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Mary Virginia Martin (December 1, 1913 – November 3, 1990) was an
American actress. She originated many roles over her career including Nellie
Forbush in South Pacific and Maria in The Sound of
Music. She was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1989
 Photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1949 | |
| Born | Mary Virginia Martin December 1, 1913 Weatherford, Texas, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Died | November 3, 1990 (aged 76) Rancho Mirage, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
Mary Martin struggled for nearly two years to break into show business. As a struggling young actress, Martin endured humorous and sometimes frightful luck trying to make it in the world, from car crashes leading to vocal instruction, unknowingly singing in front of Oscar Hammerstein II, to her final break on Broadway granted by the very prominent producer, Lawrence Schwab. Using her maiden name, Mary Martin began pursuing a performing career singing on radio in Dallas and in nightclubs in Los Angeles. Her performance at one club impressed a theatrical producer, and he cast her in a play in New York. That production did not open, but she got a role in Cole Porter's Leave It to Me!. In that production, she became popular on Broadway and received attention in the national media singing "My Heart Belongs to Daddy". "Mary stopped the show with "My Heart Belongs to Daddy". With that one song in the second act, she became a star 'overnight'."[4]Night and Day, (the Hollywood "biographical" movie about Porter) during the film in an audition as herself for Porter (Cary Grant). Martin reprised the song in "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" catapulted her career and became very special to Mary — she even sang it to her ailing father in his hospital bed while he was in a coma. Martin did not learn immediately that her father had died. Headlines read "Daddy Girl Sings About Daddy as Daddy Dies." Because of the show’s demanding schedule, Martin couldn’t even attend her father’s funeral.[5] She received the Donaldson Award and the New York Film Critics Circle Award in 1943 for One Touch of Venus. A special Tony came her way in 1948 for "spreading theatre to the rest of the country while the originals perform in New York." In 1955 and 1956, she received, first, a Tony Award for Peter Pan, and then an Emmy for appearing in the same role on television. She also received Tony Awards for South Pacific, and, in 1959, for The Sound of Music.  Martin as Peter Pan, a role which effected a plausibly boyish look for her with minor costuming, equating the character with the actress in many viewers' minds[ | |