Marni Nixon, Voice of Classic Movie Songs, Dies at 86

Nixon had a wide-ranging music and theater career

The woman whose ghostly singing was heard in place of the leading actresses in such classic movie musicals as "West Side Story," ''The King and I" and "My Fair Lady," has died. Hollywood voice double Marni Nixon was 86.

Michael Kirsten, senior vice president of Nixon's talent agency, Harden-Curtis Associates, says she died Sunday in New York.

Nixon had a wide-ranging music and theater career. But her biggest audiences of the 1950s and '60s never saw her face.

Instead, they heard Nixon singing as they saw non-singing stars such as Natalie Wood in "West Side Story." She was also Deborah Kerr's singing voice in "The King and I" and Audrey Hepburn's in "My Fair Lady."

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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