KATHRYN GRAYSON BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Kathryn Grayson was born on February 9th, 1922 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina with the birth name Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedric.  She had two other siblings and her parents, Charles and Lillian raised her in Kirkwood, Missouri.  She was first discovered at the age of eleven by Frances Marshall who was a Chicago Civil Light Opera singer who helped train Grayson's voice.     

When she was fifteen years old, her family relocated to California.  She attended Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles.  She first got involved in show business by singing on the radio when she was discovered at church and signed to a contract with RCA Records.  From there she was discovered by a MGM talent scout and was signed to a contract.
 
She was put into acting lessons right away and because of her stunning beauty, she was subjected to numerous publicity shoots.  Her film debut was in 1941 in, "Andy Hardy's Private Secretary" and this role followed with role in a number of other films such as, "The Vanishing Virginian" (1942), "Rio Rita" (1942) and "Thousands Cheer" (1943).
 
As her career entered the 1950's, she created some of her most memorable roles such as on the film, "Show Boat" (1951), "Kiss Me Kate" (1953) and "The Vagabond King" (1956) with Paramount Pictures.  She stuck with MGM for a total of thirteen years and was only loaned out to other studio's on occasion.  She made her non singing stage debut in 1982 in the production of, "Night Watch".
 
Her career always centered around her musical talents and in 1952, Grayson was offered a salary of more then $10,000 to perform for only one week at the Riviera night club in New Jersey.  Grayson was also responsible for supervising the Voice and Choral Studies Program at Idaho University.

Grayson married only twice, first to John Shelton from 1941 through 1946.  Her second marriage was to Johnny Johnston from August 22nd, 1947 through October 3rd, 1952 and together they had one daughter, Patricia Kathryn who was born on October 7th, 1948.  

Kathryn Grayson passed away on February 17th, 2010 in Los Angeles, California from natural causes at the age of eighty eight. 

Filmography

1987-1989 Murder, She Wrote
1978 Baretta 
1958 Lux Playhouse 
1957 Playhouse 90 
1957 The Jackie Gleason Show 
1955-1956 G.E. True Theater 
1956 The Vagabond King 
1953 Kiss Me Kate 
1953 So This Is Love 
1953 The Desert Song
1952 Lovely to Look at 
1951 Show Boat
1951 Grounds for Marriage
1950 The Toast of New Orleans
1949 That Midnight Kiss 
1948 The Kissing Bandit 
1947 It Happened in Brooklyn 
1946 Till the Clouds Roll By 
1946 Two Sisters from Boston
1945 Anchors Aweigh 
1943 Thousands Cheer
1942 Seven Sweethearts 
1942 Rio Rita 
1942 The Vanishing Virginian 
1941 Andy Hardy's Private Secretary