Today, somewhere in the charming little village of Neauphle-le-Chateau, France, near Paris, one of the screen’s sweetest, most talented, beloved and elusive stars is celebrating her 85th birthday.  Singer-actress Deanna Durbin, who turned her back on Hollywood over fifty years ago, is still appreciated and missed by her legion of fans, many of whom have only recently discovered her enchanting presence thru DVD releases of her movies. 

Accurately considered to be the girl who saved Universal Studios from going under back in the late ‘30s, thanks to her box office successes, Deanna was renowned for not only her astounding voice, which was capable of anything from operatic arias to pop tunes, but for her radiant screen presence and her finesse in light comedy.  At one point the highest paid woman in movies – and she was only 14 years old at the time – Deanna Durbin was sort of “the one that got away” from MGM.  The young singing prodigy had been signed by the studio in 1935, around the time another talented teen was also new to the studio roster – Judy Garland.  They appeared together in the short subject “Every Sunday” (1936), which pitted two songstresses against each other, Deanna warbling an aria and Judy jazzing around.  What they may not have known, as they co-crooned, is that the short was an audition, and that only one of them would remain with MGM.

Suffice it to say that Universal was mighty happy to have the musical prodigy with her fresh-faced allure sign on their dotted line, and for the next ten years or so Deanna Durbin was a popular and profitable screen attraction.  Specializing in perky roles where she often was paired romantically with older leading men, and later moving into more dramatic (and slightly less well-received) sophisticated parts, by the mid-to-late 1940s Deanna began to tire of the same old, same old.  She loved singing, she loved acting, but the scripts weren’t getting any better. 

Never completely at ease with the Hollywood fast life, though obviously a vivacious and mature woman – no matter how much Universal probably hadn’t wanted her to grow up – Deanna, who had married twice before, fell in love with French director and film production specialist Charles Henri David.  David, whom she had met when he directed her in the 1945 mystery Lady on a Train, was sixteen years older than the 29-year-old Durbin; the two married on December 21, 1950.  (The photo here is from right around that time.)  She hadn’t made a movie for two years, and she’d never make another one.

She and her husband moved to France, to that little village of Neauphle-le-Chateau, where they lived happily ever after until David’s death in 1999.  Despite several tempting offers to return to public life, Deanna Durbin remained true to her wish to stay anonymous, only breaking her vow once in 1983, to allow Life Magazine to run a photo of her to dispel rumors of a thickening waistline.  She was as lovely as ever then, and no doubt still is today.  Happy Birthday, Deanna. 

(By a wonderful coincidence, TCM is running One Hundred Men and a Girl this coming Sunday, December 10th, at 10:30am.  Don’t miss it!)

There are several affectionate websites devoted to Deanna Durbin, such as this one, and this one.  I recommend a visit.