Ethel Merman

Actor, Singer

About

Also Known As

Ethel Agnes Zimmerman

Birth Place

Astoria, New York, USA

Born

January 16, 1908

Died

February 15, 1984

Cause of Death

Died Of Complications From A Brain Tumor

Biography

Filmography

Airplane! (1980)

Journey Back to Oz (1974)

Voice

The Art of Love (1965)

Madame Coco La Fontaine

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)

Mrs. Marcus

There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)

Molly Donahue

Call Me Madam (1953)

Sally Adams

Photos & Videos

View All

Straight Place And Show (1938) -- (Movie Clip) With You On My Mind

Alexander's Ragtime Band -- (Movie Clip) Blue Skies

Family & Companions

Sherman Billingsley

Companion

Nightclub owner. Owned the Stork Club in NYC; was married at time of relationship with Merman; wife refused to give him divorce so he ended relationship with Merman c. 1940.

William Smith

Husband

Agent. Married on November 15, 1940; divorced on October 1, 1941.

Robert D Levitt

Husband

Publisher. Married in fall 1941; divorced on June 10, 1952; had two children with Merman; committed suicide in 1958.

Robert F Six

Husband

Businessman. Ran Continental Airlines; married on March 9, 1953; divorced in 1960.

Bibliography

"Ethel Merman"

George B Bryan (1992)

"Merman : An Autobiography"

Ethel Merman with George Eels (1978)

"Who Could Ask for Anything More?"

Ethel Merman (1955)

"I Got Rhythm: The Ethel Merman Story"

Bob Thomas

Biography

This Broadway singing giant ("Girl Crazy," "Annie Get Your Gun," "Gypsy") had a brassy, larger-than-life star persona and a uniquely powerful, heart-felt voice and popularized songs by George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, among others. Merman's belt-it-out rendition of Berlin's "There's No Business Like Show Business" has become the anthem of the entertainment industry. In occasional films from 1930, Merman undeniably brightened a number of features, several of which, like "Anything Goes" 1936, "Call Me Madam" 1953 and "There's No Business Like Show Business" 1954, were full-fledged star vehicles.

Filmography

Life Events

1926

Obtained letter of introduction to producer George White from her employer; White subsequently offered Merman a chorus role which she declined (date approximate)

1927

Signed to 9 year contract by agent Lon Irwin (date approximate)

1928

Signed 6 month contract with Warner Bros.; made film debut in short subject in nonspeaking role (date approximate)

1929

Adopted surname of Merman

1930

Broadway debut in Gershwin's "Girl Crazy"; introduced "I Got Rhythm" and other songs

1932

Appeared in George White's "Scandals" and introduced song, "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries"

1934

Appeared as Reno Sweeney in Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" on Broadway

1934

First full-length feature appearance, "We're Not Dressing" opposite Bing Crosby

1935

Radio series debut with the weekly "The Ethel Merman Show"

1936

Appeared in film version of "Anything Goes"

1940

Starred on Broadway in "Panama Hattie"

1946

Played Annie Oakley in Irving Berlin's "Annie, Get Your Gun"

1950

Broadway appearance in "Call Me Madam"

1953

First film in 10 years, "Call Me Madam"

1959

Signature role of Mama Rose in stage version of "Gypsy"

1969

Final stage appearance "Hello, Dolly!"; the play had been originally created with her in mind but she turned down the role; finally played Dolly on Broadway after Carol Channing, Ginger Rogers, Martha Raye, Betty Grable and Phyllis Diller had played it

1980

Last film role, a cameo in "Airplane!"

Videos

Straight Place And Show (1938) -- (Movie Clip) With You On My Mind In the opening scenes no trace of the stars (The Ritz Brothers) but we’ve met “society horsewoman” Barbara (Phyllis Brooks) who was late for her own engagement party, and her fiancè (Richard Arlen) and his discarded admirer, Broadway’s Ethel Merman, with an original by Lew Pollack and Lew Brown, in Straight Place And Show, 1938.

Alexander's Ragtime Band -- (Movie Clip) Blue Skies In an all-Irving Berlin musical, the composer's two favorite singers (Ethel Merman as "Jerry", Alice Faye as "Stella," having just met) take turns with "Blue Skies," in Alexander's Ragtime Band, 1938.

There's No Business Like Show Business -- (Movie Clip) Midnight Choo-Choo First number, introducing the parents of the nascent "Five Donahues," (Ethel Merman as mom "Molly," Dan Dailey as dad "Terry"), from 20th Century Fox's non-Broadway Irving Berlin musical, There's No Business Like Show Business, 1954.

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) -- (Movie Clip) Every Man For Himself! The second scene of motorist-witnesses Sid Caesar, Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Milton Berle, Ethel Merman, and Buddy Hackett (Edie Adams and Dorothy Provine not talking) finally not agreeing on how to split the loot from the dead gangster’s stash, in It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, 1963.

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) -- (Movie Clip) There's All This Dough After director Stanley Kramer’s opening car wreck, he rolls out comic all-stars, Milton Berle and Sid Caesar, Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett, then Jonathan Winters, Ethel Merman left behind, scrambling to dying Jimmy Durante, as “Smiler,” and a premise, in It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, 1963.

Strike Me Pink (1936) -- (Movie Clip) Shake It Off With Rhythm Some foul language in the tune by Harold Arlen and Lew Brown, but one of only two proper numbers with Ethel Merman, plus neat trick camera work by Gregg Toland on a dance by Sunnie O'Dea, in Samuel Goldwyn's Eddie Cantor vehicle, Strike Me Pink, 1936.

Strike Me Pink (1936) -- (Movie Clip) High And Low Nebbish Eddie Cantor in the crowd swooning over Ethel Merman, then 27 years old, her first scene, with a tune by Harold Arlen and Lew Brown, shot by Merrit Gerstad, from the Samuel Goldwyn production Strike Me Pink, 1936.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World - (Original Trailer) A group of greedy clowns tear up the countryside in search of buried treasure in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) featuring an all-star cast including Spencer Tracy, Sid Caesar, Milton Berle & Jonathan Winters.

There's No Business Like Show Business - (Original Trailer) A blonde beauty (Marilyn Monroe) upsets Ethel Merman's show business family in the Irving Berlin showpiece wide-screen musical There's No Business Like Show Business, 1954.

Family

Edward Zimmerman

Father

Accountant. Died in 1977.

Agnes Zimmerman

Mother

Died in 1974.

Ethel Levitt

Daughter

Born in July 1942; suffered with mental problems; estranged from her mother after her marriage at age 18; rift partially mended after birth of her two children committed suicide in August 1967.

Robert Levitt

Son

Born c. 1945.

Barbara Geary

Granddaughter

Born c. 1961; daughter of Ethel Merman Jr; producing a documentary on grandmother.

Companions

Sherman Billingsley

Companion

Nightclub owner. Owned the Stork Club in NYC; was married at time of relationship with Merman; wife refused to give him divorce so he ended relationship with Merman c. 1940.

William Smith

Husband

Agent. Married on November 15, 1940; divorced on October 1, 1941.

Robert D Levitt

Husband

Publisher. Married in fall 1941; divorced on June 10, 1952; had two children with Merman; committed suicide in 1958.

Robert F Six

Husband

Businessman. Ran Continental Airlines; married on March 9, 1953; divorced in 1960.

Ernest Borgnine

Husband

Actor. Married on June 27, 1964; separated next day; divorced on November 18, 1964.

Bibliography

"Ethel Merman"

George B Bryan (1992)

"Merman : An Autobiography"

Ethel Merman with George Eels (1978)

"Who Could Ask for Anything More?"

Ethel Merman (1955)

"I Got Rhythm: The Ethel Merman Story"

Bob Thomas

About

Biography

Filmography

Photos & Videos

Family & Companions

Bibliography

Biography

Filmography

Cast (Feature Film)

Music (Feature Film)

Cast (Special)

Music (Special)

Cast (TV Mini-Series)

Life Events

1926

1927

1928

1929

1930

1932

1934

1934

1935

1936

1940

1946

1950

1953

1959

1969

1980

Videos

Movie Clip

Trailer

Family

Companions

Bibliography

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