Alice Faye
b. Alice Jeanne Leppert, 5 May 1912, New York City, New York, USA. The actress/singer Faye was noticed by Rudy Vallee in the Broadway chorus of GEORGE WHITE'S SCANDALS OF 1931. After touring and recording with his Connecticut Yankees, she starred with Vallee in the movie, GEORGE WHITE'S SCANDALS (1934), making a strong impression with her version of Nasty Man. Over the next 11 years she made more than 30 films, mostly very appealing musicals such as ON THE AVENUE (1937), IN OLD CHICAGO (1938), ALEXANDER'S RAGTIME BAND (1938), ROSE OF WASHINGTON SQUARE (1939), HOLLYWOOD CAVALCADE (1939), Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943) and LILLIAN RUSSELL (1940), a biopic of the Broadway star. With her deep-throated, sexy voice Faye serenaded her glamorous leading men, Dick Powell, Tyrone Power, Don Ameche and John Payne with songs that included Goodnight My Love, No Love, No Nothing, Sing, Baby, Sing, You're A Sweetheart, and You'll Never Know the Academy Award winning song for 1943. By this time she was a major star, together with her friend Betty Grable, with an equally loyal following. Faye retired from movies in 1945 following a much-publicized rift with 20th Century Fox boss Darryl F. Zanuck, but she returned in 1962 for the second re-make of State Fair. Following a first marriage to singer Tony Martin, she re-married in 1941 to bandleader/singer/actor Phil Harris, famous for his delivery of novelty songs such as Woodman, Spare That Tree, The Darktown Poker Club and That's What I Like About The South. From 1946-54 they appeared together on a top rated US radio series, and thereafter Faye starred in her own television specials and continued to record, mostly songs forever associated with her.