Nellie Melba - Books, Films and Television

Books, Films and Television

Melba's autobiography "Melodies and Memories" was published in 1925, largely ghost-written by her secretary Beverley Nichols. There are several full-length biographies devoted to her, including those by John Hetherington (1967), Thérèse Radic (1986) and Ann Blainey (2009).

A novel Evensong by Nichols (1932) was based on aspects of Melba's life, drawing an unflattering portrait. The 1934 motion picture adaptation of Evensong, starring Evelyn Laye as the character based on Melba, was for a time banned in Australia. Melba makes an appearance in the 1946 novel Lucinda Brayford by Martin Boyd. She is depicted as attending a garden party thrown by Julie and Fred Vane, mother of the eponymous heroine: "Melba sang two or three songs, "Down in the Forest", Musetta's song from La bohème, and finally "Home, Sweet Home." She is described as having the "loveliest voice in the world".

In 1946–1947 Crawford Productions produced a popular radio series on Melba starring Glenda Raymond, who became one of the foundation singers of the Australian Opera (later Opera Australia) in 1956. In 1953 a biopic entitled Melba was released by Horizon Pictures and directed by Lewis Milestone. Melba was played by the soprano Patrice Munsel. In 1987 the Australian Broadcasting Corporation produced a mini-series, Melba, starring Linda Cropper miming to the singing voice of Yvonne Kenny.