Editing Mary Martin (section)

==Broadway==
[[File:Mary Martin in The Sound of Music by Toni Frissell.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Martin in promotional photo for the original production of ''[[The Sound of Music]]'']]

Martin was cast in [[Cole Porter]]'s ''[[Leave It to Me!]]'', making her Broadway debut in November 1938 in that production. She became popular on Broadway and received attention in the national media singing the spoof striptease song "[[My Heart Belongs to Daddy]]". With that one song in the second act, she became a star 'overnight'.<ref name=Davis-2008-biog/>{{rp|page=41}} Martin reprised the song in ''[[Night and Day (1946 film)|Night and Day]]'', a Hollywood film about Cole Porter, in which she played herself auditioning for Porter ([[Cary Grant]]). "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" catapulted her career and became very special to Martin—she even sang it to her ailing father in his hospital bed while he was in a coma. Martin did not learn immediately that her father had died. Headlines read "Daddy Girl Sings About Daddy as Daddy Dies". Because of the show's demanding schedule, Martin was unable to attend her father's funeral.<ref name=Davis-2008-biog/>{{rp|page=44–45}} In 1943 she starred in the new [[Kurt Weill]] musical ''[[One Touch of Venus]]'' and then ''[[Lute Song]]'' in 1946.<ref name=Block-1997-EnchEv/>

As nurse Nellie Forbush, Martin opened on Broadway in ''[[South Pacific (musical)|South Pacific]]'' on April 7, 1949.  Her performance was called "memorable&nbsp;... funny and poignant in turns", and she earned a Tony Award.<ref name=PBS-brdwy-stars-M-Martin/>
[[Richard Watts Jr.]] of the ''[[New York Post]]'' wrote: "nothing I have ever seen her do prepared me for the loveliness, humor, gift for joyous characterization, and sheer lovableness of her portrayal of Nellie Forbush&nbsp;.... Hers is a completely irresistible performance."<ref name=Suskin-1990-OpngNit/> She opened in the [[West End theatre|West End]] production on November 1, 1951.

Her next major success was in the role of Peter in the Broadway production of ''[[Peter Pan (1954 musical)|Peter Pan]]'' in October 1954 with Martin winning the Tony Award. 

Martin opened on Broadway in ''The Sound of Music'' as Maria on November 16, 1959, and stayed in the show until October 1961. She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. The musical gave Martin "the chance to display her homespun charm".<ref name=PBS-brdwy-stars-M-Martin/>

In 1966, she appeared on Broadway in the two-person musical ''[[I Do! I Do!]]'' with [[Robert Preston (actor)|Robert Preston]] and was nominated for the Tony Award (Leading Actress in a Musical). A national tour with Preston began in March 1968 but was canceled early due to Martin's illness.

[[File:Mary Martin Peter Pan.JPG|left|thumb|upright| Martin portraying [[Peter Pan]] on stage, in 1954]]
Although she appeared in nine films between 1938 and 1943, she was generally passed over for the filmed version of the musical plays. She herself once explained that she did not enjoy making films because she did not have the connection with an audience that she had in live performances. The closest that she ever came to preserving her stage performances was her television appearances as ''Peter Pan''. The Broadway production from 1954 was subsequently performed on [[NBC]] television in [[RCA]]'s compatible color in 1955, 1956, and 1960. Martin also preserved her 1957 stage performance as Annie Oakley in ''[[Annie Get Your Gun (musical)|Annie Get Your Gun]]'' when NBC television broadcast the production live that year.

While Martin did not enjoy making films, she frequently appeared on television. Her last feature film appearance was a cameo as herself in MGM's ''[[Main Street to Broadway]]'' in 1953.<ref name=Crowther-2007-movies/> Martin made an appearance in 1980 in a Royal Variety Performance in London performing "Honey Bun" from ''South Pacific.'' Martin appeared in the play ''[[Legends (play)|Legends]]'' with [[Carol Channing]] in a one-year US national tour opening in Dallas on January 9, 1986.<ref name=Davis-2008-biog/>{{rp|pages=272–278}}