Mitzi Gaynor, Star of ‘South Pacific,’ Dies at 93
variety.comCarmel Dagan Staff WriterMitzi Gaynor, star of 1950s big-screen musicals including “South Pacific” and “Les Girls” and a series of beloved variety specials in the 1970s, died on Thursday.
She was 93.Gaynor’s management team, Rene Reyes and Shane Rosamonda, confirmed to Variety that she died of natural causes.“For eight decades she entertained audiences in films, on television and on the stage.
She truly enjoyed every moment of her professional career and the great privilege of being an entertainer,” Reyes and Rosamonda wrote in a statement on Gaynor’s X account. “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.” Gaynor starred as Navy nurse Nellie Forbush in the 1958 big-screen adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “South Pacific” together with Rossano Brazzi as French planter Emile De Becque and John Kerr as Lt.
Cable. Gaynor sang for herself though many of the others in the cast did not, and as Nellie she performed the famous song “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair,” which came to be associated with her for the rest of her life.
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