Deanna Durbin (born December 4, 1921) is a Canadian singer and Academy Award-winning actress from Hollywood films of the 1930s and 1940s.

Born Edna Mae Durbin at Grace Hospital in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, she adopted the professional name Deanna at the commencement of her career. Her parents, James and Ada Durbin, were immigrants from Lancashire, England, and she had an older sister named Edith.

Durbin signed a contract with MGM in 1935 and made her first film appearance in a short subject Every Sunday with another contractee, Judy Garland. Studio executives were questioning the wisdom of having two girl singers on the roster and the film was to serve as an extended screen test for the pair. Ultimately Louis B. Mayer decreed that both girls would be kept, but by the time that decision was Read more...