Shirley Ross

Blonde vivacious and obviously talented Shirley Ross had the promisings of a big musical film star but her career remained strictly secondstring throughout her fairly short career She is best remembered through her pairing with an entertainment legend Shirley was afforded the opportunity of duetting with Bob Hope on the song Thanks for the Memory in the splashy musical The Big Broadcast of 1938 The song of course became Bobs beloved signature tune Shirley was born Bernice Gaunt in Omaha Nebraska in 1913 Her family moved west and she attended Hollywood High School later studying at UCLA Blessed with a gorgeous musical instrument and an adept piano player as well Shirley went on to sing with Gus Arnheims band on the west coast appearing at all the swanky clubs of the day including the Beverly Wilshire Hotel while making a decent name for herself on radio She also appeared in a west coast production of Anything Goes MGM initially scooped her up making her unbilled debut in the Jean Harlow starrer Blonde Bombshell 1933 She continued on just as obscurely in the films Hollywood Party 1934 Manhattan Melodrama 1934 The Girl from Missouri 1934 The Merry Widow 1934 and Age of Indiscretion 1935 but was finally promoted to a minor featured role in the classic earthquake epic San Francisco 1936 with Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald in which Shirley sang Happy New Year In 1936 she found more visible work over at Paramount and spent the next few years there paired up vocally and romantically with either Bing Crosby or Bob Hope in their popular vehicles The Big Broadcast of 1937 1936 Waikiki Wedding 1937 Thanks for the Memory 1938 Paris Honeymoon 1939 and Some Like It Hot 1939 Though most were trifling insignificant time fillers she was a diverting beauty and quite serviceable in them She was even given the chance to topline a few of her own movies such as Prison Farm 1938 Sailors on Leave 1941 and A Song for Miss Julie 1945 which was her swan song After leaving pictures Shirley Ross was little heard or seen Married first to agent John Kenneth Ken Dolan then to Everett S Eddie Blum she had three children two sons and a daughter She died in Menlo Park California of cancer in 1975