External links
- Betty Wand at IMDb
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Betty Wand was an American singer and author, best known as the singing voice dubbed in for various actresses in musical films, including Leslie Caron in Gigi and some of Rita Moreno's part in West Side Story . [1] In 1990, she wrote Secrets for Women in Their Prime, an advice book for older women on fashion, nutrition, and travel. [2] [3]
Wand began her career in the 1940s during the Big Band era, singing with the orchestras of Xavier Cugat, Horace Heidt, and Ray Conniff. [2]
She had two sons. [2]
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Rosemary Clooney was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the song "Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me", "Mambo Italiano", "Tenderly", "Half as Much", "Hey There", "This Ole House", and "Sway". She also had success as a jazz vocalist. Clooney's career languished in the 1960s, partly due to problems related to depression and drug addiction, but revived in 1977, when her White Christmas co-star Bing Crosby asked her to appear with him at a show marking his 50th anniversary in show business. She continued recording until her death in 2002.
Dame Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa, is a retired New Zealand opera singer. She had a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". Te Kanawa had three top 40 albums in Australia in the mid-1980s.
Margaret Nixon McEathron, known professionally as Marni Nixon, was an American soprano and ghost singer for featured actresses in musical films. She is now recognized as the singing voice of leading actresses on the soundtracks of several musicals, including Deborah Kerr in The King and I, Natalie Wood in West Side Story, and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, although her roles were concealed from audiences when the films were released. Several of the songs she dubbed appeared on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs list.
A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not appear on the screen.
Betty Dodson was an American sex educator. An artist by training, she exhibited erotic art in New York, before pioneering the pro-sex feminist movement. Dodson's workshops and manuals encourage women to masturbate, often in groups.
Elizabeth Mary Driver, was a British actress and singer, best known for her role as Betty Williams in the long-running ITV soap opera, Coronation Street, a role she played for 42 years from 1969 to 2011, appearing in 2732 episodes. She had previously appeared as Mrs Edgley in Coronation Street spin-off Pardon the Expression (1965–1966) opposite Arthur Lowe. In her early career she was a singer, appearing in musical films such as Boots! Boots! (1934), opposite George Formby, and in Penny Paradise (1938), directed by Carol Reed. She was made an MBE in the 2000 New Year Honours.
Skeeter Davis was an American country music singer who sang crossover pop music songs including 1962's "The End of the World". She started out as part of the Davis Sisters as a teenager in the late 1940s, eventually landing on RCA Victor. In the late 1950s, she became a solo star.
Helen Kane was an American singer and actress. Her signature song was "I Wanna Be Loved by You" (1928), featured in the 1928 stage musical Good Boy. The song was written for Good Boy by the songwriting team Kalmar and Ruby. Kane's voice and appearance were thought to be a source for Fleischer Studios animators when creating Betty Boop. Kane attempted to sue the studio for claims of stealing her signature "boop-oop-a-doop" style, but the judge decided that the proof of this was insufficient, thus dismissing the case.
Betty McGlown-Travis was an American singer, a member of The Primettes, later better known as The Supremes.
Betty Jean Everett was an American soul singer and pianist, best known for her biggest hit single, the million-selling "Shoop Shoop Song ", and her duet "Let It Be Me" with Jerry Butler.
Laurie Hope Beechman was an American actress and singer, known for her work in Broadway musicals. She also had a career as a cabaret performer and recording artist. After her death, the West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theater Bar in New York was renamed the Laurie Beechman Theatre.
West Side Story is a 1961 American musical romantic drama film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. With a screenplay by Ernest Lehman, the film is an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical of the same title, which in turn was inspired by Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, and George Chakiris, and was photographed by Daniel L. Fapp in Super Panavision 70. The music was composed by Leonard Bernstein, with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.
The Hitachi Magic Wand is an AC-powered wand vibrator. It was originally manufactured for relieving tension and relaxing sore muscles, however, it is most known for its use as a sex toy. Japanese company Hitachi listed the device for business in the United States in 1968. Sex educator Betty Dodson popularized its use as a vibrator and masturbation aid for women during the sex-positive movement in the late 1960s. It functions effectively as a clitoral vibrator, to bring women to orgasm. The wand is 12 inches (30 cm) long and weighs 1.2 pounds (540 g) with stimulation provided by its rubberized 2.5-inch (64 mm) head.
Jody Gibson was an American madam who was active in Hollywood in the late 1980s through the 1990s.
Michelene Dinah Wandor, known from 1963 to at least 1979 as Michelene Victor, is an English playwright, critic, broadcaster, poet, lecturer, and musician.
West Side Story is the soundtrack album to the 1961 film West Side Story, featuring music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Released in 1961, the soundtrack spent 54 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's album charts, giving it the longest run at No. 1 of any album in history, although some lists instead credit Michael Jackson's Thriller, on the grounds that West Side Story was listed on a chart for stereo albums only at a time when many albums were recorded in mono. In 1962, it won a Grammy award for "Best Sound Track Album – Original Cast". In the United States, it was one of the best-selling albums of the 1960s, certifying three times platinum by the RIAA on November 21, 1986.
Elizabeth Noyes Hand was a singer and actress best known for dubbing two of Debbie Reynolds' numbers in the 1952 film Singin' in the Rain. Today, this is a well-known example of dubbing in a film musical: While Reynolds's character was the "ghost singer" dubbing for another character, her singing voice was actually dubbed by Noyes.
Dell Williams was an American businesswoman and advocate of women’s liberation, sexuality, and sexual health. She was the founder and owner of Eve's Garden in Manhattan.
Jennifer Kristine Gillis is a Canadian singer, dancer and actress with an extensive resume in musical theatre, television, singing, radio, recording, and animated voice-over work. Gillis is most noted for performing in Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's CBC TV reality show Over the Rainbow-a competition to be cast as the leading role of Dorothy Gale in Lloyd Webber's forthcoming production of The Wizard of Oz in Toronto, Ontario. Being the youngest aspiring singer in the competition, she singularly represented her province of British Columbia and as a result was named the Top 6th musical theatre performer in all of Canada. Since Over the Rainbow, Gillis sang the Canadian national anthem "O Canada" for the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario on Canada Day in 2013. She is a professional Canadian Musical Theatre Actress performing in roles such as Maria in West Side Story, Ariel in The Little Mermaid, Beth in Little Women, Millie Dilmount in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Gertrude McFuzz in Seussical, Ariel Moore in Footloose and more.
God Be with You is an album of sacred songs recorded by country singer Jim Reeves and released in February 1959 on the RCA Victor label.
