Kathryn Grayson, 1922-2010

Kathryn Grayson seen with Gene Kelly (l.) and Frank Sinatra (r.) in a publicity still from the 1945 movie Anchors Aweigh

Kathryn Grayson, the star of a string of MGM musicals from the 1940s and 1950s, died earlier this week at the age of 88. To be honest, I'm not that familiar with her work, since I've mentioned before that I'm not such a big fan of musicals. But that's not to say that the people who made the musicals weren't talented.

In Grayson's case, one of those talents was her operatically-trained singing. (Perhaps she should have done some of the singing on Carmen Jones.) Grayson had intended to become an opera singer, but signed a Hollywood contract when she was young, and delayed those opera dreams by 15 or 20 years. Grayson retired from Hollywood in the mid 1950s in order to go back to opera, though.

TCM hasn't announced any change in their lineup to honor Grayson, which is unsurprising since they're in the middle of their annual 31 Days of Oscar salute.