Marni Nixon (February 22, 1930 – July 24, 2016) was an American soprano and… Read Full Bio ↴Marni Nixon (February 22, 1930 – July 24, 2016) was an American soprano and playback singer for featured actresses in movie musicals. She is most famous for dubbing the singing voices of the leading actresses in films, including The King and I, West Side Story, and My Fair Lady. Nixon's varied career included, besides her voice work in films, some film roles of her own, television, opera, concerts with major symphony orchestras around the world, musicals on stage throughout the United States and recordings.

Born Margaret Nixon McEathron in Altadena, California, United States, to Charles Nixon and Margaret Elsa (née Wittke) McEathron, Nixon was a child actress and also began singing at an early age in choruses, including performing solos with the Roger Wagner Chorale. She went on to study singing and opera with Thomas Noble MacBurney, Carl Ebert, Jan Popper, Boris Goldovsky and Sarah Caldwell. Nixon's career in film started in 1948 when she sang the voices of the angels heard by Ingrid Bergman in Joan of Arc (1948). The same year, she did her first dubbing work when she provided Margaret O'Brien's singing voice in 1948's Big City and then 1949's The Secret Garden. She also dubbed Marilyn Monroe's high notes in "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). She appeared on Broadway in 1954 in The Girl in Pink Tights. In 1956, she worked closely with Deborah Kerr to supply the star's singing voice for the film version of Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I, and the next year she again worked with Kerr to dub her voice in An Affair to Remember. That year, she also sang for Sophia Loren in Boy on a Dolphin. In 1960, she had an on-screen chorus role in Can-Can. In 1961's West Side Story, the studio kept her work on the film (as the singing voice of Natalie Wood's Maria) a secret from the actress, and Nixon also dubbed Rita Moreno's singing in the film's "Tonight" quintet. She asked the film's producers for, but did not receive, any direct royalties from her work on the film, but Leonard Bernstein contractually gave her 1/4 of one percent of his personal royalties from it. In 1962, she also sang Wood's high notes in Gypsy. For My Fair Lady in 1964, she again worked with the female lead of the film, Audrey Hepburn, to perform the songs of Hepburn's character Eliza. Because of her uncredited dubbing work in these films, Time magazine called her "The Ghostess with the Mostest".

Nixon made a special guest appearance on Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts broadcast that aired April 9, 1961, entitled "Folk Music in the Concert Hall". She sang three "Songs of the Auvergne" by Canteloube. Before My Fair Lady was released in theatres in 1964, Nixon played Eliza in a production at New York City Center. Nixon's first onscreen appearance was as Sister Sophia in the 1965 film The Sound of Music. In the DVD commentary to the film, director Robert Wise comments that audiences were finally able to see the woman whose voice they knew so well. In 1967, she was the singing voice of Princess Serena in a live action and animated version of Jack and the Beanstalk on NBC. Also in the 1960s, Nixon made concert appearances.

Nixon taught at the California Institute of Arts from 1969 to 1971 and joined the faculty of the Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara, in 1980, where she taught for many years. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, she hosted a children's television show in Seattle on KOMO-TV channel 4 called Boomerang, winning four Emmy Awards as best actress, and made numerous other television appearances on variety shows and as a guest star in prime time series.

Nixon's opera repertory included Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, both Blonde and Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Violetta in La traviata, the title role in La Périchole and Philine in Mignon. Her opera credits include performances at Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, San Francisco Opera and the Tanglewood Festival among others. In addition to giving recitals, she appeared as an oratorio and concert soloist with the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra among others. Nixon also toured with Liberace and Victor Borge and in her own cabaret shows. On stage, in 1984, she originated the role of Edna Off-Broadway in Taking My Turn, composed by Gary William Friedman, receiving a nomination for a Drama Desk Award. She also originated the role of Sadie McKibben in Opal (1992), and she had a 1997 film role as Aunt Alice in I Think I Do. Under her own name, beginning in the 1980s, Nixon recorded songs by Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Arnold Schönberg, Charles Ives, Aaron Copland and Anton Webern. She was nominated for two Grammy Awards for Best Classical Performance, Vocal Soloist, one for her Schönberg album and one for her Copland album.

In the 1998 Disney film Mulan, Nixon was the singing voice of "Grandmother Fa". She then returned to the stage, touring the US as Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret in 1997–1998. In 1999, she originated the role of Mrs. Wilson in the premiere of Ballymore, an opera by Richard Wargo at Skylight Opera Theatre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which was taped for PBS. In regional theatre and Off-Broadway, she played Nurse in Romeo & Juliet and appeared in productions of The King and I and The Sound of Music. She also continued to teach voice and judge vocal competitions.

In 2000, after nearly a half century away, she returned to Broadway as Aunt Kate in James Joyce's The Dead. In 2001, Nixon replaced Joan Roberts as Heidi Schiller in the Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's Follies. She played Eunice Miller in 70, Girls, 70 in a 2002 production in Los Angeles. In 2003, she was again on Broadway as a replacement in role of Guido's mother in the revival of Nine. Her autobiography, I Could Have Sung All Night, was published in 2006. She performed in the 2008 North American Tour of Cameron Mackintosh's UK revival of My Fair Lady in the role of Mrs. Higgins.

On October 27, 2008, Nixon was presented with the Singer Symposium's Distinguished Artist Award in New York City. She is also an Honorary Member of Sigma Alpha Iota International Women's Music Fraternity.

In 1950, Nixon married the first of her three husbands, Ernest Gold, who composed the theme song to the movie Exodus. They had three children, including singer/songwriter Andrew Gold. They divorced in 1969. She was married to Dr. Lajos "Fritz" Fenster from 1971 to 1975, and to woodwind player Albert Block from 1983 to his death in 2015.

Nixon died in New York from the effects of breast cancer, aged 86.

Getting to Know You
Marni Nixon Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

It's a very ancient saying
But a true and honet thought
That if you become a teacher
By your pupils you'll be taught
As a teacher I've been learning
You'll forgive me if I boast
And I've now become an expert
In the subject I like most

Getting to know you.
(Ohhhh!)
Getting to know you
Getting to know all about you
Getting to like you
Getting to hope you like me
Getting to know you
Putting it my way
But nicely
You are precisely
My cup of tea
Getting to know you
Getting to feel free and easy
When I am with you
Getting to know what to say
Haven't you noticed
Suddenly I'm bright and breezy?
Because of all the beautiful and new
Things I'm learning about you
Day by day
Getting to know you
Getting to know all about you
Getting to like you
Getting to hope you like me
Getting to know you
Putting it my way
But nicely
You are precisely
My cup of tea
Getting to know you
Getting to feel free and easy
When I am with you
Getting to know what to say
Haven't you noticed
Suddenly I'm bright and breezy?
Because of all the beautiful and new
Things I'm learning about you
Day by day
Getting to know you
Getting to feel free and easy
When I am with you
Getting to know what to say
Haven't you noticed
Suddenly I'm bright and breezy?
Because of all the beautiful and new
Things I'm learning about you
Day by day
Getting to know you
Getting to feel free and easy
When I am with you
Getting to know what to say
Haven't you noticed
Suddenly I'm bright and breezy?
Because of all the beautiful and new

Things I'm learning about you
Day by day

Overall Meaning

Marni Nixon’s “Getting to Know You” exudes a certain charm that’s hard to resist. At first glance, the lyrics may seem simple and straightforward, but upon closer inspection, one can see the depth and sincerity behind it. The opening lines, “It’s a very ancient saying, but a true and honest thought, that if you become a teacher, by your pupils you'll be taught,” reflect the idea that learning is a never-ending process. It suggests that even teachers, who are presumed to know everything, still have much to discover, and that they can also learn from their students.

The song then progresses into a charming melody that expresses the joy of getting to know someone. It describes the experience of learning about a person’s likes, dislikes, quirks, and personalities, and finding oneself drawn to them. The lyrics convey the singer’s feelings of comfort and ease when around the other person, and the excitement of discovering new things about them each day. In addition, the line, “Putting it my way, but nicely,” suggests the importance of communication in any relationship, as well as the need for compassion and understanding.

Overall, “Getting to Know You” is a song about the beauty of discovering another person. It reminds us of the joy that comes with genuine human connections and, at the same time, encourages us to be open-minded, patient, and respectful towards each other.

Line by Line Meaning

It's a very ancient saying
An ancient proverb holds true

But a true and honest thought
The proverb encompasses an honest truth

That if you become a teacher
The proverb speaks of the benefits of being a teacher

By your pupils you'll be taught
Teachers learn from their students as well

As a teacher I've been learning
The singer is speaking from their experience as a teacher

You'll forgive me if I boast
The singer is humbly requesting forgiveness for taking pride in their accomplishments

And I've now become an expert
The singer has become knowledgeable in their chosen subject

In the subject I like most
The subject the artist is referring to is their favorite

Getting to know you.
The song's chorus begins

(Ohhhh!)
An exclamation of excitement or enthusiasm

Getting to know you
The singer is expressing a desire to get to know the person they are addressing

Getting to know all about you
The singer wants to learn everything they can about the person

Getting to like you
The singer is expressing a growing fondness for the person

Getting to hope you like me
The singer is expressing a desire for the person to like them in return

Getting to know you
Repetition to emphasize the importance of getting to know the person

Putting it my way
The singer is adding their personal touch to how they are getting to know the person

But nicely
The singer is being polite and respectful while getting to know the person

You are precisely
The singer is saying that the person they are getting to know is exactly what they like

My cup of tea
The singer is using a figurative expression to mean the person is their ideal match

Getting to know you
Repetition to emphasize the importance of getting to know the person

Getting to feel free and easy
The singer is expressing a sense of comfort and relaxation around the person

When I am with you
The singer is referring to times spent with the person

Getting to know what to say
The singer is learning what conversation topics to bring up around the person

Haven't you noticed
The singer is asking if the person has noticed a change in their demeanor

Suddenly I'm bright and breezy?
The singer's mood has improved due to the positive experience of getting to know the person

Because of all the beautiful and new
The singer is learning new things about the person

Things I'm learning about you
The singer is excited about the things they are learning about the person

Day by day
The process of getting to know the person is a gradual one