Ethel Merman
January 16, 1908 – February 15, 1984
Ethel Merman was a singer and actress who was one of the biggest stars of the Broadway stage and screen during the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s. Her break came in the fall of 1930 when she was cast to star in the Gershwin musical, Girl Crazy. Her performances made her an instant star. In 1934, she starred in Cole Porter’s Anything Goes, the first of five Porter shows she would star in. Throughout the rest of her career, she helped make hits out of such musicals as Annie Get Your Guns, Red, Hot and Blue, and Gypsy. And songs that she made into hits include “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” “Anything Goes,” and her signature song, “There’s No Business Like Show Business.” Ethel Merman was 76 when she died as a result of a brain tumor on February 15, 1984.