Mitzi Gaynor, Star of ‘South Pacific’ Dies at 93

Hollywood legend Mitzi Gaynor passed away on Thursday, Oct. 17, according to her management team. Gaynor was 93 years old, and she has been one of the most influential entertainers of her generation even through decades of drastic change in her industry. Fans, friends and colleagues are celebrating her legacy on social media this week.

Gaynor’s reps Rene Reyes and Shane Rosamonda announced her passing in a statement published on X – formerly known as Twitter. They wrote: “She passed away peacefully today of natural causes at the age of 93. For eight decades she entertained audiences in films, on television and on stage. She truly enjoyed every moment of her professional career and the great privilege of being an entertainer. Off stage, she was a vibrant and extraordinary woman, a caring and loyal friend, and a warm, gracious, very funny and altogether glorious human being. And she could cook, too!”

“As we celebrate her legacy, we offer our thanks to her friends and fans and the countless audiences she entertained throughout her long life,” they went on. “Your love, support and appreciation meant so very much to her and was a sustaining gift in her life. She often noted that her audiences were ‘the sunshine of my life.’ You truly were. We take great comfort in the fact that her creative legacy will endure through her many magical performances captured on film and video, through her recordings and especially through the love and support audiences around the world have shared so generously with her throughout her life and career. Please keep Mitzi in your thoughts and prayers.”

Gaynor was born Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber in Chicago, Illinois in 1931. Her parents were both interested in the arts, and her family moved to Los Angeles when she was 11 years old. She worked her way up to several theatrical productions – particularly musicals – before she caught the attention of a producer for Fox. She made her film debut in the 1950 comedy My Blue Heaven, and the overwhelming response put her on the fast track to stardom.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Fox was grooming Gaynor in the hopes of creating the next Betty Grable – and things were going well. She starred in as many as three feature films per year during the 1950s, and but she retired from Hollywood in 1963. In a 2012 interview with the TV Academy Foundation, Gaynor would explain that the career trajectory she saw for herself dried up right before her eyes.

“I quit films because they quit me,” she said. “Marilyn Monroe was now the new Alice Faye/Betty Grable, she was doing the musicals at Fox. I wasn’t going to do My Fair Lady, and I wasn’t going to [sing] ‘The Hills Are Alive With the Sound of Screaming’ — there was nothing for me to do.”

Insteady, Gaynor pivoted back to live performances in Las Evas, where she was earning $45,000 per week at the peak of her popularity. Her shows were characterized by bawdy jokes and songs, teams of handsome male back-up dancers and glittery costumes. When Gaynor performed the act on The Ed Sullivan Show, the Catholic Church publicly denounced it as “lascivious.”

Gaynor was married to her manager, Jack Bean, from 1954 until his death in 2006. They had no children. News of Gaynor’s death has hit Hollywood hard, with many colleagues and admirers sharing tributes to her on Thursday.