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Dinah Shore

Dinah Shore (born Frances Rose Shore; February 29, 1916 – February 24, 1994) was an American singer, actress, and television personality, and the chart-topping female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during the Big Band era. She achieved even greater success a decade later in television, mainly as the host of a series of variety programs for the Chevrolet automobile company.

This article is about the American singer and actress. For the lesbian-centered music festival, see Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend.

Dinah Shore

Frances Rose Shore

February 29, 1916

February 24, 1994(1994-02-24) (aged 77)

  • Singer
  • actress
  • talk show host
  • author

1939–1994

(m. 1943; div. 1963)
Maurice F. Smith
(m. 1963; div. 1964)

Burt Reynolds (1971–1976)

2

After failing singing auditions for the bands of Benny Goodman, and both Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Shore struck out on her own. She became the first singer of her era to achieve huge solo success. She had a string of eighty charted popular hits, spanning from 1940 to 1957, and after appearing in a handful of feature films, she went on to a four-decade career in American television. She starred in her own music and variety shows from 1951 through 1963 and hosted two talk shows in the 1970s. TV Guide ranked her at number 16 on their list of the top 50 television stars of all time. Stylistically, Shore was compared to two singers who followed her in the mid-to-late 1940s and early 1950s, Jo Stafford and Patti Page.

Early life[edit]

Frances "Fanny" Rose Shore was born on February 29, 1916, to Russian-Jewish immigrant shopkeepers, Anna (née Stein) and Solomon Shore, in Winchester, Tennessee.[1][2] She had an elder sister, eight years her senior, Elizabeth, known as "Bessie". When Fanny was eighteen months old, she was stricken with polio (infantile paralysis). The only known treatment was bed rest and sometimes more extreme care if the child was severely compromised. Her mother provided extensive care for her, which included regular therapeutic massage and a strict exercise program.[2] She recovered, but sustained a deformed foot and limp. Fanny loved to sing as a small child; her mother, a contralto with operatic aspirations, encouraged her. Her father often took her to his store, where she would perform impromptu songs for the customers.[3][4]


In 1924, the Shore family moved to McMinnville, Tennessee, where her father had opened a department store. By her fifth-grade year, the family had moved to Nashville, where she completed elementary school. Although shy because of her limp, she became actively involved in sports, was a cheerleader at Nashville's Hume-Fogg High School, and was involved in other activities.


When Shore was 16, her mother died unexpectedly from a heart attack. Pursuing her education, Shore enrolled at Vanderbilt University, where she participated in many events and activities, including the Chi chapter of the Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority. She graduated from the university in 1938 with a degree in sociology.[5] She visited the Grand Ole Opry and made her radio debut on Nashville's WSM radio station.


Shore decided to return to pursuing her career in singing, moving to New York City to audition for orchestras and radio stations. At first she went there on a summer break from Vanderbilt, and after graduation, for good. In many of her auditions, she sang the popular song "Dinah". When disc jockey Martin Block could not remember her name, he called her the "Dinah girl", and soon after the name stuck, becoming her stage name.[6] She eventually was hired as a vocalist at radio station WNEW, where she sang with Frank Sinatra. She recorded and performed with the Xavier Cugat orchestra, and signed a recording contract with RCA Victor Records in 1940.

Death[edit]

In the spring of 1993, Shore was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She died of complications from the disease at her home in Beverly Hills, California, on February 24, 1994. Her body was cremated the same day. Some of the ashes were interred in two memorial sites: the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery[27] in Culver City, California, and Forest Lawn Cemetery (Cathedral City). Other ashes went to relatives.[28]

Tributes[edit]

In both Cathedral City and Rancho Mirage, California, streets are named after her. Her hometown of Winchester, Tennessee, honored her with Dinah Shore Boulevard.[29] In 1989, she received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.[30][31][32] In 1991, she was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. In 1996, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.[33]

NBC's Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street (1941, 78 Set P-56 Three Record Set)

RCA Victor Records

Musical Orchids (1943, RCA Victor Records Four Record Set)

78 rpm

Gershwin Show Hits (1945, RCA Victor Records 78 rpm Three Record Set)

Bongo from Walt Disney (1947, 78 rpm Three Record Set)

Columbia Records

A Date with Dinah (1948, Columbia Records 78 rpm Four Record Set)

The Blue Velvet Voice of Dinah Shore (1948, 78 rpm Five Record Set)

Victor

Dinah Shore Sings (1949, Columbia 10")

Reminiscing (1949, Columbia 10")

Torch Songs (1950, Columbia Set D-1 10")

Dinah Shore & Sidney Bechet ~ Lower Basin Street (1950, RCA Victor 78 Set P-56 Four Record Set)

(1951, RCA Victor 10")

The King and I

Dinah Shore ~ Lower Basin Street Volume 2 (1951, RCA Victor 78rpm Four Record Set)

Dinah Shore Sings the Blues (1953, RCA Victor 10")

Original Cast (1953, RCA Victor 10")

Call Me Madam

The Dinah Shore TV Show (1954, RCA 10", 1955, RCA Victor 12")

Holding Hands at Midnight (1955, RCA Victor)

Bouquet of Blues (1956, RCA Victor)

Call Me Madam Original Cast (1956, RCA Victor)

Dinah Shore Sings Porter and Rodgers (1957, )

Harmony

Love Songs (1958, Harmony)

(1958, RCA Victor)

General Motors 50th Anniversary Show

Moments Like These (1958, RCA Victor)

(1959, Capitol)

Dinah, Yes Indeed!

Lower Basin Street (1959, RCA Camden)

I'm Your Girl (1959, )

RCA Camden

Lavender Blue (1959, Harmony)

(1959, Capitol)

Somebody Loves Me

(1960, Capitol)

Dinah Sings Some Blues with Red

Vivacious (1960, RCA Camden)

Buttons and Bows (1960, Harmony)

(1961, Capitol)

Dinah Sings, Previn Plays

Dinah Down Home! (1962, Capitol)

The Fabulous Hits of Dinah Shore (1962, Capitol)

My Very Best to You (1963, Capitol)

Lower Basin Street Revisited (1965, )

Reprise

Songs for Sometime Losers (1967, Project 3)

Country Feelin' (1969, )

Decca

Once Upon A Summertime (1975, Stanyan)

Dinah! (1976, Capitol)

Dinah!: I've Got a Song (1979, /Sesame Street)

CTW

(1943) – Herself

Thank Your Lucky Stars

(1944) – Virginia

Up in Arms

(1944) – Herself

Follow the Boys

(1944) – Lettie Candless

Belle of the Yukon

(1946) – Narrator (voice)

Make Mine Music

(1946) – Julia Sanderson / Dinah Shore

Till the Clouds Roll By

(1947) – Narrator (voice)

Fun and Fancy Free

Bongo (1947) (short subject) – Narrator (voice)

(1952) – Josie Berry

Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick

(1952) (short subject)

A Great New Star

Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Stars on Parade (1954) (short subject)

Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Small Fry (1956) (short subject)

Premier Khrushchev in the USA (1959) (documentary)

(1977) – Herself (cameo)

Oh, God!

(1980) – Herself (cameo)

HealtH

(11/27/1951 – 7/18/1957) (15 minutes)

The Dinah Shore Chevy Show

The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (10/5/1956 – 6/14/1957) (60-minute monthly specials)

The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (10/20/1957 – 6/26/1961) (60 minutes)

(episodes: "The Dinah Shore Show", 10/28/1957; "Dinah Shore and Danny are Rivals", 12/8/1958)

The Danny Thomas Show

– Season 18, episode 20 (1/30/1960)

The Ed Sullivan Show

The Dinah Shore Special (10/6/1961 – 5/12/1963) (60-minute monthly specials)

The Dinah Shore Special (2/15/1965)

The Dinah Shore Special: Like Hep (4/13/1969)

, “Someone’s on the Ski Lift with Dinah” (10/25/1971)

Here's Lucy

Dinah's Place (8/3/1970 – 7/26/1974)

– Season 4, episode 21 (2/8/1971; guest appearance as herself)

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In

(1971) (one-week pilot for series)

Hold That Pose

Dinah in Search of the Ideal Man (11/18/1973)

(9/9/1974 – 9/7/1979)

Dinah!

(April 1976; guest appearance as herself)

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman

Dinah and Her New Best Friends (6/5 – 7/31/1976) (summer series)

Episode 1002 (11/13/1976; guest star)

The Carol Burnett Show

(11/10/1977)

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

Dinah and Friends (9/10/1979 – 9/5/1980)

(1979) - Made for Television Movie

Death Car on the Freeway

(episode: "Mel's in the Kitchen with Dinah", 11/18/1979; guest appearance as herself)

Alice

(episode: "Past Tense", 1987) (as Katherine Woodbridge

Hotel

(guest star 1988)

Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special

(episode: "Alma Murder", 1989) (as Emily Dyers) (final television appearance)

Murder, She Wrote

A Conversation with Dinah (1989–1991)

Dinah Comes Home (1991)

Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend

ANA Inspiration

at IMDb

Dinah Shore

at Rotten Tomatoes

Dinah Shore

at AllMovie

Dinah Shore

museum.tv

Dinah Shore biography

parabrisas.com

Dinah Shore biography

at FBI Records: The Vault

Dinah Shore File

dinahshoreweekend.com

Dinah Vegas