Jeanette MacDonald

MacDonald was born Jeannette Anna McDonald{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=8}} on June 18, 1903, at her family's Philadelphia home at 5123 Arch Street.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=4-5}} She was the youngest of the three daughters of Anna May (née Wright) and Daniel McDonald, a factory foreman{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=7}} and a salesman for a contracting household building company,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=5}} respectively, and the younger sister of character actress Blossom Rock (born Edith McDonald, also known as Marie Blake), who was most famous as "Grandmama" on the 1960s TV series The Addams Family. She was of Scottish, English, and Dutch descent.{{cite web|url=http://legendaryjeanettemacdonald.com/earlyyears.html|title=The Iron Butterfly :: Early Years|publisher=Legendary Jeanette MacDonald |first=Pierre|last=Montiel|access-date=2014-03-03}} The extra N in her given name was later dropped for simplicity's sake,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=8}} and A added to her surname to emphasize her Scottish heritage.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=8}} She began dancing lessons with local dance instructor Caroline Littlefield, mother of American ballerina/choreographer Catherine Littlefield, when very young, performing in juvenile operas, recitals, and shows staged by Littlefield around the city, including at the Academy of Music.Skeel, Sharon. Catherine Littlefield: A Life in Dance, Oxford University Press, 2020. She later took lessons with Al White and began touring in his kiddie shows, heading his "Six Little Song Birds" in Philadelphia at the age of nine.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=20}}

File:Jeanette MacDonald in costume for a Broadway show.jpg

In November 1919, MacDonald joined her older sister Blossom in New York. She took singing lessons with Wassili Leps{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=35}} and landed a job in the chorus of Ned Wayburn's The Demi-Tasse Revue, a musical entertainment presented between films at the Capitol Theatre on Broadway. In 1920, she appeared in two musicals: Jerome Kern's The Night Boat as a chorus replacement, and Irene on the road as the second female lead; future film star Irene Dunne played the title role during part of the tour,Logansport Pharos-Tribune, March 18, 1922 and Helen Shipman played the title role during the other part of the tour. In 1921, MacDonald played in Tangerine as one of the "Six Wives."{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=36}} In 1922, she was a featured singer in the Greenwich Village revue Fantastic Fricassee,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=38-40}} for which good press notices brought her a role in The Magic Ring the next year.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=40-5}} MacDonald played the second female lead in this long-running musical which starred Mitzi Hajos.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=40-5}} In 1925, MacDonald again had the second female lead opposite Queenie Smith in Tip Toes, a George Gershwin hit show.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=48-9}}

The following year, 1926, found MacDonald still in a second female lead in Bubblin' Over, a musical version of Brewster's Millions.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=51}} She finally landed a starring role in Yes, Yes, Yvette in 1927.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=51-3}} Planned as a sequel to producer H.H. Frazee's No, No, Nanette, the show toured extensively, but failed to please the critics when it arrived on Broadway. MacDonald also played the lead in her next two plays: Sunny Days{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=55-6}} in 1928 in her first show for the producers Lee and J.J. Shubert, for which she received rave reviews; and Angela (1928),{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=60-2}} which the critics panned. Her last play was Boom Boom in 1929, with her name above the title; the cast included young Archie Leach, who would later become Cary Grant.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=62-3}}

While MacDonald was appearing in Angela,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=60-2}} film star Richard Dix spotted her and had her screen-tested for his film Nothing but the Truth.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=57}} The Shuberts, however, would not let her out of her contract to appear in the film, which starred Dix and Helen Kane (the "Boop-boop-a-doop girl").{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=57}} In 1929, famed film director Ernst Lubitsch was looking through old screen tests of Broadway performers and spotted MacDonald.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=65}} He cast her as the leading lady in The Love Parade, his first sound film, which starred Maurice Chevalier.

In the first rush of sound films during 1929 and 1930, MacDonald starred in six films—the first four for Paramount Studios. Her first, The Love Parade (1929), directed by Ernst Lubitsch and co-starring Maurice Chevalier, was a landmark of early sound films, and received a Best Picture nomination.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/100446/The-Love-Parade/awards |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108112845/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/100446/The-Love-Parade/awards |url-status=dead |archive-date=2014-01-08 |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=The New York Times |date=2014 |title=The-Love-Parade – Cast, Crew, Director and Awards |access-date=2014-03-03}} MacDonald's first recordings for RCA Victor were two hits from the score: "Dream Lover" and "March of the Grenadiers."{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=80}} The Vagabond King (1930) was a lavish two-strip Technicolor film version of Rudolf Friml's hit 1925 operetta.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=89}} Broadway star Dennis King reprised his role as 15th-century French poet François Villon, and MacDonald was Princess Katherine.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=91}} She sang "Some Day" and "Only a Rose." The UCLA Film and Television Archive owns the only known color print of this production.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=89}}

Both Paramount and MacDonald were extremely busy in 1930. Paramount on Parade was an all-star revue, similar to other mammoth sound revues produced by major studios to introduce their formerly silent stars to the public. MacDonald's footage singing a duet of "Come Back to Sorrento" with Nino Martini was cut from the release print due to copyright reasons with Universal Studios, which had recently acquired the copyright to the song for an upcoming movie, King of Jazz.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=98-9}} Let's Go Native was a desert-island comedy directed by Leo McCarey,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=98}} co-starring the likes of Jack Oakie and Kay Francis.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=357}} Monte Carlo became another highly regarded Lubitsch classic, with British musical star Jack Buchanan as a count who disguises himself as a hairdresser in order to woo a scatterbrained countess (MacDonald). MacDonald introduced "Beyond the Blue Horizon," which she recorded three times during her career, including performing it for the Hollywood Victory Committee film Follow the Boys.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=268}}

File:Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald in The Merry Widow.jpg

In hopes of producing her own films, MacDonald went to United Artists to make The Lottery Bride in 1930. Despite music by Rudolf Friml, the film was not successful.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=96}} MacDonald next signed a three-picture deal with the Fox Film Corporation, a controversial move in Hollywood; every other studio was far superior in the eyes of many, from their budgets to the fantastical entertainment of their films.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=102}} Oh, for a Man! (1930) was more successful; MacDonald portrayed a temperamental opera singer who sings Wagner's "Liebestod"{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=359}} and falls for an Irish burglar played by Reginald Denny. In 1931, Don't Bet on Women was a non-musical drawing-room comedy in which a playboy (Edmund Lowe) bets his happily married friend (Roland Young) that he can seduce his friend's wife (MacDonald). Annabelle's Affairs (1931) was a farce, with MacDonald as a sophisticated New York playgirl who does not recognize her own miner husband, played by Victor McLaglen, when he turns up five years later. Although highly praised by reviewers at the time,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=105}} only one reel of this film survives.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=359}}

MacDonald took a break from Hollywood in 1931 to embark on a European concert tour, performing at the Empire Theater in Paris{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=111}} (Mistinguett and Morris Gest were said to have been in the crowd){{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=111}} and at London's Dominion Theatre,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=114}} and was invited to dinner parties with British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald and French newspaper critics. She returned to Paramount the following year for two films with Chevalier. One Hour with You in 1932 was directed by both George Cukor and Ernst Lubitsch, and simultaneously filmed in French with the same stars, but a French supporting cast.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=117}} Currently, no surviving print of Une Heure près de toi (One Hour With You) is known. Rouben Mamoulian directed Love Me Tonight (1932), considered by many film critics and writers to be the perfect film musical.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=119}} Starring Chevalier as a humble tailor in love with a princess played by MacDonald, much of the story is told in sung dialogue. Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=360}} wrote the original score, which included the standards "Mimi," "Lover," and "Isn't It Romantic?"{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=360}}

File:The Merry Widow 1934.JPG

In 1933, MacDonald left again for Europe, and while there signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Her first MGM film was The Cat and the Fiddle (1934), based on the Jerome Kern Broadway hit. Her co-star was Ramón Novarro. The plot about unmarried lovers shacking up just barely slipped through the new Production Code guidelines that took effect July 1, 1934.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=135}} Despite a Technicolor finale—the first use of the new three-color Technicolor process other than Disney cartoons—the film was not a huge success. It lost $142,000.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=135}} In The Merry Widow (1934), director Ernst Lubitsch reunited Maurice Chevalier and MacDonald in a lavish version of the classic 1905 Franz Lehár operetta. The film was highly regarded by critics and operetta lovers in major U.S. cities and Europe, but failed to generate much income outside urban areas, losing $113,000.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=361}} It had a huge budget of $1.6 million,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=361}} partially because it was filmed simultaneously in French as La Veuve Joyeuse, with a French supporting cast and some minor plot changes.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=362}}

Naughty Marietta (1935), directed by W. S. Van Dyke, was MacDonald's first film in which she teamed with newcomer baritone Nelson Eddy. Victor Herbert's 1910 score, with songs like "Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life," "I'm Falling in Love with Someone," "'Neath the Southern Moon," "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp," and "Italian Street Song," enjoyed renewed popularity.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=363}} The film won an Oscar for sound recording, and received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=363}} It was voted one of the Ten Best Pictures of 1935 by the New York film critics, was awarded the Photoplay Gold Medal Award as Best Picture of 1935 (beating out Mutiny on the Bounty, which won the Oscar),{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=159}} and in 2004 was selected to the National Film Registry. MacDonald earned gold records for "Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life" and "Italian Street Song."{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=197}} The following year, MacDonald starred in two of the highest-grossing films of that year. In Rose-Marie, MacDonald played a haughty opera diva who learns her young brother (pre-fame James Stewart) has killed a Mountie and is hiding in the northern woods; Eddy is the Mountie sent to capture him. Nelson Eddy and she sang Rudolf Friml's "Indian Love Call" to each other in the Canadian wilderness (actually filmed at Lake Tahoe). Eddy's definitive portrayal of the steadfast Mountie became a popular icon.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=173}} When the Canadian Mounties temporarily retired their distinctive hat in 1970, photos of Eddy in his Rose Marie uniform appeared in thousands of U.S. newspapers. San Francisco (1936) was also directed by W.S. Van Dyke.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=364}} In this tale of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, MacDonald played a hopeful opera singer opposite Clark Gable as the extra-virile proprietor of a Barbary Coast gambling joint, and Spencer Tracy as his boyhood chum who has become a priest and gives the moral messages.

File:Jeanette MacDonald and Allan Jones backstage (1937).jpg behind the scenes of The Firefly (1937)]]

In the summer of 1936, filming began on Maytime, co-starring Nelson Eddy, Frank Morgan, and Paul Lukas, produced by Irving Thalberg. After Thalberg's untimely death in September, production was shut down and the half-finished film scrapped.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=196}} A new script was filmed with a different storyline and supporting actors (including John Barrymore,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=203}} whose relationship with MacDonald was strained due to his alcoholism). The 'second' Maytime (1937), was the top-grossing film worldwide of the year, and is regarded as one of the best film musicals of the 1930s.{{cite news|quote=Altogether, it's possible that this is one of the best and most competently handled operettas that Hollywood has turned out|title=Maytime|first= John|last= Mosher|newspaper=The New Yorker|date= March 27, 1937|location=New York, NY|page= 70}} "Will You Remember" by Sigmund Romberg brought MacDonald another gold record.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=197}}

The Firefly (1937) was MacDonald's first solo-starring film at MGM with her name alone above the title. Rudolf Friml's 1912 stage score was borrowed, and a new song, "The Donkey Serenade," added, adapted from Friml's "Chanson" piano piece.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=215}} With real-life Americans rushing to fight in the ongoing revolution in Spain, this historical vehicle was constructed around a previous revolution in Napoleonic times.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=213}} MacDonald's co-star was tenor Allan Jones, who she demanded get the same treatment as she would, such as an equal number of close-ups.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=216}} The MacDonald/Eddy team had split after MacDonald's engagement and marriage to Gene Raymond, but neither of their solo films grossed as much as the team films, and an unimpressed Mayer used this to point out why Jones could not replace Eddy in the next project.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=221}} The Girl of the Golden West (1938) was the result, but the two stars had little screen time together, and the main song, "Obey Your Heart," was never sung as a duet.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=223}} The film featured an original score{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=222}} by Sigmund Romberg,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=366}} and reused the popular David Belasco stage plot{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=221}} (also employed by opera composer Giacomo Puccini for La fanciulla del West).{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=222}}

File:Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in Sweethearts trailer 2.jpg (1938)]]

Mayer had promised MacDonald the studio's first Technicolor feature, and he delivered with Sweethearts (1938), co-starring Eddy. In contrast to the previous film, the co-stars were relaxed onscreen and singing frequently together. The film integrated Victor Herbert's 1913 stage score into a modern backstage story scripted by Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=367}} MacDonald and Eddy played a husband-and-wife Broadway musical-comedy team who are offered a Hollywood contract. Sweethearts won the Photoplay Gold Medal Award as Best Picture of the Year.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=230}} Mayer dropped plans for the team to co-star in Let Freedom Ring, a vehicle first announced for them in 1935. Only Eddy starred, whereas MacDonald and Lew Ayres co-starred in Broadway Serenade (1939) as a contemporary musical couple who clash when her career flourishes while his founders. MacDonald's performance was subdued, and choreographer Busby Berkeley, just hired away from Warner Bros., was called upon to add an over-the-top finale in an effort to improve the film.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=238}} Broadway Serenade did not entice audiences in a lot of major cities,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=237}} with Variety claiming that New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles' cinema attendances were "sad," "slow,"and "sour."{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=237}}

Following Broadway Serenade, and not coincidentally right after Nelson Eddy's surprise elopement with Ann Franklin, MacDonald left Hollywood on a concert tour and refused to renew her MGM contract. Months later she summoned her manager Bob Ritchie from London to help her renegotiate. After initially insisting that she wanted to film Smilin' Through with James Stewart{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=246}} and Robert Taylor,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=235}} MacDonald finally relented and agreed to film New Moon (1940) with Eddy, which proved to be one of MacDonald's more popular films.{{cite web|url=http://www.tcm.turner.com/tcmdb/title/13794/New-Moon/articles.html|title=New Moon (1940) – Articles|publisher=TCM.com|access-date=2014-03-03}} Composer Sigmund Romberg's 1927 Broadway hit provided the plot and the songs: "Lover, Come Back to Me," "One Kiss," and "Wanting You," plus Eddy's version of "Stout Hearted Men." This was followed by Bitter Sweet (1940), a Technicolor film version of Noël Coward's 1929 stage operetta, which Coward loathed, writing in his diary about how "vulgar" he found it.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=243}} Smilin' Through (1941) was MacDonald's next Technicolor project, the third adaptation filmed in Hollywood,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=246}} with Brian Aherne and Gene Raymond. Its theme of reunion with deceased loved ones was enormously popular after the devastation of World War I, and MGM reasoned that it should resonate with audiences during World War II, but it failed to make a profit.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=248}} MacDonald played a dual role—Moonyean, a Victorian girl accidentally murdered by a jealous lover, and Kathleen, her niece, who falls in love with the son of the murderer.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=247}}

I Married an Angel (1942), was adapted from the Rodgers & Hart stage musical about an angel who loses her wings on her wedding night. The script by Anita Loos suffered serious censorship cuts during filming that made the result less successful.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=257}} MacDonald sang "Spring Is Here" and the title song. It was the final film made by the team of MacDonald and Eddy. After a falling-out with Mayer, Eddy bought out his MGM contract (with one film left to make) and went to Universal, where he signed a million-dollar, two-picture deal.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=259}} MacDonald remained for one last film, Cairo (1942), a cheaply budgeted spy comedy co-starring Robert Young as a reporter and Ethel Waters as a maid, whom MacDonald personally requested.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=260}} Within one year, beginning in 1942, L.B. Mayer released his four highest-paid actresses from their MGM contracts; Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, and Jeanette MacDonald. Of those four stars, MacDonald was the only one whom Mayer would rehire.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=259}}

File:The Sun Comes Up 1949.JPG

After opening the Metropolitan Opera's membership campaign,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=263}} MacDonald appeared as herself in Follow the Boys (1944), an all-star extravaganza about Hollywood stars entertaining the troops. The more than 40 guest stars included Marlene Dietrich, W.C. Fields, Sophie Tucker, and Orson Welles.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=372}} MacDonald is shown during a concert singing "Beyond the Blue Horizon," and in a studio-filmed sequence singing "I'll See You in My Dreams" to a blinded soldier.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=268}} She returned to MGM after five years off the screen for two films. Three Daring Daughters (1948) co-starred José Iturbi as her love interest.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=372}} MacDonald plays a divorcée whose lively daughters (Jane Powell, Ann E. Todd, and Elinor Donahue) keep trying to get her back with her ex, but she has secretly remarried. The song "The Dickey Bird" made the hit parade. The Sun Comes Up (1949) teamed MacDonald with Lassie in an adaptation of a short story by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. MacDonald played a widow who has lost her son, but warms to orphan Claude Jarman Jr.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=373}} It would prove to be her final film.

She frequently attempted a comeback movie, even financing and paying a screenwriter. One of the possible film reunions with Nelson Eddy was to be made in England, but Eddy pulled out when he learned MacDonald was investing her own funds. Eddy preferred to publicly blame the proposed project as mediocre, when in fact MacDonald was uninsurable due to her heart condition. A reunion with Maurice Chevalier was also considered.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=305}} Other thwarted projects with Eddy were The Rosary,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=319}} The Desert Song, and a remake of The Vagabond King, plus two movie treatments written by Eddy for them, Timothy Waits for Love and All Stars Don't Spangle. Offers continued to come in, and in 1962, producer Ross Hunter proposed MacDonald in his 1963 comedy The Thrill of It All, but she declined.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=318}} 20th Century Fox also toyed with the idea of MacDonald (Irene Dunne was briefly considered) for the part of Mother Abbess in the film version of The Sound of Music.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=318}} It never moved beyond the discussion stages partly because of MacDonald's failing health.

An annual poll of film exhibitors listed MacDonald as one of the top-10 box-office draws of 1936,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=175}} and many of her films were among the top-20 moneymakers of the years they were released.{{Citation needed|date=July 2008}} In addition, MacDonald was one of the top-10 box-office attractions in Great Britain from 1937 to 1942.{{cite web|url=http://legendaryjeanettemacdonald.com/filmography.html|title=Legendary Jeanette MacDonald :: Filmography|access-date=7 April 2019}} During her 39-year career, MacDonald earned two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (for films and recordings) and planted her feet in the wet concrete in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=150}}

In the mid-1950s, MacDonald toured in summer-stock productions of Bitter Sweet and The King and I.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=306}} She opened in Bitter Sweet at the Iroquois Amphitheater, Louisville, Kentucky, on July 19, 1954.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=354}} Her production of The King and I opened August 20, 1956, at the Starlight Theatre.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=354}} While performing there, she collapsed.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=311-2}} Officially, it was announced as heat prostration, but in fact it was a heart seizure.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=311-2}} She began limiting her appearances, and a reprisal of Bitter Sweet in 1959 was her last professional stage appearance.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=354}}

MacDonald and her husband Gene Raymond toured in Ferenc Molnár's The Guardsman. The production opened at the Erlanger Theater in Buffalo, New York, on January 25, 1951, and played in 23 Northeastern and Midwestern cities until June 2, 1951.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=353}} Despite less-than-enthusiastic comments from critics, the show played to full houses for virtually every performance. The leading role of "The Actress" was changed to "The Singer" to allow MacDonald to add some songs. While this pleased her fans, the show closed before reaching Broadway.

In the 1950s, talks with respect to a Broadway return occurred. In the 1960s, MacDonald was approached about starring on Broadway in a musical version of Sunset Boulevard.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=318}} Harold Prince recounts in his autobiography visiting MacDonald at her home in Bel Air to discuss the proposed project.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=318}} Composer Hugh Martin also wrote a song for the musical, entitled "Wasn't It Romantic?"{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=318}}

MacDonald also made a few nightclub appearances.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=303-4}} She sang and danced at The Sands and The Sahara in Las Vegas in 1953, The Coconut Grove in Los Angeles in 1954, and again at The Sahara in 1957, but she never felt entirely comfortable in their smoky atmospheres.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=303-4}}

File:Jeanette MacDonald representing the US Women's Volunteer Service.jpg uniform ({{circa|1942}})]]

Starting in 1931 and continuing through the 1950s, MacDonald engaged in regular concert tours between films. Her first European tour was in 1931, where she sang in both France and England.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=109-15}} Her first American concert tour was in 1939, immediately after the completion of Broadway Serenade. MacDonald performed at the Mayo Civic Auditorium in Rochester, Minnesota{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=232}} on April 19, 1939, to open that venue before an audience. She sang several times at the Hollywood Bowl{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=276-77}} and Carnegie Hall.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=294}} When America joined World War II in 1941, MacDonald co-founded the Army Emergency Relief and raised funds on concert tours.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=250-1}} When she was home in Hollywood, she held an open house at her home on Sunday afternoons for GIs.{{cite web|url=https://www.missmacdonalds.com/biography|title=Biography [Jeanette MacDonald] - Miss MacDonald's|website=MissMacDonalds.com|access-date=April 13, 2019|archive-date=April 13, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413205931/https://www.missmacdonalds.com/biography|url-status=dead}} On one occasion, at the request of Lt. Ronald Reagan, she was singing for a large group of men in San Francisco who were due to ship out to the fierce fighting in the South Pacific. She closed with "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," and 20,000 voices spontaneously joined in.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=250}} She auctioned off encores for donations and raised almost $100,000 for the troops{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=251}} (over $1.5 million, adjusted for inflation). President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who considered MacDonald and Eddy two of his favorite film stars, awarded her a medal. She also did command performances at the White House for President Dwight D. Eisenhower.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=308}}

File:Jeanette macdonald and armand tokatyan in 1943's romeo et juliette.jpg for Roméo et Juliette in Montreal, 1943]]

Unlike Nelson Eddy, who came from opera to film, MacDonald in the 1940s yearned to reinvent herself in opera. She began training for this goal with Lotte Lehmann, one of the leading opera stars of the early 20th century. "When Jeanette MacDonald approached me for coaching lessons," wrote Lehmann, "I was really curious how a glamorous movie star, certainly spoiled by the adoration of a limitless world, would be able to devote herself to another, a higher level of art. I had the surprise of my life. There couldn't have been a more diligent, a more serious, a more pliable person than Jeanette. The lessons which I had started with a kind of suspicious curiosity turned out to be sheer delight for me. She studied Marguerite with me—and lieder. These were the ones which astounded me most. I am quite sure that Jeanette would have developed into a serious and successful lieder singer if time would have allowed it."{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=269}}

MacDonald made her opera debut singing Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette in Montreal at His Majesty's Theatre (May 8, 1943).{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=265}} She quickly repeated the role in Quebec City (May 12),{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=351}} Ottawa (May 15 and 17),{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=351}} Toronto (May 20 and 22),{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=351}} and Windsor (May 24).{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=351}} Her U.S. debut with the Chicago Opera Company (November 4, 11 and 15, 1944) was in the same role.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=352}} She also sang Marguerite in Gounod's Faust with the Chicago Opera. In the summer of 1945, she appeared with the Cincinnati Opera as Juliette in two performances of Roméo et Juliette (July 10 and 25) and one as Marguerite in Faust (July 15). That November, she did two more performances of Roméo et Juliette and one of Faust in Chicago.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=353}} On December 12, 1951, she did one performance of Faust with the Philadelphia Civic Grand Opera Company at the Academy of Music.

Claudia Cassidy, the music critic of the Chicago Tribune wrote, "Her Juliet is breathtakingly beautiful to the eye and dulcet to the ear."Rich (2001), p. 330 The same critic reviewed Faust: "From where I sit at the opera, Jeanette MacDonald has turned out to be one of the welcome surprises of the season ... her Marguerite was better than her Juliet ... beautifully sung with purity of line and tone, a good trill, and a Gallic inflection that understood Gounod's phrasing ... You felt if Faust must sell his soul to the devil, at least this time he got his money's worth."{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=277}}

File:Jeanette MacDonald and a CBS Radio microphone in 1937.jpg

MacDonald's extensive radio career may have begun on a 1929 radio broadcast of the Publix Hour. She was on the Academy Awards ceremony broadcast in 1931. She hosted her own radio show, Vicks Open House,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=218}} from September 1937 to March 1938, for which she received $5,000 a week. However, the time demands of doing a weekly live radio show while filming, touring in concerts, and making records proved enormously difficult, and after fainting on-air during one show, she decided not to renew her radio contract with Vicks at the end of the 26-week season. Thereafter, she stuck to guest appearances.

MacDonald appeared in condensed radio versions of many of her films on programs such as Cecil B. DeMille's Lux Radio Theater, often with Nelson Eddy, and the Railroad Hour, which starred Gordon MacRae. These included The Merry Widow, Naughty Marietta, Rose Marie, Maytime,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=270}} Sweethearts, Bitter Sweet, Smilin' Through, and The Sun Comes Up, plus other operettas and musicals such as Victor Herbert's Mlle Modiste, Irene,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=187}} The Student Prince, Tonight or Never with Melvyn Douglas, A Song for Clotilda, The Gift of the Magi, and Apple Blossoms. Other radio shows included The Prudential Family Hour, Screen Guild Playhouse, and The Voice of Firestone, which featured the top opera and concert singers of the time. In 1953, MacDonald sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, broadcast on both radio and TV.

MacDonald sang frequently with Nelson Eddy during the mid-1940s on several Lux Radio Theater and The Screen Guild Theater productions of their films together. She also appeared as his guest several times on his various radio shows such as The Electric Hour and The Kraft Music Hall. He was also a surprise guest when she hosted a war-bonds program called Guest Star, and they sang on other World War II victory shows together. The majority of her radio work in the mid to late 1940s was with Eddy. Her 1948 Hollywood Bowl concert was also broadcast over the air, in which she used Eddy's longtime accompanist, Theodore Paxson.

MacDonald appeared on early TV, most frequently as a singing guest star. She sang on The Voice of Firestone on November 13, 1950.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=296}} On November 12, 1952, she was the subject of Ralph Edwards' This Is Your Life.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=301}} Her surprise guests included her sisters, a sailor she danced with at the Hollywood Canteen, her former English teacher, her husband and the clergyman who married them, and Nelson Eddy appeared as a voice from her past, singing the song he sang at her wedding; his surprise appearance brought her to tears. Shortly thereafter, she appeared as the mystery guest on the December 21, 1952, episode of What's My Line?{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=296}} After the panelists guessed her identity, she told John Daly she was in New York for the holidays and would have a recital at Carnegie Hall on January 16. On February 2, 1956, MacDonald starred in Prima Donna,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=310}} a television pilot for her own series, written for her by her husband Gene Raymond. The initial show featured guest stars Leo Durocher and Larraine Day, but it failed to find a slot. In December 1956, MacDonald and Eddy made their first TV appearance as a team on the Lux Video Theatre Holiday Special. In 1957, Eddy and she appeared on Patti Page's program The Big Record, singing several songs.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=313}} On Playhouse 90 (March 28, 1957), MacDonald played Charley's real aunt to Art Carney's impersonation in "Charley's Aunt."{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=310}}

File:Jeanette MacDonald and her sisters.jpg

When MacDonald was born, her father quickly doted on her.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=6}} Although he had hoped for a son who would pursue "an American dream" life that he believed he had failed to live himself, he advised his three daughters to do this instead.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=6}} MacDonald was the only daughter in the family that had inherited both her father's red hair and blue-green eyes,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=5}} although she often admired her sisters' beauty, such as Blossom's dimples{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=19}} and her elder sister Elsie's (1893{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=6}}—1970{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=333}}) blonde hair and blue eyes.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=14}} Elsie could play the piano, and taught toddler MacDonald a variety of popular waltzes and Stephen Foster's compositions.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=10}} At this time, MacDonald discovered that she was an extrovert who enjoyed socializing with friends and performing for others, admitting that "[I] needed people to watch and applaud me as much as I needed food and drink."{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=9}} At the end of her first performance in the local church as a child, "I paused ever so slightly and then, when I realized they needed prodding, I promptly began clapping my hands and said to the congregation, 'Now everybody's got to clap!'"{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=10}}

MacDonald cited the number thirteen as her lucky number.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=144}} Her characters always had a name beginning with M, the first letter of her surname and the 13th letter of the English alphabet, a ritual upon which she had insisted.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=144}} Interestingly, thirteen became a recurring number throughout her life, such as the thirteen-year gap between her overseas tours in Europe;{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=279}} principal photography for The Merry Widow had taken thirteen weeks to film;{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=144}} her first movie, The Love Parade, was the number-one box-office draw for 13 weeks;{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=87}} MacDonald performed opera for the first time for a screen test thirteen years after meeting Newell (who was also on set);{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=182}} the thirteen-year gap between her and sister Blossom's death;{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=333}} and husband Gene Raymond's birthday was August 13.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=165}}

File:Harriet Kreisler, Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson and Jeanette MacDonald.jpg and Gloria Swanson at the Stork Club in 1944]]

On sets, MacDonald would never lip-sync, instead singing along to song playbacks during filming, which Lew Ayres discovered when he starred alongside her in Broadway Serenade, whereupon he was supplied with earplugs after the volume nauseated him.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=239}}

File:Jeanette MacDonald with her three pet dogs.jpg." ({{circa|mid-to-late 1930s}}){{cite tweet|number=966060090225774594|user=MissMacDonalds|author=Miss Jeanette MacDonald|date=February 20, 2018|access-date=May 15, 2019|title="A MacDonald home without dogs is like ham without eggs." She had as many as five dogs living with her at Twin Gables. Here are some shots of Jeanette and her pups at home over the years.}}]]

A recurrent issue throughout MacDonald's career was her health. Her handwritten letter from August, 1929 indicates that MacDonald, age 26, had recently suffered a heart attack.Jeanette MacDonald: The Irving Stone Letters She also suffered from stage fright throughout her life to the point that her therapist told her to imagine that all of the members of the audience were lettuce.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=232}} Due to her heart condition, she could not carry a pregnancy to term; she had blackouts and fainting spells, became stressed to the point of not being able to eat, and was frequently in and out of hospitals and trying different treatments (one being massage therapy),{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=102n}} which only worked for a limited time. A few years before her death, MacDonald became a Religious Scientist.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=315-6}} Her illnesses would not allow her to perform early morning filming shoots, much to her colleagues' annoyance.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=3}}

MacDonald was a Republican, but she mostly avoided commenting on politics. When approached by the House Un-American Activities Committee about whether she had heard any gossip about Communist activity in Hollywood, she replied, "As at any focal point, there are some belligerents, but they are no more numerous than in any other community."{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=242}} Neither she nor Gene Raymond were ever considered or subpoenaed for a HUAC hearing;{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=288}} in a radio interview, MacDonald was quoted as saying, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" in response to what her opinion was on the investigations.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=288}} She fired her manager Charles Wagner for anti-Semitic abuse of her Jewish friend Constance Hope,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=272}} and declared during the 1940 presidential election, "I sing for Democrats and Republicans, black and white, everyone, and I just can't talk politics."{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=245}}

MacDonald met Jack Ohmeis (1901-1967){{sfn|I'll See You Again|2019a|page=37}} at a party during her appearance in Tangerine.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=37}} He was an architecture student at New York University and the son of a successful bottle manufacturer.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=37}} His family was hesitant about the relationship, assuming that MacDonald was a gold-digger, but accepted her after they met.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=38}} She and Ohmeis became engaged a year later,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=43}} but their future plans and aspirations forced them to go their separate ways;{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=43}} the sudden death of MacDonald's father was another factor in the break-up.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=44}} Unfortunately, the Ohmeis family would lose a lot of their fortune after the Wall Street Crash, so MacDonald loaned money to Jack, and he repaid her as soon as he could, which was as late as the 1950s.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=38}} MacDonald next dated Irving Stone (1901-1968){{sfn|I'll See You Again|2019a|page=39}} from around 1926–28; they met when she was touring in Chicago in The Magic Ring.{{sfn|I'll See You Again|2019a|page=39}} Stone, who lived in Milwaukee, was the nephew of the founder of the Wisconsin Boston Store, and worked in the family business. Few details were known of Stone's romance with MacDonald until the discovery of hundreds of pages of handwritten love letters she wrote to him that were found in his apartment after his death, which happened three years after her death.

MacDonald eventually dated a Wall Street rep named Robert Ritchie (died 1972{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=333}}), 12 years her senior,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=59}} who claimed that he was the son of a fallen millionaire.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=58}} They traveled with MacDonald's family to Hollywood, and he became a press agent for MGM. Rumors circulated that they were engaged and/or secretly married,{{cite web|url=http://legendaryjeanettemacdonald.com/robertritchie.html|title=Robert G. Ritchie|website=LegendaryJeanetteMacDonald.com|access-date=11 April 2019}} since Ritchie was by MacDonald's side during her European tour and they lived together{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=94}}—MacDonald even signing her return address as "JAR" (Jeanette Anna Ritchie) and referring to him as her "darling husband." Despite Ritchie's family claiming that he was married to MacDonald but the marriage had been annulled in 1935, he never confirmed the claims. He later relocated to Europe as an MGM representative, becoming responsible for recruiting Greer Garson, Hedy Lamarr, and Luise Rainer.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=132}}

File:Jeanette MacDonald and Gene Raymond in the 1950s.jpg

MacDonald married Gene Raymond in 1937.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=209}} She met him at a Hollywood party two years earlier at Roszika Dolly's home;{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=163}} MacDonald agreed to a date, as long as it was at her family's dinner table.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=163}} Despite the strong relationship, Raymond's mother did not like MacDonald, attempting to snub her a few times (such as arranging her son with Janet Gaynor as a plus-one at a charity ball),{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=166}} and did not attend the wedding.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=209}} The Raymonds lived in a 21-room Mock Tudor mansion named Twin Gables with their pet dogs and their horse White Lady, which Raymond gave to MacDonald as a birthday present;{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=211-2}} after MacDonald's death, it was briefly owned by John Phillips and Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and Papas.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=332}} MacDonald often worried about her husband's self-esteem; his acting career was constantly shaky, and RKO Pictures eventually sold out his contract when he had two movies left to make with them in the 1950s.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=292}} Although she appreciated his support, MacDonald wished that their success was equal.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=293}}

Raymond was sometimes mistaken for Nelson Eddy by MacDonald's fans and passersby, which MacDonald later admitted that she never liked: "Of course we always laughed it off—sometimes Gene even obliged by signing Nelson's name—but no one will ever know the agonies I suffered on such occasions. More than anything else in the world those days, I wanted to see him receive as much acclaim as I, to spare him these humiliations."{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=293}} When she reunited with Chevalier in 1957, he asked her why she had retired from films, to which she replied, "Because for exactly twenty years I've played my best role, by his [Raymond's] side. And I'm perfectly happy."{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=313}}

File:Jeanette MacDonald mausoleum.jpg

MacDonald died at the Houston Methodist Hospital from heart failure on January 14, 1965, with Raymond by her hospital bed.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=328}} Two years before, she had been assigned Dr. Michael DeBakey, who had recently operated successfully on the Duke of Windsor, in the hope that he could save her.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=321}} Despite the surgery, MacDonald became ill with pleurisy the week after, and was in Houston Methodist Hospital for over a month.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=322}} In December 1964, her condition worsened and she was rushed to UCLA Medical Center.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=327}} DeBakey suggested open-heart surgery, and Raymond brought MacDonald into the hospital January 12.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=327}} On the afternoon of the 14th, Raymond was at her bedside massaging her feet when she died. He said that their last conversation was when MacDonald said, "I love you," and he replied, "I love you too;" she then sighed deeply, and her head hit the pillow.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=328}}

The funeral took place on January 18.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=330}} Along with close family and widower Raymond, it was notably attended by a handful of MacDonald's costars (such as Eddy, Allan Jones, Chevalier, Joe E. Brown, Spencer Tracy, Lloyd Nolan, etc.), representatives of her fan club, former presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, Senator George Murphy, former vice-president Richard Nixon, future governor & president Ronald Reagan, and Mary Pickford; Dr. Gene Emmet Clark of the Church of Religious Science officiated.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=330}} Newsreel footage shows Nelson Eddy as the last person to exit the church, with Lauritz Melchior and other celebrities offering him condolences. MacDonald was interred in a pink-marbled crypt{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=331}} at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, which reads "Jeanette MacDonald Raymond." Hers is next to Nat King Cole, and George Burns and Gracie Allen.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=331}}

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, MacDonald has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6157 Hollywood Blvd. For her contribution to recording, MacDonald has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1628 Vine Street.{{cite web|url=https://walkoffame.com/jeanette-macdonald/|access-date=April 10, 2024|title=Hollywood Walk of Fame|date=October 25, 2019 }}

MacDonald was crowned as the Queen of the Movies in 1939 with Tyrone Power as her king. The ceremony was filmed and presented by Ed Sullivan.{{cite tweet|user=MissMacDonalds|author=Miss Jeanette MacDonald|number=992951108032253952|title=Celebrating Tyrone Power (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958) on his birthday. #BornOnThisDay Here are Tyrone and Jeanette being crowned King and Queen of The Movies in 1939! #botd #TyronePower #JeanetteMacDonald|date=May 5, 2018|access-date=May 15, 2019}}

MacDonald was awarded an honorary doctor of music degree from Ithaca College in 1956.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|pages=310-1}}

MacDonald was named Philadelphia's Woman of the Year in 1961.{{cite tweet|author=Miss Jeanette MacDonald|user=MissMacDonalds|number=968276715880534017|title=This lovely article chronicles a few of the acts that led to Jeanette MacDonald becoming #WomanOfTheYear in her hometown of Philadelphia, which she described as being "a more gratifying recognition than all". Her smile throughout the night shows the sincerity in her words.|date=February 27, 2018|access-date=May 15, 2019}} Of the award, she said, "It is strange how awards, decorations, doctorates, etc., can be conferred from various parts of the country, and even the world. And yet, the funny satisfaction of being recognized in one's home town seems to be a more gratifying recognition than all."{{cite news|title=Man About Town|year=1960|first=Frank|last=Brookhouser|work=}}

Shortly after MacDonald's death, surviving classmates from her high school contributed a $150 donation in her name to the Children's Heart Hospital of Philadelphia.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=334}}

The USC Thornton School of Music built a Jeanette MacDonald Recital Hall in her honor.{{cite web|url=http://web-app.usc.edu/venues/?id=420 |title=USC Maps |publisher=Web-app.usc.edu|access-date=2014-03-03}}

A bronze plaque for MacDonald was unveiled in March 1988 on the Philadelphia Music Alliance's Walk of Fame in Raymond's presence.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=335}}

MacDonald began developing an autobiography in the 1950s. She wanted her readers to both be inspired by her career and understand how she had coped with balancing a public and personal life.{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=316}} In one early version she intended to candidly discuss Nelson Eddy but dropped that idea when Eddy feared public fallout.{{cite book|last=Rich|first=Sharon|title=Sweethearts|year=2014}}, p. 488 She hired and fired other ghostwriters and wrote a manuscript solo but it was rejected by the publisher for being "too genteel";{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=317}} MacDonald refused to include many personal details about Eddy and she deleted already typed pages admitting to one single pregnancy that ended in miscarriage. Her last ghost writer, Fredda Dudley Balling, noted that MacDonald was too ill to work more than a couple hours a day, so a final draft was never completed. The unfinished manuscript was published and annotated in 2004.{{cite book|last=Rich|first=Sharon|title=Jeanette MacDonald Autobiography: The Lost Manuscript|year=2004}} MacDonald said that publishers wanted her to spice up her story. She refused to gossip about her colleagues and said she did not live that kind of life. In the last year of her life, despite declining health, she still was trying to find a publisher. An early version of the book, written with James Brough, is in the Cinematic Arts Library, Doheny Memorial Library, University of Southern California.{{cite book|last=McCormick|first=Maggie|title=I'll See You Again, Volume 3: After the War|year=2019}}

File:Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in Sweethearts trailer 3.jpg

Despite public denials from the stars themselves of any personal relationship between Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, documentation shows otherwise. In a handwritten 1935 letter by Nelson to "Dearest Jeanette," written on his letterhead, Nelson Eddy writes: "I love you and will always be devoted to you."{{Cite web|url=https://maceddy.com/nelsons-i-love-you-letter/|title=Nelson Eddy's "Dearest Jeanette…I love you" handwritten 1935 letter to Jeanette MacDonald! – Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy Home Page|website=Maceddy.com|date=June 23, 2015 }}

In the biography Sweethearts by Sharon Rich, the author presents MacDonald and Eddy as continuing an adulterous affair after their marriages. Rich, who was a close friend of MacDonald's older sister Blossom Rock, also knew Gene Raymond, and documents that the relationship lasted—with a few breaks—until MacDonald's death. Newsreel footage from MacDonald's funeral shows Eddy as the last person exiting the chapel, circled by other celebrities, such as Lauritz Melchior, who offer him condolences.{{cite web|url=http://maceddy.com/nelson-eddy-most-miserable-day-of-my-life-jeanette-macdonalds-funeral/ |title=Nelson Eddy: "The most miserable day of my life" (Jeanette MacDonald's funeral) |website=Maceddy.com |date=July 8, 2014 |access-date=2016-01-20}}

MacDonald had a reported eight pregnancies by Eddy, the first while they were filming Rose Marie. This was before she had an intimate relationship with Gene Raymond. Raymond was physically unable to father children, and MacDonald alluded to this fact in her unfinished autobiography, writing that she returned from her Hawaii honeymoon with Raymond with the knowledge and accurate admittance that "The MacRaymonds had no children."{{cite book|last=Rich|first=Sharon|author-link=Sharon Rich|title=Jeanette MacDonald Autobiography: The Lost Manuscript|year=2004}} Nevertheless, MacDonald had additional, later, documented and visible pregnancies while married to Raymond, all of which ended in miscarriage.

File:Sweethearts-trailer-macdonald-eddy.jpg

Rich's findings also included documentation that Raymond physically and emotionally abused MacDonald, and had affairs as early as their honeymoon when MacDonald allegedly discovered Raymond in bed with Buddy Rogers.{{Cite web|url=http://godsandfoolishgrandeur.blogspot.com/2013/11/gene-raymond-buddy-rogers-and-three.html|title=Gods and Foolish Grandeur: Gene Raymond, Buddy Rogers, and three rather odd Hollywood marriages|website=Godsandfoolishgrandeur.blogspot.com|date=November 10, 2013}} Raymond was arrested three times, the first in January 1938, as verified by a court document,{{Cite web|url=https://maceddy.com/biography/biography-3/|title=Jeanette MacDonald | Nelson Eddy Biography – Part 3 – Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy Home Page|website=Maceddy.com|date=April 30, 2012 }} and also in England during his army service,{{harvnb|Rich|1994|authorlink=Sharon Rich|p=303}} for his behavior.{{cite book|isbn=1-55611-407-9|publisher=Donald Fine|year=1994|title=Sweethearts|first=Sharon|last=Rich|author-link=Sharon Rich|page=[https://archive.org/details/sweetheartstimel00rich/page/448 448]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/sweetheartstimel00rich/page/448}} Raymond's wedding to MacDonald, orchestrated by Louis B. Mayer, forced MacDonald to become Raymond's "beard," and the 1938 arrest resulted in Mayer blacklisting him in Hollywood for almost two years.

Biographer E. J. Fleming also alleged that Eddy had confronted Raymond for abusing MacDonald, who was visibly pregnant with Eddy's child{{Cite web|url=https://maceddy.com/jeanette_screenshot/|title=Jeanette MacDonald pregnancy screenshot – Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy Home Page|website=Maceddy.com|date=March 10, 2015 }} while filming Sweethearts, which ended with Eddy attacking him and leaving him for dead, though newspapers reported Raymond was recovering from a fall down the stairs.{{cite book|last1=Fleming|first1=E.J.|title=The Fixers: Eddie Mannix, Howard Strickling and the MGM Publicity Machine|date=2004|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, NC|isbn=0786420278|page=180|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f0usSUISUUMC}}

At that time Mayer adamantly refused to allow MacDonald to annul her marriage and elope. The situation ended with MacDonald losing her baby at nearly 6 months.{{cite book|title=Sweethearts: The Timeless Love Affair Onscreen and Off Between Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy|first=Sharon|last=Rich|author-link=Sharon Rich|year=2014}} The boy was named Daniel Kendrick Eddy, and Nelson buried him (or his ashes) on private property in Ojai, California.

Other co-stars and friends verified the MacDonald/Eddy relationship.{{cite web|url=http://maceddy.com/sandy-reiss-interview/ |title=Sandy Reiss Interview |website=Maceddy.com |date=April 28, 2012 |access-date=2016-01-20}}{{cite web|url=http://maceddy.com/rise-stevens-interview|title=Rise Stevens Interview|website=Maceddy.com|date=April 28, 2012|access-date=2016-01-20}}{{cite web|url=http://maceddy.com/miliza-korjus-interview|title=Miliza Korjus Interview|website=Maceddy.com|date=April 28, 2012|access-date=2016-01-20}}

Over the decades, MacDonald and Eddy privately occupied several homes together. In 1938, they had a small Burbank house located at 812 S. Mariposa Street in Burbank. In the 1940s, Nelson leased and remodeled for himself and MacDonald the old cowboy bunkhouse at 1330 Angelo Drive, Beverly Hills. Starting in 1947, they used 710 N. Camden Drive, which had been the home of MacDonald's mother until her death. They also alternately stayed at favorite hotels and homes across the country owned by celebrity friends including Lily Pons and Irene Dunne. In 1963, MacDonald and Raymond moved into two adjoining apartments at the Wilshire Comstock in Westwood, on the 8th floor in the East building. Nelson Eddy had his own apartment on the 7th floor of the West building, and allowed MacDonald to decorate it; they used it as a rendezvous spot until she was too weak to walk the few yards over to his building. (After Eddy's death, his widow Ann learned of the apartment and moved into it.)Mac/Eddy Today, Issue #72

Forbidden to marry early on by MGM studio boss Louis B. Mayer, MacDonald and Eddy performed a mock wedding ceremony at Lake Tahoe while filming Rose Marie. They considered that "by God's laws" they were married, although they were never able to do so legally. Every autumn, they returned to Lake Tahoe to renew their vows. As late as 1948, MacDonald's desk diary has a "Lake Tahoe" entry.{{Cite web|url=https://maceddy.com/lake-tahoe-trip-1948/|title=Lake Tahoe trip, 1948 – Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy Home Page|website=Maceddy.com|date=February 20, 2017 }} After their 1943 visit, Eddy wrote a lengthy diary entry about their trip and his love for her, calling her "my wife," which he did in private to the end of her life.{{Cite web|url=http://sharonrich.com/2014/06/sweethearts-excerpt/|title=An Excerpt from "Sweethearts" – Sharon Rich|website=Sharonrich.com}}

{{main|Jeanette MacDonald on screen and stage}}

{{main|Jeanette MacDonald discography}}

File:Jeanette MacDonald in the recording studio with Nelson Eddy.jpg

MacDonald performed and recorded more than 50 songs during her career, working exclusively for RCA Victor in the United States. She also did some early recordings for His Master's Voice in England and France while she was there on a concert tour in 1931. She earned three gold records,{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=197}} one for the LP album, Favorites in Stereo{{sfn|Hollywood Diva, 1998|page=313}} that she did with Nelson Eddy in 1959.{{cite web |url=https://www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/?tab_active=default-award&se=jeanette+macdonald#search_section |title=Searchable database |publisher=RIAA |date=2015 |access-date=February 9, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412125624/https://www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/?tab_active=default-award&se=jeanette+macdonald%23search_section |archive-date=April 12, 2019 }}

• MacDonald in Song (1939){{cite web |title=Jeanette MacDonald – MacDonald In Song |url=https://www.discogs.com/Jeanette-MacDonald-MacDonald-In-Song/release/4389374 |website=Discogs |access-date=May 3, 2019}}
• Religious Songs (1945){{cite web|title=Religious Songs sung by Jeanette MacDonald |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/smor.ALB-1085/|access-date=April 22, 2019|website=Library of Congress}}
• Operetta Favorites (1946){{cite web|title=Jeanette MacDonald's Operetta Favorites|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/smor.ALB-210/ |website=Library of Congress |access-date=April 22, 2019}}
• Romantic Moments (1950){{cite web|title=Jeanette MacDonald - Romantic Moments |url=https://www.discogs.com/Jeanette-MacDonald-Romantic-Moments/master/1287999 |website=Discogs|access-date=April 22, 2019}}
• Favorites (c. 1951){{cite web |title=Jeanette MacDonald - Favorites |url=https://www.discogs.com/Jeanette-MacDonald-Favorites/release/13244035 |website=Discogs |access-date=April 22, 2019}}
• Favorites in Stereo (1959){{cite web|title=Favorites in Stereo|url=https://www.discogs.com/Jeanette-MacDonald-Nelson-Eddy-Favorites-In-Hi-Fi/master/319582|website=Discogs|date=December 7, 1965 |access-date=April 22, 2019}}
• Smilin' Through (1960){{cite web|title=Jeanette MacDonald - Smilin' Through|url=https://www.discogs.com/Jeanette-MacDonald-Smilin-Through/master/534753|website=Discogs|date=December 7, 1960 |access-date=April 22, 2019}}
• Jeanette MacDonald Sings Songs of Faith and Inspiration (1963){{cite web|title=Jeanette MacDonald Sings Songs of Faith and Inspiration|url=https://www.discogs.com/Jeanette-MacDonald-Jeanette-MacDonald-Sings-Songs-Of-Faith-And-Inspiration/master/1194589|website=Discogs|date=December 7, 1963 |access-date=April 22, 2019}}

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• Barclay, Florence L., The Rosary by Florence L. Barclay, new introduction by Sharon Rich, comments by Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, Bell Harbour Press, 2005. This 1910 #1 best seller featured two singers in a "Jane Eyre" plot, and the heroine's nickname was Jeanette. Eddy chose it as a possible film vehicle for himself and MacDonald in 1948. This edition features a new introduction with excerpts from their written correspondence of 1948, in which the film project was discussed.
• Castanza, Philip, The Films of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, Citadel Press, 1978.
• Eddy, Nelson, "All Stars Don't Spangle" movie treatment for himself and MacDonald, reprinted in its entirety in Mac/Eddy Today magazine, issue #50.
• Hamann, G.D. (Ed.), Collections of contemporary newspaper and magazine references in the following: Jeanette MacDonald in the 30s. (141 pp.), Jeanette MacDonald in the 40s (100 pp.), Nelson Eddy in the 30s and 40s (128 pp.), and Filming Today Press, 2005, Hollywood, California (www.GDHamann.com).
• Knowles (Dugan), Eleanor, The Films of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, Booksurge Llc, 2006.
• {{cite book|last=Rich|first=Sharon|title=Jeanette MacDonald: The Irving Stone Letters|publisher=Bell Harbour Press|year=2002|isbn= 0-9711998-4-1}} Letters by MacDonald are reproduced and annotated. MacDonald dated Stone in 1927–28 and remained friends afterwards, so most of these are love letters. In one letter from August 1929 she tells Stone she is recovering from a heart attack.
• {{cite book|last=Rich|first=Sharon|title=Jeanette MacDonald Autobiography: The Lost Manuscript|publisher=Bell Harbour Press|year=2004|isbn=0-9711998-8-4}} The complete, typewritten autobiography with MacDonald's handwritten editing, deletions and comments noted throughout. Annotated and with original letters from MacDonald's collaborator on the project.
• {{cite book|last=Rich|first=Sharon|title=Nelson Eddy: The Opera Years|publisher=Bell Harbour Press |year=2001|isbn=0-9711998-0-9}}
• {{cite book |ref={{harvid|Sweethearts, 2001}} |last=Rich|first=Sharon|title=Sweethearts: The Timeless Love Affair Onscreen and Off Between Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy|date=2001|publisher=Bell Harbour Press|isbn= 0-9711998-1-7}} This is an updated edition of Rich, Sharon, Sweethearts: The Timeless Love Affair - On-screen and Off - Between Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, Donald I. Fine, 1994. Footnotes are from 2001 edition. Updated again in 2014.
• Skeel, Sharon. (2020) Catherine Littlefield: A Life in Dance. Oxford University Press.
• {{cite book|last=Turk|first=Edward Baron|author-link=Edward Baron Turk|title=Hollywood Diva: A Biography of Jeanette MacDonald|url=https://archive.org/details/hollywooddivabio0000turk|url-access=registration|publisher=University of California Press|year=1998|isbn=978-0-520-22253-3|ref={{sfnRef|Hollywood Diva, 1998}}}}
• {{cite book|title=I'll See You Again: The Bittersweet Love Story and Wartime Letters of Jeanette MacDonald and Gene Raymond, Volume 1: The War - and Before|first=Maggie|last= McCormick|publisher=BearManor Media|year=2019a|isbn=978-1-62933-436-3|ref={{sfnRef|I'll See You Again|2019a}}}}
• {{cite book|title=I'll See You Again: The Bittersweet Love Story and Wartime Letters of Jeanette MacDonald and Gene Raymond, Volume 2: The Letters|first=Maggie|last= McCormick|publisher=BearManor Media|year=2019b|isbn=978-1-62933-448-6|ref={{sfnRef|I'll See You Again|2019b}}}}
• {{cite book|title=I'll See You Again: The Bittersweet Love Story and Wartime Letters of Jeanette MacDonald and Gene Raymond, Volume 3: After the War|first=Maggie|last= McCormick|publisher=BearManor Media|year=2019c|isbn=978-1-62933-450-9|ref={{sfnRef|I'll See You Again|2019c}}}}

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Category:1903 births

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