Mary Martin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mary Martin
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Martin in 1940
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| Born |
Mary Virginia Martin
December 1, 1913 Weatherford, Texas, U.S.
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| Died | November 3, 1990 (aged 76) |
| Resting place | Greenwood Cemetery, Weatherford, Texas |
| Occupation | Actress, singer |
| Years active | 1938–1985 |
| Spouse(s) |
Benjamin Jackson "Ben" Hagman
(m. 1930; div. 1936)Richard Halliday
(m. 1940; |
| Children | 2 including Larry Hagman |
| Awards | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries 1955 Peter Pan Best Leading Actress in a Musical 1950 South Pacific 1955 Peter Pan 1960 The Sound of Music 1989 Kennedy Center Honors |
Mary Virginia Martin (December 1, 1913 – November 3, 1990) was a famous American actress and singer. She was a big star on Broadway, which is New York City's famous theater district. She was known for playing many important roles in popular musicals.
Some of her most famous roles include Nellie Forbush in South Pacific (1949), Peter Pan in Peter Pan, and Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music (1959). She was honored with a Kennedy Center Honoree award in 1989. Mary Martin was also the mother of the actor Larry Hagman.
Contents
Early Life and Childhood
Mary Martin was born in Weatherford, Texas. She described her childhood as very happy and secure in her autobiography, My Heart Belongs. She had a close relationship with both her parents and her siblings. Mary had a natural talent for music and could easily copy musical sounds.
Her father, Preston Martin, was a lawyer, and her mother, Juanita Presley, taught violin. Mary's mother wanted a boy, but she had Mary instead. Mary grew up as a bit of a tomboy.
The family had a barn and an orchard where Mary loved to play. She would climb trees and ride ponies with her older sister, Geraldine, whom she called "Sister." Mary loved her father very much. She said he was tall, handsome, and had kind brown eyes. Her mother was stricter, but her father could make her behave with just one look.
Mary started singing outside the courthouse where her father worked. Every Saturday night, she sang in a trio with her sister and Marion Swofford. They wore bellhop uniforms. Even without microphones, her clear, high voice carried across the town square. She believed she got her strong voice from her father.
She remembered having a great memory as a child, which made school tests easy. Learning songs was also simple for her. She first sang a solo at a fire hall and loved how the crowd appreciated her. Mary developed her acting and singing skills by watching movies and imitating the stars. She won prizes for looking and dancing like Ruby Keeler and singing just like Bing Crosby. She always said her childhood was full of joy and that she woke up smiling every day.
Early Marriage and New Beginnings
When Mary was in high school, she dated Benjamin Hagman. After high school, she went to a finishing school called Ward–Belmont in Nashville, Tennessee. In Nashville, she enjoyed singing and imitating famous performers like Fanny Brice. However, she found school boring and missed her family and Benjamin back in Weatherford.
During a visit home, Mary and Benjamin convinced her mother to let them get married. Mary was only 17 when she got married and became pregnant with her first child, Larry Hagman. She had to leave Ward–Belmont. She was excited about her new life, but she soon realized it felt like "role playing."
Their honeymoon was at her parents' house. Mary's dream of a perfect family life began to fade. She felt confused and unhappy, not enjoying being a wife. She also felt like she didn't have enough to do. Her sister, "Sister," suggested she teach dance. "Sister" taught Mary her first real dance, the waltz clog. Mary quickly learned it and opened her own dance studio. There, she created her own dance moves and copied famous dancers she saw in movies. She loved being able to create something new.
Starting Her Career
To learn more dance moves, Mary went to California to study at the Franchon and Marco School of the Theatre. After that, she opened another dance studio in Mineral Wells, Texas. She had a ballroom studio and sang in the lobby every Saturday. This helped her learn how to sing into a microphone and perform blues songs.
One day, she accidentally walked into the wrong room where auditions were happening. They asked her to sing "So Red Rose." She didn't know what key to sing in, but she sang anyway and got the job!
Mary returned to California and was hired to sing "So Red Rose" at the Fox Theater in San Francisco. Then she sang at the Paramount Theater in Los Angeles. The only catch was that she had to sing from the side of the stage. This was her first professional singing job, and she didn't know she would soon be a big star.
Later, Mary found out her dance studio in Texas had been burned down by someone who thought dancing was wrong. She became very unhappy. Her father told her she was too young to be married. Mary decided to leave everything, including her young son, Larry, and stayed in Los Angeles. Her father handled her divorce from Benjamin Hagman.
In Los Angeles, Mary went to many auditions, so many that people called her "Audition Mary." Her first professional audition led to a job on a national radio network. During one audition, she sang "Indian Love Call." After she finished, a man named Oscar Hammerstein II told her she had something special. This was the beginning of her amazing career.
Radio Appearances
Mary Martin started her radio career in 1939. She was a singer on shows like The Tuesday Night Party on CBS and Good News of 1940 on NBC. In 1942, she joined the cast of Kraft Music Hall on NBC. She also starred in Stage Door Canteen on CBS from 1942 to 1945.
Becoming a Broadway Star
Mary Martin made her Broadway debut in November 1938 in a show called Leave It to Me! She became very popular on Broadway, especially after singing the song "My Heart Belongs to Daddy." With that one song, she became a star almost overnight. She sang this song again in the Hollywood movie Night and Day, where she played herself. "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" was very important to her career. She even sang it to her sick father in the hospital. Sadly, she couldn't attend his funeral because of her busy show schedule. In 1943, she starred in the musical One Touch of Venus, and then Lute Song in 1946.
On April 7, 1949, Mary opened on Broadway as Nurse Nellie Forbush in South Pacific (musical). Her performance was praised as "memorable" and both funny and touching. She won a Tony Award for this role. A theater critic said her performance was "completely irresistible." She also performed in the London production of South Pacific starting in November 1951.
Her next big success was playing Peter in the Broadway production of Peter Pan in October 1954. She won another Tony Award for this role. Mary then opened on Broadway as Maria in The Sound of Music on November 16, 1959. She stayed in the show until October 1961 and won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. This musical allowed Mary to show off her warm and friendly personality. In 1966, she appeared on Broadway in a musical for two people called I Do! I Do! with Robert Preston. She was nominated for another Tony Award. A national tour of this show began in March 1968 but ended early because Mary became ill.
Even though she appeared in nine films between 1938 and 1943, she was usually not chosen for the movie versions of her musical plays. Mary herself explained that she didn't enjoy making films as much because she missed the direct connection with a live audience. The closest she came to keeping her stage performances forever was through her television appearances as Peter Pan. The 1954 Broadway show was shown on NBC television in 1955, 1956, and 1960. Mary also performed her 1957 stage role as Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun when NBC broadcast the show live that year.
While Mary didn't love making films, she often appeared on television. Her last movie appearance was a small role as herself in MGM's Main Street to Broadway in 1953. In 1980, Mary performed "Honeybun" from South Pacific at a Royal Variety Performance in London. She also appeared in the play Legends with Carol Channing on a one-year tour across the U.S., starting in Dallas on January 9, 1986.
Awards and Honors
Mary Martin was added to the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1973. She received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1989, which is a special award for lifetime achievements in the arts. She also won the Donaldson Award in 1943 for One Touch of Venus.
A special Tony was given to her in 1948 while she was touring with Annie Get Your Gun. This award was for "spreading theatre to the rest of the country." In 1955, she received a Tony Award for Peter Pan, and in 1956, an Emmy for playing the same role on television. She also won Tonys for South Pacific and The Sound of Music in 1959.
Personal Life
After her divorce from Benjamin Hagman, Mary Martin married Richard Halliday in 1940. Early in their marriage, he worked as a drama critic for a newspaper. Later, Richard became a producer or co-producer for some of Mary's projects. In the early 1970s, they lived on a large ranch in Brazil.
Mary Martin was a member of the Democratic Party. She supported Adlai Stevenson in the 1952 presidential election.
On September 5, 1982, Mary Martin was in a serious car accident in San Francisco. She broke two ribs and her pelvis.
Death
Mary Martin passed away from cancer at her home in Rancho Mirage, California, on November 3, 1990. She was almost 77 years old. She is buried in City Greenwood Cemetery in Weatherford, Texas.
Work
Stage
- Leave It to Me! (1938)
- Nice Goin'! (1939)
- One Touch of Venus (1943–1945)
- Pacific 1860 (1946)
- Lute Song (1946)
- Annie Get Your Gun (1947)
- South Pacific (1949–1951)
- Kind Sir (1953)
- Peter Pan (1954)
- The Skin of Our Teeth (1955)
- Annie Get Your Gun (1957) 10 Weeks Los Angeles and San Francisco
- South Pacific (1957) 10 Weeks touring Los Angeles and San Francisco
- Music with Mary Martin (1958)
- The Sound of Music (1959)
- Jennie (1963)
- Hello, Dolly! (1965–1966) US Tour, Asia and for 6 months in London
- I Do! I Do! (1966–1969) One year on Broadway, nearly one year on tour
- A Celebration of Richard Rodgers (1972)
- Together on Broadway: Mary Martin & Ethel Merman (1977)
- Do You Turn Somersaults? (1978)
- Our Heart Belongs To Mary (1983); 1 performance only at the Shubert Theater on Broadway
- Legends (1985–1987)
Film
Television
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Radio Appearances
| Year | Program | Episode/source |
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| 1943 | Stage Door Canteen | Curtain Up for Victory |
| 1943 | Philip Morris Playhouse | Roberta |
See also
In Spanish: Mary Martin para niños
