# Kathryn Grayson
**Kathryn Grayson** (born Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick; February 9, 1922 – February 17, 2010) was an American actress and coloratura soprano who starred in MGM movie musicals of the 1940s and 1950s, most notably *[Anchors Aweigh](https://www.edgepedia.org/anchors-aweigh-film)*, *[Show Boat](https://www.edgepedia.org/show-boat-1951-film)*, and *Kiss Me Kate*.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0337113/bio/) • [2](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/feb/19/kathryn-grayson-obituary) Her stage name combined her middle name, Kathryn, with her mother's maiden name, Grayson.[3](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/kathryn-grayson/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick, February 9, 1922, Winston-Salem, North Carolina[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0337113/bio/) |
| Died | February 17, 2010, at her Los Angeles home, age 88[4](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/musical-star-kathryn-grayson-dies-at-88/) |
| Voice type | Coloratura soprano, trained as an opera singer from age twelve[5](https://walkoffame.com/kathryn-grayson/) |
| Signature films | *Anchors Aweigh* (1945) with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra; *Show Boat* (1951) and *Kiss Me Kate* (1953) with Howard Keel[2](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/feb/19/kathryn-grayson-obituary) |
| MGM career | Under contract from the early 1940s; leading soprano at the studio from *Thousands Cheer* (1943) to *The Vagabond King* (1956)[5](https://walkoffame.com/kathryn-grayson/) • [6](https://time.com/archive/6690900/kathryn-grayson/) |
| Later career | Broadway *Camelot* (1962), replacing Julie Andrews as Guenevere; operas including *La bohème*, *Madama Butterfly*, and *La Traviata*[2](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/feb/19/kathryn-grayson-obituary) • [5](https://walkoffame.com/kathryn-grayson/) |
| Walk of Fame | Motion Pictures star at 1600 Vine Street, ceremony February 8, 1960[5](https://walkoffame.com/kathryn-grayson/) |
## Early life and discovery
Grayson was born in [Winston-Salem, North Carolina](https://www.edgepedia.org/winston-salem-north-carolina), one of four children of Charles E. Hedrick, a building contractor and realtor, and Lillian Grayson Hedrick.[5](https://walkoffame.com/kathryn-grayson/) • [7](https://cometoverhollywood.com/2019/01/08/classics-in-the-carolinas-kathryn-grayson/) The family moved to Kirkwood, Missouri, near St. Louis, during her childhood.[7](https://cometoverhollywood.com/2019/01/08/classics-in-the-carolinas-kathryn-grayson/) From the age of twelve she trained as an opera singer, and by fifteen she had a contract with RCA Red Seal, the classical arm of RCA Victor Records.[5](https://walkoffame.com/kathryn-grayson/) • [8](https://playbill.com/article/soprano-kathryn-grayson-star-of-movie-musicals-dies-at-88-com-166069)
Her ambition was an operatic career, and she was initially hesitant about films.[8](https://playbill.com/article/soprano-kathryn-grayson-star-of-movie-musicals-dies-at-88-com-166069) An MGM talent scout noticed her singing on [Eddie Cantor](https://www.edgepedia.org/eddie-cantor)'s radio show in 1940, when she was 18.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/feb/19/kathryn-grayson-obituary) • [8](https://playbill.com/article/soprano-kathryn-grayson-star-of-movie-musicals-dies-at-88-com-166069) Studio chief [Louis B. Mayer](https://www.edgepedia.org/louis-b-mayer) signed her without requiring a screen test.[3](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/kathryn-grayson/) Soon after signing, she was invited to make her operatic debut as Lucia at the [Metropolitan Opera](https://www.edgepedia.org/metropolitan-opera), but Mayer talked her out of it, fearing it would damage her screen image; she turned down the offer.[8](https://playbill.com/article/soprano-kathryn-grayson-star-of-movie-musicals-dies-at-88-com-166069) • [4](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/musical-star-kathryn-grayson-dies-at-88/)
## MGM years
Like other MGM newcomers, Grayson was given a tryout as [Mickey Rooney](https://www.edgepedia.org/mickey-rooney)'s sweetheart in the [Andy Hardy](https://www.edgepedia.org/andy-hardy) series, playing the title role in *Andy Hardy's Private Secretary* (1941) and singing Johann Strauss's "Voices of Spring."[4](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/musical-star-kathryn-grayson-dies-at-88/) After supporting parts in *Seven Sweethearts*, *The Vanishing Virginian*, and *Rio Rita*, her career rose with *Thousands Cheer* (1943), a wartime revue in which she appeared as [Gene Kelly](https://www.edgepedia.org/gene-kelly)'s girlfriend and sang five numbers, including an aria from *La Traviata*.[4](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/musical-star-kathryn-grayson-dies-at-88/) • [2](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/feb/19/kathryn-grayson-obituary)
**Star status.** *Anchors Aweigh* (1945), a hit with Kelly and Sinatra, confirmed it.[4](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/musical-star-kathryn-grayson-dies-at-88/) In that film she played a soprano seeking an audition with the pianist José Iturbi, one of the ways MGM mixed operatic singing into its lighter musical formula.[9](https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/npr/114535074/kathryn-grayson-the-mgm-soprano) TIME described her as the leading soprano at MGM and one of its top stars for more than a decade, from *Thousands Cheer* in 1943 to *The Vagabond King* in 1956.[6](https://time.com/archive/6690900/kathryn-grayson/)
She was paired twice with tenor [Mario Lanza](https://www.edgepedia.org/mario-lanza), in *That Midnight Kiss* (1949) and *The Toast of New Orleans* (1950); the two did not get along, and she refused to work with him again, citing his behavior on set.[10](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/grayson-kathryn-1922) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0337113/bio/) • [2](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/feb/19/kathryn-grayson-obituary) Her most durable partnership was with baritone [Howard Keel](https://www.edgepedia.org/howard-keel), her co-star in three films: *Show Boat* (1951), in which she played Magnolia; *Lovely to Look At* (1952), a remake of *Roberta*; and *Kiss Me Kate* (1953), in which she played Lilli Vanessi, an actress performing [Katherine](https://www.edgepedia.org/katherine) in a musical version of *The Taming of the Shrew*.[4](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/musical-star-kathryn-grayson-dies-at-88/) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0337113/bio/)
**Leaving MGM.** After *Lovely to Look At* she left MGM for a four-picture contract with Warner Bros, saying she wanted concert and television work the studio would not allow.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/feb/19/kathryn-grayson-obituary) The Warner contract ended after *The Desert Song* (1953) and *So This Is Love* (1953), in which she played the opera star Grace Moore.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/feb/19/kathryn-grayson-obituary) She returned to MGM for *Kiss Me Kate*, then made one final film, *The Vagabond King* (1956) at Paramount, after which she retired from cinema.[11](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0337113/) • [2](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/feb/19/kathryn-grayson-obituary)
## Stage, opera, and later work
With film musical production declining, Grayson moved to the stage. She replaced [Julie Andrews](https://www.edgepedia.org/julie-andrews) as Guenevere in the original Broadway production of *[Camelot](https://www.edgepedia.org/camelot-musical)* (1962), toured in musicals including *Show Boat* and *Kiss Me Kate*, and toured with Keel in *Man of La Mancha* and in Las Vegas.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/feb/19/kathryn-grayson-obituary) • [4](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/musical-star-kathryn-grayson-dies-at-88/) She also performed in operas, including *La bohème*, *Madama Butterfly*, *Orpheus in the Underworld*, and *La Traviata*, realizing the operatic ambition she had set aside for films.[5](https://walkoffame.com/kathryn-grayson/) • [4](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/musical-star-kathryn-grayson-dies-at-88/) On television she was nominated for an Emmy for "Shadows of the Heart" on the *General Electric Theater* series (1955).[10](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/grayson-kathryn-1922) She received a Sarah Siddons Award nomination for her performance in *The Merry Widow*, and from 1988 she toured for more than a decade in her one-woman show, *An Evening with Kathryn Grayson*, which visited Britain in the 1980s.[12](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/kathryn-grayson-mn0000365744) • [2](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/feb/19/kathryn-grayson-obituary) In her later years she taught, supervising a voice and choral studies program at Idaho State University.[13](https://vanguardofhollywood.com/kathryn-grayson/)
## Personal life
Grayson married the actor John Shelton in 1940; the marriage ended in divorce in 1946.[10](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/grayson-kathryn-1922) In 1947 she married the singer-actor Johnny Johnston; that marriage produced her only child, daughter Patricia Towers, and ended in divorce.[4](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/musical-star-kathryn-grayson-dies-at-88/) • [8](https://playbill.com/article/soprano-kathryn-grayson-star-of-movie-musicals-dies-at-88-com-166069) She was engaged at one time in the 1950s to [Howard Hughes](https://www.edgepedia.org/howard-hughes).[8](https://playbill.com/article/soprano-kathryn-grayson-star-of-movie-musicals-dies-at-88-com-166069) She died of natural causes at her Los Angeles home on February 17, 2010, survived by her daughter and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.[4](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/musical-star-kathryn-grayson-dies-at-88/) • [14](https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/afterword/story/2010-02-18/mgm-singing-star-kathryn-grayson-dead-at-88-corrected)
## References
1. [Kathryn Grayson – Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0337113/bio/)
2. [Kathryn Grayson obituary, The Guardian (2010)](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/feb/19/kathryn-grayson-obituary)
3. [Kathryn Grayson – Singer, Actress, TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/kathryn-grayson/)
4. [Musical Star Kathryn Grayson Dies at 88, CBS News (AP)](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/musical-star-kathryn-grayson-dies-at-88/)
5. [Kathryn Grayson, Hollywood Walk of Fame](https://walkoffame.com/kathryn-grayson/)
6. [Actress Kathryn Grayson Dies, TIME (2010)](https://time.com/archive/6690900/kathryn-grayson/)
7. [Classics in the Carolinas: Kathryn Grayson, Comet Over Hollywood](https://cometoverhollywood.com/2019/01/08/classics-in-the-carolinas-kathryn-grayson/)
8. [Soprano Kathryn Grayson, Star of Movie Musicals, Dies at 88, Playbill](https://playbill.com/article/soprano-kathryn-grayson-star-of-movie-musicals-dies-at-88-com-166069)
9. [Kathryn Grayson: The MGM Soprano, NCPR/NPR](https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/npr/114535074/kathryn-grayson-the-mgm-soprano)
10. [Grayson, Kathryn (1922–), Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/grayson-kathryn-1922)
11. [Kathryn Grayson - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0337113/)
12. [Kathryn Grayson Biography, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/kathryn-grayson-mn0000365744)
13. [Kathryn Grayson: The Most Beautiful Woman in Movies, Vanguard of Hollywood](https://vanguardofhollywood.com/kathryn-grayson/)
14. [MGM singing star Kathryn Grayson dead at 88, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/afterword/story/2010-02-18/mgm-singing-star-kathryn-grayson-dead-at-88-corrected)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical practice and theory › Opera › Operatic singers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license