South Pacific

Mitzi Gaynor:Nellie Forbush

Rossano Brazzi:Emile deBecque

John Kerr:Lt. Joe Cable

Giorgio Tozzi:Dubbed Emile deBecque singing

Synopsis Songs DVD

The cast of "South Pacific" was a mixture of Broadway and film actors. Rossano Brazzi was the only big-name film actor hired for the movie, but Mitzi Gaynor had a successful film career before "South Pacific" and John Kerr had achieved some fame with his earlier role in "Tea and Sympathy." Most of the supporting roles went to Broadway performers, such as Ray Walston.

The two male leads, Rossano Brazzi and John Kerr, were not singers, yet their characters had some of the most beautiful and powerful songs in "South Pacific." Their singing was dubbed by the world famous opera singer, Giorgio Tozzi, and an unknown singer, Bill Lee. Lee, who sang for Kerr, also sang for Christopher Plummer in "The Sound of Music" and for John Gavin in "Thoroughly Modern Millie." He was also a member of a singing quartet, The Mellomen, and he was often the voice for Disney characters. Interestingly, Juanita Hall's singing was dubbed in the movie by Muriel Smith, even though Hall had appeared as Bloody Mary in the original Broadway production and she did the singing for her part on the soundtrack recording.

Mitzi Gaynor(1931-)

Mitzi Gaynor was born Francesca Marlene von Gerber in Chicago in 1931. She studied ballet as a child and began performing professionally as part of a chorus line in musical plays. Her film career began in 1950 with "My Blue Heaven."

Mitzi Gaynor had a successful movie career during the 1950s when she appeared in more than 15 films. Many of her movies during that period were popular movie musicals, such as "No Business Like Show Business" (1954), "Anything Goes" (1956), "Les Girls" (1957), and, of course, "South Pacific" (1958). Gaynor's film career did not last long, however. She made only two films in the 1960s and by 1963 her film career was over.

After Gaynor left the movie industry, she went on to a successful TV and concert career. In the late 1960s and in the 1970s, she appeared in nine TV specials and she earned 16 Emmy nominations. Gaynor also had a successful Las Vegas show and she appeared in concerts.

Official Website:
www.missmitzigaynor.com

Rossano Brazzi(1916-1994)

Rossano Brazzi was born in Bologna, Italy in 1916. He made his first Italian film in 1938. He had a prolific film career, primarily in Italian movies, from 1938 to 1996. He also appeared occasionally on television shows in both the US and Italy. Brazzi appeared in several American films, but only three were successful ("Three Coins in the Fountain" in 1954, "South Pacific" in 1958 and "Light in the Piazza" in 1962). Despite the limited fame he had prior to "South Pacific," he still earned top billing in the film.

Rossano Brazzi died in 1994 from a neural virus.

John Kerr(1931-)

John Kerr was born in New York in 1931. Both of his parents were film and theater actors. In 1953, Kerr made his Broadway debut in "Bernadine." Two years later, he achieved critical acclaim in "Tea and Sympathy" and he won a Tony award for Best Supporting or Featured Actor in a Drama for his role in the production. He later recreated the part in the movie version of "Tea and Sympathy" in 1956.

Kerr appeared many times on television shows from 1953 to 1979, with his first appearance on the Lux Video Theater. During the 1970s, he occasionally had small parts on TV shows, and in 1986 he made a TV movie ("The Park is Mine").

Kerr had a short film career. His first film was "The Cobweb" in 1955. He appeared in nine movies from 1955 to 1961, but only "Tea and Sympathy" and "South Pacific" were successes.

In the late 1960s, Kerr essentially retired from show business to become a full-time lawyer.

Giorgio Tozzi(1923-)

Giorgio Tozzi was probably the most famous and most successful person to dub the singing voice of another performer in a movie musical. He was a major international opera star before "South Pacific" and he has played the role of Emile deBecque many times in road companies.

Tozzi made his Broadway debut in 1948 in "The Rape of Lucretia." In 1980, he was nominated for a Tony award as Best Actor in a Musical for his role in "The Most Happy Fella."

Tozzi has won three Grammy awards as an opera singer: in 1960 for the "Marriage of Figaro," in 1961 for "Turandot" and in 1963 for "Aida."

In addition to his successful career in theater and opera, Tozzi has taught music and voice at The Julliard School, Brigham Young University and Indiana University.