Marion Marlowe - Biography

Biography

She was born Marion Townsend in St. Louis, Missouri, and is best known for her performances on the television variety series Arthur Godfrey and His Friends, from 1950 to 1955, in which she sang duets with Frank Parker, as the "Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy of the 1950s."

According to Richard Lamparksi's 1975 book Whatever Became of...?, Marlowe began taking vocal lessons when she was twelve years old and studied at London's Royal Conservatory under Sir Thomas Beecham. Later, she roomed with Marilyn Monroe at Hollywood's Studio Club while being coached by Sigmund Romberg. She recorded for CBS Records in the mid-1950s, and had a hit single with "The Man in the Raincoat", which reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1955.

In April 1955, she was dropped from CBS's roster, and the same month she was fired by Arthur Godfrey from his show along with Haleloke and the Mariners; the following month she married television producer Larry Puck, who had also been fired by Godfrey. She later pursued a career as a stage actress, most notably as the Baroness, Elsa Schraeder, in The Sound of Music, from 1959 to 1963.

Marlowe died of natural causes in Tucson, Arizona, on March 24, 2012, aged 83.