hollywood|author=Hopper, Hedda|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=February 21, 1941|id={{ProQuest|165188821}}}}</ref> For the next 18 months, Grayson took voice, drama and diction lessons and followed a routine of dieting and exercise. Within a year, she had her first screen test. However, studio executives were not satisfied, and she endured a further six months of lessons until she made her first film appearance in 1941's ''[[Andy Hardy's Private Secretary]]'' as secretary Kathryn Land,<ref>{{cite news|title=Hedda Hopper's Hollywood|author=Hopper, Hedda|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=January 2, 1941|id={{ProQuest|165217594}}}}</ref> participating in three musical numbers.

Two further films were planned for Grayson in 1941: ''White House Girl'',<ref>{{cite news|title=Kathryn Grayson Wins Pasternak Film Lead|author=Schallert, Edwin|newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=Oct 15, 1941|page=A10|id={{ProQuest|165260714}}}}</ref> which was later produced in 1948 with Durbin,<ref>{{cite news|title=New Comedy Stars Durbin|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=October 20, 1948|page=20|id={{ProQuest|165864746}}}}</ref> and ''Very Warm for May'', from the [[Jerome Kern]] and [[Oscar Hammerstein II|Oscar Hammerstein]] [[Very Warm for May|musical of the same name]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Taylor Escapes Romeo Roles Through Comedy|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=August 28, 1941|page=A10|id={{ProQuest|165223133}}}}</ref> The film eventually was produced in 1944 as ''[[Broadway Rhythm]]''.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

Grayson appeared in three films in 1942: ''[[The Vanishing Virginian]]'', ''[[Rio Rita (1942 film)|Rio Rita]]'' and ''[[Seven Sweethearts]]''. In the first, Grayson plays the teenage daughter, Rebecca, of the eccentric Yancey family from [[Lynchburg, Virginia|Lynchburg]], Virginia.<ref>{{cite news|title=Young Beauty|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=January 26, 1942|id={{ProQuest|165289976}}}} Kathryn Grayson enacts the part of Rebecca in 'The Vanishing Virginian,' story of a southern family, to open Thursday at the Four Star Theater.</ref> Set in 1913, the film was based on Rebecca Yancey Williams's own family.
[[File:Kathryn Grayson in Seven Sweethearts.jpg|left|thumb|Grayson as Billie Van Maaster in ''Seven Sweethearts''.]]
Grayson co-starred in ''Rio Rita'' with [[Abbott and Costello]].<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|title='Rio Rita' Comedy Fare|date=May 21, 1942|page=8|id={{ProQuest|165325740}}}}</ref> Grayson portrayed the title character, Rita Winslow. The film was originally meant to be an adaptation of the 1927 Broadway musical; however, only two songs were retained for the film, the title song, and "The Ranger Song", which was performed by Grayson.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

Co-starring [[Van Heflin]], ''Seven Sweethearts'' cast Grayson as the youngest of seven daughters from [[Holland, Michigan|Holland]], [[Michigan]], who is hired by reporter-photographer Heflin to serve as a model and secretary while he covers the town's [[tulip festival]], and with whom he falls in love.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|title=Drama and the Arts Section|date=October 11, 1942|page=C1|id={{ProQuest|165377643}}}}</ref>

In 1943, Grayson appeared in the film ''[[Thousands Cheer]]'', (originally titled ''Private Miss Jones''), along with [[Gene Kelly]], [[Mickey Rooney]], [[Eleanor Powell]], [[June Allyson]] and others. The film was intended as a morale booster for American troops and their families. Grayson starred as the singing daughter of an Army commander.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

It was announced in 1942 that Grayson would appear in ''An American Symphony'' with [[Judy Garland]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Garland, Grayson Will Play Musical Sisters |author=Schallert, Edwin |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=March 11, 1942 |page=A10|id={{ProQuest|354353888}} }}</ref> Garland was replaced by [[June Allyson]], and the film was retitled as "''[[Two Sisters from Boston]]"'' and released in 1946.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

Grayson did not appear in any films for nearly two years (from 1943 to 1945), but instead worked at entertaining troops during the war and performing on radio programs.{{sfn|Parish|Pitts|2003|p=363}} Notably, it is reported that she would only perform under the condition that the audience was integrated, as troops were segregated at the time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/frank-liberman#|title=Frank Liberan interview, American Archives of Television|website=Emmytvlegends.org|access-date=18 December 2017|date=2017-10-23}}</ref>

She returned to films in ''[[Anchors Aweigh (film)|Anchors Aweigh]]'', a musical romantic-comedy set in Los Angeles and co-starring Kelly and [[Frank Sinatra]]. ''Anchors Aweigh'' was the fifth-highest grossing film of 1945, earning over $4.779 million.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.boxofficereport.com/database/1945.shtml|title=Box Office Report for 1945|publisher=Boxofficereport.com|access-date=2010-07-30|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090713043154/http://www.boxofficereport.com/database/1945.shtml|archive-date=2009-07-13}}</ref>

This was followed by ''Two Sisters from Boston'' and guest appearances in ''[[Ziegfeld Follies (film)|Ziegfeld Follies]]'' and ''[[Till the Clouds Roll By]]''. Her performance in ''Till the Clouds Roll By'' included "[[Make Believe (Jerome Kern song)|Make Believe]]" in a capsule version of the musical ''[[Show Boat]]'', which would be [[Show Boat (1951 film)|remade]] five years later, with Grayson in the starring role.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

MGM re-paired Grayson and Sinatra for two movies in 1947 and 1948, ''[[It Happened in Brooklyn]]'' and ''[[The Kissing Bandit (film)|The Kissing Bandit]]''. Both films performed poorly at the box office, and audiences thought the plots absurd.{{sfn|Parish|Pitts|2003|p=364}} After the setbacks of ''Brooklyn'' and ''Bandit'', Grayson was partnered with tenor [[Mario Lanza]] in ''[[That Midnight Kiss]]'' in 1949.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

===1950s===
[[File:Kathryn Grayson and Mario Lanza in Toast of New Orleans trailer.jpg|left|thumb|with [[Mario Lanza]] in ''[[The Toast of New Orleans]]'']]
In 1950, Grayson was once again partnered with Lanza, and portrayed an opera singer in ''[[The Toast of New Orleans]]'', and performed the Academy-Award-nominated song "[[Be My Love]]". While shooting the ''[[Madama Butterfly]]'' scene in the film, Lanza kept attempting to [[french kiss]] Grayson, which Grayson claimed was made even worse by the fact that Lanza would constantly eat garlic before shooting. Grayson went to costume designer [[Helen Rose]], who sewed pieces of brass into Grayson's gloves. Any time Lanza attempted to french kiss her after that, she hit him with the brass-filled glove.<ref>{{cite news|title=Lights, Cameras, Embrace! The Hollywood Love Scene|first=Peter H.|last=Brown|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=December 23, 1979}}</ref>

For the premiere of the film in [[New Orleans]], she was a guest at an auction selling the film's costumes.<ref>{{cite news|title='Sadie Smith' Will Be Betty Hutton Subject|author=Hedda Hopper|newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=September 18, 1950}}</ref>
[[File:Kathryn Grayson in Show Boat trailer.jpg|thumb|Grayson as Magnolia Hawkes.]]
Grayson replaced [[June Allyson]] in the role of Ina Massine in 1951's ''[[Grounds for Marriage]]''.{{sfn|Davis|2001|p=140}} She portrayed an opera singer with [[laryngitis]], alongside [[Van Johnson]] who played her doctor and love interest. This was also her first non-singing role at MGM. Grayson's musical performances do appear in the film, but in the form of recordings.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

Grayson was next cast as Magnolia Hawks in the [[Show Boat (1951 film)|1951 remake]] of the 1927 [[Oscar Hammerstein II|Hammerstein]] and [[Jerome Kern|Kern]] musical, ''[[Show Boat]]''. ''Show Boat'' was the third-highest-grossing film of 1951, earning over $5.533 million.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.boxofficereport.com/database/1951.shtml |title=Box Office Report for 1951|publisher=Boxofficereport.com|access-date=2010-07-30|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110107101817/http://www.boxofficereport.com/database/1951.shtml|archive-date=2011-01-07}}</ref>

Grayson teamed again with Keel in the 1952 [[Technicolor]] musical ''[[Lovely to Look At]]'', a remake of the 1935 [[Fred Astaire|Astaire]] and [[Ginger Rogers|Rogers]] film ''[[Roberta (1935 film)|Roberta]]''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Vocal Team Will Repeat|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=May 13, 1951}}</ref>

She was released to the Warner Brothers studio in January 1953, with the stipulation that she return to MGM for one more film. She returned to co-star for a third time with Howard Keel in her most acclaimed role, as Lilli Vanessi/Katharina in ''[[Kiss Me Kate (film)|Kiss Me Kate]]'', released in November 1953. The film was lavishly produced (the only musical other than ''[[Those Redheads from Seattle]] (1953)'' to be filmed in 3-D), with songs by [[Cole Porter]], choreography by [[Hermes Pan (choreographer)|Hermes Pan]], and musical direction by [[André Previn]].{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

===Warner Bros===
While on loan to [[Warner Bros]], her first musical release was ''[[The Desert Song (1953 film)|The Desert Song]]'', May 1953, alongside [[Gordon MacRae]]. She was asked to perform ''[[La Bohème]]'' at the Central City Opera House in [[Central City, Colorado]], but due to her filming obligations for ''The Desert Song'', she had to turn it down.<ref>{{cite news|title=Lizbeth Scott Given Break With Comics|author=Hedda Hopper |newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=June 3, 1952|page=16}}</ref> Warner Bros. starred her in a second musical that year, ''[[So This Is Love (film)|So This Is Love]]''.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

Grayson appeared on television occasionally, having guest starred in the [[CBS]] [[anthology series]], ''[[General Electric Theater]]'' in the episode, ''Shadow on the Heart'', with [[John Ericson]], and on ''[[Playhouse 90]]'' in the title role of the "Lone Woman", with [[Raymond Burr]] and [[Scott Brady]] in the historical roles of the brothers [[Charles Bent|Charles]] and [[William Bent]], respectively. In the 1980s, Grayson guest starred in three episodes as recurring character Ideal Molloy on ''[[Murder, She Wrote]]''.