MovieChat Forums > The Helen Morgan Story (1957) Discussion > Was Ann annoyed she was dubbed

Was Ann annoyed she was dubbed

posted 9 years ago by huweyjenkins
3 replies | jump to latest

I was wondering how Ann Blyth (who seems so charming in interviews) felt about Gogi Grant dubbing her voice. It appears to be a bizarre decision especially as Ann was a singer (albeit with a more operatic voice).

[–] jaysea2 8 years ago

I'm watching this right now on TCM. I can't believe I've never seen it before. What planet am I on??? But I agree with you. I think Ms. Blyth did her own singing in "Kismet" and maybe other parts, too...I don't know without looking that up. But maybe they wanted a "different" voice. Like you mentioned, she had a more operatic voice and Ms. Morgan didn't. They did a lot of dubbing back then when some actresses had very good singing voices.

[–] theoctobercountry 8 years ago

Honestly, I think Ann Blyth's own voice is closer to Helen Morgan's, than is Gogi Grant's. And as Ann was quite a good, trained singer---she did a number of musicals---it seems like an odd decision to dub her.

[–] TheChamCham 8 years ago

It was an "odd decision" to cast her in the first place. She did not even resemble Helen Morgan. As far as the singing, there are enough recordings of Miss Morgan that they could have used and that a better actress could have mimed to.

Two examples of well-cast actresses in biopics are Susan Hayward as Jane Froman (they used Miss Froman's recordings and Miss Hayward took the trouble to learn Miss Froman's mannerisms,etc.) Jennifer Lopez as Selena who did a little of her own singing but perfectly mimed to Selena's recordings ( with hair,makeup, and costumes identical to the singer's own) also copied the mannerisms,body language,etc. of her character. The smile killed me every time.

Was Ann Blyth "annoyed" ? I think Miss Morgan was the one who had a more valid reason to be annoyed.

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